Faculty Promotions Recognize Excellence
Six faculty members have received promotions for distinctive scholarship, dedicated teaching, and commitment to the College
On the recommendation of President David A. Greene, four faculty members have been promoted to full professors, and two others have received promotions.
Effective July 1, the four tenured faculty members promoted from associate to full professor are Denise Bruesewitz, environmental studies; Rebecca Conry, chemistry; Samara Gunter, economics; and Annie Kloppenberg, performance, theater, and dance.
Other faculty members receiving promotion include Gail Carlson, environmental studies, to associate professor, and Bess Welden, performance, theater, and dance, to senior lecturer.
“This is an exceptional group of faculty members,” said Provost and Dean of Faculty Margaret McFadden, in the days before her retirement. “They are all excellent teachers, creative and influential scholars and artists, and deeply respected leaders of the faculty. Each of them has already contributed in many unique and meaningful ways to advancing the mission of the College, and I am confident that their impact going forward will continue to be very significant.”
Clara C. Piper Professor of Environmental Studies Denise Bruesewitz
Denise Bruesewitz is an aquatic ecologist with experience in systems ranging from streams and rivers to lakes and estuaries. She studies human impacts on aquatic ecosystems, and her ongoing projects include work to predict harmful algal blooms and examine how oyster reef, stream, and salt marsh restoration projects mitigate nutrient pollution. Her cutting-edge work involves novel and creative analytical techniques she has developed. Bruesewitz involves undergraduates in her research projects and conducts her scholarship through large collaborations with leading scholars in the field.
Since receiving tenure in 2019, she has published eight peer-reviewed papers and one robotics conference publication. Her service to the College includes serving as chair of the Environmental Studies Department and restructuring its science and policy majors and its minor. She has also served on nearly every major elected and/or appointed position at the College and was recently named provost of the College.
Bruesewitz earned her doctorate in biological sciences from Notre Dame University and a bachelor’s in biology from Winona State University in Minnesota.
Professor of Chemistry Rebecca Conry
Rebecca Conry is an inorganic chemist whose research typically supports the work of other scholars. She is an expert in using X-ray crystallography to analyze molecules and develop three-dimensional images of them, providing information otherwise inaccessible to researchers. To enable this work, she wrote an NSF grant that brought the necessary instrument to Colby and has been used by many other chemists at the College and beyond. Conry has been generous in training colleagues and students at Colby and from other Maine institutions.
Her service to the College includes work as academic integrity coordinator, in which she designed a process that was clear, fair, equitable, and focused on student development. She has served as associate chair and chair of the Chemistry Department, as a faculty marshal, and as faculty liaison to the crew team.
Conry joined Colby in 2000 and was promoted to associate professor and received tenure in 2004. This year, she was appointed interim associate provost for academic programs. She holds a doctorate in chemistry from the University of Washington and a bachelor’s in chemistry from Eastern Washington University.
Professor of Economics Samara Gunter
Sam Gunter is a microeconomist with expertise in public finance and tax administration and policy, who compiles high-quality data sets and produces empirical analyses both surprising and persuasive. She has an international reputation for asking and answering important questions and contributing influential insights.
She came to Colby in 2009 and was granted tenure and promoted to associate professor in 2017. Since then, she has published five economic analysis papers and three policy papers on a wide range of policy-relevant topics. Gunter has contributed to community-building and governance at the College as associate chair of the Economics Department and as Truman Fellowship faculty advisor or co-advisor. She has led other initiatives such as supporting the development of a childcare center, improving first-year advising, reimagining the distribution requirements, and making it possible for faculty to use open-source course materials instead of expensive textbooks.
She holds a master’s and doctorate in economics from the University of Michigan and a bachelor’s in public policy studies and economics from the University of Chicago.
Professor of Performance, Theater, and Dance Annie Kloppenberg
Annie Kloppenberg is a dancer and choreographer whose work explores improvisation and collaboration in many different modalities. She explores a variety of questions, often through exciting and productive collaborations, and adds significantly to the vocabulary and processes of dance and performance. Kloppenberg has established herself as a leader in the field and is invited to work with collaborators internationally, both as a dancer and choreographer. She uses her stature to connect students to the field in ways that have tremendously benefited them.
Her service to the College has included key leadership roles, such as a representative to the Board of Trustees and the Colby Museum Board of Governors and chair of the Department of Performance, Theater, and Dance, which included the planning process for and move to the Gordon Center, leading a curricular redesign that restructured the major and minor, bringing professional performance companies to campus, and more. Kloppenberg is also the founding director of the Lyons Art Lab.
A member of the faculty since 2009, Kloppenberg received tenure and was promoted to associate professor in 2016. She holds an M.F.A. in dance from the Ohio State University and a bachelor’s in dance and American civilization from Middlebury College.
Associate Professor of Environmental Studies Gail Carlson
Gail Carlson is trained as a biochemist but has developed a suite of courses in climate justice and public health for the environmental studies curriculum. Her record of publication includes articles in prominent peer-reviewed journals, many of which have student coauthors and explore issues like PFAS and lake-water quality important to Maine. She has also written a textbook on human health and climate change. Her public-facing work includes the publication of a number of applied environmental policy reports and articles, which contributed significantly to understanding or solving pressing environmental problems and received significant media attention that led to meaningful policy outcomes.
Among her leadership roles at the College are serving as founding director of the Buck Lab for Climate and Environment and assistant director of the Goldfarb Center for Public Affairs.
Carlson came to Colby in 2005 after earning a doctorate in biochemistry from the University of Wisconsin at Madison and a bachelor’s in chemistry from St. Olaf College.
Senior Lecturer in Performance, Theater, and Dance Bess Welden
Bess Welden is a director, performer, and award-winning playwright who has brought her work to campus in public performances, staged readings, and workshop residencies. In some cases, students have either been directly involved in those processes or witnessed work in progress. Her research, professional presentation of plays and performance content, and leadership at workshops are interwoven with her teaching and community-building at Colby.
She is a full, contributing member of the Department of Performance, Theater, and Dance and currently represents the department to the Faculty Coordinating Committee of the Center for the Arts and Humanities. She also participates in programming at the Greene Block + Studios, Waterville Creates, and the Center for Small Town Jewish Life.
Welden came to Colby as a teaching artist in 2010, and her position was converted to lecturer in 2021. She holds an M.F.A. in theater performance from the National Theater Conservatory in Denver and a bachelor’s in theater and Judaic/Near Eastern studies from Oberlin College.
