A wave of dedicated St. Joseph’s faculty will receive promotions and tenure this September, announced College President Donald R. Boomgaarden, Ph.D.
Dr. Boomgaarden asked that the college community join him in congratulating the professors “for this well-deserved recognition of their success, their service to our students and their commitment to their scholarship.”
The following professors will be awarded tenure, effective this September:
Dr. Kirk Lawrence
Dr. Lawrence is the coordinator of human relations and an associate professor of sociology at SJC Long Island. He teaches Environment and Society (part of the environmental studies minor), Globalization, and Sociological Theory. Prior to his arrival at St. Joseph’s in 2011, Dr. Lawrence taught at the University of California, Riverside, California State University at Long Beach, and the University of La Verne in La Verne, California.
Dr. Lynn McGoey
Dr. McGoey is an associate professor of psychology, human relations, and childhood or adolescence special education at SJC Long Island. Her research interests focus in the areas of community psychology, the impact of community outreach programs, and Neuropsychology investigating the role of environmental influences on aging and developmental disorders — including autism, Down syndrome and Alzheimer’s disease.
Dr. Elizabeth Zollinger
Dr. Zollinger is the associate chair and an associate professor of mathematics and computer science at SJC Brooklyn. She teaches a variety of classes, including all levels of calculus, differential equations, and statistics. At Boston University — where she received her masters and doctorate degrees — she studied Newton’s N-Body Problem, a model for the motion of bodies in space. The model has served as a proving ground for the study of differential equations ever since Newton tried to describe the motion of the moon.
The following associate professors will be promoted to professor, effective this September:
Dr. Mirella Landriscina
Dr. Landriscina is the associate chair of the College’s Department of Social Sciences. She teaches Introduction to Sociology (SOC 100), Poverty & Social Welfare (SOC 275) and Research Methods (348). Dr. Landriscina, who holds degrees from New York University and the University of Pennsylvania, has research interests in inequality, housing, economic sociology, media, culture.
Dr. Judith Phagan
Dr. Phagan is chair of the College’s English Department. Dr. Phagan is active in incorporating multiculturalism into the campus. She co-organized an SJC alternative winter break in Nicaragua; organized a global exchange teach-in with guest speakers, Dr. Juan Manuel Sandoval and photojournalist David Bacon; and she was a founding mentor for St. Joseph’s chapter of Amnesty International. She also instituted the first Department of English service-learning class, Analytical Writing.
The following assistant professors will be promoted to associate professor, effective this September:
Dr. Sarah Birch
Dr. Birch is the director of the M.A. in Childhood and Adolescence Special Education program. Last summer, she teamed with two colleagues in Basel, Switzerland, for an annual conference through the International School Psychology Association to present a study they conducted called “The Reliability and Validity of Forced-Choice Preference Assessment for Infants and Toddlers.” The study explores the relationship between the reinforcers parents determine for young learners — between 11 and 17 months old — and the children’s preferences.
Dr. Jo Anne Durovich
Dr. Durovich is chair of the Department of Human Services, director of M.S. in Human Service Leadership program and director of the Institute for Attainable Homes. Dr. Durovich earned a Ph.D. in Social Work from Stony Brook University and spent over 15 years in the nonprofit sector, where she worked as an administrator and grant writer to develop programs for homeless people, low-income families and youths. Her professional interests focus on human service administration, leadership and innovation with a specific focus on increasing access to services for underserved populations.
Dr. Michael Magee
Dr. Magee teaches psychology classes at SJC Brooklyn. He is an experimental social psychologist whose research centers on the interpersonal foundations of social identification and intergroup prejudice. Dr. Magee is interested in how the important people in our lives affect the way we regulate our attitudes and beliefs, especially when we are presented with alternate, opposing, or otherwise contrasting ideas (e.g., science and religion). His research has pursued the study of religiosity, with a particular emphasis on the impact parental relationships bestow on the modulation of religious experience.
Dr. Jessica Scher Lisa
Dr. Scher Lisa teaches child study and adolescent special education at SJC Long Island. In her private practice, Dr. Scher Lisa works with children, adolescents and families. She also specializes in diagnosing and treating autism spectrum disorders. Dr. Scher Lisa received her degree in clinical psychology from the University of Hartford and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Cody Center for Autism and Developmental Disabilities. She is a licensed clinical psychologist and holds a doctorate degree in clinical psychology from the University of Hartford.
Dr. Susan Van Scoy
Dr. Van Scoy teaches in the art department at SJC Long Island. She joined the Art Department at St. Joseph’s College in 2015. She teaches courses in History of Photography, American Art, Non-Western Art, Modern Art, and Introductory Surveys in both online and land-based classrooms. She is an avid supporter of incorporating online pedagogical approaches, as well as study abroad and experiential museum visits into her courses. Dr. Van Scoy’s research interests include female photographers of the 1980s, the history of photography, and public art and architecture.
