Holy Cross Announces Eight New Faculty Hires

In her annual address to the College for the 2015-16 academic year, Margaret Freije, vice president for academic affairs and dean of the College, announced the hiring of eight new faculty members. These new faculty members include an endowed chair, three new tenure-track professors and four postdoctoral teaching fellows:

Faisal Baluch (assistant professor, political science) earned his Ph.D. in political science from the University of Notre Dame, his M.A. in political science from the University of Houston, his M.A. in applied finance from the University of Western Sydney, and his B.A. in economics and finance from the University of Mauritius. His research interests include political theory, international relations, and comparative politics. Baluch served as the Charles Carroll Postdoctoral Teaching Fellow at Holy Cross for the last two years, teaching classes in the political science department and Montserrat, a universal living and learning program for first-year students.

Danilo Antonio Contreras (postdoctoral teaching fellow, Center for Interdisciplinary Studies) is a Ph.D. candidate in government at the University of Texas at Austin and holds a B.A. in government and Spanish from Georgetown University. His research and teaching interests include race and ethnic politics in Latin America, Dominico-Haitian relations, immigration in the Americas, and U.S. Latino Politics. Previously, Contreras was the Gaius Charles Bolin Fellow in political science at Williams College. He was recently recognized as an Emerging Diversity Scholar from the National Center for Institutional Diversity at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor.

Alexander S. Duff (Veritas Postdoctoral Teaching Fellow, political science) earned his Ph.D. in political theory and American politics from the University of Notre Dame and his M.A. in political science and a bachelor of humanities (B. Hum.) from Carleton University in Ontario. Duff previously worked as a visiting assistant professor at Skidmore College and Boston College, teaching political theory, political thought, and constitutionalism. He is the author of a forthcoming book titled “Heidegger and Politics: The Ontology of Radical Discontent” (Cambridge University Press). Duff’s articles have also been featured in the Review of Politics, American Review of Canadian Studies, and the Review of Metaphysics.

Richard E. La Fleur (Bishop James A. Healy Postdoctoral Teaching Fellow, psychology) earned his Ph.D., M.A. and B.A. in psychology from the University of West Georgia. La Fleur previously worked as an instructor at the University of West Georgia, teaching abnormal psychology and human growth and development. His research interests include post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injury, and disturbances of self-identity among combat zone veterans. In addition to teaching, La Fleur worked as a clinical assessor at Pro-Active Management Consulting and as a pastoral counselor at Mount Paran Church, both in Atlanta.

Ashley Ruth Miller (assistant professor, economics and accounting) earned her Ph.D. and M.A. in economics from Princeton University and her B.S. in mathematics from the University of Chicago. Her research interests include education, labor, and public finance. Miller comes to Holy Cross from Mount Holyoke College, where she taught from 2012-15. She previously served as a senior analyst in the social and economic policy division of Abt Associates in Cambridge, Mass. Miller received the Towbes Prize for Outstanding Teaching in 2007 and 2010 and the Industrial Relations Section Fellowship, both from Princeton University.

Olena Mykhaylova (assistant professor, economics and accounting) earned her Ph.D. and M.A. in economics from Georgetown University and her B.A. in economics, mathematics, and chemistry from Lakeland College. Mykhaylova worked as an assistant professor of economics at the University of Richmond from 2008-15. Her research interests include open economy macroeconomics, international capital movements, and monetary policy. Her work has appeared in the Journal of Housing Economics, The B.E. Journal of Macroeconomics, and the Journal of International Economics, among others. Mykhaylova has presented her work on the housing market, financial liberalization, and monetary policy at conferences around the world.

Jean Ouédraogo (Eleanor Howard O’Leary Chair in French/Francophonic Culture, professor, modern languages and literatures) earned his Ph.D. in romance languages from The University of Georgia and his M.A. in French. Ouedraogo previously worked as a professor at the State University of New York College, teaching foreign languages and literature. His areas of interest and research include, African and Caribbean Francophone literatures and cultures and the study of Ahmadou Kourouma. He is the author of “Maryse Condé et Ahmadou Kourouma: Griots de l’indicible” (Peter Lang International, 2004). His articles and book reviews have been featured in The French Review special issues, Etudes Francophones, and L’Annuaire théâtral: Revue Québécoise d’Études théâtrales. Ouedrago was recently awarded a Fulbright U.S. Scholar Grant for teaching and research. He is currently spending the 2015-16 academic year in Burkina Faso in West Africa.

Christopher Edward Rhodes (Bishop James. A. Healy Postdoctoral Teaching Fellow, political science) earned his Ph.D., M.A. and B.A. in government from Harvard University. His research interests include comparative African politics and political economy of religion. Previously, he served as a teaching fellow at Harvard, where he taught on topics such as African and African American studies, the Cold War and international relations. He also received the Jennifer Oppenheimer Graduate Fellowship and the Graduate Fellowship in Political Economy from Harvard.