Alfred University’s (AU) College of Liberal Arts Sciences has three new division chairs: Darwyn Cook, associate professor of mathematics, Mathematics Division; Danielle Gagne, associate professor of psychology, Psychology Communication Studies Division; and Allen Grove, professor of English, English Division. AU chairs are traditionally appointed for three-year terms.
A faculty member since 2000, Cook serves as the University’s faculty representative to the Empire 8 Athletic Conference. In this role, he has worked on implementing a new reporting system aimed at improving retention rates among student athletes.
His current research interests involve the application of mathematics teaching technology. Cook earned bachelor of arts and master of arts degrees in mathematics and a bachelor of arts degree in computer science, all from the State University of New York at Potsdam, and a Ph.D. in mathematics from Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge.
Gagne has taught courses such as introduction to psychology, adult development and aging, and psychology of death and dying, as well as honors courses in the science and psychology of superheroes and the science and psychology of Harry Potter.
She holds memberships in the American Psychological Association, American Association for Retired Persons, Association for Psychological Science, Gerontological Society of America, and Pi Gamma Mu. Gagne received the AU Ruth Berger Rubenstein Memorial Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2006 and 2008, the AU Joseph Kruson Trust Fund Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2011, and a $1,032,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Education for Preparing Leaders in the Education and Training of the Next Generation of School Psychology Practitioners in 2010.
Gagne earned an associate’s of science degree in alcohol and chemical dependency and a bachelor of arts degree in psychology from Keene State College, Keene, NH, and a master of arts degree and a Ph.D. in psychology from the University of New Hampshire, Durham.
Grove’s teaching interests include 18th and 19th century British fiction, ghosts and Gothicism, gender studies, queer studies, the interplay of literature and science, teaching and technology, and first-year (college student) experience.
He has numerous outside-of-the-classroom activities as well. He opened a book publishing company, Whitlock Publishing, in 2007, and serves as a college admissions expert for About.com. Grove also wrote the introduction for a 2012 edition of Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein” and will edit the forthcoming “The Invisible Man” by H.G. Wells to be published by Broadview Press.
Grove earned bachelor of science degrees in literature and materials science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, and a master of arts degree and a Ph.D. in English from the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.