Hillsdale College Welcomes New Faculty to Campus
As fall semester begins, Hillsdale’s faculty grows with 11 new instructors
Hillsdale, Mich. – Hillsdale College is proud to welcome 11 new faculty members to campus with the start of the 2017-2018 school year.
“Hillsdale’s faculty is an impressive group of men and women who continually pursue excellence in themselves and their students,” said Hillsdale College provost, David Whalen. “We are pleased to add eleven new faculty members to our ranks and are excited to see how they each will help shape the Hillsdale College academic experience.”
Hillsdale College welcomes:
Dr. Mardi Billman, Visiting Assistant Professor of Chemistry
Dr. Joshua Fincher, Visiting Assistant Professor of Classics
Prof. Donald Robert Fox, Visiting Assistant Professor of Scenic Design & Technical Director of Theatre Arts
Dr. J. Michael Hoffpauir, Visiting Assistant Professor of Politics
Dr. Caroline Kraft, Visiting Assistant Professor of Psychology
Dr. Todd K. Mack, Assistant Professor of Spanish
Prof. Deanna Mackie, Instructor in Accounting
Dr. Kátia Sherman, Assistant Professor of Spanish
Dr. Ethan Stoneman, Assistant Professor of Rhetoric and Public Address
Prof. Julio Suarez, Assistant Professor of Art
Dr. Carl Young, Visiting Assistant Professor of Classics
Mardi Billman joins Hillsdale College as a visiting assistant professor of chemistry. Dr. Billman received her bachelor’s degree in chemistry from the College of Saint Benedict and her doctorate in chemistry from Colorado State University. She has lectured and directed laboratories at Simpson College in Iowa and at Colorado State University in the inorganic chemistry division. Dr. Billman researches the nature of copper oxidases and halogen bonds, and her work on halogen bonding was published in The Journal of Physical Chemistry.
Joshua Fincher joins Hillsdale’s faculty as a visiting assistant professor of classics. Dr. Fincher earned his bachelor’s degree in classics from the University of Washington, his Master of Arts and Master of Philosophy degrees from Yale University and his doctorate in classics also from Yale University. Dr. Fincher was a classics instructor at Yale and Princeton and an assistant professor at Barnard College and Columbia University. His work on classic poetry has been published in Nonnus of Panopolis in Context II and Rivista de Cultura Classica e Medievale. He is currently working on two projects examining heroic and exemplary characters in ancient literature and culture.
Donald Robert Fox joins Hillsdale College as a visiting assistant professor of scenic design and a technical director of theater arts. He has a master of fine arts in design from Wayne State University and a bachelor of fine arts in directing and design from Baylor University. Mr. Fox has stage managed, technical directed, or designed over 200 productions. He has worked with many regional theaters including Jewish Ensemble Theatre, Glacity Theatre Collective, Opera New Jersey, Williamston Theatre, Unseam’d Shakespeare Company, Albuquerque Little Theatre, Plowshares Theatre Company, Michigan Shakespeare Festival, and Tricklock Company. In 2011, Mr. Fox designed the lighting and projections for the New York premiere of Tom Stoppard and Andre Previn’s Every Good Boy Deserves Favor with the Toledo Symphony at Carnegie Hall.
Michael Hoffpauir joins Hillsdale as a visiting assistant professor of politics. Dr. Hoffpauir received his bachelor’s degree in political science from Louisiana State University, his master’s degree in political science from Boston College, and his doctoral degree with a focus on political philosophy and American politics from Claremont Graduate University. He has taught as an instructor of political science at California State University and the University of Nevada. Dr. Hoffpauir has also presented his research on classical and modern political philosophy at annual conferences around the country including the Southern Political Science Association, the Southwestern Political Science Association, the Western Political Science Association, and the American Political Science Association. Along with Dr. Mark Blitz, Dr. Hoffpauir published “Plato’s Political Thought” in Oxford Bibliographies in Political Science.
Caroline Kraft joins Hillsdale College as a visiting assistant professor of psychology. Dr. Kraft earned her bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Kansas and her master’s and doctoral degrees in experimental psychology from the University of Oklahoma. She taught several psychology courses while at the University of Oklahoma, and her research on developmental social psychology has been published in New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development and the Journal of Early Adolescence.
Todd K. Mack joins Hillsdale as an assistant professor of Spanish. Dr. Mack earned his bachelor’s degree in Spanish and his master’s degree in Spanish literature from Brigham Young University. He earned his doctorate in Iberian and Latin American literature and culture from Stanford University. Dr. Mack comes to Hillsdale from a position as an assistant professor of Spanish at Southern Utah University. He was previously a visiting assistant professor and adjunct instructor at Brigham Young University. His work as a researcher and translator has been published several times, including a 2015 paper published in the Journal of the Utah Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters, which received the award of Best Paper in the category of Letters – Humanities, Philosophy, and Foreign Language.
Deanna Mackie joins Hillsdale College as an instructor in accounting. Prof. Mackie earned her bachelor’s degree in business administration and her master of professional accountancy from the University of Nebraska. She has worked as an accountant and financial analyst in many major companies, including her most recent position as a financial systems support analyst for Cabela’s, Inc. In addition to her work experiences, Prof. Mackie also has experience as an accounting instructor at both the University of Nebraska and Hamilton College.
Kátia Sherman joins Hillsdale College as an assistant professor of Spanish. Dr. Sherman earned her bachelor’s degree and master’s degree in music performance from the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music. She later received her master’s and doctorate degrees in Spanish language and literature from the University of Virginia. Dr. Sherman brings years of teaching experience to the position. Most recently, she was an assistant professor of Spanish at Minnesota State University. Dr. Sherman’s work on early modern peninsular literature has been published in several journals, including Cervantes: Bulletin of the Cervantes Society of America, eHumanista, and Bulletin of Spanish Studies.
Ethan Stoneman joins Hillsdale College as an assistant professor of rhetoric and public address. Dr. Stoneman earned his bachelor’s degree in philosophy and communication from the University of Pittsburgh, his master’s degree in communication from the University of Colorado, and his doctorate in communication from the University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Stoneman brings with him several years of teaching experience. He was an assistant professor at Virginia Military Institute, an instructor at Pennsylvania State University, a visiting instructor at University of Pittsburgh, and a teaching assistant at University of Colorado. His work on rhetoric has been published in journals including Rhetoric Society Quarterly and Philosophy and Rhetoric.
Julio Suarez joins Hillsdale as an assistant professor of art. Prof. Suarez earned his bachelor’s degree in illustration from New York’s School of Visual Arts and his master’s degree in painting from Indiana University. Suarez has several years of teaching experience to contribute to his role at Hillsdale, including his previous position as an associate instructor in drawing at Indiana University. His work has been featured in many exhibitions at various galleries including the Painting Center in New York, the Grunwald Gallery in Bloomington, Indiana, the Manifest Gallery in Cincinnati and the Spanish Cultural Center in Miami, among many others.
Carl Young joins Hillsdale College as a visiting assistant professor of classics. Dr. Young received his bachelor’s degree in classics from the University of New Mexico and his doctorate in classical studies from Duke University. Previously, he was a classics instructor at Duke University. His research focuses on ancient Greek and Roman political thought and ethics. Dr. Young has an article forthcoming in the History of Political Thought, titled “Plato’s Concept of Liberty in the Laws.” He has also presented his research on Plato, Homer, and Nietzsche at annual conferences around the country including the Society for Classical Studies, the Classical Association of the Middle West and South, and the Pacific Ancient and Modern Language Association. Dr. Young is currently working on an article on Nietzsche and the Romans, and a book-length project on Plato’s Laws.