Four Hamilton College faculty members were approved for tenure by the college's Board of Trustees during their recent meeting at the college. They are: Shoshana Keller, History; Catherine Gunther Kodat, English; Herman Lehman, Biology; and Joseph Mwantuali, French.
Shoshana Keller, History
Keller, who joined the Hamilton faculty in 1995, earned a master's degree and Ph.D. from Indiana University, Bloomington. Her research focuses on Russia and Central Asia and she has written on Marxism-Leninism and Muslims of the Soviet Empire; Women's Liberation and Islam in Soviet Uzbekistan; and Islam in Soviet Central Asia. Keller is currently writing Governing the Empire: The Central Asian Bureau and the Creation of the Republics, 1922-34, and her book, To Moscow, Not Mecca: The Soviet Campaign Against Islam in Central Asia, 1917-1943 (Praeger Publishers) is forthcoming in 2001.
Catherine Gunther Kodat, English
A member of the Hamilton College faculty since 1995, Kodat earned her master's and Ph.D. in English from Boston University. Formerly a dance critic and metro desk reporter for The Baltimore Sun, and correspondent for Dance Magazine, Kodat's research interests include 20th century American ballet and modern dance. She recently (11/00) published an article about Balanchine's Nutcracker in Mosaic, an interdisciplinary journal of the arts and literature. Her interest in American literature and culture is marked by a concern with the ways white and black artists have shaped American modernist expression. Other recent interdisciplinary work examines American literature and film. Kodat is currently writing a book about culture during the Cold War.
Herman Lehman, Biology
Lehman's research is focused on the development and function of neurotransmitters. He earned a Ph.D. from Florida State University, Tallahassee, and joined the Hamilton faculty in 1996. Lehman has had research published in such scientific journals as Insect Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, Peptides, and Journal of Experimental Biology. He was the recipient of a National Science Foundation Award for his research in 1992-96.
Joseph Mwantuali, French
Mwantuali joined the Hamilton faculty in 1995 after completing his Ph.D. in French at The Pennsylvania State University. He also received a master's in
community economic development from New Hampshire College, and both a master's and bachelor's in French and African linguistics from the University of Zaire. Throughout much of the 1980s, prior to coming to the United States, Mwantuali served as a teacher, trainer and language coordinator at the U.S. PeaceCorps Training Centers in Zaire and Burundi. His areas of specialty include: twentieth century French literature, literary criticism, Francophone cultures, and Bantu philosophy.
