New faculty hires set the curve this semester

By Sophie Garlick     10/8/24 10:24pm

Over 100 new faculty began their first semester at Rice this fall in one of the largest hirings to date. Professors John Baugh, Michael King, Cynthia Reinhart-King, David Sarlah and Eve Dunbar joined as tenured faculty. 

John Baugh

Baugh said his background as a descendant of slaves encouraged him to pursue a professorship in linguistics. 

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“I grew up at a time in the early ’50s, where a lot of negative stereotypes about black speech were being perpetuated on TV,” Baugh said. “The implication was that African Americans are less intelligent than other immigrant groups. And I just knew from my life experience that that couldn’t be right … I met a lot of very smart people that didn’t necessarily speak standard English.”

After receiving his Ph.D. in linguistics from the University of Pennsylvania, Baugh focused his research on linguistic prejudice against speakers of non-standard English dialects such as African American English.  

“I was motivated to challenge linguistic stereotypes associated with racial prejudice, knowing well that racially motivated discrimination is complex, and that linguistic stereotypes often reinforce negative racial stereotypes,” Baugh said.  “As I expanded my studies, I learned more about how linguistic misunderstanding and mischaracterizations negatively impact other groups or nonstandard English speakers, not just African Americans.”

Baugh will begin teaching in the fall semester of 2025. He said that he was drawn to Rice because of President Reggie DesRoches’ vision for the university, particularly since increased faculty hiring is part of Rice’s new 10-year plan.

“When President DesRoches assumed leadership of Rice University, he was laser-focused on maintaining and expanding a mission of, I’ll just say ‘greatness,’”  Baugh said. “I was thrilled to learn that his vision, supported by Provost Dittmar and Dean [of Social Sciences] Kimbro, included enhancing linguistic research and teaching as part of that campus-wide quest.”

Michael King

King, a professor at Cornell for nine years and then the department chair of bioengineering at Vanderbilt, was similarly drawn to Houston for its healthcare resources. 

“Perhaps the biggest [draw] is being so close to the Texas Medical Center,” King, a professor of bioengineering, said. “Since I do biomedical research mostly in the field of cancer, it’s just an outstanding place to do that work with so many hospitals and doctors to collaborate with.”

King said that he was also encouraged by the grants and support that he received, in Texas and at Rice.

“Another really appealing aspect was I received the [Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas] award ... which provides a lot of resources to support our cancer research,” King said. “The bioengineering department [at Rice] is just very collegial. It has a very strong reputation in the field, and so I’m extremely proud to be a member of this faculty.”

King will begin teaching Rice graduate students in the spring semester of 2025 and will  offer a course for undergraduates in the fall semester of 2025. 

“[It’s] called ‘Prompt Engineering for Science and Society,’” King said. “It’s a whole course about ChatGPT and how it can be used ethically and how it can be useful in our professional lives and the rest of our lives. My plan is to apply to have it count as a distribution course.” 

Eve Dunbar

Dunbar, a professor in the English department, said her goal at Rice is to introduce students to new texts and theories. 

“I try to meet my students where they are and introduce them to interesting and challenging materials and ideas in the hopes that when they leave the classroom they go into the world armed with new ideas,” Dunbar said. 

She’ll be implementing this ideology in spring 2025, teaching courses on African American writing. 

“I’ll be teaching [ENGL 267:] Introduction to African American Literature,” Dunbar said. “I’ll also be teaching a course I’m calling ‘Narratives of Freedom and Unfreedom,’ which will explore how American writers have narratively challenged the national construction of freedom as contingent upon holding a group of people as ’unfree’ subjects.” 

David Sarlah 

Born in Slovenia, Sarlah moved to the U.S. in 2006 to pursue a career in chemistry. After teaching at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign for 10 years, Sarlah wrote that he accepted a position at Rice to take advantage of resources that can benefit his studies in organic synthesis and human medicine. 

“I came to Rice because of the many great possibilities and long-standing scientific excellence this place offers,” Sarlah wrote in an email to the Thresher. “Being in a top university and department next to many great institutes and [the] Texas Medical Center is a one-of-a-kind opportunity to reinforce our research program and enable new directions.” 

Sarlah will focus on research and graduate-level instruction at Rice. He wrote that experiences such as lab work can help students discover their passions.  

“​​Figuring out what we want to do and what we are good at is not always straightforward,” Sarlah wrote. “Students need to find ways and opportunities to pursue and validate their enthusiasm, which also takes time.” 

Cynthia Reinhart-King

When deciding to come to Rice as the new bioengineering department chair, Reinhart-King said her choice was influenced by the people she had previously met on campus.

“I was struck by the collegiality, enthusiasm, and the ‘big thinking’ on campus,” Reinhart-King said.  “Rice students and faculty are tackling some of the world’s most pressing problems, and I was drawn to their support of each other in doing it.” 

Reinhart-King said that she will likely teach a course on tissue-engineered models of disease for  senior undergraduate students and graduate students interested in healthcare research.  She also said that she hopes to employ other undergraduate students in her lab.

“Being involved in a research lab was by far the best part of my time as a student, and I have tried to involve as many undergraduates as I can in my own lab so that I can give them that same experience,” Reinhart-King said. 

As she prepares to start teaching at Rice, Reinhart-King says that she hopes to provide resources for students while also expecting excellence.

“My approach to teaching has been shaped over the years by the students in my class, the students in my lab and my own children,” Reinhart-King said.  “Learning styles can be vastly different from person to person, and I think my experience has taught me to approach teaching with that lens.  I set the bar high, but I also make sure the tools are available to reach the bar.”

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