W&L Welcomes New Visiting Faculty, Professors of Practice and Postdoctoral Fellows

Communications & Public Affairs
September 6, 2023

Washington and Lee University has welcomed 25 new faculty members who will serve as visiting professors, professors of practice or postdoctoral fellows across The College, The Williams School and The Law School this fall.

These new faculty members are:

Sima Ahsani, Visiting Assistant Professor of Mathematics
Ahsani holds a Ph.D in mathematics from Auburn University and she most recently served as a visiting assistant professor at Emory University. Her research interests include applications of differential geometry in classification and analysis of medical data. She also focuses on linear and nonlinear programming, linear algebra and matrix theory, multilinear algebra and applications and numerical range.

---

Nick Alden, Visiting Assistant Professor of Chemistry
Alden received a Ph.D. in bioengineering from Pennsylvania State University. He also holds a B.S. and M.S. in biomedical and mechanical engineering from Virginia Tech. He has worked on nano-scale, synthetic materials as vehicles for controlled/targeted delivery of small nucleic acid therapeutics.

---

Brandon Conley, Visiting Assistant Professor of Philosophy
Conley earned a Ph.D. in philosophy from Cornell University and he has previously taught at Virginia Commonwealth University, Colgate University and Clemson University. His research interests include the philosophy of science, especially the philosophy of biology and cognitive science, and environmental ethics.

---

Sarah Cravens ‘02L, Visiting Professor of Law
Cravens attended W&L Law and earned a J.D. in 2002. Her prior experience includes both teaching and law school administration, most recently serving as a visiting assistant professor at the University of Tulsa College of Law. Cravens’ areas of expertise are torts, professional responsibility and judicial ethics.

---

Connell Cunningham, Visiting Assistant Professor of Chemistry
Cunningham received a Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of North Carolina and he was previously a chemistry instructor at Coastal Carolina Community College. His research interests include analytical chemistry and mass spectrometry.

---

Ady Dewey, Visiting Assistant Professor of Strategic Communications
Dewey holds an M.A. in public administrations from the University of Pennsylvania. She previously served as a practitioner in residence at Bridgewater College. Her research interests are grounded in leadership communication, mentoring and collaborative international learning.

---

Heather Dobbins, Visiting Assistant Professor of Music and Visiting Director of Instrumental Activities
Dobbins received an M.M. degree from the University of Utah and has served as an adjunct professor at W&L for the last eight years. She has also been the band director at Southern Virginia University. Her teaching interests include music education in public schools and the training of effective music teachers and conductors.

---

Tammi Etheridge, Visiting Professor of Law
Etheridge holds a J.D. from the University of Minnesota and her prior experience includes serving as an associate professor at the Elon University School of Law. Her areas of expertise include administrative law, health law and food and drug law.

---

Karena Gill, Visiting Assistant Professor of Earth & Environmental Geoscience
Gill earned a Ph.D. in geology from the University of Alabama. She was previously a postdoctoral researcher at West Virginia University, where she collaborated with NASA on the Mars 2020 mission. Her interests include how biosignatures can be trapped and preserved in sulfates and extracting information from microenvironments.

---

Kate Grover, Visiting Assistant Professor of Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies
Grover received a Ph.D. in American studies with a concentration in women and gender studies from the University of Texas at Austin. Her teaching interests include popular music, feminisms, media studies, queer studies and 20th and 21st-century U.S. history.

---

Emily King, Visiting Assistant Professor of Writing and English
King holds a Ph.D. in English literature from Tufts University and she previously served as an associate professor of English at Louisiana State University. Her teaching interests include Shakespeare, early modern drama, gender, race and sexuality studies and critical theory.

---

Leila Lawlor, Director of Academic Excellence and Professor of Practice
Lawlor earned a J.D. from Georgia State University and he has previously served as the director of academic success, LLM programs and study abroad at Georgia State. Her areas of expertise include lawyering skills, professional development and civil procedure.

---

Rachel Levit Ades, Mudd Center Postdoctoral Fellow
Levit Adas received a Ph.D. in philosophy from Arizona State University and her prior experience includes teaching philosophy at Arizona State. Her research and teaching interests include applied ethics and the philosophy of disability and accessibility.

---

Alex Long, Visiting Professor of Law
Long holds a J.D. from the College of William & Mary and he has previously served as the Williford Gragg Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of Tennessee. His areas of expertise include torts, professional responsibility, employment law and disability law.

---

Delaney McLaughlin, Visiting Assistant Professor of Theater
McLaughlin earned an MFA in design with a track in scenography from the University of Georgia. Her research includes a thesis on lighting design for Stephen Sondheim’s “A Little Night Music.”

---

Aroldo Nery Mora, Visiting Assistant Professor of Spanish
Nery Mora received a Ph.D. in Spanish from Tulane University and he previously served as a visiting assistant professor at Tulane University. His research and teaching interests include contemporary Latin American and Caribbean literature in film, environmental humanities, sound studies and U.S. Latinx literature.

---

Kari Munro, Professor of Practice, Acting Director of the Tax Clinic
Munro earned a J.D. from the University of Virginia and an LL.M. from Duke University. She previously served as the assistant U.S. attorney for the Western District of Virginia. Her areas of expertise include tax law and white-collar crime.

---

Son Nguyen, Visiting Assistant Professor of Physics
Nguyen holds a Ph.D. in physics from Duke University. His teaching and research interests include theoretical nuclear physics, quantum mechanics and computational methods for physics.

---

Hafsa Oubou, Visiting Assistant Professor of Anthropology
Oubou earned a Ph.D. in anthropology from Northwestern University. Her teaching and research interests include anthropology and Middle Eastern and North African studies, religion, race and gender, migration and secularism in Western Europe and North Africa.

---

Julie Schwartz, Professor of Practice
Schwartz received a J.D. from the University of Michigan and has spent 20 years teaching legal writing at the Emory University School of Law. Her areas of expertise include legal writing, research and advocacy.

---

Heather Skeeles-Shiner ‘04L, Visiting Professor of Practice
Skeeles-Shiner earned a J.D. from Washington and Lee and has been serving as a staff attorney at W&L. Previously, she was an assistant city attorney for the City of Alexandria (Va.) and assistant attorney general for the District of Columbia. Her area of expertise is legal writing.

---

Carrie Stanton, Visiting Assistant Professor of Law
Stanton holds a J.D. from the University of Virginia and she previously was a partner for the Williams Mullen Law Firm. While in private practice, she also served as an adjunct professor at the University of Virginia School of Law. Her areas of expertise are mergers and acquisitions, and complex commercial negotiations.

---

William Tolley, Visiting Assistant Professor of Computer Science
Tolley holds a Ph.D. in computer science from Arizona State University. His research and teaching interests involve internet freedom, reverse engineering and developing exploits against VPNs and other security tools.

---

Kei Yamaguchi, Instructor of Japanese
Yamaguchi earned an M.A. from the University of Massachusetts and she has previously served as a world language teaching assistant at W&L. Her teaching and research interests include Japanese pedagogy and extensive listening.

---

Katia Yoza, Visiting Assistant Professor of Spanish
Yoza earned a Ph.D. in Spanish from Rutgers University. Her research and teaching interests are contemporary, urban and global transmissions of Amazonian indigenous narratives, collaborations between indigenous and non-indigenous peoples, and environmental and public humanities.

---

If you know any W&L faculty who would be great profile subjects, tell us about them! Nominate them for a web profile.