Lawrence University is welcoming 13 new tenure-track faculty and one three-year appointment as it prepares to begin classes for the 2024-25 academic year.
One of the new faculty members, Ornella Hills ’12, has been hired into the endowed position named in honor of Mark Burstein, the 16th president of Lawrence. The Mark Burstein Assistant Professor of Global and Public Health position was established as part of a fund-raising effort to honor Burstein at the close of his term as president in 2021.
Peter Blitstein, provost and dean of faculty, said the expertise, experience, and passion this group of new faculty bring to Lawrence will be invigorating across the disciplines.
“This year Lawrence welcomes the largest and most diverse group of new faculty in recent memory,” Blitstein said. “It is an innovative, dedicated group of teachers, scholars, and artists who will enrich our university in the classrooms, laboratories, studios, and beyond.”
Classes for Fall Term begin Sept. 16.
Meet the new faculty
Kivie Cahn-Lipman, associate professor of music (cello): Cahn-Lipman comes to Lawrence from Youngstown State University, where he has taught cello since 2017. He previously taught at The College of New Jersey, Mount Holyoke College, and Smith College and has been a frequent performer as a cellist and gambist. He earned a DMA from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, a master’s from The Juilliard School, and a bachelor’s degree from Oberlin College Conservatory of Music.
Rachel Dyer, assistant professor of psychology: Dyer arrives at Lawrence following a pre-doctoral internship at University Counseling Center at the University of Utah. Dyer received a Ph.D. in counseling psychology, with a dissertation on Experiences and perceptions: A comparative, qualitative description of psychological consultation and assessment for gestational carrying. She earned a master’s degree in counseling and a bachelor’s degree with majors in psychology and neurobiology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Lucero Estrella, assistant professor of ethnic studies: Estrella recently finished a Ph.D. in American studies at Yale University. Her dissertation, Building Interethnic Borderlands: Japanese-Mexican Relations and Memory-Making in Texas and Mexico, 1900-Present, is a study of the histories of Japanese migration and community formation in Texas and Mexico across the 20th century. She earned her M.A. and M.Phil. in American studies at Yale and her bachelor’s degree from the University of Texas at Austin with majors in Mexican American & Latina/o studies and Asian cultures and languages.
Víctor Garre León, assistant professor of Spanish and linguistics: Garre León comes to Lawrence from the University of Texas at Austin, where he completed his Ph.D. in Hispanic linguistics. He earned his master’s degrees in Hispanic linguistics at the University of Texas at Austin, teaching Spanish as a foreign language at Universidad Internacional Menendez Pelayo in Santander, Spain, and Hispanic literatures at West Virginia University. He earned a bachelor’s degree in English studies (language, literature, and linguistics) at Universidad de Murcia, Spain.
Shannon Gravelle, assistant professor of music (choral studies): Gravelle comes to Lawrence from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, where she served as director of choral activities since 2021. Before that Gravelle was director of choral activities/coordinator of music education at Meredith College. She holds a Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of Iowa, a Master of Music from California State University Long Beach, and a bachelor’s degree with a major in music from Luther College.
Ornella Hills ’12, Mark Burstein Assistant Professor of Global and Public Health: Hills is the inaugural Mark Burstein Assistant Professor of Global and Public Health at Lawrence University. She returns to her alma mater from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, where she has served on the faculty since 2022. She majored in biochemistry at Lawrence. She went on to earn a master’s in population health and a Ph.D. in mass communication, both at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Hills joins the Lawrence faculty in a position endowed in the name of Mark Burstein, who served as Lawrence’s 16th president from 2013 to 2021. Learn more about $250,000 grant for Ornella Hills' research.
Gregory Hitch, assistant professor of environmental studies: Hitch is already a familiar face on campus. He served as the Jill Beck NEH Postdoctoral Fellow in the Humanities in the Department of Ethnic Studies the past two years. He has now been hired as an assistant professor of environmental studies. He works with Indigenous communities fighting for environmental justice and sovereignty, in addition to researching the environmental history of settler colonialism in the United States. He received his master’s degree and Ph.D. from Brown University. As an undergraduate, he studied history, environmental studies, and American Indian studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Estéfani Marín, assistant professor of ethnic studies: Marin joins the Lawrence faculty after finishing her Ph.D. in sociology from the University of California, Irvine. Her dissertation is on Overlooked Family Members: How Siblings in the Racial Middle Support Educational Journeys. She earned a master’s in sociology from UC Irvine and a bachelor’s degree with majors in sociology and Latin American, Latino & Caribbean studies from Dartmouth College. Marin’s research interests include race and ethnicity, education, family, youth, qualitative methods, and criminology.
Zachary Marley, instructor of music (tuba): Marley joins Lawrence’s Conservatory of Music on a three-year appointment. He has taught as an instructor of low brass at the University of Minnesota-Duluth since 2023 and previously worked as an adjunct professor at Tarleton State University and an adjunct instructor at Southeastern Oklahoma State University. He is pursuing a Doctor of Musical Arts in music performance (tuba) at the University of North Texas. He holds a master’s in music performance from Northwestern University and bachelor’s degrees in music performance from the University of North Texas.
Hilary Miller-Goldwater, assistant professor of psychology: Miller-Goldwater comes to Lawrence after serving as a post-doctoral fellow at Emory University since 2018. She earned a Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, with areas of focus in cognition and cognitive neuroscience. She earned a bachelor’s degree with a major in psychology from UW. In 2020, she received a three-year Ruth L. Kirschstein Postdoctoral Individual National Research Service Award from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development for the study of STEM Learning from Books Prior to Formal Education.
Nadje Noordhuis, assistant professor of music: An accomplished trumpeter and composer, Noordhuis joins the Conservatory faculty with an impressive performance resume. She has been a trumpeter for the Maria Schneider Orchestra, Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society, Anat Cohen Tentet, Matt Wilson’s Honey and Salt, and Fred Hersch’s Leaves of Grass. She is a trumpeter and composer for Fifth Bridge, an electro-acoustic trumpet quintet, and has been an instructor at Berklee College of Music, Manhattan School of Music, and Hunter College. She holds a Master of Music in Jazz Trumpet from Manhattan School of Music and bachelor’s degrees from Victorian College of the Arts and Southern Cross University, both in Australia. She also is pursuing a Doctor of Philosophy at Griffith University, Australia.
Anne Ratnoff, assistant professor of French and Francophone studies: Ratnoff comes to Lawrence after serving the past academic year as a visiting assistant professor of French at Kenyon College. She holds a Ph.D. in French from Harvard University, with a dissertation on Reading Over the Referent in Duras, Djebar and Louis: Autofiction, Universalism, and Excentric Reading. She earned a master’s degree in French from Middlebury College in Paris and a bachelor’s degree with a double major in French and cognitive and linguistic sciences from Wellesley College.
Jennifer Snyder Kozoroz, assistant professor of music (viola): Snyder Kozoroz joins the Conservatory faculty after serving the past five years as an adjunct teacher of violin and viola at Brevard College. She previously served as director and viola instructor for the Milwaukee Youth Symphony Orchestra Progressions Program and taught at West Texas A&M University, Old Dominion University, and Christopher Newport University. She holds a Master of Music in viola performance from The Juilliard School and a bachelor’s degree with a major in viola performance from The Ohio State University.
Kurt Wilson, assistant professor of anthropology: Wilson comes to Lawrence after two years as a National Science Foundation SBE Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Department of Geography at the University of Utah. The fellowship supports postdoctoral research in the social, behavioral, and economic sciences. He holds a Ph.D. in anthropology from the University of Utah, with a dissertation on The Ecology of Inequality: Assessing Environmental Influence on Tradeoffs for Differential Resource Access. He earned a master’s in anthropology and an M.Ed. in higher education at Iowa State University and a bachelor’s degree with a major in history from the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse.
Ed Berthiaume
Ed Berthiaume is director of public information at Lawrence University.
