Our Faculty
I am an assistant professor of biology at Vassar College, a small liberal arts college. I split my time between teaching (introductory biology, biochemistry, RNA biology, etc.) and running a lab investigating the mechanisms of translation initiation in eukaryotes.
I am a proud Colombian-American who loves cycling, soccer, and cooking with my kids.
Kimberly Williams Brown (M.S., M.A., PHR, Ph.D.) holds a Ph.D. from Syracuse University in Cultural Foundations of Education, and Bachelor’s degrees in Sociology and Psychology from Concord University, Master’s degrees in Human Resource Management (University of Charleston) and Communication and Rhetorical Studies (Syracuse University) and certificates in Women and Gender Studies (Syracuse University) and Professionals in Human Resources.
Amy Chin is Assistant Professor of American Studies and Asian Studies at Vassar College. She received her doctoral training in sociology at Brown University. She teaches courses about Asian American women, US militarism, oral history, and memory.
Diane Harriford is a Professor of Sociology, Women’s Studies, and Africana Studies at Vassar College.
Luis Jimenez Inoa is the son of Maria and Jose Jimenez. Husband to Evelyn Velazquez, Papi to four beautiful children (YaYa, Tito, Chacha, and Teo), and Lalu to one granchild (Elliea). He was born in Brooklyn and raised in Queens. He grew playing and loving baseball and still does (Yankees, if you must know).
He is currently the Associate Dean of the College, for Student Living and Wellness at Vassar College. His portfolio includes the Offices of Residential Life (ResEd, ResOps, Student Conduct and Housing), Health Service, Counseling Service, Health Promotion and Education, and Support, Advocacy, and Violence Prevention (SAVP). He chairs Orientation, the Bias Incident Response Team, and the Student Support Network.
He earned his bachelor’s in Black Studies from SUNY New Paltz, his master’s in Educational and Psychological Development from Boston College, and his Ph.D. in the Educational Policy Leadership program at the University at Albany, SUNY. His research focuses on the Latine community, athletics, and their student engagement.
At his core, the lessons from his grandmother, mother, and generations of black feminists, have stuck with him- make room at the table for anyone that crosses the threshold of his professional or personal home. This has guided every step and job along the way (Hartwick College, Boston College, University of Miami, New York University, Vassar College, Skidmore College and back to Vassar College). Each one of those jobs was made possible by someone, typically a person of color, who saw something in him, and took a chance.
Luis is also the creator of English Tongue-Latinx Soul. The presentation has allowed him travel to numerous colleges and universities, speaking to students about diversity using a combination of storytelling, poetry, music and photography.
Tim Koechlin is the Director of Vassar College’s International Studies Program, and a Senior Lecturer in International Studies and Urban Studies. Tim earned his Ph. D. in economics from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst in 1989. Before arriving at Vassar in 2001, Tim taught economics at Smith College and Skidmore College, where he was a tenured member of the economics department. In addition to his work in International Studies and Urban Studies at Vassar, Tim is a member of the steering committee of Vassar’s Latin American and Latino/a Studies Program (LALS).
Tim has taught and written about a variety of subjects including globalization, inequality, urban political economy, economic development, macroeconomic policy, international investment, NAFTA, and alternative economic theory.
Tim Koechlin is the proud parent of 3 children, and a life-long fan of the Boston Red Sox.
Elena Elías Krell joins the faculty of the Women’s Studies Program at Vassar as Assistant Professor of Women’s Studies after completing two two-year postdoctoral fellowships: the prestigious César Chávez Postdoctoral Fellowship at Dartmouth, and the Consortium for Faculty Diversity at Vassar College. Krell received their Ph.D. in Performance Studies from Northwestern University in 2014, specializing in gender & sexuality studies, performance, and popular music studies. Krell’s scholarship has been published by Journal of Popular Music Studies, Oxford University Press’s Trans Bodies Trans Selves, The Oxford Handbook of Voice Studies, The Routledge Handbook of Communication & Gender, and more. They are a songwriter and have an active music project entitled “Hen in the Foxhouse.”
Krystle J. McLaughlin earned a B.A. in Physics from Colgate University in 2006, followed by a PhD in Biophysics at the University of Rochester in 2011. She was then a postdoctoral scholar in the SPIRE program at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, which emphasized teaching and pedagogical training, along with traditional research. Dr. McLaughlin joined the Vassar Chemistry department in 2017.
She teaches biochemistry, protein chemistry, and general chemistry. Her research interestes are focused on the biochemical and biophysical study of proteins from diverse microbial systems including the gut microbe Bacteroides ovatus, antibiotic resistant Staphyococcus & Salmonella, and Mycobacterium phages. Her lab makes primary use of macromolecular x-ray crystallography to investigate protein structure and function.
Taneisha N. Means is an Assistant Professor of Political Science on the Class of 1951 Chair at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, NY. Her research and teaching interests are in Racial and Ethnic Politics, Judicial Politics, and American Political Behavior and Identities. She combines both qualitative and quantitative methods to answer research questions at the intersection of race and judicial politics. Her current research projects examine the political identities and behaviors of 21st century black US judges.
Osman Nemli is an Assistant Professor of Philosophy. His teaching and research explore the intersections of social and political philosophy, ethics, and aesthetics. His writing has appeared, among other venues, in the Fashion Studies Journal.
Justin Patch studies music in American politics; sound studies; East Asian art music; and music in the African diaspora. He is currently engaged in two projects, a monograph on the artistic practices of contemporary American populism and an ethnographic study of sound and religion in the post-industrial areas of the Hudson Valley. His monograph, Discordant Democracy: Noise, Affect, Populism and the Presidential Campaign, was published by Routledge in 2019, and a sound studies text book Re-Making Sound: An Experiential Approach to Sound Studies, co-authored with Tom Porcello, is being published by Bloomsbury in 2021.
Sarah Pearlman is an Associate Professor of Economics at Vassar College. She joined Vassar after finishing her Ph.D. at the University of Maryland, and teaches classes in gender economics, finance, econometrics, and Latin American economic development. Her research is in the area of development and labor economics, with a focus on households and small firms in Latin America. Her recent work focuses on the impact of migration on labor markets in Mexico and on the determinants of women’s occupational choice in the U.S.
José Perillán is an Assistant Professor at Vassar College with a joint appointment in the Department of Physics and Astronomy & the Science, Technology, and Society (STS) multidisciplinary program. In addition to his multidisciplinary teaching load, Perillán’s current book project focuses on the effects of scientist-storytellers on the teaching, practice, and public perception of science. As a graduate student working towards a joint doctorate in physics and history at the University of Rochester, Perillán worked as a councilor and taught summer immersion courses related to their Higher Education Opportunities Program (HEOP). He is looking forward to collaborating with the EPI Summer Immersion in the Liberal Arts program, and bringing a perspective that challenges traditional disciplinary boundaries while bridging the natural sciences and other curricular divisions at the College.
Dr. Matthew Schultz directs the Vassar College Writing Center. He also co-chairs the Writing Subcommittee of the Committee on Curricular Policy and serves on the Media Studies Steering Committee. Matt earned his B.A. (2003) and M.A. (2005) in English Literature at John Caroll University and his Ph.D. in English Literature from Saint Louis University (2010) where he specialized in Irish Studies, Literary Modernism, and Postcolonial Theory. His teaching and research interests also include comparative literature, creative writing, and multimodal rhetoric. Matt is the author of four books and has published two-dozen articles on literature and literary history, teaching undergraduates, and writing center administration.
Catherine Tan’s research interests include medical sociology, science and technology studies, inequalities, disability studies, social movements, and qualitative methods.
She is currently working on her first book, “Challenging Autism: The Making of Controversial Bodies and Identities,” which examines how communities produce, practice, and protect knowledge that challenges dominant understandings of autism. She compares the autistic rights and alternative biomedical movements to explore how they reimagine autism’s causation, key characteristics, and appropriate intervention. This study draws from ethnographic observations (of meetings, conferences, retreats, and informal events), seventy in-depth interviews, and selected texts collected between 2013 and 2016.
In addition, she is collaborating on a research project that explores perceptions of risk and experiences of confinement during the COVID-19 pandemic. This longitudinal study employs in-depth interviews with 45 young adults and their families, totalling 120 interviews.
She holds a PhD in sociology from Brandeis University, MA from Columbia University, and BA from the University of California, San Diego.
