Six Women Faculty at Wesleyan University Promoted and Granted Tenure

Wesleyan University, the highly rated liberal arts college in Middletown, Connecticut, has granted tenure to eight faculty members who were also promoted from assistant professor to associate professor. Six of the eight faculty promoted to associate professor and granted tenure are women.

Nadja Aksamija was promoted to associate professor of art and art history. She joined the Wesleyan faculty in 2007 after teaching at Colgate University for three years. She is the author of the forthcoming book from Yale University Press entitled, An Adriatic Renaissance: The Culture and Ideology of the Villa in Sixteenth-Century Dubrovnik. Dr. Aksamija is a graduate of Beloit College in Wisconsin and holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. from Princeton University.

Sally Bachner is a now an associate professor of English at Wesleyan. She has been on the university’s faculty since 2003. Dr. Bachner is the author of The Prestige of Violence: American Fiction, 1962-2007 (University of Georgia Press, 2011). She is a graduate of Reed College in Portland, Oregon, and holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. from Princeton University.

Hilary Barth was appointed associate professor of psychology and associate professor of neuroscience and behavior. She joined the Wesleyan faculty in 2005 after conducting postdoctoral work at Harvard University. A graduate of Bryn Mawr College, Dr. Barth earned her Ph.D. at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Daniella Gandolfo was promoted to associate professor of anthropology. She is the author of The City at Its Limits (University of Chicago Press, 2009). Her current research involves government efforts to establish businesses in Lima, Peru. A graduate of the Universidad Catolica in Lima, Dr. Gandolfo earned a master’s degree at the University of Texas and a Ph.D. at Columbia University.

Elise Springer was named associate professor of philosophy at Wesleyan. She has taught at the university for the past nine years. Her first book, forthcoming from MIT Press, is entitled, Communicating Moral Concern: An Ethics of Critical Responsiveness. Dr. Springer is an alumna of Wesleyan University. She earned a Ph.D. at the University of Connecticut.

Deb Olin Unferth was promoted to associate professor of English and granted tenure. She taught at the University of Kansas for five years before joining the Wesleyan faculty in 2009. She is the author of the novels Vacation (McSweey’s, 2008) and Revolution: The Year I Fell in Love and Went to Join the War (Henry Holt, 2011). The latter novel was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. Professor Unferth is a graduate of the University of Colorado and holds a master’s of fine arts degree from Syracuse University.