This Fall Semester the Dyson College of Arts & Sciences hired multiple new members to their faculty as well as gave promotions to some of its existing faculty on both Pace’s Pleasantville and New York City (NYC) Campuses.

Among the changes include new Chairs to Dyson’s departments including Laurie McMillian of the English and Modern Languages Department in Pleasantville who was selected after a national search, Andrew M. Wier of the Biology Department who was selected after a national search after serving as the interim chair, and Catherine Zimmer of the Film and Screen Studies Department in NYC after starting a degree program in the English Department in NYC where she was the Program Director.

National searches are conducted by putting advertisements in the academic journals and websites of the profession of the faculty the department is looking to hire. The search committee screens the candidates that apply, interviews them over the phone, then the top candidates are invited to the campus to be interviewed, the department makes a recommendation to the Dean, who finally interviews the candidate along with the Provost.

Other new Chairs were selected by their departments, for the NYC campus, from among tenured faculty, including Ronald K. Frank of the History Department, Jillian McDonald and Will Pappenheimer of the Art Department , Hillary J. Knepper of the Public Administration Department, and Eugene Richie of the English Department.

“Chairs have three-year terms, and every floor has to set up a process for having their department choose a Chair, which they then recommend to the Dean, and then if the Dean approves then they are finally appointed with the okay of the Provost,” Dean of Dyson Dr. Nira Herrmann said.

The search committee screens the candidates that apply for a job, interviews them virtually, then the top candidates are invited to the campus for another interview, then the department makes a recommendation to the Dean, who finally interviews the candidate along with the Provost.

“We can have three or four people who are excellent, but one of those fits Pace better, they understand our students, they understand that we have a more applied orientation in preparing our students so they can get jobs as well as go to grad school,” Hermann said.

After the interview process is over the candidate may receive a job offer based on their recommendations.

Dyson also added full-time non-tenure track faculty to their departments on the NYC campus, including Casayandra H. Bassarab and Eduardo B. Chan in the Mathematics Department, Mara L. Grayson in the English Department, Jack C. Herskovits in the Psychology Department, Wendy S. Kurtzman in the School of Performing Arts, Demosthenes M. Long in the Criminal Justice and Security Department, and Randi E. Rudolph and Christopher M. Zaccardi in the School of Performing Arts.

On the Pleasantville campus, new Assistant Professors have joined Dyson, including Michelle C. Chase in the Economics, History, and Political Science Department, Andrew W. Crosby in the Public Administration Department, Emilio Fernandez in the Mathematics Department, and Courtney L. Gosnell in the Psychology Department.

When looking for new faculty, the University looks to fill positions in departments where there is a need, whether it to be to replace an existing position or if there are areas in fields that the University requires someone with new expertise to teach.

“[Predictive Analytics] is not an area where we have a lot of strength, so that’s somebody we would say ‘okay this year when we recruit, let’s particularly emphasize bringing in someone with that expertise’,” Hermann said.

The University prefers to hire those who hold terminal degrees, the highest degree in the field Pace is looking to hire for. However, if a candidate is exceptionally strong in the eyes of the University they may still receive the job.

“The terminal degrees vary by the field. If we have a particular preference, like we want a cell biologist, a regular biologist, or an organism level biologist we’ll say that special preference will be given to people in this field,” Hermann said. “We always say it that way because if we get a really strong applicant, who’s a wonderful teacher and has a wonderful research portfolio in a neighboring field, they might be someone you just have to take because they’re so great.”

Several Dyson faculty members have retired this year as well, including Victory Goldsmith of the Chemistry and Physical Sciences Departments, Gregory Holtz of the Public Administration Department, Ghassan E. Karam of the Economics, History, and Political Science Department, Ellen Mandel of the Media, Communications, and Visual Arts Department, and Wagner Suarez of the Modern Languages and Cultures Department.