º£½ÇÂÛ̳

º£½ÇÂÛ̳ is excited to announce 10 new faculty members for the 2024-25 academic year. 

"We are delighted to welcome our new faculty colleagues," College Dean Ellen Goldey said. "They represent a full range of disciplines and backgrounds, and I look forward to all the ways they will contribute to º£½ÇÂÛ̳’s top-quality liberal arts education. They have joined a community that values collaboration within and across disciplines, and they will find the support and collegiality that will allow them to thrive within and beyond the classroom.  Congratulations to our newest cohort on joining this remarkable faculty!"

Division I: Humanities

Heather Chacón, Assistant Professor of English

Heather Chacón received an MA in English from Ball State University, and a PhD in English from the University of Kentucky. Chacon’s research focuses on the intersections among literature, culture and health.

Division II: Social Studies

Kathleen Greer, Associate Professor of Economics

Kathleen Greer received her BS from Furman University and her MS and PhD from University of Colorado at Boulder.

Greer's primary interests include income and wealth distribution, public policy, gender, race, environmental economics and labor economics.  

Greer served as associate professor emerita of economics at Birmingham-Southern College. During Greer's 25 years of service to Birmingham-Southern College she served in several administrative roles including division chair, interim provost and vice president of enrollment management.

Kyle Jones, Visiting Assistant Professor of Economics & Business

Kyle Jones' research interests include program evaluation of the U.S. social safety net with a focus on understanding the effects of changes to SNAP. Additionally, his research aims to understand how different changes to the social safety net interact with each other. He received the Graduate Student Teaching Award from the Department of Economics at the University of Kentucky.

He has been published in the peer-reviewed journal Food Policy.

He holds a BS degree in economics from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, MS in economics from the Georgia Institute of Technology, and MS and PhD in economics from the University of Kentucky.

Akiko Okano, ALLEX Fellow (Japanese)

Akiko Okano earned her BA in English literature and English teaching pedagogy from Kyoritsu Women's University in Tokyo. After graduation, Okano spent more than 10 years working as a producer in the television industry. Aside from making programs, Okano managed and educated new staff, translated Japanese subtitles into English, and more. After teaching Japanese to technical intern trainees in Japan, Okano joined the Alliance for Language Learning and Educational Exchange (ALLEX) in 2024.

Salvador Raggio, Visiting Assistant Professor of Spanish

Salvador Raggio works on both Latin American and transatlantic studies, with a special interest in biopolitics, weird fiction, mass culture production, and Latin American and Spanish cinema. His most recent book explores the role of the mutant figure as a symbol of diversity and change in contemporary pan-Hispanic literary and cinematic production.

Division III: Science and Mathematics

Shea Carr, Assistant Professor of Biology

Shea Carr received both her PhD (biology) and BS (animal sciences) from the University of Kentucky.

Her primary research interests lie in understanding student motivation, belonging and persistence. Her current research aims to evaluate these constructs in the context of pre-health professional student experiences. She also engages in research designing and evaluating the effectiveness of teaching tools, such as case-based learning activities.

Morgan Cope, Assistant Professor of Psychology

Morgan Cope's scholarship focuses on the intersection of the self and romantic relationships, exploring how an individual’s identities shape – and are shaped by – connections with close others. She is particularly interested in relationship dissolution recovery, with an emphasis on identity restoration and psychological well-being after breakup. Cope has published research on motivated maladaptive relationship behaviors and has emerging interest in breakup-induced physical health outcomes as well as self-change dynamics in individuals identifying as LGBTQIA+. She employs novel research methods from dynamical social psychology to capture variability in intra- and interpersonal processes. 

Prior to her appointment, Cope was a PhD candidate at Florida Atlantic University. In addition to completing her doctoral degree, she served as a course instructor for social psychology, statistics and research methods. Cope managed the Close Relationships Laboratory, conducting research in the field of relationship science and mentoring undergraduate students.

Christine Goble, Associate Professor of Engineering

Christine Goble has a combined 27 years of teaching experience in the Civil Engineering and Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering departments at the University of Kentucky.

Goble earned BS and MS degrees in civil engineering from the University of Kentucky and a PhD in civil engineering from Purdue University. She is currently pursuing an MS degree in learning design and technology from the University of Kentucky.

Goble's research focus is engineering education with an emphasis on hands-on active learning. 

Dalton Hopper, Assistant Professor of Mathematics

Dalton Hopper graduated summa cum laude from Eastern Kentucky University with dual BS degrees in mathematics and statistics. He earned his MS and PhD in statistics at The Ohio State University, along with a certificate in college and university teaching. While at Ohio State, Hopper obtained multiple teaching endorsements and won the Thomas and Jean Powers Teaching Award in recognition of his teaching excellence.

His research interests include statistics education, sampling methods and experimental design. He developed a novel two-stage cluster randomized design that is more efficient than its competitors in the literature. This design is applicable to a variety of fields (e.g., education, public health and medicine). 

Hiruni Pallage, Assistant Professor of Mathematics

Hiruni Pallage earned her PhD in mathematics at Central Michigan University, where her research focused on advancing brain analysis through mathematics in Q-ball imaging. She also holds an MS from the University of Pittsburgh and a BS from the University of Sri Jayewardenepura in Sri Lanka. She brings her experience in teaching a range of mathematics courses, including calculus, abstract Algebra, differential equations and fluid dynamics.

Pallage’s research spans applied and interdisciplinary mathematics, including dynamical sampling and polymer blend morphology. Her work has been recognized with multiple awards, including a second place and People’s Choice Award at Central Michigan University’s Three Minute Thesis competition. As a 2024 Project NExT cohort member, she is committed to enhancing student learning through innovative methodologies, fostering collaborative research and supporting service initiatives.