Faculty

Louisa Egan-Brad, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Psychological Sciences

Louisa Egan received her Ph.D. in psychology from Yale University in 2009. She then completed a postdoctoral research fellowship at Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and taught as a visiting assistant professor at Bryn Mawr College. Her research focuses on everyday morality and rationality. She is particularly interested in the evolution and development of mechanisms that promote immoral and irrational behavior, which she investigates through research with nonhuman primates and young children. Louisa is a California native who is delighted to finally return to the west coast after too many years away.

Daniel Foster, Ph.D., Lecturer, Communication Studies

Daniel Foster brings to the University of Portland a deep passion for teaching and an abiding love for communication. One area of his scholarly focus centers on democratic rhetoric and rhetorical democracy as derived primarily from the implications of Symbolic lnteractionism and the practices of the ancient Athenians. He received his doctorate in rhetoric and communication ethics from the University of Denver, and completed both his master’s degree in applied communication and his undergraduate

degree in history and speech communication at Northern Arizona University. Daniel is an Oregon native who is happily returning to the Pacific Northwest.

Rachel Hutcheson, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Chemistry

Before joining the University of Portland’s chemistry department, Rachel Hutcheson served in the chemistry department at the College of St. Benedict/St. John’s University as an adjunct assistant professor, where she taught chemical biology, xenobiotic metabolism, and various labs. Her research is focused on furthering the understanding of radical reaction mechanisms that are catalyzed by iron sulfur clusters. She received her doctorate in biochemistry from Montana State University, where she focused on investigating enzymes that employ metal centers to accomplish the reactions they catalyze. Her undergraduate degree was completed at Seattle University and she is happy to be returning to the Northwest. Rachel enjoys spending time with her family, hiking and exploring the outdoors, and reading and crafting with her children.

Carolyn James, M.S., MBA, Instructor, Mathematics

Carolyn James is completing her doctorate in mathematics education at Portland State University. Her research interests include leveraging justification for deeper conceptual understanding and better teaching through use of technology. She holds a master’s degree in mathematics from Oregon State University, a master’s in international management from Johannes Kepler Universität in Linz, Austria, and a bachelor of arts in mathematics from Carleton College in Northfield, Minn. She is an Oregon native and is happily settled in Portland with her husband and daughter. She enjoys spending time with her family, cooking, and playing competitive ultimate Frisbee.

Patricia (Paddy) McShane, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Philosophy

Patricia “Paddy” Mcshane received her Ph.D. and master of arts in philosophy from Georgetown University in 2015 and 2013, respectively, and her bachelor of arts in philosophy and economics from DePauw University in 2007. For the past two years, Mcshane has been a full-time faculty member in the Norlin Scholars Program, an interdisciplinary honors program at the University of Colorado Boulder. While in graduate school at Georgetown, Paddy held fellowships at the Kennedy Institute of Ethics and the School of Foreign Service, and prior to matriculating at Georgetown, she worked for the Prindle Institute for Ethics at DePauw. Her research, while primarily grounded in normative ethics, substantively intersects with other philosophical sub-specialties, particularly analytic epistemology, philosophy of religion, and bioethics. Born and raised in Oregon, Paddy is happy to return to her native state and to join the UP community.

Ashley Mikulyuk, Ph.D., Visiting Assistant Professor, Sociology & Social Work

Ashley Mikulyuk completed her doctoral work at the University of Miami in 2014, and joins the University of Portland faculty as a visiting assistant professor of sociology. In the past she has taught Introduction to Sociology and Social Research Methods at the undergraduate level, and at UP she will teach Introduction to Sociology and Sociology of the Family. Her primary research interests include racial and ethnic diversity in society and the sociology of education. In 2015, Ashley was recognized as a 2016 Emerging Diversity Scholar by the National Center for Institutional Diversity at the University of Michigan. In her most recent research endeavor, she is exploring the dynamics of gender and parenting in the family, with a new project that examines parents’ perspectives on gender-diversity and gender-neutrality in their approaches to raising their children. Ashley is an avid reader, and enjoys traveling and the outdoors. She lives with her partner in Northwest Portland, and is happy to call Portland home.

Elizabeth Morton, Ph.D., Instructor, Chemistry

Elizabeth Morton joins the University of Portland as an instructor in the Department of Chemistry. She spent the previous two years teaching chemistry at George Fox University and Portland Community College. Prior to moving to Oregon, she was a Department of Energy Office of Science graduate research fellow at Pennsylvania State University, where she also gained teaching experience as a substitute lecturer and teaching assistant for various chemistry classes. Elizabeth earned a Ph.D. in chemistry from Penn State in 2013, and holds bachelor’s degrees in chemistry and forensic science from the University of New Haven. She currently resides in Hillsboro with her husband and two cats, and enjoys cooking, gardening, reading, and binge-watching TV shows on Netflix/Hulu.

Aristides Petrides, Ph.D., Visiting Assistant Professor, Mathematics

Aristides Petrides has had the opportunity to teach math and science to students of diverse backgrounds and varying objectives. He studied statistics and mathematics education as a Ph.D. minor and has worked as an adjunct instructor at Washington State University, Portland Community College, and the University of Portland. Prior to teaching, Aristides worked at an environmental consulting company in Portland, Ore. His work as a consultant involved mathematical modeling of flow and transport of contaminants in groundwater. Aristides finished his Ph.D. dissertation in 2012 through Oregon State University, developing and calibrating a regional hydrological model forthe Walla Walla Basin. He currently serves as an advisor to the UP Lions Club and serves as a volunteer mathematics instructor for Latinos and agricultural workers in the Willamette Valley. Aristides enjoys bicycling and outdoor pursuits with his wife, three kids and “Bouncy,” a three-year-old golden retriever.

Giannina Reyes-Giardiello, PH.D., Assistant Professor, International Languages & Cultures—Spanish

Giannina Reyes-Giardiello joins the Department of International Languages and Cultures as assistant professor of Spanish. She earned her Ph.D. at the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a specialty in contemporary Mexican literature and cultural studies. For the past two years she has been assistant professor of Spanish at St. Mary’s College in South Bend, Ind. She also taught at Middlebury College and Middlebury Language School, the University of Wisconsin, New Mexico State University, and the Instituti Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey Mexico. Giannina’s scholarship focuses on the relationship between national discourse and masculine representation in Mexico, particularly the relationship between the economic and political crisis of the Mexican state during the 1990s and emerging discourses that questioned the construction of normative masculinities during the same period.

Sarina Saturn, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Psychological Sciences

Sarina Rodrigues Saturn received her Ph.D. in neuroscience from New York University under the mentorship of Joseph LeDoux. Her dissertation focused on molecular, cellular, and behavioral studies of the amygdala, the key brain structure for emotional processing. She was then a postdoctoral scholar at Stanford University, under the guidance of Robert Sapolsky, where she investigated the role of stress hormones on the brain’s emotional circuitry. At the University of California Berkeley, Saturn was a postdoctoral fellow in Dacher Keltner’s lab, where she began to bridge neuroscience and social psychology. Her research investigates the biology underlying prosocial emotions and behaviors, including moral elevation, compassion, and attachment. Sarina is a Portland native, and both of her parents are University of Portland alumni. She was an assistant professor at Oregon State University before coming to The Bluff and is excited to return to her hometown and UP roots. She enjoys spending time with her family in the great outdoors, traveling, cooking, eating, and sampling microbrews.

Laura Schacherer, M.A., Visiting Instructor, Chemistry

Before coming to the University of Portland as a visiting laboratory instructor in organic chemistry, Laura Schacherer was a content editor for general chemistry at Altius Test Prep and a research intern in the Institute of Biological Chemistry at Washington State University. During the previous three years, she headed the organic chemistry teaching laboratory at Columbia University in New York City. Her responsibilities there included teaching eight sections of students per year, choosing appropriate experiments to teach, and designing course material for the undergraduate students. Laura earned her master of arts in chemistry from Columbia University, master of science in chemistry from Yale University, and bachelor of arts in chemistry from Reed College. Her academic skills include basic molecular biology techniques such as cell culture, enzyme assay and protein purification techniques.

Joshua Swidzinaki, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, English

Joshua Swidzinski recently completed his doctorate in English and comparative literature at Columbia University. Prior to this, he pursued his master’s degree at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and his undergraduate degree at Concordia University in Montreal, Quebec. He has published articles and book chapters on eighteenth-century British literature and culture, and the history of literary criticism. As a graduate teaching fellow, he led courses on a wide range of literary topics, including poetry and poetics; literature and film; eighteenth-century literature and Enlightenment thought; and college composition and the contemporary essay. Joshua has been pleased to serve as a faculty advisor and member of the editorial board for The Morningside Review, a journal of undergraduate writing at Columbia University. He and his wife are eager to explore Portland and the Pacific Northwest.

David Turnbloom, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Theology

Before joining the theology department, David Turnbloom received his doctorate from Boston College, his master’s degree from Weston Jesuit School of Theology, and his bachelor’s degree from the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minn. His primary areas of interest are liturgical theology, ecclesiology, and theological ethics. Specifically, his research engages the relationship between liturgical celebrations and the ethical identity of individuals and communities. His doctoral work engaged the relationship between the sacraments and the virtues in the theology of St. Thomas Aquinas. Most recently, he co-authored an article with Lutheran theologian Benjamin Durheim, entitled “Tactical Ecumenism,” which appeared in the journal, Theological Studies. His current research examines how the historical uses of bread in liturgical worship can be a source for constructing an ecclesiology that is grounded in concern for the ethical lives of Christians. He grew up in northern Minnesota and spent the last ten years in Boston, Mass. He and his wife, Katie, enjoy watching movies, reading, hiking, and trying to satiate their unending desire for desserts

Kathryn Van Hook, Ph.D., Visiting Assistant Professor, Biology

Kathryn “Katy” Van Hook was born and raised in Helena, Mont., and is a proud graduate of Carroll College. As the daughter of two educators, she grew up with a strong sense of the value of education and the excitement that comes from lifelong learning. She fostered her passion for science and discovery by doing basic research at both Carroll College and Indiana University before attending Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) in Portland for her graduate degree. At OHSU, Kathryn quickly connected with cancer research being done on campus and she became the lead researcher on two collaborative projects aimed at understanding the regwlation of an important tumor suppressor known as ASPP2. After receiving her degree in cell and developmental biology, Kathryn worked as a postdoctoral fellow in the prostate cancer division of the Knight Cancer Institute on a project aimed at understanding the mechanisms of resistance to traditional anti-androgen therapies. Concurrent with her research, Kathryn has developed a true passion for teaching. After developing and teaching classes for Portland State University and Chamberlain College of Nursing, she is eager and excited to join the biology department at UP. When she is not working she

enjoys traveling, baking, camping, binging on Netflix, and relaxing with friends and family.