Wagner College welcomes seven new members to its full-time faculty for the 2014-15 academic year.
Utteeyo Dasgupta, Assistant Professor, Economics — Utteeyo Dasgupta earned his Ph.D. in economics with a focus on experimental economics, game theory and industrial organization from the University of Arizona, Tucson, in 2006. He is broadly interested in the positive, normative and strategic issues of economic decision making. He uses laboratory and field experiments along with game theory and microeconomic theory in his research. He has considerable experience in designing and implementing experiments in the laboratory and in the field to evaluate different research questions. Dasgupta comes to Wagner after teaching at Franklin and Marshall College.
Bernadette Ludwig, Assistant Professor, Sociology — Bernadette Ludwig earned her Ph.D. from the CUNY Graduate Center in 2013. As a sociologist, her interest in the study of immigration and the family arose from her work with refugee and immigrant communities as the co-founder and executive director of Culture Connect Inc., a nonprofit organization providing services for refugees and immigrants in the Atlanta area. Ludwig designed, evaluated and implemented programs, wrote many successful grant proposals, and was involved in direct service provision.
Theresa McCarthy, Assistant Professor, Theatre & Speech — Theresa McCarthy graduated with an MFA in acting from the University of California, San Diego, in 1988. Her early training in theater was geared toward a career on the non-musical stage. She has worked with writers including Adam Guettel, Ricky Ian Gordon and Maury Yeston as well as directors Anne Bogart, Molly Smith and Richard Jones. As a teacher, McCarthy developed curriculum and trained students in beginning and advanced acting. She has also taught vocal music to non-singers and advanced singers. She directed new works through a program she initiated, the New Music Theater Collaborative at the Playwrights Horizons Theater School, operated by NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts.
Javier Rivera-Guzman, Visiting Assistant Professor, Biology —Javier Rivera-Guzman completed work on his Ph.D. at the Indiana University School of Medicine’s Department of Microbiology & Immunology in 2009. His doctoral research focused on intracellular signal transduction in hematopoietic cells as well as TNF receptor superfamily signaling and angiogenesis. He has been involved in various projects studying natural products and their effect on the microbiota as well as host inflammatory responses, providing extensive research training in microbiology, physiology and pharmacology. Rivera-Guzman comes to Wagner from American University, where he taught a wide range of courses including the introductory course for majors, a general education course for non-majors and a graduate-level course.
Arunkumar Sharma, Assistant Professor, Chemistry — Arun Sharma, who earned his Ph.D. from the University of Southern California in 2011, has decades of research that has identified students’ different learning styles, and he teaches for optimal learning based on this knowledge. His teaching philosophy: “Teach the scientific method and engage students holistically to achieve lifelong learning.” He has enjoyed teaching at all levels and in a variety of roles. Sharma last taught at Christopher Newport University, where he taught the undergraduate Physical Chemistry sequence along with General Chemistry lectures and laboratory sections. His research goal is to pursue biomolecular simulations and develop solutions to long-standing problems in the fields of protein structure, function and stability.
Ian Wise, Visiting Assistant Professor, Business Administration — Ian Wise earned his MBA from NYU’s Stern Business School in 1984, and participated in the Advanced Management Programme offered by Insead, the European Institute of Business Administration, in 2000. He currently runs a consulting firm providing services to international financial institutions and not-for-profit organizations. His extensive international experience gives him a valuable perspective on such issues as “Principles vs. Rules” and the adoption of IFRS. Wise has pursued a career in international accounting and finance in three countries and obtained accounting qualifications in both Scotland (CA) and in the United States (CPA).
Aleksandra Zagorin, Assistant Professor, Evelyn L. Spiro School of Nursing — Aleksandra Zagorin earned her DNP in 2013 from the NYU College of Nursing. For over 12 years, she has been providing geriatric medical care to homebound elderly patients and long-term care facility residents. She is an advanced practice nurse, board certified in adult primary care and geriatrics. She has had many opportunities to teach, mentor and participate in geriatrics-based clinical research. As a faculty member of the Maimonides Medical Center Division of Geriatrics, she was responsible for instruction of medical students, medical residents and nurses in both didactic and clinical settings. She has also taught assessment and physical diagnosis clinical courses to nurse practitioner students in the master’s program at the NYU College of Nursing.
