Posted By Brandon Fey on Aug 28, 2026 | 1 comment

By Brandon Fey, Editor-in-Chief

On Thursday, faculty and administrators met in the Mara Auditorium for the first faculty meeting of the 2026-27 academic year. The meeting addressed administrative ambitions for the upcoming year including progress of the Gettysburg 2.0 initiative, AI strategy and changes among the faculty. 

President Iuliano’s Remarks

President Bob Iuliano opened the meeting with a reflection on the impact of recent projects on campus. New major programs, residence hall upgrades and the CUB Ballroom renovation are part of an initiative that Iuliano has dubbed “Gettysburg 2.0.”

Based on years of market research, Gettysburg 2.0 is designed to enhance the student experience for making the College more successful in attracting prospective students. Iuliano argued that this project has begun yielding tangible results, as the college has experienced a 12 percent increase in the number of domestic students enrolled in the incoming class, representing the first such increase in nine years. 

The College also experienced a concurrent 30 percent decline in international applications, which Iuliano attributed to the country’s current presidential administration. This trend has compelled competitor institutions to target domestic enrollment more aggressively.

The College’s yield (percentage of applicants who accepted their offers of admission) increased by three points last year. Of the 27 schools with which Gettysburg shares information, only one saw a greater increase in yield. 

Iuliano congratulated Vice President for Enrollment and Educational Services Robert Schwartz, who assumed the position last year, for what Iuliano deemed “a very successful admissions cycle.” 

“I really am grateful for all we’ve managed to achieve in the last 12 months, and also for what it says about the ability of the College to make smart, calibrated risks that may break from the orthodoxy,” he said.

He also noted that last year the College recorded its highest senior satisfaction rate in 13 years. It has likewise been ranked in national publications, including Time magazine, which ranked the school 30th among national liberal arts colleges, ahead of Dickinson (34th) and trailing Franklin & Marshall (27th). 

Iuliano then stated that his goal is to spend the next six months as a community making a “firm decision” about the trajectory of the College in time for the board of trustees meeting in February, where they will determine their approval. Several proposals will thus be presented to the faculty this fall for feedback before going through the board processes. He acknowledged the ambition of this goal, and argued that it is “essential” given the revenue cycle of class years, gradual decline of market research relevance and the parallel ambitions of competitor institutions.

Next, he spoke on AI, expressing his desire that students gain competence using the technology, without creating intellectual dependence. Iuliano wants to use observations and ideas from this year to further develop the College’s philosophy on AI.

Third, Iuliano discussed fundraising, announcing that the College will launch the public phase of its comprehensive campaign in October with a kickoff event over Homecoming and Board Weekend (Oct. 16-17). He reported that the campaign has raised over $130 million in gifts and commitments.

He then affirmed that the College will continue to work making the budget more sustainable, stating that the principal focus of this year will be expanding revenue and containing costs.

Faculty-Led Initiatives 

Provost Jamila Bookwala announced the work of her office on faculty-led projects for this year.

These include the work of professors of English Chrisopher D’Addario and Melissa Forbes in expanding the Writing Center, as well as professor of mathematics Kim Spayd’s effort to do similar work with the Donna Brogan Center for Quantitative Learning and the “Dear Data Project.” A new ad hoc faculty committee for curriculum realignment has also been formed.

Bookwala then listed the transitions and appointments among the faculty.

Faculty Changes

Faculty Promoted to Associate Professor with Continuous Tenure Track 

Professor of Anthropology Kirby Farah 

Faculty Promoted to Full Professor

Professor of interdisciplinary studies Vernon Cisney

Professor of art and art history Tina Gebhart

Professor of history and africana studies Scott Hancock

Professor of interdisciplinary studies Ian Isherwood

Professor Robert Natter of the Sudermann Conservatory

Faculty Promoted to Senior Lecturer

Katherine Delaney of the psychology department

Jeremy Kuhar of the chemistry and biochemistry department

Drew Murphy of the economics department

New Endowed Chairs

New faculty member Aron Astor as the Robert C. Fluhrer Professor of Civil War Studies

Timothy Funk as Master Professor in Chemistry

Keir Lockridge as Alumni Professor in Mathematics

Linus Nyiwul as Benjamin Franklin Professor in Liberal Arts and Sciences

Hakeem Williams as Daria L. and Eric J. Wallach Professorship of Peace and Justice Studies 

New Department Chairs (3-Year Terms)

Kurt Andresen for physics

Jennifer Bloomquist for africana studies 

Zhining Hu for economics

Keir Lockridge for mathematics

Joanne Myers for English

Christopher Oechler for Spanish

Interim Chairs

Nathifa Greene for Peace and Justice Studies

Nathalie Lebon for Women Gender and Sexuality Studies

Benjamin Luley for Ancient Greek and Roman Studies

Faculty Returning from Sabattical

Professor of anthropology Matthew Amster

Professor of physics Kurt Andersen

Professor of mathematics Bela Bajnok

Professor of English Christopher Fee

Professor of chemistry Donald Jameson

Professor of biology Michael Caldwell

Professor of French Florence Jurney

Professor of Spanish Chirstopher Oechler

Professor of economics Gokcer Ozgur

Professor of management Patturaja Selvaraj

Professor of English Sushmita Sircar

Professor of art and art history Yan Sun

Faculty Milestones

Professor of physics Bret Crawford, professor of psychology Nathalie Goubet and history and Africana studies professor Scott Hancock have each completed 25 years of teaching at Gettysburg College. Colleagues recognized the three faculty members with valedictories: Kurt Andersen spoke for Crawford, Richard Russell for Goubet and Jennifer Bloomquist for Hancock.

New Faculty

Associate Provost Michelle Schmidt introduced the new faculty members who began teaching this year, as her office worked alongside the faculty search committees.

Aaron Astor as Robert C. Fluhrer Professor of Civil War Studies (with tenure)

Emily Dautenhahn as assistant professor of mathematics

Charles McGuffey as assistant professor of computer science

Alice Timken as assistant professor of political science

Jodi McFarland Friedman as lecturer of communication studies

Sarah Kate Gillespie as lecturer of art and art history while still serving as director of the Schmucker Art Gallery

William (Jason) Dove as lecturer at the Sunderman Conservatory

Todd Breighner as lecturer of management

Cecilia McKinnon as visiting assistant professor of art and art history

Hang Miao as visiting assistant professor of economics

Brenda Renteria Moran as visiting assistant professor of Spanish

Emily Redler as visiting assistant professor of management

Casey Riedmann as visiting assistant professor of psychology

Keyang Zheng as visiting assistant professor in data science

Julie Spencer as visiting assistant professor in chemistry

Fulbright Teaching Assistants and Researcher

Namiki Sakoda, Fulbright Japanese teaching assistant in east Asian studies from Japan

Grace Lee, Fulbright Chinese teaching assistant in east Asian studies from China

Leonce Richter, Fulbright German teaching assistant in German studies from Germany

Luna Guinebault Foré, Fulbright French teaching assistant in the French program of the French and Italian department from France

Juan Teske Ibanez, Fulbright Spanish teaching assistant in the Spanish department from Uruguay

A Fulbright researcher from Bosnia-Herzegovina will join the economics department beginning next week to conduct research on industry

Iuliano then closed the meeting wishing everyone good luck for the year ahead.