August 22, 2025
Washington and Lee Welcomes New Tenure Stream Faculty
Washington and Lee Welcomes New Tenure Stream Faculty Twelve faculty members will join new positions during the 2026-27 academic year.
Washington and Lee University has welcomed 12 tenure stream faculty members to new positions in the College, the Williams School and the Law School, where they will teach classes this fall.
The faculty members assuming new positions at W&L are:
Laura Pavon Aramburu, Assistant Professor of Spanish
Aramburu comes to W&L from the University of California, San Diego, where she was a faculty lecturer in the Department of Communications. She had also been an adjunct lecturer at Brooklyn College and was a contributing editor for Fair Observer. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Hispanic philology and a master’s degree in literature from Universidad Complutense de Madrid (Spain) as well as a master’s degree and Ph.D. in Latin American, Iberian and Latino cultures from City University of New York. Her research interests include Latin American and Latinx literatures, cultures, feminisms, social media and representations of gender violence in contemporary Mexican journalism.
Vania Blaiklock, Assistant Professor of Law
Blaiklock joins the W&L faculty from the College of William & Mary where she served as an adjunct professor in the Law School while earning a Master of Arts and a Ph.D. in American studies. After earning a J.D. from William & Mary Law School, Blaiklock spent two years as an employment attorney at Woods Rodgers (formerly Vandeventer Black) in Norfolk and Richmond, Virginia, before pivoting to a focus on constitutional research. She also holds a Bachelor of Arts in political science from Lee University. Blaiklock teaches constitutional law, education law and law and religion, and her research considers the role that race, religion and education have played, and continue to play, in American constitutional law.
Connell Cunningham, Assistant Professor of Chemistry
Cunningham was promoted to assistant professor of chemistry after serving as a visiting assistant professor since 2023. He holds a Bachelor of Science in chemistry, secondary education from North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University, a Master of Science in chemistry from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and a Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His research interests include analytical and bioanalytical chemistry, mass spectrometry, wine chemistry and Black cultural history of South Africa.
Maxwell Cunningham, Assistant Professor of Earth and Environmental Geoscience
Cunningham comes to W&L from Dartmouth College, where he was a postdoctoral scholar and visiting scientist for six years. During that time, he also worked on satellite imagery for the U.S. Department of Defense. Cunningham earned a Ph.D. in geological and earth sciences at Columbia University and a Bachelor of Science in geology from the College of William & Mary. His research and teaching interests include geomorphology and earth surface processes, earth-climate interactions and tropical glaciers, remote sensing and paleoclimate.
Kimberly Eller, Assistant Professor of Journalism
Eller joins the W&L faculty after eight years with Hearst Television where she served as news director at WJCL in Savannah, Georgia, and assistant news director at WGAL in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and KSBW in Salinas, California. She also spent nearly 19 years as a producer with WDBJ in Roanoke, Virginia. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in communication studies from the University of North Carolina Wilmington and a Master of Arts in liberal studies from Hollins University. Her teaching and research interests include strategic newsroom leadership, digital content strategy, community journalism, cross-platform storytelling and historical documentaries.
Nicholas Gardella, Assistant Professor of Computer Science
Gardella arrives at W&L after serving as a graduate research fellow in computer and information science and engineering at the University of Virginia, focusing on human-artificial intelligence (AI) interaction in computer science. His experience also includes serving as an adjunct instructor in IT programming at New River Community College. Gardella earned a Bachelor of Science in computer science from Virginia Tech, a Master of Engineering in systems engineering and a Ph.D. in systems engineering from the University of Virginia. His research interests explore computing education, human-AI and human-computer interaction, cyber-physical systems, physiological sensing and human factors.
Adrienne Jones, Assistant Professor of Sociology
Jones was promoted to assistant professor of sociology after serving as the DeLaney Center postdoctoral fellow in Southern race relations, culture and politics since 2024. She holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a master’s degree in public policy from Duke University and a Ph.D. in public policy, also from Duke. Her research interests include poverty and inequality, debt and social policy, contemporary social problems and U.S. social welfare.
Joshua Lazard, Assistant Professor of Africana Studies and Religion
Lazard joins the W&L faculty after earning a Ph.D. in practical theology from Boston University in May. He also holds a Bachelor of Arts in accounting from Fisk University and a Master of Divinity from the Interdenominational Theological Center. His work experiences also include serving as the director of music at Clark Atlanta University, adjunct instructor and coordinator of the Leadership Institute at Dillard University and the C. Eric Lincoln Minister for Student Engagement at Duke University. His research and teaching interests explore African American preaching traditions, religion and Black critical theory, fugitivity, pragmatism and theories of imagination.
Fernando J. Loayza-Jordán, Assistant Professor of Law
Loayza-Jordán arrives at W&L after two years as a visiting assistant professor at the Drexel University Thomas R. Kline School of Law and as a lecturer at Yale University. He earned a J.S.D. and LL.M. from Yale University and an LL.B. from Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, and he worked for several years in tax consulting with PricewaterhouseCoopers and as an independent consultant on tax and policy issues and researcher with the Tax Justice Network. He also taught tax law and legal theory in both Peru and India. Loayza-Jordán’s scholarship focuses on the interaction between taxation, justice and democracy.
Simmi Mookerjee, Assistant Professor of Accounting
Mookerjee comes to W&L from the University of Virginia where she was a visiting assistant professor of business administration for two years. She also served as a lecturer in the Foster School of Business at the University of Washington for one year after earning a Ph.D. in accounting from there in 2022. She also holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in accounting from the University of Kansas. Her research and teaching interests include financial accounting and data analytics, financial and non-financial disclosures, investor and regulatory responses and diversity signaling in corporate communications.
Sarah Petersen, Assistant Professor of Mathematics and Data Science
Petersen joins the W&L faculty from the University of Colorado Boulder where she served as a visiting assistant professor and postdoctoral fellow since 2023. She also spent time as a postdoctoral researcher with the Max Planck Institute for Mathematics in Bonn, Germany, after earning a Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of Notre Dame. She also holds a Master of Science in mathematics from Notre Dame and a Bachelor of Science in mathematics from Hope College. Her teaching and research interests include algebraic topology, algebraic geometry and topological data analysis.
Trevor Stalnaker ’20, Assistant Professor of Computer Science
Stalnaker returns to W&L after earning a Master of Science and Ph.D. in software engineering from the College of William & Mary. While there, he served as a research and teaching assistant in the Department of Computer Science. He also served as a computer science teacher at Parry McCluer High School immediately after earning a Bachelor of Science in computer science from W&L in 2020. His research and teaching interests include software engineering, software supply chains and license compliance, open-source software and machine learning.
