Colby College, the highly selective liberal arts educational institution in Waterville, Maine, has announced the promotion of 12 faculty members to the rank of full professor.
“Colby’s newest faculty promoted to full professor are each transformational teachers and inspired scholars,” said Provost Denise Bruesewitz, the Clara C. Piper Professor of Environmental Studies. “Their exceptional dedication to our students, paired with their commitment to scholarship and creative pursuits, is a cornerstone of our community. Each of them has also stepped into leadership roles across campus, and I look forward to seeing the impact they continue to have at Colby in the years ahead.”
Four of these promotions went to women.
Chandra Bhimull is the Audrey Wade Hittinger Katz and Sheldon Toby Katz Professor for Distinguished Teaching in Anthropology and African American Studies. She is an anthro-historian who combines ethnographic and archival methods at the intersection of aviation, technology, and the African diaspora. She is the author of Empire in the Air: Airline Travel and the African Diaspora (New York University Press, 2017). A member of the faculty since 2007, Dr. Bhimull served as chair of the department of African American studies from 2019 to 2025. Professor Bhimull is a graduate of Kenyon College in Ohio. She earned a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in anthropology from the University of Michigan.
Megan Cook is the Arthur Jeremiah Roberts Professor of English. She is a book historian, a scholar of medieval literature, and an expert on Chaucer. Her scholarship focuses on the material production and reception of premodern English texts, and she researches and writes about the fate of Middle English texts and books in the early modern period. Professor Cook is a graduate of the University of Michigan, where she majored in political science. She holds a master’s degree in English from New York University and a Ph.D. in English literature from the University of Pennsylvania
Erin Sheets was promoted to professor of psychology. She runs a robust research program on the impact of stress and belonging on mental health during emerging adulthood, ages 18 to 25. She is particularly interested in the ways in which sense of belonging and the ways in which mindsets impact mental health. After joining Colby’s faculty in 2010, Dr. Sheets was awarded tenure in 2017. In addition to teaching, she is also a licensed psychologist in the state of Maine. Professor Sheets is a graduate of Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, where she majored in psychology and Spanish. She holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Colorado Boulder.
Sonja Thomas is a professor of women’s, gender, and sexuality studies. She is a South Asian feminist whose research focuses on gender, race, caste, and Christianity in India and the U.S. Dr. Thomas is the author of Privileged Minorities: Syrian Christianity, Gender, and Minority Rights in Postcolonial India (University of Washington Press, 2018). Her second book, Indians and Cowboys, on Catholic priests from India in rural America, is forthcoming from the University of Washington Press. Professor Thomas is a graduate of the University of Minnesota. She holds a master’s degree from New York University and a Ph.D. in women’s and gender studies from Rutgers University in New Jersey.