(Posted June 7, 2010)

HUNTINGDON, Pa. -- Five members of the Juniata College faculty received promotions in the 2009-2010 academic year at a recent Juniata College Board of Trustees meeting.

James Borgardt, associate professor of physics, was promoted to full professor; Xinli Wang, associate professor of philosophy, was promoted to full professor; Holly Hayer, assistant professor of Spanish, was promoted to associate professor; Kathleen Jones, assistant professor of education, was promoted to associate professor; and Kimberly Roth, assistant professor of mathematics, was promoted to associate professor.

Borgardt, a resident of Huntingdon, came to Juniata in 1998 from the University of Arizona, where he was a lecturer in physics. He earned a doctorate and master's degree in physics from the University of Arizona, and two bachelor's degrees in physics and mathematics from the University of California at Santa Barbara.

He was promoted to associate professor in 2004. He received the Gibbel Award for Distinguished Teaching in 2003. At Juniata, he has established several popular physics outreach events. Mall Physics features demonstrations at a local shopping mall, and Physics Phun Night offers live demonstrations onstage in Juniata's Alumni Hall.

He has served as a postdoctoral associate at the University of Arizona and a Medical College Admissions Test Physics Instructor. Borgardt received an Excellence in Teaching Award from the University of Arizona, and an AAPT Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award.

He has a number of published articles dealing with ion beam analysis, nuclear reactions and nuclear microprobes. He has also presented at conferences such as the 13th International Conference on Ion Beam Analysis and the 14th International Conference on the Application of Accelerators in Research and Industry.

He is currently a member of the American Institute of Physics, the Council on Undergraduate Research, and the Philosophy of Science Association.

Xinli Wang, a resident of Huntingdon, was hired at Juniata in 1999 as an assistant professor of philosophy. He started his academic career as a scientist in 1982 as an instructor in geophysics at Xian College of Geology in China.

He earned a bachelor's degree in geophysics in 1982 from the Changchun Institute of Geology in China. He went on to earn a master's degree in philosophy in 1988 from Huazhong University of Science and Technology. He earned a doctoral degree in philosophy from the University of Connecticut in 1999.

Before coming to Juniata, Wang worked as a lecturer in philosophy at the University of Connecticut from 1992 to 1997. He also worked as a visiting lecturer in philosophy at Trinity College in Hartford, Conn. from 1997 to 1999. He was promoted to associate professor at Juniata in 2004.

Wang is particularly interested in the philosophy of science and has published articles in such academic journals as "Prima Philsophia," "Journal of Dialectics of Nature" and "Dialogos."
He has presented his works in several national and international conferences. Wang is a member of the American Philosophical Association, The Philosophy of Science Association, British Society for the Philosophy of Science and the Society for the Dialectics of Nature.

Holly Hayer, a resident of Huntingdon, joined the Juniata faculty in 2005 as an assistant professor of Spanish. She earned a bachelor's degree in Spanish in 1985 from Ursinus College in Collegeville, Pa. She went on to earn a master's degree in Spanish linguistics in 1991 and a doctoral degree in Spanish linguistics in 1997, both from Georgetown University. At Georgetown, she served as assistant program director in Spanish for Basic Language Instruction for students in the School of Foreign Service.

She also studied abroad at Universidad Catolica in Quito, Ecuador in 1989 and at the Universidad de Salamanca, in Salamanca, Spain, in 1984. Before coming to Juniata, she taught as an adjunct professor part-time in the Washington, D.C. area. She started her academic career at the University of Illinois, Chicago, where she worked as a lecturer in Spanish linguistics from 1995 to 1997. She was promoted to assistant professor of Spanish linguistics in 1997 and left the university in 2001.

While at Illinois-Chicago, Hayer designed and implemented a Spanish language curriculum with an annual enrollment of over 1,200 students and trained more than 25 instructors. Hayer also served as a consultant in Guatemala to develop a Web site for the Guatemala Access to Intercultural Bilingual Education Project established under USAID/G-CAP's Peace Strategic Objective.

She also was a semifinalist for the Silver Circle Award for teaching Excellence at the University of Illinois-Chicago in 2000.

Kathleen Jones, a Huntingdon resident, came to Juniata in 2005 after a long career as a secondary school teacher. She earned two bachelor's degrees, in animal production and agricultural education, in 1985 from Penn State University. She went on to earn a master's degree in agricultural education from Penn State and earned a doctorate at Penn State in 2005.

She is certified by the Pennsylvania Department of Education in agricultural education, general science and Principal K-12. Before coming to Juniata, she worked as a lecturer at Penn State Harrisburg, teaching science education courses. She also served as supervisor and instructor for secondary education students at Penn State University in 2003-2004.

Jones started her career in education in the Peace Corps. She was district agricultural and livestock field officer in the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development in the Nkansi District in Tanzania, Africa from 1985 to 1987. When she returned to the United States in 1988, she started her secondary school teaching career as an agricultural education teacher at Lower Dauphin High School from 1988 to 1992. Every summer, from 1998 to 2003, Jones worked as lecturer, and in 2001, as acting director of the Capital Area Writing Project at Penn State Harrisburg.

She has received numerous awards for her teaching, including the George M. Leader, Excellence In Education, Middle School Teacher of the Year Award in 1997. She also received the National Science Foundation State Award for Excellence in Secondary Science Teaching in 1998 and the 1998 Presidential Award for Excellence in Secondary Science Teaching.

Kimberly Roth, a Huntingdon resident, joined the Juniata faculty in 2006 as assistant professor of mathematics from Wheeling Jesuit University in Wheeling, W.Va., where she had worked as an assistant professor since 2002.

She earned a bachelor's degree in computer science in 1996 from Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio, followed by participating in a study abroad program in spring 1997, Budapest Semesters in Mathematics. She went on to earn a doctoral degree in mathematics at Penn State University in 2002.

Her research interests include chaos theory and the behavior of fractals. She has taught courses such as calculus, probability and statistics, and a course on how to read, write, and talk about mathematics. She has published an article in "Complex Dynamics," a book in the Contemporary Mathematics series of the American Mathematical Society.

Roth became an assistant professor at Wheeling Jesuit in 2002, where she taught a wide variety of math courses. Her professional awards include a yearlong fellowship with Project NExT, which stands for New Experiences in Teaching, from 2002 to 2003. She received the Graduate Assistant Outstanding Teaching Award from Penn State in 2002 and also received the 2001 Graduate Student Teaching Award from the university's mathematics department.

She is involved in several professional organizations. Currently, she is a member of the Allegheny Mountain Section of the Mathematics Association of America, the Young Mathematicians Network, the Association for Women in Mathematics, and Kappa Mu Epsilon, a math honor society.

Contact April Feagley at feaglea@juniata.edu or (814) 641-3131 for more information.