Dr. Bethany Brand of the Department of Psychology has been selected as the third Martha A. Mitten professor in the College of Liberal Arts. The Mitten Professor may come from any discipline in the College and holds the appointment for three years. During the appointment, the Mitten Professor carries out a project supported by the endowment that was proposed during the selection process. In keeping with the criteria for the Professorship, Dr. Brand has been an exceptional teacher, a highly productive scholar, and a significant contributor to the work of her department and college. Since 2012, she has received five awards for her work on, and her research articles about, the treatment of dissociative disorders, and she is widely recognized as a proponent of better education about trauma and more sophisticated treatment of trauma survivors. With colleagues and students, Dr. Brand has published some 40 articles, chapters, and encyclopedia entries in the last three years, ten of which feature one of her students as lead author. Dr. Brands’ project, not surprisingly, will center on the improvement of trauma education resources, potential clustering of resources for trauma research, and a conference on trauma.
Dr. Hana Bor of the Department of Family Studies and Community Development has been selected as the Peggy Meyerhoff Pearlstone Professor, the first to hold this position at Towson University. The Pearlstone Professorship came to Towson in association with the integration of the former Baltimore Hebrew University, as did Dr. Bor. She will hold the Professorship for a period of five years. Dr. Bor directs the graduate program in Leadership in Jewish Education and Communal Service, and she has worked with passion and energy to connect students with community institutions. She has been markedly flexible and creative in teaching and developing a range of courses in response to changing contexts. Dr. Bor has sought and received more than $120,000 in recent grants supporting programs taking students abroad and extended summer workshops for Jewish educators. As Pearlstone Professor and with the help of resources the Professorship makes available, Dr. Bor plans to expand her efforts in Holocaust education, pursue hosting an international conference at Towson, and explore a study abroad program for CLA faculty in Israel.
