Six Goucher College Faculty Members Awarded Tenure

Press release from Goucher College:

April 12, 2021

Goucher College is proud to announce six faculty members who have been awarded tenure
and promotion, effective next year, as approved by unanimous vote of the Goucher College
Board of Trustees. These dedicated faculty members are distinguished in their fields
of study and recognized for their outstanding scholarly and teaching achievements.
The newly tenured faculty include Jennifer Bess (peace studies), James Dator (history),
Ailish Hopper (peace studies), Danny Kimball (communication and media studies), Lana
Oweidat (contemporary and creative writing), and Iquail Shaheed (dance).

“Their successful advance through the promotion and tenure process at Goucher is also
a tribute to the many faculty who recruited them, mentored them, reviewed them extensively
at multiple levels, and encouraged them along the way,” said Elaine Meyer-Lee, Goucher
College Provost and Senior Vice President of Academic Affairs. “It was a great pleasure
to read the accolades of their distinguished colleagues in their fields from other
institutions and to recommend them for tenure to President Devereaux. I wish them
continuing success and look forward to their future contributions to Goucher.”These six new appointments are in addition to the seven tenure-track professors and professor of practice searches announced earlier this year, and they continue
to build on the college’s investment in faculty and academic programs.The six new tenure-track faculty members include:

Jennifer Bess

Jennifer Bess, assistant professor of peace studies. Bess started her career at Goucher,
teaching in the composition program, and served as the community-based learning coordinator
from 2001-2011. During that time, she also began teaching in the Peace Studies Program.
In courses that are broadly humanistic and include history and literature, she addresses
issues of power and resistance to hegemony.

James Dator

James Dator, assistant professor of history. His work, which has appeared in leading
journals such as Slavery & Abolition, is dedicated to recovering the lives and aspirations of laboring people, especially
enslaved people, during the booming age of plantation slavery. He is currently completing
a manuscript titled “‘To See the World in a Grain of Sand’: Mobility, Liberty, and
Rebellion in the Leeward Caribbean, 1689-1748.” In and out of the classroom, Dator
works with his students to become racially literate critical thinkers, self-empowered
citizens, and confident communicators.

Ailish Hopper

Ailish Hopper, associate professor of peace studies. The author of two books of poetry
and numerous essays, her writing has appeared in American Poetry Review, Boston Review, Harvard Review, and Poetry, among others. Hopper teaches classes on nonviolence, social practice, poetry, and
new narrative practices. Her interest in self-determination and transformative community
extends to her teaching. She tries to support students in exploring their agency,
realizing their unique capabilities, and imagining and speaking new possibilities.

Danny Kimball

Danny Kimball, assistant professor of communication and media studies. Kimball teaches
courses that critically analyze the cultures, technologies, and politics of media,
focusing on the internet, digital media, and sustainable media. His research examines
the cultural politics of media policy, centered on the intersection of communications
regulation, network infrastructures, and digital media. He is currently writing a
book on the net neutrality debates in the United States and their cultural and political
implications.

Lana Oweidat

Lana Oweidat, assistant professor of contemporary and creative writing and director
of the Writing Center at Goucher College. Oweidat teaches writing and rhetoric courses
with an emphasis on social justice concerns. Her research focuses on transnational
feminist rhetorics, anti-Islamophobia pedagogies, and tutor training. She is also
interested in multilingual composition, especially in the linguistic and cultural
negotiations of multilingual writers and teachers.

Iquail Shaheed

Iquail Shaheed, assistant professor of dance. Shaheed is a multidimensional artist
whose work successfully ranges through high caliber performance, teaching, choreography,
and direction. Ignited by his passion for using his art as activism, Shaheed is the
founder and executive artistic director of the Philadelphia-based company Dance Iquail,
through which he creates new works and programs that center on social justice. As
a teacher, Shaheed is driven by his passion and commitment to preserving the Horton
Technique.

This press release was produced by Goucher College. The views expressed here are the author’s own.