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MARIETTA -- Six professors at Marietta College have been promoted and awarded tenure.
Those receiving tenure and a promotion from assistant professor to associate professor were:
* Brandon Downing (history)
* Andy Francis (music)
* James Karan (accounting)
* Linda Lockhart (communication)
* Alexandra Perry (leadership).
Susan Peterson (petroleum engineering) also received tenure, but remains at the associate professor level.
"Faculty at Marietta College take the granting of tenure very seriously, as it is a career-long commitment to employment and support," Janet Bland, dean of the faculty, said. "All candidates for tenure at Marietta College face a rigorous, multi-year review process from Renewal, Tenure and Promotion committee, and must meet our high institutional standards for teaching, scholarly activity, and service to the College."
Downing arrived at Marietta in 2017 and has a focus on early American history, particularly native-white relations along the frontier. His current book manuscript is "'Barbarous Tribes of Savages': Violence and Conflict on the Periphery of Empire in the Colonial Mid-Atlantic, 1750-1776."
Francis came to Marietta College in 2015 and is an award-winning composer and percussionist. His music has been performed at festivals, conferences, and universities across the United States and abroad.
Karan came to Marietta College in 2017 and primarily teaches in the fields of taxation, financial accounting and managerial/cost accounting. His research interests are in accounting ethics. Prior to joining Marietta College, Karan taught at institutions in Florida and South Dakota.
Lockhart arrived at Marietta College in 2018 following 20 years as a communication professional. This included 16 years focused on marketing, public relations, organizational communication, and creative direction in higher education at Ohio University and Washington State Community College.
Perry arrived at Marietta College in 2013 and was on the faculty for a short period before leaving to conduct some post-doctoral work. She returned for the 2017-18 academic year as the Executive-in-Residence. She returned in 2019 as a faculty member at the McDonough Center for Leadership and Business where she teaches classes on Leadership Studies and Ethics.
Peterson came to Marietta College in 2015 and has 35 years of experience as a consultant, project manager, senior drilling engineer, and, most recently, associate professor. She specializes in applying risk analysis and decision methods for economic models, full project development and optimization, cost and schedule models, and well drilling design.
"Tenure is an important element of faculty work in higher education -- it's at the heart of academic freedom and ensures independent research into areas of study that may be seen as controversial or groundbreaking," Bland said. "Tenure allows college and university faculty the ability to conduct research and inquiry that is protected outside influence by donors, industry, political organizations, or government agencies -- but subject to rigorous peer review by other experts in the field. Tenure protects faculty members from losing their jobs because someone does not like the questions they are asking or the direction a project is going."
The Board of Trustees also approved four faculty promotions for Ann Bragg (Professor of Astronomy), Jaclyn Schwieterman (Professor of Athletic Training), Joe Sullivan (Professor of English) and Chyrsten Gessel (Associate Professor of Athletic Training).