Four Thiel College professors promoted to tenure status for 2018-2019 academic year

Posted August 27, 2018 Print

GREENVILLE, Pa.-- Associate Professor of Political Science and Department Chair Marie Courtemanche, Ph.D.; Associate Professor of Psychology and Department Chair Laura Pickens, Ph.D. ’06; Associate Professor of Mathematics and Computer Science and Department Chair Russ Richins; and Associate Professor of Physics Eugene Torigoe, Ph.D., were all granted tenure and promoted to Associate Professor for the 2018-2019 academic year at Thiel College, a leading liberal arts college in northwest Pennsylvania

Courtemanche joined the Department of Political Science in 2014. Her research focuses on the effects of self-interest and group identity on public opinion and behavior. She focuses on immigration and social welfare. Courtemanche is an advisor for the Lutheran College Semester Program, which sends students to Washington, D.C. for a semester-long internship program. She has assisted in the process of signing graduate school articulation agreements with Duquesne University and the University of Pittsburgh. Courtemanche has had collaborative and independent work that was published in leading academic journals as well as The Washington Post and presented at conferences.

Pickens joined the Department of Psychology at Thiel College in 2011 and has served as the department chair since 2014. Her research interests are centered on the subfields of neurobehavioral teratology and psychopharmacology. While at Thiel College, she has researched adolescent nicotine exposure on adult cognitive processes. She has collaborated and mentored students on numerous projects with through the Greenville Neuromodulation Center Faculty-Student Research Institute. She’s published her research and has presented at the Comparative Cognition Society, the Society for Neuroscience, the Neurobehavioral Teratology Society and the Society for Teaching Psychology.

Richins joined the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science in 2012 and serves as the mathematics and computer science department chair. He received the 2018 Distinguished Scholar Award from the College. He is the chair of the faculty nominations committee and a member of the College’s enrollment management committee. He is a member of the Mathematical Association of America.

Torigoe joined the Department of Physics at Thiel College in 2012. He has served the College on many institutional committees, and he enjoys working on Arduino based electronics projects with students of all ages. He has hosted a summer electronics camp since 2016 to give area secondary students hands-on experience with circuits, sensors and computer code and has traveled to local schools to lecture on electronic projects. He has been a member of the American Association of Physics Teachers for 16 years where he has presented numerous projects at national conferences.