Freshmen and transfer students may feel like they are the only new faces on campus, but this fall also brought many new staff to Eastern Michigan University. At the Board of Regents meeting in June, it was recommended that 17 new staff members be hired into
teaching positions.
Among the new staff is Sadaf Ali, who just began her first semester teaching electronic media classes at EMU. Prior to her current position at EMU she worked as a radio and TV reporter in Michigan and Ohio for seven years.
Ali is a second generation American, whose parents moved from Pakistan to the United States in the 1970s.
“EMU has second generation students and I think they could relate to me,” she said.
It has been six years since organic chemistry professor Ingo Janser left the town of Karlsruhe, Germany. He moved to the Belleville area on Aug. 12, just a few weeks before classes started.
Janser said the transition to his new position and being unaccustomed to the campus has been less stressful because of his fellow faculty members and students.
“Most of the time I don’t have to ask, people just offer to help. It is very unique,” he said.
Rusty McIntyre, a newly hired professor in the psychology department, said becoming a member of the faculty at EMU has just given him another victory in his ongoing sibling rivalry.
“My older brother played football, so I decided to play rugby,” McIntyre said. “He teaches at a junior high school; I became a professor. He graduated from Eastern; I just became a faculty member. It’s easy to see who is winning.”
Michelle Hersh is a new addition to the faculty in the biology department. She received her Ph.D. from Duke University in 2009 and teaches a general ecology class and lab.
“From a newcomer’s perspective, I get the feeling that Ypsilanti is arriving and up-and-coming,” she said. “I feel that it’s going to be exciting to watch.”
Sarah Shea is a new professor at the school of social work. She lived in New York City for eight years before moving to Michigan two and a half years ago.
Her new position at EMU is giving her the opportunity to know the Ypsilanti and Ann Arbor area better.
“It kind of has a Brooklyn feel, but with better quality of life and more space,” she said. “Everything is just a lot less crowded.”
Shea also said that she was excited to focus on community-based research and social justice, as well as the opportunity to teach, publish and do research.
“The school of social work here has a strong commitment to teaching, which is sometimes lost in other university settings,” she said.
