Summer Program Faculty

Todd Franklin, Ph.D., Professor of Philosophy

Eugene M. Tobin Distinguished Professor of Philosophy and Africana Studies.

Todd Franklin's research focuses on the existential, social, and political implications of various critical and transformative discourses aimed at cultivating individual and collective self-realization. He teaches courses on existentialism, Nietzsche, and critical cultural studies. He is a past recipient of the Class of 1963 Excellence in Teaching Award.

Robert Kantowitz, Professor of Mathematics

Marjorie and Robert W. McEwen Professor of Mathematics

Robert Kantrowitz ’82 conducts research in mathematical analysis. Much of his recent work focuses on convex functions, with applications to analytic and geometric properties of various models of projectile motion. His recent article “Parabolic sandwiches for functions on a compact interval and an application to projectile motion” appears in International Journal of Mathematics and Mathematical Sciences. “Halley’s minimal kinetic energy problem for projectile motion with drag quadratic in speed” was published in Rendiconti del Circolo Matematico di Palermo.

Joel Winkelman, Assistant Professor of Government

Joel Winkelman's current research project explores the relationship between the work ethic and democracy in the political thought of the Progressive Era United States. He teaches courses in political theory and a course on democracy and the workplace. Winkelman's writing has been published by The Review of Politics and Polity. He completed his doctorate in political science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Karen Brewer, Professor of Chemistry

Silas D. Childs Professor of Chemistry

Karen Brewer's main research project has been in collaboration with Hamilton Physics Professor Ann Silversmith and Professor Dan Boye of Davidson College. In Brewer's chemistry lab, students create glass that contains rare earth ions that have interesting spectroscopic properties. The glass is then probed in the laser spectroscopy labs in physics. Her research has been funded by the Research Corporation and the Petroleum Research Fund of the American Chemical Society. She came to Hamilton College in 1989 and teaches undergraduate courses in advanced and intermediate inorganic chemistry and general chemistry. Brewer earned a doctorate from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Biology

Herman Lehman, Professor of Biology Emeritus

Herm Lehman's research is focused on the development and function of neurotransmitters. Neurotransmitters are molecules released by neurons and mediate communication throughout the nervous system; thus, the proper expression and maintenance of neurotransmitter levels is a critical, yet largely unknown, aspect of the metabolism of the neuron.

Wei-Jen Chang, Professor of Biology

Wei-Jen Chang, professor of biology, has written or co-written several professional articles in Gene, Protist, Molecular Biology and Evolution and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. During his postdoctoral work at Princeton University, Chang studied gene evolution and genome organization in unicellular organisms.

Rhea Datta, Associate Professor of Biology

Rhea Datta is a developmental geneticist and molecular biologist. Her research focuses on how proteins distinguish between specific DNA-binding sequences to regulate gene expression. Specifically, her work on gene regulation addresses biological processes during eye and embryo development, ranging from neurodevelopment to tissue patterning. Datta has published in Genes and Development, eLife, Current Biology, Developmental Biology, Evolution and Development and other peer-reviewed journals. She is member of the Genetics Society of America, Society for Developmental Biology, and American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.

Peter Guiden, Assistant Professor of Biology

Pete Guiden is a community ecologist, studying the interaction of living things. An important component of this research is understanding how humans alter these interactions through climate change, habitat loss, and introducing invasive species. A large part of Guiden’s research focuses on the ecology of seeds—where they go, who eats them, and how many survive to adulthood.

Geosciences

Catherine Beck, Associate Professor of Geosciences, Co-Director of Geoarchaeology

Catherine Beck’s research focuses on reconstructing Cenozoic paleoenvironments from the sedimentary and stratigraphic records. In particular, she investigates how sediments from the East African Rift Valley preserve changes in paleoclimate and paleoenvironment through space and time. This work is strongly based in field research and continental scientific drilling, and Beck is particularly interested in coupling the study of lake sediments with paleoecology and stable isotope analyses in an effort to better constrain the conditions in which early hominins evolved. This work is supported by the Hamilton Isotope Lab (HIL), which Beck directs with the support of instrument technician Bruce Wegter.

Emily Baker, Assistant Professor of Geosciences

Emily Baker is a hydrogeologist whose research focuses on groundwater flow modeling, modeling river temperatures, and monitoring water quality. She has conducted research in the Peruvian Andes to assess how glacial loss will affect stream water resources during the dry season, in Northern Italy to understand how flood irrigation in risotto fields affects groundwater recharge, and in the Central Sands region of Wisconsin to assess travel time of agricultural water through the groundwater system. Through her research she aims to understand how human actions and climate change affect stream flow, aquifer recharge, and water quality and how changes in the hydrologic cycle will affect humans and organisms. Prior to Hamilton College, she worked as a hydrogeologist with the Wisconsin Geological & Natural History Survey, as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Pavia in Italy, and as a term hydrologist with the United States Geological Survey in Denver.

Nicolas Roberts, Assistant Professor of Geosciences

Nick Roberts is a structural geologist who investigates the deformation of continental crust throughout Earth’s history. He synthesizes map-scale, outcrop-scale and microscale observations to quantify how rocks in different tectonic settings accommodated crustal scale deformation. Roberts’ research on cryptic structures in ancient crust in Western Australia seeks to illuminate the conditions and processes under which some of Earth’s earliest continents formed and deformed. His research on highly sheared zones within the basement rock of the Grand Canyon, Ariz., seeks to provide constraints on the rheology, or strength, of the middle crust in active mountain belts. Roberts’ research includes extensive fieldwork as well as laboratory data collection such as anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility, microstructural analysis, and electron backscatter diffraction.

Kristopher Kusnerik, Visiting Assistant Professor of Geosciences

Kris Kusnerik is a paleontologist with research interests in invertebrate paleontology and conservation paleobiology. He combines modern, historic, and prehistoric (i.e. fossil) records to reconstruct the history of long-term faunal changes for threatened ecosystems or species. Recent research interests use fossil and modern mollusks from Florida’s freshwater springs and rivers to understand the historical and ecological context of human, climate, and environmental-related changes to faunal communities. He received his doctorate in geology with a minor in wildlife ecology and conservation from the University of Florida.

Mark Cryer, Professor of Theater, Chair

Mark Cryer’s career as a professional actor, playwright and director spans almost 40 years. Among the numerous plays he has written, No other People, Objects in the Mirror (co-written with Lester Purry), 99 Questions You’ve Always Wanted to ask an African American are highlights. Cryer has performed in television and film, his latest work includes, Diary of a Foreign Exchange Student (Netflix), Confession, Gotham and the Baz Luhrmann’s The Get Down. His extensive theatre credits span the globe and include plays such as Thurgood, The Meeting, The Tempest, Hamlet, Fences, and Alice Childress’s Trouble in Mind. As a director he has directed an eclectic array of plays which include West Side Story, Hamlet, Rent, Angels in America, and The Last Days of Judas Iscariot.

Jon Hind, Director of Athletics and Professor of Physical Education

Jon Hind ‘80 is in his 13th year as Director of Athletics at Hamilton College after he was hired in the summer of 2007. During his tenure Hamilton women's lacrosse captured the first NCAA team championship in athletic department history, and athletes from the men's track & field, men's cross country and women's swimming teams have collected a number of individual national titles.

Hind led the department as the Continentals' athletic programs became fully integrated in the NESCAC for the 2011-12 academic year.

John Geissinger, Professor of Physical Education

John Geissinger was selected as the Hamilton College head men's and women's swimming and diving coach in May 2017. In 2022 he coached Sam Karlson '23 to all-America honors in the women's 100-yard freestyle. Karlson competed in the 2022 NCAA Division III Championships in three freestyle events and finished in first place in the consolation final (ninth place overall) of the 100 free.

David Walden, Director of Counseling Center, Staff Psychologist and Lecturer in Psychology

My therapeutic areas of interest include romantic relationships, childhood sexual abuse, identity issues, LGBTQ and gender identity concerns, dynamics related to marginalization, oppression, and racial identity, and existential issues. My approach to therapy is grounded in a broadly humanistic perspective, and I see dialogue as a way to connect people in their shared humanity. I also value humor as a way to break down barriers to intra and interpersonal connection. Outside of work, I love being a parent to two beautiful and spirited kids, rock climbing, exploring alternative healing modalities, and engaging with this beautiful, messy, complex, deep and meaningful experience of living a human life.

Jeff Landry, Associate Vice President for Student Affairs

Jeff Landry is responsible for the day-to-day operations and provides direction and leadership to the division of Student Life. In addition, Jeff provides oversight for the following departments: Campus Safety, Campus Investigator, Community Health Promotions, Counseling and Psychological Services, and Student Health Services. Jeff is also a member of the Hamilton Emergency Response Team (HERT)