Co-directors and Board

Co-Directors

Timothy Landry graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2013 with a Ph.D. in anthropology specializing in West African and Afro-Caribbean religions. Professor Landry’s research examines the ways in which religious secrecy and material culture encourage the globalization of autochthonous West African religious practices as new African diasporas are formed around the world.

In the classroom, Professor Landry directs students’ attention to the importance of human and religious diversity. In so doing, students are able to challenge the ways they have come to see African and Afro-Caribbean religious practice. Through classroom engagement, Professor Landry shows students that one can no longer study African society only in Africa. As such, in many of his courses, Professor Landry helps students to engage with established African and Afro-Caribbean communities in nearby urban centers such as Hartford, New York City, and Boston. Through community engagement, theoretical and ethnographic rigor, and dynamic classroom discussion Professor Landry instills in his students an appreciation for embodied learning and critical thinking.

 

Madalene Spezialetti        Imagination. Creativity.  Logic.  The practice of Computer Science involves all three, and it was exactly this combination that drew Dr. Spezialetti into the field. As a professor, she strives to instill an appreciation for all three in her students.  Her teaching interests reflect her research interests and run the gamut from the study of computer operating system design to the use of computer animation, video and digital darkroom techniques…a combination which can result in one class of students working on a simulation of a scheduling algorithm for computer processes while another is working on an assignment titled “Frogs Attack Trinity”.  She is also an enthusiastic participant in the teaching of First Year Seminars using the “Reacting to the Past Paradigm”, in which students use role-playing as a means of studying  significant moments in history, such as the deliberations of the Assembly in 403 B.C. Athens (a four week adventure for which everyone, including Dr. Spezialetti, wears a toga).

Dr. Spezialetti received her B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Computer Science from the University of Pittsburgh.  Prior to joining Trinity, in 1995, she was a member of the faculty of the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science department of Lehigh University.

Advisory Board

Arianne Bazilio, Assistant Professor of Environmental Science and Chemistry

Lin Cheng, Charles A. Dana Research Associate Professor of Engineering

Hasan Comert, Assistant Professor of Economics

Tamsin Jones, Associate Professor of Religious Studies

Mark Silk, Director, Leonard Greenberg Center for the Study of Religion in Public Life and Professor of Religion in Public Life

Vince Tomasso, Assistant Professor of Classical Studies

Maurice Wade, Professor of Philosophy, Emeritus