Main Interests
- Comparative (Western-Islamicate) Political Theory
- Critical Theory
- Religions and Politics
Main Interests
Social Theory; Sociology of Law; Deviance and Social Control; Criminology.
Main Interests
Late antique, medieval, and early modern European political and cultural history, especially gender, sexuality, and the conception of scandal at the Carolingian court.
Other Interests
In my professional life, I am committed to supporting faculty at Wheaton and other institutions of higher education in their research and professional development.
In my personal life, I enjoy traveling the world, running and hiking, cooking, practicing mindfulness and meditation, and, of course, reading. I have a particular affection for the Himalayan, Buddhist kingdom of Bhutan where I recently lived for two years and where I am currently spending Fall 2023 with six Wheaton students on a study-abroad semester.
I am a complete bibliophile. I am always excited to talk to students, colleagues, friends, and (honestly) strangers about books, particularly classic and contemporary novels–and I recently started a book club with Wheaton History alumni!
Originally from Scranton, Pennsylvania, I consider NEPA (northeastern Pennsylvania) my home.
Scott Gelber is a historian whose work focuses on the development of American education during the nineteenth- and twentieth-centuries. He is the author of Grading the College: A History of Evaluating Teaching and Learning (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2020), Courtrooms and Classrooms: A Legal History of American College Access, 1860-1960 (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2015), and The University and the People: Envisioning American Higher Education in an Era of Populist Protest (University of Wisconsin Press, 2011), which won the Linda Eisenmann Prize of the History of Education Society. Gelber has published articles and essays in the American Journal of Education, American Journal of Legal History, Journal of Social History, and History of Education Quarterly, among others. His research has been supported by the National Academy of Education, the Spencer Foundation, and the Charles Warren Center for Studies in American History. He is working on two research projects: a history of learning disabilities and a study of federal financial aid during the New Deal. Before arriving at Wheaton, Gelber taught high school in New York City and supervised student teachers at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
Main Interests
Physics, especially the interaction of radiation with matter; the role of science in society, politics, sports (basketball, bicycling, golf), and family.
I enjoy teaching Physics at all levels. My most recent teaching interest is in transforming the Introductory Physics courses from a lecture-based course to a combined lab/lecture format. This new format provides students with the opportunity to gain immediate insights, through experimentation, of the material being presented in class. The format seeks to have students actively engaged in learning for the entire class, and is based on the TEAL teaching format developed in part at MIT.
As an experimental physicist, I am especially interested in providing students with meaningful laboratory experiences, from the introductory course to the senior thesis projects.
Courses taught include Introductory Physics I and II, Modern Physics I and II, Optics, Classical Mechanics, Electricity and Magnetism, Statistical Physics, Quantum Physics, Experimental Physics, The Physics of Music and Sound, and Electronic Circuits.
An anthropologist by training, I teach courses in museum studies and visual culture at Wheaton, where I also serve as Curator of the Permanent Collection. My research focuses on contemporary expressive culture and cultural heritage in Africa, particularly in Ethiopia, where I have conducted fieldwork since 2000, and on the management and use of academic collections.
Leanna Lawter is an Associate Professor and Coordinator of the Business and Management program at Wheaton College.
Dr. Lawter’s primary areas of teaching are human resources and ethical decision making. She has over 20 years of experience in human resources consulting with expertise in selection and recruitment, performance management, organizational surveys, and human resource data analytics.
Dr. Lawter has received her Ph.D. from Baruch College at the City University of New York in organizational behavior. She also has a MBA in marketing from the University of Connecticut, a MS in statistics from the University of Vermont, and a BA in math from Colgate University.
Her research interests focus on how human resource practices impact employees’ work attitudes, job performance, and career choices. She also conducts research on how organizations can promote ethic decision making among employees.
Main Interests
How do you like looking at maps on the computer in 3D? That’s what I do – take raw longitude/latitude and elevation data and turn such data into three-dimensional virtual models. This is accomplished using a combination of computer science techniques and complex mathematical models. Even so, the resulting surfaces will have some uncertainty. Another area of my research involves finding ways to visualize uncertainty in particular, and multivariate data in general.
Other Interests
Basketball, skiing the steep and the deep, backpacking with my kids, traveling, and piano.
Kelly Goff is an artist with a focus on sculpture, installation, and public projects. His materials and processes are broad in range, reflecting a love of technology in formats that span from traditional to emerging. Examples include hand-building techniques in wood, metal, and stone; mold-making and the casting of plastic, foam, and concrete; large-scale structural papier mache; hydrographic printing, photogrammetry (creating virtual models from composite photography); sculpturally embedded video and video installation, 3D printing and CNC fabrication processes.
Goff is also a dedicated traveler and much of his work is informed by research excursions and residencies domestic and abroad including work done in Key West, FL, the Alaskan wilderness, Bhutan, Nepal, the Ecuadorian Amazon, and in his homeland, the Caribbean island of Curaçao.
Professor Goff’s work has been exhibited widely including solo exhibitions at the Boston Children’s Museum and Bromfield Gallery in Boston and group exhibitions in New York City at the Governor’s Island Art Fair, Work Gallery, Davidson Contemporary, and Galapagos Art Space. He is the recipient of a Massachusetts Cultural Council Artist Fellowship; St. Botolph Club Foundation Grant; full fellowship for Residency at the Chulitna Lodge Residency, Lake Clark Alaska; a full fellowship for residency at the Vermont Studio Center; and an Andrew W. Mellon Research Award, among others.
Professor Goff teaches courses in sculpture and design including: Spatial Dynamics, Sculpture I, Sculpture II, Public Art, Industrial Design, Drawing I, First-Year Seminar, Independent Senior Projects, and Senior Seminar.