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Syracuse University hired 11 new professors in the College of Arts and Sciences for the fall 2021 semester.

The Daily Orange spoke with the six professors who responded for comment to ask them how their previous experiences will serve in their teaching and research as well as what they hope for the future of their departments.

Corrine Occhino: language, literatures and linguistics

Originally from Wisconsin, Occhino received her Ph.D. in linguistics from The University of New Mexico. She focuses on sign language research at SU, and she said she will be taking over the American Sign Language program at SU’s School of Education. Before her arrival at SU, she worked at the NTID Research Center on Culture and Language at Rochester Institute of Technology.

“What I really liked about SU is that they’re taking a very proactive approach to centering diversity and inclusion in their plan for expanding and growing this ASL program, which I think is super important,” Occhino said.

Occhino said that one of her goals is to have the ASL curriculum approved for language credits in the College of Arts and Sciences.

 

Delali Kumavie: department of English

Delali Kumavie is originally from Ghana, and she moved to the U.S. 10 years ago to pursue her graduate studies at Northwestern University. Before coming to SU, Kumavie completed a fellowship at Harvard University.

Kumavie said that she hopes to offer more courses in Black literature in the English department, as well as create reading groups with students and faculty to discuss issues in all areas of literary studies.

“(SU) was a university that was interested in the work I was doing. When I came for my campus visit, I met multiple people that would do research or had some interest in the area I was researching,” Kumavie said. “Because I researched something that is not necessarily the most well-known area of Black studies, it was good to know that kind of resources existed.”

As an international scholar far away from home, Kumavie said she struggled with homesickness during the pandemic. She contemplated going back to Ghana or staying in the U.S., and she ended up taking an offer to teach at SU. Her husband, Ethan Madarieta, who is also a new SU professor in the English department, was there to support her through this transition.

“When I first came to the U.S., someone told me it’s going to take nine months to feel like you belong here … Actually it took like a year. So I understand that these are part of the growing pains of getting used to (Syracuse),” Kumavie said. “Any path we choose in life, we have to question it a little bit.”

Ethan Madarieta: department of English

Ethan Madarieta said that one of his primary reasons for coming to SU is because of his partner, Kumavie. Prior to his arrival to SU, he taught at SUNY New Paltz.

“My partner is here, and we were able to both get hired in tenure-track positions, which is rare and beautiful,” Madarieta said.

Madarieta said that he also hopes to create reading groups between students and faculty, and he wants to expand reading groups into other departments.

Madarieta is excited to teach an “experimental course” next semester that incorporates a lot of embodied practice which he calls “reading to repair.”

“It’s a way of engaging, what I call the word and the world, through … all of our senses, not just kind of cognition in terms of our reading in text. We’re going to do a lot of field trips, go out into the world and walk, gather things and write about our experiences,” Madarieta said.

 

Ivan Pechenezhskiy: department of physics

Ivan Pechenezhskiy received his Ph.D. in 2014 at the University of California, Berkeley. Shortly before his graduation, he realized his interest was in the field of quantum computing.

“In physics, you do grad school, a postdoc and then become a professor,” Pechenezhskiy said. “There’s no meandering. For me, (the pandemic) was an opportunity to explore different options.”

Pechenezhskiy said he saw SU as a new opportunity to further his career and research. It is a challenge for him to teach in person again, he said, but he is hopeful that collectively, students and faculty can overcome this trial-and-error period.

 

Ruth Opara: department of art & music histories

Ruth Opara, originally from Nigeria, moved to Syracuse after completing her postdoctoral research in the music department at Columbia University.

Opara said that one of the reasons why she came to SU was to continue researching at an R1 university. She also said that she strives to make lectures relatable to students and encourages them to speak about their personal experiences.

“I found the dean of the College of Arts and Sciences to be very kind and very attentive to the matters of concerning diversity,” Opara said. “We are not all perfect. It’s a good thing. I hope I’ll thrive and succeed because I want to call this home.”

 

Yiming Zhao, department of mathematics

Yiming Zhao, an assistant professor in mathematics, said SU’s capabilities as a research institution sparked his interest in coming to SU.

“It has been an R1 research university for many years according to Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education … which to me means the university is clearly very supportive of faculty research. And once I come here, there is a good chance that I will continue to flourish as a researcher,” Zhao said.

Zhao said that he is the first convex geometer — a person who studies the geometry of convex sets — in the mathematics department, and he hopes that his current research will add to already existing research in the mathematics department. Zhao said he plans on adding a class about convex geometry to the math curriculum.

Published on September 29, 2021 at 1:07 am

Contact Ivana: ixie01@syr.edu