New faculty join Centre College for 2025-26
Centre College is proud to welcome 12 new faculty members to campus for the 2025-26 school year.
“This outstanding group has already enriched our community and enhanced our students’ liberal arts experience,” Interim Vice President of Academic Affairs and Dean of the College Alex McAllister said. “I’m delighted to welcome these professors and instructors whose diverse backgrounds and specialties strengthen our academic programs. They join a community eager to learn from them, collaborate with them and support their success. Congratulations to our newest faculty members!
“We’re also thankful to have visiting professors sharing their expertise with us while faculty members are on sabbatical leave or teaching our students abroad.”
Division I: Humanities
Kane Anderson, Visiting Assistant Professor of Theatre
Anderson's scholarly research examines fandom, cosplay, superheroes and comic books. Many of his publications feature the results of his ethnographic studies of cosplayers at Comic-Con International.
As an actor, Kane Anderson has worked on stages across the country. He further trained with the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art as well as the Moscow Art Theatre School's American Studio. He received his certification as a teacher of Michael Chekhov acting technique from the Great Lakes Michael Chekhov Consortium. He also has a variety of directorial credits, especially enjoying musicals and newer works.
Kane Anderson earned his doctorate in Theater Studies from the University of California, Santa Barbara and his master’s of fine art in Theatre Performance from Arizona State University. He obtained his bachelor’s degree in Theatre Arts from the University of Pennsylvania.
Sasha Kuznetsova, Visiting Assistant Professor of Theatre
Sasha Kuznetsova is a Russian-born artist and set designer. She has completed internships at the Moscow Art Theater and the Stanislavsky Electrotheater. She also worked as an assistant to designer A.J. Weissbard on theatre projects in Russia, Germany and Italy. In Moscow, she also served as a technology assistant at the Sovremennik Theater.
Her previous work includes projects with the art collective Apadakaladas, dedicated to experimental theater design and performance. Over the past two years, she has designed sets for the musical Amélie, Molière’s Tartuffe and the devised work Depths at the Hilberry Theater in Detroit.
She earned her master’s of fine arts in Scenic Design from Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan, and a bachelor’s degree in Theatrical Art and Cinematography from the Moscow HSE Art and Design School.
Azusa Terajima, Visiting Instructor of Japanese, ALLEX Fellow
Centre is one of over 230 colleges to partner with the Alliance for Language Learning and Educational Exchange (ALLEX) Foundation, which provides professionally trained Chinese, Japanese or Korean native-language instructors, who teach in exchange for the opportunity to take classes to further their education.
Azusa Terajima previously taught Japanese language in Tokyo for the last three years before becoming an ALLEX Fellow. She obtained her bachelor’s degree in English from Hosei University in Tokyo, Japan, and her bachelor’s degree in Choreography and Imagery from Wilson College.
Jessica Tilley, Visiting Assistant Professor of Classics
Jessica Tilley specializes in the archaeology and history of the Ancient Mediterranean world, with a focus on burial practices during the Roman period in Greece and Italy. She has excavated at sites in the Peloponnese in Greece, as well as in central and southern Italy, and in the Southeastern United States.
Currently, she is assistant director of the Montereggi Project, where she is excavating an Etruscan and Roman site dating from the 6th century BCE to the 2nd century CE. She also continues to conduct research in Greece at the site of Ancient Corinth, where she is a researcher through the American School of Classical Studies at Athens. Her current publication focus is on a columbarium excavated in the 1930s.
She obtained her doctorate in Classics and master’s degree in Classical Archaeology from Florida State University. She obtained her bachelor’s degree in Classical Civilizations and Latin from DePauw University.
Division II: Social Studies
Scott Davis, Visiting Associate Professor of Economics
Scott Davis is an economist with more than 17 years of experience designing and implementing research and evaluation projects for a variety of clients, including the U.S. Department of Labor, the U.S. Department of Education, state and local workforce agencies, community colleges, and private sector organizations. He has expertise in evaluation design and quantitative methods, with experience developing and implementing rigorous evaluation studies tailored to workforce and education programs.
In his career, Davis has led and contributed to more than 25 studies on workforce and education topics, including reemployment programs, career and technical education, unemployment insurance, occupational training, apprenticeship, veterans’ programs, self-employment and more.
He obtained his doctorate and master’s degree in Economics from the University of Virginia and his bachelor’s degree in Economics from Centre.
Maya Novak-Herzog, Assistant Professor of Politics
Maya Novak-Herzog researches topics related to gender and sexuality within the context of American Politics.
Her current book project focuses on Title IX and how people on college campuses think about consent. Her work covering sexuality, gender and consent has appeared in numerous publications. She also conducted the first study to understand how consent varies between heterosexual and LGBT+ individuals which is forthcoming at the University of Michigan Press. Her reflections on the impact of gender in graduate school was published in the American Political Science Association’s handbook “Strategies for Navigating Graduate School and Beyond.”
She obtained her doctorate and master’s degree from Northwestern University and her bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Santa Cruz.
Division III: Science and Mathematics
Amber Hale, Associate Professor of Biology
Amber Hale established her research lab and taught biology courses across the curriculum at McNeese State University before coming to Centre.
Hale’s research uses molecular methods to answer basic scientific questions about species that are not well studied. Currently, her research is focused on honeybee genetics, metagenomics, ecological interactions and application of basic research to management practices.
She earned her doctorate in Biology from the University of Kentucky and her bachelor’s degree in Biomedical Science from Texas A&M University.
Matt Downen, Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies
Matt Downen’s research looks at how Earth systems interact over time. Their recent scholarship includes both fossil spiders and the geochemistry of ancient environments. Downen’s teaching interests include introductory environmental science, environmental geology and advanced geoscience courses.
Downen previously served as the Assistant Director of the Center for Teaching and Learning at Centre before moving to a full-time faculty position. They also participated in the Governor's Scholars Program at Centre in 2006.
They obtained their doctorate and master’s degree in Geology from the University of Kansas and bachelor’s in Geology from Western Kentucky University.
Lauren Mehanna, Visiting Assistant Professor of Chemistry and Engineering
Lauren Mehanna’s research interests include the development of cell and nanoparticle systems for therapeutic drug delivery using principles in biomaterials, nanotechnology, and engineering fluid mechanics. She is also passionate about contributing to women's health research through the improvement of bioengineering systems that benefit women's physiological diseases.
She graduated Summa Cum Laude from the University of Kentucky with a bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering and specialization in Biopharmaceutical Engineering. She then continued her doctorate and post-doctoral training in Chemical Engineering at the University of Kentucky. During her doctoral studies, she was awarded a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship. Her research at the University of Kentucky was focused on tissue engineering, cell adhesion mechanics and drug delivery.
Drew Skidmore, Assistant Professor of Biology
Drew Skidmore grew up outside of Louisville, Kentucky, in Oldham County. His research in graduate school focused on the study of RNA viruses and the characterization of antiviral compounds. He spent four years in a postdoctoral fellowship in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where he had a broad research focus, in particular on the microbiome of wild rodents.
He obtained his doctorate and master’s degree in Microbiology and Immunology from the University of Louisville and his bachelor’s degree in Biology from Bellarmine University.
Reagan Witt, Visiting Professor of Chemistry
Reagan Witt spent her graduate research investigating the environmental impact of waste management systems, including landfills and wastewater treatment. During this, she participated as a National Science Foundation FElloWS, allowing for interdisciplinary research across environmental chemistry, analytical chemistry, public health, toxicology, food science and forensic science.
She obtained her doctorate in Chemistry from the University of Kentucky and her bachelor’s degree in Forensic Science from Eastern Kentucky University.
Theodora Zastrocky, Assistant Professor of Physics
Theodora Zastrocky’s research interests include studying the masses of supermassive black holes fueling active galactic nuclei in nearby galaxies. She is part of the MAHA collaboration that collaborates and uses the Wyoming Infrared Observatory 2.3-meter optical telescope to collect data.
She received her doctorate and master’s degree in Physics from the University of Wyoming and her bachelor’s degree in Physics and English from Regis University.
