Faculty Recognized for Research and Leadership
Six members of Wesleyan faculty were recognized for their outstanding research and leadership at a faculty meeting on Sept. 9. At the meeting, Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs Nicole Stanton and each of the three deans highlighted faculty in their divisions, describing their work and contributions to teaching, scholarship, leadership, and service.
Leadership and Service
Joseph Siry, the Kenan Professor of the Humanities and professor of modern architecture in the Department of Art and Art History, has been an esteemed member of the Wesleyan faculty since 1984. Professor Siry has served on the Education Policy Committee, the Faculty Rights and Responsibilities Committee, the Advisory Committee, and the Honors Committee. He was elected chair of the Review and Appeals Board, chaired the Department of Art and Art History, and currently serves as program director of Art History. In addition, Siry served as vice chair of the faculty in 2022–2023 and as chair of the faculty in 2023–2024.
His expertise in architecture has also left a lasting mark on the University. He worked closely with architects on the renovation of the squash courts building, now Boger Hall; served on the selection committee for the design of the Pruzan Art Center; and helped draft the successful nominations of Russell House and Alsop House for National Historic Landmark status. Since 2009, he has been a central member of the Facilities Planning Committee, bringing his knowledge and insight to shape the campus in meaningful ways.
“For his exceptional leadership, devoted service, and enduring contributions to the intellectual and cultural life of the University, we are proud to present Joseph Siry with this year’s Faculty Prize for Leadership and Service,” said Stanton.
Professor Marcela Oteiza holds appointments in Theater, Design and Engineering Studies, Latin American Studies, and Environmental Studies. She joined the Wesleyan faculty in 2004 as an assistant adjunct professor and, in 2025, was promoted to professor at Rank.
During a particularly challenging time for the Theater Department, Oteiza was a steady and essential presence. She mentored junior colleagues, supported students, and helped sustain the department. Newly tenured, she went on to become chair of the Theater Department. Under her leadership, the department flourished, growing at an unprecedented pace and becoming one of the fastest-rising majors in the arts.
Oteiza’s contributions extend far beyond Theater. She has served on the committee that created the Integrated Design, Engineering, and Applied Arts minor; on the Arts and Technology Committee; on the Faculty of Color Council; on the Bailey College of the Environment Governing Board; and on numerous search committees across the arts. Most recently, she helped launch the new College of Design and Engineering Studies, where she served as vice chair.
Her colleagues in theater perhaps say it best: “Marcela has served Wesleyan for decades, but her work in recent years has particularly shown her to be an exemplary and visionary leader.”
Research - Arts and Humanities
Neely Bruce is the John Spencer Camp Professor of Music and American Studies. His catalogue exceeds 800 works spanning opera, oratorio, orchestral and choral compositions, chamber music, song cycles, film scores, and theatrical music. His landmark compositions include the allegorical opera Americana, or, A New Tale of the Genii; the monumental CONVERGENCE, which was a series of composed parades for hundreds of performers that premiered on the New Haven Green and at Lincoln Center; the oratorio Circular 14: The Apotheosis of Aristides, honoring the Portuguese diplomat who saved thousands during World War II; and the famous “Bill of Rights,” which is a choral setting of the first 10 amendments.
“Bruce’s music has been performed internationally, featured in major media outlets, and has even found its way into the vernacular aural tradition of Sacred Harp singing,” said Deputy Provost and Dean of Arts and Humanities Roger Mathew Grant. “For his breathtaking creative range, historical imagination, and indelible contributions to American musical life, we are thrilled to present Neely Bruce with the 2025 Wesleyan Prize for Excellence in Research.”
Phillip B. Wagoner is professor of art history and archaeology, core faculty in Global South Asian Studies, and one of the foremost scholars of South Asian art and architectural history. Over nearly four decades at Wesleyan, Wagoner has transformed the study of the Deccan’s cultural history through wide-ranging and meticulous research on the region’s Indic and Persianate interactions, producing pathbreaking studies on topics from Vijayanagara court culture to Indo-Persian architectural forms. His landmark works include Tidings of the King (1993), the three-volume Vijayanagara: Architectural Inventory of the Sacred Centre (co-authored with George Michell, 2001), and Power, Memory, Architecture (co-authored with Richard Eaton, 2014)—the latter was the winner of book prizes from both the American Historical Association and the Association for Asian Studies.
These texts have shaped our scholarly understanding of South Asia’s medieval and early modern worlds. “A sought-after collaborator and lecturer, Wagoner has held major fellowships, organized international conferences, and published prolifically across disciplines,” said Grant. “For his extraordinary contributions to South Asian studies and his enduring scholarly impact, we honor Phillip Wagoner with this special commendation for research excellence.”
Research - Natural Sciences and Mathematics
Seth Redfield is the Fisk Professor of Astronomy and joined our faculty in 2008. He is an internationally renowned expert in two subfields of astronomy: the local interstellar medium and the study of exoplanet atmospheres, said Martha Gilmore, dean of Natural Sciences and Mathematics.
To do this work, Redfield plans and competes for observing time on nearly all the leading U.S. ground-based and space-based facilities: the Hubble Space Telescope, the James Webb Space Telescope, the Keck telescopes, Kepler, TESS, the McDonald Observatory, and the Very Large Array. He has also worked with in situ measurements from the Voyager spacecraft that have left our Sun’s heliosphere and NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft, currently traveling beyond Pluto, where he is a member Extended Mission Science Team.
Redfield has published more than 190 papers, 20 percent of which have Wesleyan student co-authors and also postdocs. He has brought in over $3M in grants. In addition, he has served as director of the College of Integrative Sciences, the campus director of the NASA CT Space Grant, and lead PI on the Keck Northeast Astronomy Consortium. “It’s my sincere pleasure to announce that Prof. Seth Redfield has received the 2025 Faculty Research Prize in Division 3,” Gilmore said.
Research - Social Sciences
Marc Eisner is the Henry Merritt Wriston Chair in Public Policy. He is a scholar of American political economy and public policy, whose work investigates the evolution of U.S. regulatory agencies under shifting economic policies. During his 25 years at Wesleyan, Eisner has published 10 books, along with a number of articles and book chapters. Each of these published works attunes us to the multifarious imbrications of politics, economics, and regulation that shape the U.S. landscape.
His most recent book, published by Routledge in 2023 and entitled, Deficits, Debt, and American Politics: Paper Shackles, accounts for the ever-increasing national debt as a function of factors as topically and temporally distant as the two world wars, the financial crisis of 2008, and the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Reviewers praise Professor Eisner’s analysis for its lucidity—for its clear parsing of complicated processes without jargon on the one hand or reduction on the other,” said Dean of Social Sciences Mary-Jane Rubenstein. “For his highly cited, qualitatively praised, quantitatively formidable, and socially indispensable work, we are delighted to present Professor Marc Eisner with the 2025 faculty research prize in the social sciences.”
