At the fall 2022 convocation on August 22 in the Katie Murphy Amphitheatre, FIT welcomed 20 new classroom and non-classroom faculty members to the college. Interim Vice President for Academic Affairs Yasemin Jones introduced the new hires, followed by remarks from president of the Faculty Senate, Professor Calvin Williamson, and President Joyce F. Brown.
Anita Clipston joins the Illustration and Interactive Media Department. Clipston comes to FIT with significant professional experience in visual effects and illustration, including work as a compositor and digital paint artist for Industrial Light & Magic and Blue Sky Studios on such well-known films and shows as Jurassic Park, the Star Wars franchise, and Game of Thrones. She holds a BA from Norwich University of the Arts–Norwich, England and an MFA from the New York Academy of Art.
Andrea Diodati joins the Fashion Department. Diodati’s industry experience includes work as designer for Ralph Lauren, Anna Sui, and Alice + Olivia. Her areas of specializations include NFT wearables and metaverse collections. Her design work also addresses complex industry issues such as overproduction, standardized sizing, and dead stock. Her BFA in integrated design is from Parsons School of Design.
Carla Edwards joins the Fine Arts Department with a specialization in sculpture. She received her MFA from Rhode Island School of Design and a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She is an alumna of Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture and was a studio fellow in the Whitney Independent Study Program. She has exhibited nationally and internationally, most notably at the Studio Museum in Harlem, Nuit Blanche Toronto, Canada, and Volta5, Basel, Switzerland.
Dobriana Gheneva joins the Fashion Department’s design area. She holds two BFAs: one from the Swiss Textile College in Switzerland, where she majored in textile studies, and the other in Fashion Design from FIT. Gheneva has over a decade of professional experience in apparel innovation design for companies such as Nike and North Face. She holds six patents on new technologies for fashion apparel.
Jason (Kyong Hwan) Lee, who joins the Interior Design Department, holds an MS in interior design from the Pratt Institute and a BFA in interior design from Marymount University. Formerly he was a full-time interior design instructor at Berkeley College. His professional background includes an extensive portfolio of residential and commercial clients, with 18 years of experience on national and international projects.
Joshua Whitehead joins the Communication Design Pathways Department in the Graphic Design area. His MFA in museum exhibition planning and design is from the University of the Arts, Philadelphia, and his BFA in graphic design is from Oklahoma City University. His professional work includes brand identity, print, environmental, and digital design for HBO, Google, the Museum of Science and Industry, First Americans Museum, the American Museum of Natural History, and the Smithsonian Institution. Previously, he was a full-time instructor of graphic design at Baruch College.
Jay and Patty Baker School of Business and Technology
Ramona Dunlap, who will join the Fashion Business Management Department, holds an MBA from New York University’s Stern School of Business and a BA in English from North Carolina A&T State University. Dunlap’s professional background includes work as a marketing director for Calvin Klein and Donna Karan as well as several entrepreneurial ventures. She has also dedicated her time as a mentor for startups, providing pro bono consulting to Black-owned brands through the nonprofit organization Raise.
Huipui Gao joins the Textile Development and Marketing Department with a focus on nonwoven materials. Gao holds a PhD in fiber and polymer science from North Carolina State University and a MS in polymer fiber and textile science from the University of Georgia. He holds a second master’s in nonwoven materials from Donghua University. His recent professional experience includes postdoctoral scholarships at N.C. State, researching the development of new thermal protection properties of clothing for firefighters and first responders.
Hilary Davidson joins the Fashion and Textile Studies Department as faculty and chair. Davidson comes to us from Australia, where she earned her PhD in archaeology from La Trobe University in Melbourne. She also holds a MA in the history of textiles and dress from the University of Southampton in England. Her professional experience includes work as curator of fashion and textiles for the Museum of London. She is the author of two books and several book and journal chapters, focusing on Regency fashion. Davidson was also the expert for a recent New York Times Style Magazine: Australia feature about the inaccuracies about corsets perpetuated by series such as Bridgerton.
Cathleen Sheehan, who has been a faculty member and acting chair of the Fashion Design MFA Department since 2020, has been appointed department chair and hired to the full-time faculty. Sheehan holds an MBA from Harvard University focused on retail and marketing and a BS in accounting and business from Franklin and Marshall College. Previous professional roles include founder and director of a consulting firm for fashion business companies and the presidency of ESP Trendlab, advising hundreds of global brands, entrepreneurs, and nonprofits on strategies within fashion, beauty, consumer products, tech, and retail.
School of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Junghyun (Jung) Ahn joins the Science and Math Department with a specialization in computer science. Ahn holds an EdD from Teachers College in instructional technology and media, an MS from Columbia in statistics and an MEd from Harvard University. Her professional experience includes a fellowship for advancing machine learning and analytics as well as research work for the Institute of Learning Technologies at Teachers College, Columbia University.
Andrea Vasquez de Arthur joins the History of Art Department. Vasquez de Arthur holds a PhD and MA in art history and archeology from Columbia University and a BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design in graphic design. Most recently, she held a research fellowship at the Cleveland Museum of Art, where she curated an exhibition on textile work of modern Indigenous Central American women. She has also authored book chapters and served as an adjunct professor at the University of Cincinnati, Columbia University, and Barnard College.
Subhalakshmi Gooptu joins the English and Communication Studies Department with a focus on world literature. Gooptu’s PhD in English and literature is from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Her MA in English and literature is from Jadavpur University in India. She specializes in postcolonial and world literatures, with a focus on the Caribbean and South Asia. She has also served as an adjunct instructor and writing coordinator at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
Chloe Martin joins our Social Sciences Department with a focus on psychology. Martin’s PhD is from Howard University in personality psychology, and her MS is also from Howard. Most recently, she completed a postdoctoral research fellowship at Memorial Sloan Kettering that focused on psychological factors associated with cancer prevention in medically underserved populations. Her research has been supported by the Department of Defense, the National Cancer Institute of NIH, and the National Science Foundation. Martin has also served as an adjunct at Howard University, Hunter College, and Montgomery College.
Julian Silverman joins our Science and Math Department with a focus on materials science. Silverman’s PhD in nanotechnology is from the City University of New York and his MS in chemistry is from McGill University in Montreal. His research brings green chemistry principles into the classroom in order to connect students to sustainability and environmental science. He has published widely on environmental science and most recently was a full-time faculty member at Manhattan College.
Non-Classroom Faculty
Enrollment Management and Student Success
Jay Choi joins us as a member of the Counseling Center. She has a PhD in counseling psychology from the University of Akron and her MSW degree is from Case Western Reserve University. Her past professional experience includes directing the counseling center at CUNY’s York College. She has also taught psychology courses at St. John’s University and Middle Tennessee State University.
Julia Romano joins the Department of Student Life as a counselor with responsibility for orientation and new student programs. She joins FIT from Iona University, where she has worked as the associate and assistant director of student engagement since 2019. Her MA is in communications and her BA is in communication and media arts. Both are from Sacred Heart University.
Academic Affairs
Nadia Peters Marulaz is appointed as counselor in the Career and Internship Services Department, where she previously served as associate coordinator of employer and sponsor relations since 2018. She arrived at FIT from Manhattan College where she served as assistant director and coordinator of employee relations for four years. She holds a MA in counseling and a bachelor’s in psychology from Manhattan College.
Miyo Sandlin joins the Gladys Marcus Library as the instructional services and student engagement librarian. She has previously served FIT as a part-time reference and instructional services librarian for four years. Her MLS is from the University of Maryland and her BA in history is from Vassar College.
Yiwen Wang joins the Gladys Marcus Library as its continuations and metadata librarian. She previously served as library services specialist for five years. Her MA is from the University of Wisconsin–Madison and her BA in information and archival systems is from Shanghai University.