As of July 1, 2022, David Brown (Mathematics) and Raul Palma (Writing) will be taking on the roles of Associate Dean of Curriculum & Undergraduate Programs, and Associate Dean of Faculty & New Initiatives, in the H&S Dean's Office. They will be replacing Stacia Zabusky and Brendan Murday, who previously filled those positions and are entering new roles as associate provosts.
David Brown, IC alum and parent, joined the Department of Mathematics in 2001, was tenured in 2007 and promoted to full professor in 2015. He has taught more than 30 different courses, at the undergraduate and graduate levels, including Ithaca Seminars and courses for the Honors program. Hired to support undergraduate research efforts in the department, he has mentored over 100 students in mathematical research, published with several of them, and taken them to countless conferences. David’s research focuses on dynamical systems and fractal geometry, and he has been involved in securing several large NSF grants to support student research and to provide opportunities for low-income students. Highlights of David’s service to the college include seven years on the All-College Tenure and Promotion Committee and ten years on the H&S Curriculum Committee, chairing or co-chairing for eight of those years. He served as chair of the Math Department from 2015-2021, which he describes as the most frustrating yet most rewarding time of his career so far. His efforts as a faculty member have been honored with a Mathematical Association of America Henry Alder Award for Distinguished Teaching (2008) and an IC Faculty Excellence Award (2014).
Raul Palma joined the IC community in 2017 through the Ithaca College Diversity Fellowship program. After earning his Ph.D. in English from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln with a specialization in ethnic studies, he was appointed to a tenure-eligible line in 2018 in the Department of Writing. He has taught across the writing curriculum, including advanced courses in poetics, narrative ethics, and creative writing pedagogy. He has also taught in the Ithaca Seminar program and has hosted writing workshops through Community Arts Partnership and at Elmira Correctional Facility. In his department, Palma chaired the development committee, and he led a two-year process to re-envision the department’s stated values around antiracism, sustainability, and the humanities. At the college, he served on the Faculty Council Executive Committee as a member-at-large and as secretary. During this time, he co-led an initiative to rethink the soft policies around tenure and promotion under the strains of the pandemic. He also served as an advocate for faculty at all ranks across the college during the early stages of the Academic Prioritization Process. As secretary, he composed detailed notes summarizing the events of each Faculty Council meeting which kept the entire IC faculty informed at an anxious time for the college. Palma is the award-winning author of In This World of Ultraviolet Light: Stories (forthcoming from Indiana University Press) and of his debut novel A Haunting in Hialeah Gardens (forthcoming from Dutton, an imprint of Penguin Random House). Prior to graduate school, he worked in advertising and inventory management at AT&T and Barnes Group, with an emphasis on client relations and business development.
The H&S Dean’s Office is delighted to welcome Dave and Raul to our office because of the range of disciplinary knowledge and experience they will bring; because of their deep roots in the faculty and their palpable commitment to students, faculty, and staff; and because of their kind and collaborative dispositions.