Introducing New College Faculty
We’re pleased to begin the 2017–2018 school year with several new faculty hires. They bring exceptional educational and professional experience to the classroom and have already enriched the campus community. Now, with classes just underway, their top priority is getting to know students. Below are brief introductions to our most recent hires.
Dr. Sarah Andrews (US’03, C’07), Global Studies
After graduating with a BA in political science from Principia, Assistant Professor Andrews served in the Peace Corps in Burkina Faso, West Africa, before earning a master's degree and a doctorate in foreign affairs, both from the University of Virginia. She conducted field research in Burkina Faso and Malawi for her dissertation, “Sowing Seeds of Support: Elections, Bureaucrats, and Agricultural Clientelism in Africa,” during service in the Peace Corps, living and working primarily with women’s groups in a small village to support agricultural development. During graduate school, she received three fellowships and served as a teaching assistant. In addition, she has been a visiting faculty member at Principia and Mary Baldwin University.
Stephanie Bauer, Mass Communication
Instructor Bauer holds a BA in communication arts–film and television from Loyola University Chicago. She brings extensive professional experience to the classroom as a producer, writer, director, photographer, and videographer, including serving as Head of Television at Saatchi & Saatchi in New Zealand and as Executive Producer at Exposure International, also in New Zealand. Bauer has produced numerous television commercials and the short film Avondale Dogs. She also wrote, directed, and produced the short film Angel Wings; both films won awards. A few years ago, Bauer founded Runs Like a Girl Productions, and just before coming to Principia, she served as a freelance photographer, videographer, and teacher at Berkeley Hall School.
Galen Benson (C’89), Educational Studies
Assistant Professor Benson earned a BA in political science from Principia and an MBA in business administration from National University. For the past nine years, he has served as an adult education instructor at the Colorado Department of Corrections. While there, he implemented the first Department of Corrections Virtual Job Fair and was a member of the Crisis Negotiation Team. Benson also co-founded a successful equities trading and business consulting company. He holds an education and training license for post-secondary education.
Portia Benson (C’96), Business Administration
Assistant Professor Benson holds a BA in sociology and anthropology from Principia College and an MBA from West Texas A&M University. Her work experience includes nine years as a financial consultant and three years traveling internationally as a senior technical training consultant for Lucent Technologies. For the past four years, she served as Finance Manager and as a math teacher at The Link School in Colorado.
Erin Lane, Theatre and Dance
Instructor Lane holds a BFA in dance from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, where she received the J.S. Seidman Award for outstanding academic and stage performance. She is currently pursuing an MFA in dance at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. Trained in ballet, modern, contemporary, improvisation, and composition, she has experience teaching in a variety of environments, including four years as the Director of the Ballet Program and of AiMDance Ballet Ensemble at Arts in Motion School of Dance and Movement in St. Louis. Lane also has 10 years of performing experience, including five years in New York City.
Paul Ryan (C’77), Art and Art History
Professor Ryan holds a BA in English from Principia College and an MFA in painting from School of the Arts, Virginia Commonwealth University. A painter and art critic, he taught previously at Mary Baldwin University and served as Director of the Hunt Gallery there. He also taught critical theory in the MFA program at the Department of Painting and Printmaking in the School of the Arts at Virginia Commonwealth University. Since 1983, he has shown his work in numerous solo and group exhibitions throughout the mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the U.S. His paintings are represented by Reynolds Gallery in Richmond, Virginia, and he received two Virginia Museum of Fine Arts professional fellowships in painting. His writing has been published in Sculpture Magazine, Art in America, and Art Papers Magazine, and he has served as a contributing editor for the latter.