New professors join McDaniel faculty

Paul Fitzpatrick has been promoted to assistant professor of American Sign Language. He has taught various courses for both undergraduate and graduate students from beginner to advanced ASL, as well as Deaf cultural studies, American Sign Language and Deaf literature, and the history and culture of the Deaf community.

Fitzpatrick, who holds both a bachelor’s degree in Deaf Studies and a master’s degree in Sign Language Education from Gallaudet University, has served as an American Sign Language lecturer at McDaniel since 2016.

Previously, he worked as an American Sign Language instructor at the Maryland School for the Deaf, Columbia, Md., J. Sargent Reynolds Community College in Richmond, Va., American University in Washington, D.C., Frederick Community College in Frederick, MD., Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C., and Northern Virginia Community College in Annandale, Va.

Gérard Keubeung has joined McDaniel as a new assistant professor of French. He teaches a variety of courses at McDaniel ranging from elementary and intermediate French to Francophone culture, African diaspora in France, and Francophone Caribbean and Francophone African cinema.

Prior to McDaniel, Keubeung taught as a visiting assistant professor at Bowdoin College. His research interests are in French and Francophone literature and cinema, Caribbean literature and cultures, French colonization and imperialism, and diaspora studies.

Keubeung graduated from the University of Yaoundé in Cameroon and earned a master’s degree in Francophone Studies from the University of Oregon. He holds a Ph.D. in French from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

Anna K. Lissitz, who previously served as an adjunct instructor in McDaniel’s Data Analytics program, joins McDaniel as assistant professor of Data Analytics.

Lissitz has held positions in the areas of program evaluation, learning design, institutional research, and assessment. She has also worked as a consultant with K-12, higher education, and workforce development organizations.

She earned a bachelor’s degree in Economics from Salisbury University and both a master’s degree and Ph.D. in Measurement, Statistics, and Evaluation from the University of Maryland, College Park.

Shaeeda Mensah is a new assistant professor of Philosophy at McDaniel.

Mensah, whose research interests include philosophy of race, feminist philosophy, and social and political philosophy, was previously a visiting assistant professor at Franklin & Marshall College. She has also taught at Temple University, American University, and Morgan State University.

She earned a bachelor’s degree in Sociology from Spelman College and both a master’s degree and Ph.D. in Philosophy from The Pennsylvania State University. Her dissertation was titled “Hidden in Plain Sight: A Philosophical Examination of the Invincibility of Black Women in Analyses of State Violence.”