Knox College President Teresa Amott has announced faculty promotions and tenure awards that the Knox College Board of Trustees approved at its June meeting.

Promoted to associate professor and receiving tenure were David Bunde, Catherine Denial, Fernando Gomez, Amy Singer, and Pedro Teixeira.

Also promoted to associate professor was Chad Simpson.

Earlier in the 2011-12 academic year, two other faculty promotions were announced. Diana Cermak and Mary Crawford were promoted to full professor. (Photo above: Newly promoted Knox College faculty members. From the top, moving clockwise, are David Bunde, Fernando Gomez, Diana Cermak, Mary Crawford, Chad Simpson, and Catherine Denial.)

DAVID BUNDE

Bunde, associate professor of computer science, joined the Knox faculty in 2006. He teaches courses in parallel computing and algorithms.

Last year, he was awarded a three-year National Science Foundation grant, "Collaborative Research: Responding to Manycore: Teaching parallel computing with higher-level languages and activity-based laboratories."

Bunde earned a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a bachelor's degree from Harvey Mudd College. Read his profile.

CATHERINE DENIAL

Denial, associate professor of history, has been a member of the Knox faculty since 2005. She teaches courses in American history, American Indian history, and women and gender.

She also serves as lead historian for Bringing History Home in Iowa, a curriculum and professional development project funded by federal Teaching American History grants.

Denial earned a Ph.D. in history from the University of Iowa, an M.A. in history from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and a bachelor's degree in American Studies from the University of Nottingham. Read her profile.

FERNANDO GOMEZ

Gomez, associate professor of modern languages-Spanish, has been a member of the Knox faculty since 2005. He teaches courses in the Golden Age literature of Spain, colonial literature, and Hispanic drama.

In 2008, he received the Philip Green Wright/Lombard College Prize, which is awarded to Knox College faculty in recognition of outstanding teaching. His publications include articles that have appeared in Bulletin of the Comediantes and Symposium: A Quarterly Journal in Modern Literatures.

Gomez earned a Ph.D. and an M.A. from the University of California-Santa Barbara. He also received another M.A. and a B.A. from California State University-Chico. Read his profile.

AMY SINGER

Singer, associate professor of anthropology-sociology, joined the Knox faculty in 2006. She teaches courses on the sociology of food, on social stratification, and on social change.

In 2010, she was awarded a prestigious Fulbright Scholar fellowship for her research in Indonesia. In 2011, she received the Philip Green Wright/Lombard College Prize, which is awarded to Knox College faculty in recognition of outstanding teaching. Singer has published in both peer-reviewed journals and edited collections, most recently in The International Journal of Qualitative Methods. In 2009, she co-authored an article with 2008 Knox graduate Alice Holbrook in The Journal of Popular Film and Television.

Singer earned a Ph.D. and an M.A. in sociology from the University of Washington and a bachelor's degree from Smith College. Read her profile.

PEDRO TEIXEIRA

Teixeira, associate professor of mathematics, has been a member of the Knox faculty since 2006. He teaches courses across the mathematics curriculum.

His research area is commutative algebra, and his publications include articles that have appeared in the Journal of Algebra.

He earned a Ph.D. from Brandeis University and an M.S. and a bachelor's degree from the University of Sao Paulo. Read his profile.

CHAD SIMPSON

Simpson, associate professor of English, joined the Knox faculty in 2005. He teaches fiction writing, creative non-fiction, and modern and contemporary American literature.

His short story collection, Tell Everyone I Said Hi, won the prestigious 2012 John Simmons Short Fiction Award from the University of Iowa Press. The book will be published in October. In 2010, he was awarded the Philip Green Wright/Lombard College Prize, which recognizes outstanding teaching by Knox College faculty.

Simpson earned an M.F.A. from Southern Illinois University Carbondale and a bachelor's degree from Monmouth College. Read his profile.

DIANA CERMAK

Cermak, professor of chemistry, has been a member of the Knox faculty since 1997. She teaches organic chemistry, as well as advanced courses in organic chemistry and chemical synthesis and analysis.

In 2011, she received the Philip Green Wright/Lombard College Prize, which is awarded to Knox College faculty in recognition of outstanding teaching. Her publications, which have appeared in such periodicals as the Journal of Chemical Education and the Journal of Bioorganic and Medical Chemistry, include several student co-authored publications.

Cermak earned a Ph.D. from at the University of Iowa and a bachelor's degree from the University of Minnesota at Morris. Read her profile.

MARY CRAWFORD

Crawford, professor of chemistry, has been a member of the Knox faculty since 1997. Her teaching focuses on physical, analytical and general chemistry, and she also teaches a course on the role of chemistry in environmental policy.

Her publications include student co-authored publications in the International Journal of Chemical Kinetics and the Journal of Chemical Education. Her publications also have appeared in the Journal of Physical Chemistry.

Crawford earned a bachelor's degree from Knox College, graduating with College Honors in chemistry. She earned a doctorate at Purdue University. Read her profile.