Five Wheaton Faculty Members Receive Tenure
By Ellen J. Hawes '02, originally published in a March 2002 edition of The Wheaton Wire
Assistant Professor of Education Vicki L. Bartolini, Assistant Professor of English Katherine Conway, Professor of Art Andrew Howard, Assistant Professor of Mathematics and Computer Science Tommy Ratliff and Assistant Professor of History Kathryn M. Tomasek earned tenure this year.
What was your reaction on hearing your acceptance of tenure?
Kathryn Tomasek, History
"I was absolutely thrilled. I came to Wheaton in the fall of 1992 while I was still working on my dissertation. So I have spent my whole career here. I am delighted to know that I will be able to continue my relationship with Wheaton students and alumnae/i."
Tommy Ratliff, Mathematics/Computer Science
"When I got the call from the tenure committee with the good news, I felt simultaneously relieved, excited and fortunate. I was relieved because in many ways, the past 17 years of my professional life have been building toward this point. It was a very good feeling to know that the seven years in graduate school, four years of visiting positions at other colleges and six years at Wheaton had paid off."
Andrew Howard, Art
"Naturally a positive tenure decision is reason for celebration! On a day to day basis, you do your best to be the best teacher possible and a contributing member of the Wheaton community. You don't really think about tenure as the 'goal' for all that you do, but it certainly occupies a place in your psyche. A positive decision is a vote of confidence from your peers, the administration and from past and present students. It is very gratifying that I received so much support."
Vicki Bartolini, Education
"When I received 'the call,' I was relieved, thrilled and honored to become a tenured faculty member of this wonderful college! Working towards tenure had been a monumental undertaking. Once I heard the news, there was a sense of relief that this goal had been achieved as well as a sense of freedom to think more long term about my future at Wheaton. I now have time to consider more thoughtfully how I truly might make a difference. I also have an even stronger sense of obligation and commitment to my work here."
What are your goals now that you are a tenured professor?
Kathryn Tomasek, History
"I look forward to continuing my work with the Women's Studies program. The Women's Studies faculty are particularly enthusiastic about the new curriculum. The program already presents many examples of courses that are connected through their emphasis on women, gender and feminism. And I am especially interested in the opportunities that the new curriculum will present faculty who want to work on infusing new scholarship on race, class, ethnicity and sexual orientation into our courses."
Tommy Ratliff, Mathematics/Computer Science
"I am extremely excited that I will have the opportunity to think long term about Wheaton and the role of the Mathematics program here. The timing is very good to think long-term since the faculty is planning the new curriculum, and we have begun planning for the renovation and expansion of the Science Center."
Andrew Howard, Art
"My future goals as a tenured professor are not that much different than they have been as an untenured one. I'd like to be recognized by students as a good teacher, one who loves to teach and one that is a real student advocate. I also would like to contribute to the Wheaton community as an institution by continuing to work on long range planning projects that will impact the college for years to come."
Vicki Bartolini, Education
"The education department is unique in that we have many projects swirling simultaneously. I look forward, as mentioned previously, to channeling my energies into an area or two that would contribute to our department over time. I particularly look forward to continuing my work regarding mentoring programs and support for families of young children."
Do you have any upcoming projects, books that your writing, travels planned or student collaborative projects?
Kathryn Tomasek, History
"I am currently completing a book manuscript on women and ideas about public and private in a 19th century utopian movement. The manuscript has grown out of my dissertation on women in a movement that was based on the ideas of the French utopian Charles Fourier. I am also completing a paper on concepts of the public sphere that I will present at the Women's Worlds Congress at Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda, this summer. And my student assistant, Becky Reuss, is helping me with research for my next major project, a study about sewing and the meanings of women's work in the 19th century United States."
Tommy Ratliff, Mathematics/Computer Science
"I am presenting a paper at the Public Choice Society meetings in San Diego in March. I am one of four co-authors of a book of calculus writing projects that will be published by the Mathematical Association of America, and I am taking several students to the Hudson River Undergraduate Mathematics Conference at Hamilton College in April."
Andrew Howard, Art
"For the first time in my professional life I feel as though I can afford to spend significant time developing new photographic portfolios. I plan to become very active as a fine art photographer and I'll let the work dictate how far it will go. I have some ideas that are in various degrees of development and I'm very excited about my options."
Vicki Bartolini, Education
"Right now, I'm very interested in several areas, including the development and evaluation of family support programs, mentoring program for K-16 faculty and math/science education. Much of my current work is the result of grant funding and involves collaboration with faculty across campus and K-12 colleagues in the field. I look forward to evaluating these initiatives and disseminating the results."
Why have you chosen Wheaton as your academic home?
Kathryn Tomasek, History
"In certain ways, whether a college or university becomes one's academic 'home' is less a choice than a product of forces that often seems beyond one's control. Academics go where the jobs are, and tenure depends on one's record of teaching, service, research and publication. Taking those points into consideration, I have been delighted to find myself at Wheaton since I arrived here in the fall of 1992. I consider that arrival something of a happy accident. I was not really looking for a job that year; I was concentrating on writing my dissertation. But my advisor called me one day and suggested that I apply for the Wheaton position because the ad seemed to have been written for me. The History department was searching for a specialist in U.S. Women's History who could also teach African-American History. Since U.S. Women's History was my specialty and I had minored in Afro-American Studies, I applied and was hired. Ever since, I have found Wheaton to be an institution that has been friendly to my professional needs and interests in ways that few academics have the good fortune to experience. As an institution that remains proud of its history as a women's college, Wheaton has been a great place to be a feminist. And in the past several years, college policies have moved closer to my own positions regarding race, class, ethnicity and sexual orientation. I am very proud to be a part of the Wheaton community, and I look forward to the new experiences that await now that my tenure process has ended so happily."
Tommy Ratliff, Mathematics/Computer Science
"I feel very fortunate because I wanted to be at a small liberal arts college where the primary focus is on working with undergraduates and there is the support to remain professionally active. In addition, this is by far the most congenial faculty I have seen at any school where I have taught or interviewed. These are the things that attracted me to Wheaton and why I am really pleased that I will be able to spend the rest of my career here."
Andrew Howard, Art
"Wheaton has been my 'academic' home for a very long time. I began teaching here in 1978. I owned and operated a commercial photography business for twenty years while teaching at the college. I have so many close friends as a result of my association with Wheaton that it is difficult not to think of it as a significant part of my personal life. One of the attractions to Wheaton that has always impressed me is the dedication of my colleagues both in and out of the Art Department to students. I am surrounded by colleagues who love what they do, have a real passion for education and a shared love for the college. I feel very fortunate to be here."
Vicki Bartolini, Education
"Although I had taught several courses as adjunct faculty at Wheaton and Wheelock, I was very satisfied in my former position as the Director of Project Connect, a nationally recognized birth through five early childhood program, in Attleboro. Fortunately, Marge Werner, director of the Elisabeth Amen Nursery School, encouraged me to apply for the position here in the Education Department. After a year here part time, I was convinced that Wheaton was the next step in my professional journey. I look forward to many more years working with Marge, my education department colleagues Frinde Maher and Mary Lee Griffin and the Wheaton community."
*Note: Katherine Conway, who also received tenure, was unavailable for an interview. Please see her online faculty profile to learn more about her work.
To learn more about the tenure process at Wheaton, see Ellen J. Hawes related article, also originally published in the Wheaton Wire.
Last updated on 3/15/02.
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