Faculty Members Earn Tenure, Promotions

Published:
Categories:
Back to News

Excellence in teaching, research bring advancement

Eighteen Sacred Heart University faculty members have earned tenure or promotions.

Tenure

Isil Akbulut-Gok of Milford, assistant professor of political science, government. Akbulut-Gok earned her Ph.D. from Wayne State University, Michigan, and was the 2015 recipient of the Best Paper Award at Michigan Political Science Association’s annual meeting, Sacred Heart University Research and Creativity Grant and the 2016 American Political Science Association Centennial Center Research Grant. Her teaching responsibilities include international organizations, peace and conflict studies and Middle East politics. She primarily researches and teaches social network analysis, inter-organizational collaboration in peace operations, terrorism, international organizations and Middle East politics.

Lorán Chollete of New York City, NY, associate professor of finance. Prior to joining SHU, Chollete taught at the University of St. Andrews in the United Kingdom and before that at the University of Stavanger Business School in Norway. He collaborates with colleagues at numerous research institutes and universities, including Norwegian Central Bank, Tel Aviv University, Columbia University, National Chengchi University, University of California, Berkeley, Dartmouth College and University of St. Andrews. He also is an associate editor of the Spanish Review of Financial Economics. Chollete has a Ph.D. in economics and finance from Columbia University, and his research focuses on financial markets, decision-making under uncertainty and CEO compensation. He also has an interest in Latin-American economics. His work has been published in the Journal of Financial Econometrics, Journal of Financial Stability, Journal of Banking and Finance and Journal of Financial Markets.

Linda Hughen of Fairfield, assistant professor of accounting. Before Hughen began teaching at Sacred Heart University in 2015, she worked at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She also worked in financial control at UBS Investment Bank and as an auditor for Arthur Andersen. She holds a Ph.D. in accounting from the University of Connecticut and is a licensed certified public accountant.

Lindsay Keazer of Orange, mathematics teacher educator, education. Keazer specializes in inquiry-based methods for teaching math, teaching for social justice and culturally sustaining pedagogies. Prior to Sacred Heart, she was an assistant professor of math education at Central Connecticut State University and a postdoctoral research associate at Michigan State University. She started her career as a middle- and high-school math teacher. She currently serves on the executive board of the Association of Mathematics Teacher Educators of Connecticut. Keazer holds a Ph.D. in curriculum and instruction: mathematics education from Purdue University in Indiana. Her recent research focuses on developing a framework to guide teachers in self-assessing and growing their (and her own) culturally responsive pedagogies.

Frank Robinson of Hamden, assistant professor of physics and director of the engineering 3+2 program. Robinson specializes in modeling convection in stellar and planetary atmospheres. He holds a Ph.D. from Hong Kong University of Science and Technology in applied mathematics. He served as a research scientist/lecturer for Yale University’s department of geology and geophysics from 2000 to 2016. Robinson’s current research focuses on improving the representation of severe storms over islands in global climate models.

Christopher Taber of Branford, assistant professor of exercise science, graduate program director of exercise & sport science. Taber holds a Ph.D. in sport and exercise physiology from East Tennessee State University. He has certifications from the American College of Sports Medicine: certified exercise physiologist; National Strength and Conditioning Association: certified strength and conditioning specialist; National Academy of Sports Medicine: performance enhancement specialist; and the United States Weightlifting Association: advanced sport performance coach. His teaching responsibilities include exercise science, strength and conditioning and sport physiology.

David Thomson of Guilford, assistant professor of history. Thomson, a historian of the 19th century United States, with a special focus on capitalism in the Civil War era, joined Sacred Heart’s faculty in the fall of 2016. He teaches both halves of the United States history survey, as well as electives on the American Civil War, Reconstruction, American capitalism and U.S. foreign policy. He holds a B.A. in history from Bowdoin College in Maine and a Ph.D. from the University of Georgia. Thomson recently published a book, Bonds of War, about U.S. debt during the Civil War, drawing on archives in nine countries and a dozen states.

Sherylyn Watson of Redding, associate dean of academic affairs, assistant professor of nursing. Watson is an expert in areas of international nursing and global health, interpersonal violence and sexual assault, interprofessional education, nursing education and critical care nursing. She holds a Ph.D. in nursing education from Capella University in Minnesota and is certified for nurse educator, emergency nursing and sexual assault nurse examiner. Watson earned an Open Educational Resources Faculty Fellowship at Sacred Heart University and has received the Josephine A. Dolan Award for Outstanding Contributions to Nursing Education from the Connecticut Nurses Association, as well as the Global Engagement Faculty Award from Sacred Heart University.

Promotion to professor

Promotion to clinical associate professor

Photo: top, from left, are Isil Akbulut-Gok, Lorán Chollete, Linda Hughen and Lindsay Keazer. Bottom, from left, are Frank Robinson, Christopher Taber, David Thomson and Sherylyn Watson.