Published: October 2015
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M ore of the 44 tenured and tenure-track faculty who joined Boston College for the 2015–16 academic year.
View last month’s freshman faculty slideshow, part 1.
Photographs by Lee Pellegrini
Nicole Eaton
Assistant professor of history, Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences
Ph.D.: University of California, Berkeley
Interests: Modern European social and cultural history; the Second World War and the Eastern Front
Representative publication: “Soviet Citizens Under German Occupation, 1941–1944,” Dissertation Reviews, 2015
Ilija Zeljkovic
Assistant professor of physics, Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences
Ph.D.: Harvard University
Interests: Atomic-scale spectroscopic characterization of quantum materials; layer-by-layer material synthesis utilizing molecular beam epitaxy; manipulation of electronic properties via strain, electrostatic gating, and magnetic field
Representative publication: “Strain Engineering Dirac Surface States in Heteroepitaxial Topological Crystalline Insulator Thin Films” (with Daniel Walkup, et al.), Nature Nanotechnology, 2015
Yaguang Zheng
Assistant professor of nursing, Connell School of Nursing
Ph.D.: University of Pittsburgh
Interests: Adherence to lifestyle changes; behavioral treatment for weight loss; technology-based intervention; longitudinal and trajectory analysis
Representative publication: “Impact of Perceived Barriers to Healthy Eating on Diet and Weight in a 24-Month Behavioral Weight Loss Trial” (with Jing Wang, et al.), Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, 2015
Christopher Polt
Assistant professor of classical studies, Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences
Ph.D.: University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Interests: Latin poetry; ancient and modern comedy; nature and the environment in the ancient world; translation theory and practice
Representative publication: “Polity Across the Pond: Democracy, Republic, and Empire in Phaedrus Fables 1.2,” Classical Journal, 2014/15
Angela Kim Harkins
Associate professor of New Testament, School of Theology and Ministry
Ph.D.: University of Notre Dame
Interests: Second Temple and early Christian periods; the instrumental role of emotion in reading and ritual experiences; the history of Scripture interpretation by Jewish and Christian communities
Representative publication: “The Emotional Re-Experiencing of the Hortatory Narratives found in the Admonition Section of the Damascus Document,” Dead Sea Discoveries, 2015
Andrew Jorgenson
Professor of sociology, Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences
Ph.D.: University of California, Riverside
Interests: Environmental sociology; political economy; sustainability science
Representative publication: “The (De-) Carbonization of Urbanization, 1960–2010” (with Daniel Auerbach and Brett Clark), Climatic Change, 2014
Emily Thorson
Assistant professor of political science, Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences
Ph.D.: University of Pennsylvania
Interests: How political information and misinformation reaches citizens—and the conditions under which this affects their attitudes and behavior
Representative publication: “Beyond Opinion Leaders: How Attempts to Persuade Foster Political Awareness and Campaign Learning,” Communication Research, 2014
Oliver Rafferty, SJ
Professor of history, Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences, and director of Irish Studies programs
Ph.D.: University of Oxford
Interests: 19th- and 20th-century British and Irish history; the history of Irish Christianity
Representative publication: Irish Catholic Identities (editor), Manchester University Press, 2013
Mengyao Cheng
Assistant professor of accounting, Carroll School of Management
Ph.D.: Emory University
Interests: Financial reporting issues, disclosure, and the effects of regulation and governmental policies
Representative publication: Working paper “Going Public Privately: The Role of the Cost of Premature Disclosure in the IPO Process”
Martin Scanlan
Associate professor of educational leadership and higher education, Lynch School of Education
Ph.D.: University of Wisconsin, Madison
Interests: Effective educational structures for culturally and linguistically diverse students; inclusive service delivery systems to meet students’ special needs
Representative publication: Leadership for Culturally and Linguistically Responsive Schools (with Francesca López), Routledge, 2014
Isil Alev
Assistant professor of operations management, Carroll School of Management
Ph.D.: Georgia Institute of Technology
Interests: Sustainable operations management, with a particular emphasis on business practices subject to environmental policy
Representative publication: “Rail Yard Operations Planning” (with Bahar Çavdar, et al.), Journal of Industrial Engineering, 2009
X. Peter Zhang
Professor of chemistry, Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences
Ph.D.: University of Pennsylvania
Interests: Catalytic systems for stereoselective chemical transformations and their applications for practical synthesis of organic molecules
Representative publication: “Stereoselective Radical C–H Alkylation with Acceptor/Acceptor-Substituted Diazo Reagents via Co(II)-Based Metalloradical Catalysis” (with Xin Cui, et al.), Chemical Science, 2015