Wesleyan Welcomes New and Visiting Faculty Members

Wesleyan welcomed 15 new permanent faculty and 32 visiting faculty members for the 2025-26 academic year on Sept. 2. The expertise among this group of faculty is broad, with teaching and scholarship spanning all three academic divisions, including theater, romance languages, economics, quantitative analysis, mathematics and computer science, physics, East Asian studies, government, and psychology, among others.

Those joining our faculty in the social sciences include Stephan Sonnenberg, associate professor of the practice in human rights advocacy and conflict resolution, and Naveen Minai, assistant professor of feminist, gender, and sexuality studies. Sonnenberg’s research focuses on human rights, conflict resolution, and international development. His recent scholarship has centered on developing human rights-based governing approaches to artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies, combating climate change, and documentation of historical atrocities. Minai researches transnational sexuality studies and visual and literary cultures of North America and South Asia. She focuses on the cultural and political intersections of religion, race, class, gender, and sexuality across different forms of media.

In the Humanities, we are joined by Jahyon Park, assistant professor of East Asian studies; Richard Parkin, assistant professor of film studies; and Xinyi Wei, assistant professor of French, among others. Park is an expert on modern and contemporary Korean literature, media, and film with a focus on the portrayal of gender and minority groups in Korean media. Parkin is an independent filmmaker whose creative work spans both fiction and non-fiction. His current project is a feature-length documentary exploring the life and music of singer-songwriter Jackson C. Frank. Wei studies the multimedia depictions of print culture French literature and film, including how they shape transnational literary publications and creativity.

In the division of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, Kelly Thayer has been appointed as the first assistant professor in the College of Integrative Sciences. Thayer is a prolific researcher in the field of computational molecular biophysics, blending physical chemistry, structural biophysics, and machine learning to investigate challenges in pharmaceuticals. She has introduced new computational strategies for studying proteins in her research.

We provide the full list of new faculty and links to bios below:

Permanent Faculty

Elan Abrell, Assistant Professor of Science and Technology Studies

Rosalie Bochansky, Assistant Professor of the Practice in Theater

Veronica Brownstone, Assistant Professor of Spanish

April Hickman, Assistant Professor of Theater

Omer Koru, Assistant Professor of Economics

Antonio Laverghetta Jr., Assistant Professor of the Practice in Quantitative Analysis

Yuxuan Mei, Assistant Professor of Computer Science

Naveen Minai, Assistant Professor of Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies

Jahyon Park, Assistant Professor of East Asian Studies

Richard Parkin, Associate Professor of Film Studies

Stephan Sonnenberg, Associate Professor of the Practice, Human Rights Advocacy and Conflict Resolution

Caleb Spivey, Assistant Professor of the Practice in Theater

Kelly Thayer, Assistant Professor of Integrative Sciences

Tanner Walker, Assistant Professor of Religion

Xinyi Wei, Assistant Professor of French

Visiting Faculty

Michael Allen, Visiting Professor of Mathematics

Andrea Armijos, Visiting Professor of Spanish

Chano Arreguin, Visiting Professor of Government

Max Baymiller, Visiting Professor of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry

Jaamal Benjamin, Visiting Professor of Art

Emmy Brockman, Visiting Professor of Education Studies

mayfield brooks, Visiting Professor of Dance

Dina Brun, Visiting Instructor of Academic Writing

Raymond Carlson, Visiting Professor of Art

Maya Cozier, Visiting Professor of Art

Akshat Das, Visiting Professor of Mathematics

Mike Davino, Visiting Professor of Physics

Cal Flyn, Distinguished Writer in Residence

Seoyeon Jo, Visiting Professor of Economics

Ajna Kertesz, Visiting Professor of Psychology

Daniel Levin Becker, Distinguished Writer in Residence

Maya LaLiberté, Visiting Instructor of Dance

Melissa MacClary, Entrepreneur in Residence

Alex Margolis, Van Vleck Visiting Professor of Mathematics

Kaylah Plourde, Visiting Instructor of Chemistry

Ari Benjamin Meyers, Visiting Professor of Science and Technology Studies

Mattia Mossali, Visiting Professor of Italian

Walden Moore, Visiting Professor of Music

Christian Obst, Visiting Professor of German Studies

Ryan Pike, Visiting Instructor of Government

Colton Runyan, Visiting Professor of History

Tim Sahay, Menakka and Essel Bailey '66 Distinguished Visiting Scholar

Christy Schirmer, Visiting Professor of Archaeology

Jimin Seo, Visiting Professor of English

Anya Shatilova, Visiting Professor of Music

Will Sheridan, Visiting Professor of Art

alexandra thompson, Visiting Professor of Art

Monique Flores Ulysses, Visiting Professor of History