Where They Are Now

The Chronicle‘s rising stars of 1996

Nicholas C. Barberis, 31

Ph.D. in business economics, Harvard University, 1996.

First job: assistant professor of finance, University of Chicago, 1996.

Now: associate

professor of finance, University of Chicago.

Accomplishments: Mr. Barberis has received the Emory Williams Award for Excellence in Teaching three times since arriving at the university. In 2000, he was awarded the Paul A. Samuelson Prize for outstanding scholarly writing on lifelong financial security and the 2000 Fame Research Prize by the International Center for Asset Management.

His take: “I work on an area of financial economics called behavioral finance. It’s a relatively new and controversial area that argues that some financial market phenomena might be due to irrational behavior on the part of investors. ... The University of Chicago encourages faculty to take risks on more ambitious projects, even if controversial, rather than to just tweak existing research. Taking risks can be stressful at times, but it’s ultimately more fulfilling.”

Michael W. Deem, 34

Ph.D. in chemical engineering, University of California at Berkeley, 1994.

First job: assistant professor of chemical engineering, University of California at Los Angeles, 1996.

Now: professor of bioengineering and physics and astronomy, Rice University. Earned tenure at UCLA two years early, in 2000.

Accomplishments: Mr. Deem has published 60 scholarly papers and holds 12 U.S. patents. He has a named chair at Rice, and has won both an Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship and a Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award. In 1999, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Technology Review named him one of the nation’s top 100 young innovators.

His take: “I moved to Rice because it is promoting interdisciplinary research, especially in the biomolecular area. It is very close to the Texas Medical Center, so there is a lot of activity between Rice and the medical center that can lead to identification of new problems for us.”

Jonathan M. Flatley, 36

Ph.D. in literature and theory, Duke University, 1996.

First job: assistant professor of English, University of Virginia, 1996.

Now: assistant professor of English and cultural studies, Wayne State University.

Accomplishments: His book Affective Mapping: Melancholia and the Politics of Modernism will be published by Harvard University Press and should be available in 2004. He is also working on a book about Andy Warhol.

His take: “It’s never pleasant to be fired,” he says about being denied tenure at Virginia. Mr. Flatley suspects he wasn’t given tenure because he hadn’t finished his first book, which at the time was under contract at Harvard University Press. However, like most tenure denials, there were a number of factors involved, according to Mr. Flatley, who admits he “didn’t like it there.” He says he feels fortunate to have found another position in academe so quickly. “This Wayne State job is actually great. It’s a much better fit for me.”

David A. Haskell, 34

Ph.D. in ecology and evolutionary biology, Cornell University, 1996.

First job: assistant professor of biology, University of the South, 1996.

Now: associate professor of biology, University of the South. Received tenure in the spring of 2002.

Accomplishments: Mr. Haskell has developed a 10-week summer program called Food for Thought to teach ecology and sustainable agriculture. Students live in the same house, grow their own food, and work at a local food bank. He is also writing a book about what happens in one square meter of forest.

His take: “The good thing about Sewanee is that the focus is on teaching, but not so much that you don’t have time for research. It allows me to do what I’m meant to do -- inspire students.”

Ruth Rogaski, 41

Ph.D. in history, Yale University, 1996.

First job: assistant professor of modern Chinese history, Princeton University, 1996. Now: associate professor of history, Vanderbilt University. Received tenure at Princeton in the spring of 2003.

Accomplishments: Ms. Rogaski’s first book, Hygienic Modernity: Meanings of Health and Disease in Treaty-Port China, will be published by the University of California Press in the spring. She also won a National Science Foundation fellowship in 1999 for her current book project, tentatively titled The Nature of Manchuria: The Role of Biological Sciences in the Making of Asian Empires. She had a baby in 1998 and moved to Vanderbilt this summer, where her husband, Gerald Figal, an associate professor of Japanese cultural studies, also got a job.

Her take: “Princeton was a marvelous place to be. ... The department was very supportive.” She took a paid semester off after her daughter was born and extended her tenure clock there by one year. But when Vanderbilt made an offer to both Ms. Rogaski and her husband, who was commuting from Princeton to the University of Delaware at the time, she says, “The spousal hire was very hard to resist.”

http://chronicle.com Section: The Faculty Volume 50, Issue 2, Page A12