Academics: Our Faculty: Faculty Profiles

Ava Vinesett, assistant professor of the practice of dance, has been an instructor in Duke's dance program since 1994. Vinesett, recipient of a recent Distinguished Undergraduate Teaching Award, was a charter member of the Chuck Davis African-American Dance Ensemble. She studies the cultural origins and evolution of African dances and teaches courses in African dance technique, choreography, and theory. She also is the artistic director of the Duke African Repertory Ensemble.

Tony Brown, professor of the practice of public policy, joined the Duke faculty in 1994 and three years later received the Howard Johnson Distinguished Teaching Award for undergraduate teaching excellence. Brown has created four courses in the Hart Leadership Program, part of the Sanford Institute for Public Policy. All four pertain to public policy, leadership, business, and community development, and all require some form of community leadership project. Brown’s research focuses on the development of young adults as meaningful contributors to values-driven commercial organizations.

Marianna Torgovnick, professor of English, has written extensively on 20th-century life and culture. She is the author of six critical books and editor of a volume of cultural criticism called Eloquent Obsessions. A former chair of the English department, Torgovnick is currently working on a project that demonstrates links between writing and other media. She is director of the Duke in New York arts and media program, which incorporates classroom learning, an internship, and tickets to plays, film festivals, concerts, museums, Broadway shows, and other performances – all within one exciting semester in New York City.

Edward Levin, professor of biological psychiatry, researches neurobehavioral toxicology and pharmacology – in particular, the drug and toxicant effects on cognitive function. Levin and his research team have been working with rat, mouse, and zebrafish models of toxicant-induced neurocognitive deficits to determine the mechanisms of these impairments and possible treatments. He holds appointments in the Department of Pharmacology and Cancer Biology, Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, the Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences, the Comprehensive Cancer Center, and the Duke University Integrated Toxicology Program.

Anthony Kelley, assistant professor of music, served as composer-in-residence for three years with the Richmond Symphony before joining the Duke faculty in 2000. Last season, the Richmond Symphony premiered Kelley’s piano concerto, Africamerica. His music has also been performed by the Baltimore, Detroit, Atlanta, Oakland East Bay, Marin (CA), and San Antonio symphony orchestras. In honor of his work, Kelly has received the Charles Ives Scholarship from the American Institute and Academy of Arts and Letters, and composition fellowships from the North Carolina Arts Council, the Virginia Commission for the Arts, and the Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation.

Kathleen Smith, professor of biology and biological anthropology and anatomy, specializes in the functional morphology and evolution of vertebrates, craniofacial development, and evolutionary morphology. She currently focuses on the relation between evolutionary and developmental processes. Recently, Smith has conducted comparative studies of craniofacial development in marsupial and placental mammals, demonstrating that marsupials have a greater delay in the development of the central nervous system and cranial sense organs, which affects the patterning of skeletal tissues of the head.

William Noland, associate professor of the practice of art, art history, and visual studies, specializes in sculpture, photography, and video. He has had numerous solo exhibitions nationally and internationally and received a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in sculpture in 1987 and a Fulbright Scholar Award in photography in 1995. Noland has served as a contributing photographer and as an editorial advisor for the quarterly publication DoubleTake. He has published articles in The South Atlantic Quarterly and Architectural Digest, and has co-authored a book titled Entrevistas Cubanas: Historias de una Nación Dividida .

Melanie Bonner, assistant professor of medical psychiatry, researches survivorship and palliative care issues in pediatric cancer patients. She has worked with the Duke Pediatric Brain Tumor Program since 1994, and currently serves as the Director of Pediatric Research for the Quality of Life program. Her current projects include an assessment of learning impairments and an evaluation of social functioning among pediatric cancer patients. Working with the Duke Institute for Care at the End of Life, she also is working with parents of pediatric cancer patients on coping and loss tools as a way to develop palliative care interventions.

Andrew Schuler, assistant professor of civil engineering, researches biological wastewater treatment processes, with an emphasis on nutrient removal and membrane bioreactors, biochemistry of microbial storage products, and process simulation. In a project funded by the North Carolina Biotechnology Center, he is working to develop improved wastewater treatment technology for the South Durham Water Reclamation facility. And last spring, he traveled with Duke students involved in Engineers Without Borders on their trip to Kasaka, Uganda to collect data for projects to improve water quality in this rural village.