“Joseph Coolon, Gabrielle Piedad Ponce-Hegenauer, and Felipe Ramírez,” c/o wesleyan.edu
Associate Professor of Biology Joseph Coolon, Associate Professor of Letters Gabrielle Piedad Ponce-Hegenauer, and Associate Professor of Mathematics Felipe Ramírez were conferred tenure on July 1, 2022. This comes after a board of trustees meeting that took place at the end of the Spring 2022 semester, at which eleven other professors were also promoted.
These eleven promotions include Professor of Computer Science Norman Danner, Professor of Music Roger Mathew Grant, Professor of Science in Society Anthony Ryan Hatch, Adjunct Associate Professor of Physical Education Christine Kemp, Professor of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry Robert Lane, Associate Professor of the Practice in Film Studies Marc Longenecker, Adjunct Professor of Spanish Louise Neary, Associate Professor of the Practice in Film Studies Richard Parkin, Professor of Psychology Anna Shusterman, Adjunct Professor of Physical Education Benjamin Somera, and Associate Professor of the Practice in Integrative Sciences Kelly Thayer.
Coolon joined the University in 2015 as an assistant professor in biology and integrative sciences. He received both his BS and PhD from Kansas State University. Coolon’s research falls into three main categories: ecological and evolutionary genomics, genetics of host specialization in Drosophila, and information flow through regulatory networks.
“Tenure at a prestigious university is a goal I have had since I started working in a research lab as an undergraduate more than 20 years ago,” Coolon wrote in an email to The Argus. “At the heart of it all for me was a never-ending love for learning and teaching and all things science that made the work seem much more like recreation. Working for two decades to make this achievement possible makes it one of the most important moments in my academic life thus far.”
Ponce-Hegenauer joined the University in 2016 as an assistant professor of letters. She received her BA from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and her MFA and PhD from John Hopkins University. She is an expert on the Spanish writer Miguel de Cervantes, who is the topic of her upcoming book “Cervantes the Poet: The Don Quijote, Poetic Practice and the Conception of the First Modern Novel.”
“It is a great boon to have the support of my colleagues in becoming a member of the intellectual community both at Wesleyan and within my field,” Ponce-Hegenaeur wrote in an email to The Argus. “I think that stability of all kinds allows professors to give more attention to both research and teaching. It’s wonderful to have my awareness freed to focus on both of those things.”
Ramírez joined the University in 2015 as an assistant professor of mathematics. He received his BS from Colorado State University and his PhD from the University of Michigan. His research is focused on ergodic theory and dynamical systems, Diophantine approximation, and fractal geometry.
“It’s hard to express how important this promotion is for me,” Ramírez wrote in an email to The Argus. “It’s an honor to be promoted to Associate Professor with tenure. It’s a validation of the work I’ve done at Wesleyan. In practical terms, tenure means job security and academic freedom. It means I can take on more ambitious projects in my research and teaching. It means I don’t have to uproot my family if those projects don’t go perfectly! It’s a privilege to have tenure, and I feel extremely grateful and relieved.”
Yoni Semel can be reached at ysemel@wesleyan.edu