Harpur welcomes the 2026-27 academic year with 30 new faculty members

Harpur College of Arts and Sciences, Binghamton University’s oldest and largest school, begins the academic year with 30 new tenure-track faculty members and a schedule of exciting programs.

“We are excited to welcome everyone back to campus, including an amazing group of new faculty,” said Harpur College Dean Celia Klin. “There is much to look forward to this year, from new courses to visiting speakers to events in the arts. Keep your eye on the Harpur calendar throughout the year!”

Virtually all Binghamton undergraduates will take classes at Harpur at some point in their academic career. With 40 academic departments, Harpur is home to 53% of the University’s faculty and 56% of its students. Its offerings include 48 undergraduate majors, 27 master’s programs and 17 doctoral programs.

Newer offerings include interdisciplinary minors in lighting and sound technologies through the School of the Arts, Persian language classes, and a Middle East Studies major that includes a general track and a track in Arabic studies. 

This year, the Environmental Studies program has become the Department of Environment and Sustainability. With its origins in the 1970s, this discipline has grown exponentially, drawing students who are committed to studying, preserving and making a difference in the natural world. The Department offers BS and BA degree programs in Environmental Science and Environmental Studies.

Upcoming events

The upcoming academic year is full of exciting events, including lectures, musical performances, exhibits, and more.

On Oct. 3, Harpur alum Paul Reiser ’77, LHD ’00, will be back on campus for Homecoming, with a performance at the Anderson Center for the Performing Arts. A graduate of Binghamton’s music program, the comedian, actor, television writer, author and musician, he stars in two hit shows for Netflix: Stranger Things and Chuck Lorre’s The Kominsky Method.

On Oct. 21, renowned film critic, author and teacher J. Hoberman ’71 will visit campus for a special Harpur Cinema event. Hoberman, who spent nearly 30 years at The Village Voice, studied under Cinema program founders Larry Gottheim and Ken Jacobs. During the evening event, he will show several short films and discuss his career and the early days of Harpur cinema. 

Other prominent lectures are also scheduled for the semester, including the annual Stephen A. Lisman Lecture in Clinical Psychology on Sept. 18, and the John and Lawrence Bonzani Memorial Law Lecture in late October.

The School of the Arts has a wide variety of events scheduled throughout the year; visit their calendar here. In addition to plays, musicals, and concerts, it hosts the interdisciplinary improvisation event SOARJam and the Festival of the Arts, both in the spring semester. New this year: The music department will be doing a showcase performance at Carnegie Hall — yes, that Carnegie Hall — on April 9.

And don’t forget to mark your calendars for Harpur Week, which showcases the many opportunities and majors available at the college! This year, Harpur Week runs from Nov. 1 through 7 on campus, and will include a range of fun and informative events, including department information sessions, faculty meet-and-greets, swag, and more.

New faculty members

For the upcoming academic year, Harpur College has added faculty members specializing in everything from poetry to experimental quantum materials.

Joining the Anthropology Department are assistant professors Amanda Butler, specializing in the archaeology of eastern North America, and Sana Malik Noon and Ali Feser, both sociocultural anthropologists focused on the politics of media. In sociology, George Ygarza will transition from a postdoctoral researcher to an assistant professor, focused on the study of postcolonial race and meaning-making in state formation, and place-based movements for self-determination.

Assistant Professor of Art & Design Alexandra McQuilkin is an interdisciplinary artist whose work has been exhibited internationally since 2000; she will be teaching courses in drawing and the foundations of art. Assistant Professor of Art History Sonali Dhanpal is an architect, conservationist, and historian of modern architecture and urbanism.

Two new assistant professors in Asian and Asian American Studies will focus on Korea and its diaspora: Junyoung Verónica Kim, whose research explores the cultural and migratory flows between Latin America and Asia, and Hye Won Kim, a recording artist and songwriter whose research interests include drama, theatre, and performance. 

The English Department welcomes Associate Professor Ross Lerner, in rhetoric and Early Modern literature, and Assistant Professor D.M. Aderibigbe, an award-winning poet from Nigeria. Assistant Professor Junting Huang is joining the Comparative Literature Department, with a focus on world cinema and global media, while award-winning Israeli American pianist Yael Weiss comes to Binghamton as an assistant professor of music, leading the piano program. New Theatre faculty members include assistant professors Lisa Rothe in acting and directing, Ankita Raturi in dramatic writing, and Felipe Panama in musical theatre, dance and choreography. 

The Philosophy Department welcomes three new faculty members: Austen McDougal, whose research centers on the ethics and moral psychology of the heart; Nicolas Garcia Mills, who specializes in the history of moral, social, and political philosophy in the post-Kantian tradition; and Linda Radzik, a prominent senior philosopher who works on moral issues in the aftermath of wrongdoing.

Assistant Professor Doris Osei Afriyie is joining the Global Public Health program; her research focuses on health equity, immigrant health, and social policy. Assistant Professor of History Aparajita Das is a historian focused on South Asia and the regions surrounding the Indian Ocean, and Judaic Studies welcomes Assistant Professor Eliav Grossman, a Talmud scholar. 

In the STEM fields, a group of four new professors is focused on the connection between quantum science and AI. Yahong Yang and Sammy Luo are joining the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, with a focus on the mathematical foundations of AI and discrete mathematics, respectively, while assistant professors of physics Lebing Chen and Kunyan Zhang specialize in experimental quantum materials and nanofabrication, and experimental quantum sensing and communications. 

In Earth Sciences, assistant professors Tingting Gu and Lyn Watts will focus on critical mineralogy and energy resources, and hydrogeology, respectively. Joining the Geography Department are assistant professors Skye Naslund, who specializes in health and medical geography; Myung Sik Cho, whose work focuses on interactions between humans and the environment; and Congcong Miao, an expert in spatial data science and GeoAI.

“We couldn’t be more excited to welcome these scholars to campus, along with a fantastic group of new lecturers. Our students will benefit from a set of new courses as well as new areas of research and creative work,” Klin said. “We welcome our new colleagues to a community committed to academic excellence.”