Appalachian’s College of Arts and Sciences announces new department chairs

Burris joined the College of Arts and Sciences’ Department of Physics and Astronomy at Appalachian in 2007. She received her Bachelor of Science in applied science-physics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and an M.S. and Ph.D. in physics from Colorado State University. Burris has served as associate dean in the College of Arts and Sciences and as the graduate program director for the M.S. in engineering physics program in the Department of Physics and Astronomy. She sits on the board of the North Carolina BRIDGES Academic Leadership Program and has previously served as the program’s chair. She is currently helping to lead an effort to create a North Carolina ACE Women’s Network.

Burris received both the 2015 UNC Board of Governors Award for Excellence in Teaching and the 2013 Appalachian State University’s Harvey R. Durham Outstanding Freshman Advocate Award. She is active at the national and state levels of the American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT), has served as an assistant editor of the journal The Physics Teacher and currently sits on the journal’s editorial board. Burris’ teaching extends outside of the classroom. She regularly mentors STEM students and actively recruits and collaborates with students in Appalachian’s Biophysics and Optical Sciences Facility. Burris’ multidisciplinary research involves optical engineering and studies of biological systems.

Webb joined the Dr. Wiley F. Smith Department of Psychology in 2005. She received a B.S. in mathematics and a B.S. in psychology from Arkansas Tech University, and she holds an M.S. and a Ph.D. in quantitative methods in psychology from Vanderbilt University. She has served as director for the M.A. in experimental psychology program and as assistant chair. Within her department, she has served on strategic planning, curriculum, assessment, as well as numerous other committees. At the university level, she has served on general education subcommittees for quantitative literacy and for social sciences, the CAS Scholarship Committee and the Dean of Arts and Sciences Advisory Council. In 2016-17, she was selected to participate in the Chancellor’s Academic Leadership Development Program.

Webb’s current research focuses on how the personality and competence of people are perceived by oneself and by others, with a focus on the convergence and divergence between reporters and the behaviors that those individual differences predict. The primary aim of her research is to inform behaviorally based measurements of individual differences. She teaches courses in research methods, measurement, and personality and individual differences at the undergraduate and graduate levels.

Lippard is an alumnus of Appalachian, graduating with a B.A. in psychology and a B.A. in sociology in 1998. He completed his Ph.D. at Georgia State University in 2006. He returned to Appalachian and joined the College of Arts and Sciences in 2007 in the Department of Sociology. Lippard’s interest in teaching lies with engaging students in lively debates to develop their critical thinking skills on issues of race and racism, immigration, war and research methods. His research has been focused on examining and documenting the treatment and social integration of Latino immigrants in the American South. He has published two books on the subject, “Building Inequality” (2008) and “Being Brown in Dixie” (2011). His most recent publication, “WAR: Contemporary Perspectives on Armed Conflict around the World” (2018) was a collaboration with colleague Dr. Pavel Osinsky, professor of sociology at Appalachian.

In 2008, Lippard was inducted into the College of Arts and Sciences Academy of Outstanding Teachers. In 2009, he received the college’s Teacher of the Year Award, and in 2013, Lippard received a UNC Board of Governors Award for Teaching in Excellence at the college level. He has served as the sociology department’s undergraduate program director from 2013-16, on the General Education Council since 2013 and is chair of the Social Designation Committee.

Dr. Tammy Wahpeconiah joined Appalachian’s Department of English in 2004, where she has served as assistant chair since 2009. She received her B.A. in English from the University of Miami and her M.A. in English and Ph.D. in literature from Michigan State University. Her teaching and research interests include Native American and American ethnic literature as well as science fiction. Her recent publications include “‘An Evening’s Curiosity’: Image and Indianness in James Welch’s The Heartsong of Charging Elk,” which was published in the journal Transmotion, and “‘That We May Stand and Walk Ourselves’: Indian Sovereignty and Diplomacy after the Revolutionary War,” which appears in the Routledge Companion to Native American Literature.

Wahpeconiah has served on the Academic Integrity Board, the Student Conduct Board and on various search committees in the College of Arts and Sciences and the English department. She served on the original General Education Task Force in 2010-11. Currently, she serves on the editorial board for Cold Mountain Review, a biannual literary journal founded by alumnus R.T. Smith that is among the oldest in continuous publication in North Carolina.