Caldwell University Welcomes New Faculty

Caldwell, N.J., Sept. 4, 2018 – Caldwell University is welcoming a number of new faculty.

Dr. Jon Sigurjonsson joins the School of Psychology and Counseling to teach in the undergraduate psychology program. He holds a doctoral degree from the National University of Ireland, Galway. Sigurjonsson brings over 10 years of teaching experience and was most recently at the City University of New York. His research interests include the interaction of culture and personality on cognition, workplace productivity, and the epidemiology and early biomarkers of concussions.

Dr. Christina Clark joins the School of Psychology and Counseling in the graduate program where she will be the clinical coordinator for mental health counseling specialization. Clark holds a doctoral degree from Old Dominion University. She is a nationally certified counselor and was most recently at University of Pennsylvania. Clark has over a dozen publications and presentations and her research focuses on the expected adjustment of high-achieving students.

Dr. Meghan Deshais joins the Applied Behavior Analysis Department. She recently graduated from the University of Florida in 2018 with a Ph.D. in the experimental analysis of behavior. She has held clinical positions at a variety of programs for children with developmental disabilities including the Kennedy Krieger Institute and the New York Center for Autism Charter School. Her research interests include the evaluation of instructional procedures used in early intervention, the refinement of function-based assessment and treatment of problem behavior, and group contingencies. She has published research in the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis and Education and Treatment of Children.

Dr. Lena Campagna joins the Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice. She received her Ph.D. in sociology from University of Massachusetts Boston with a concentration in communities and crime concentration. Before joining Caldwell she taught at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. Her research interest is in victimology.

Dr. Tara Harney-Mahajan joins the English Department. She received her Ph.D. in English from the University of Connecticut. She specializes in South Asian and Irish literature, with a focus on women writers. Her scholarship has been published in the journals Women’s Studies and New Hibernia Review. She also serves as co-editor of the literary studies journal LIT: Literature Interpretation Theory and most recently, co-edited a double special issue of LIT on Post-Celtic Tiger Ireland and contemporary women’s writing.

Suzanne Kammin Baron joined the faculty in the Department of Visual Art and Design and she is the new director of the Mueller Gallery. She received her BFA in painting from the Rhode Island School of Design and her MFA in painting from the San Francisco Art Institute. She studied painting at the National College of Art and Design in Dublin, Ireland and the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada.

Heather Yaros-Ramos is a one year replacement assistant professor in the Department of Natural Sciences. She received her B.S. in chemical engineering from Northwestern University and her Ph.D. in chemical engineering from the University of California at Berkeley. She has worked as an engineer, volunteered as a rape crisis counselor, and serves on the Glen Ridge Board of Education. Yaros-Ramos has taught chemistry courses in several colleges in California and New Jersey.

Dr. Adriana Wise is a one year replacement assistant professor in the School of Business and CIS. She has a Ph.D. in the field of computer vision in computer science from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. She holds a master’s in electrical engineering degree from the Polytechnic University of Bucharest, Romania. She comes to Caldwell with several years of college teaching experience, most recently at Hunter College, New York. She has graduate degrees in european studies from The European Institute in Nice, France and from The College of Europe in Bruges, Belgium.

Barbara Chesler, Ph.D., vice president of academic affairs, says her goal is to build a strong, dedicated faculty who have outstanding credentials and are student focused. “At Caldwell we live our mission every day, hence when I interview prospective faculty I look for individuals who know their content, bring diverse backgrounds and life experiences, and have a passion for teaching and working with students. These new faculty meet these qualifications hands down.”