Four Promoted to Associate Professor with Tenure

Media contact: Noelle Lemoine, communications assistant; tele: (413) 597-4277; email: [email protected]

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass., Feb. 13, 2006 – Williams College has announced the promotion of four assistant professors to the rank of associate professor with tenure, effective July 1, 2006. They are Laylah Ali, art; Joseph Cruz, philosophy; Liza Johnson, art; and Ileana Perez Velazquez, music.

Laylah Ali

Ali is celebrated in the art world for her gouache paintings, which explore social and political typecasting. Her trademark Greenhead figures are often distinguishable only by the clothes they wear, and confound expected denominations of race, gender, age, or class, forcing the viewer to confront the more tenuous ideas of individual and group identity, and politics and power.

Her first New York solo show appeared in June 2000 at 303 Gallery, and in 2004 her work was included in the Whitney Biennial of American Art. Her work has also been exhibited in solo shows at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston, Albright Knox Museum in Buffalo, Contemporary Museum in St. Louis, and MASS MoCA.

She teaches courses in introductory drawing and in painting. She received her B.A. in English and studio art from Williams College and her M.F.A. in painting from Washington University, St. Louis. She also attended the Whitney Museum Independent Study Program and the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture.

Joseph Cruz

Cruz specializes in epistemology, the philosophies of psychology and mind, cognitive development, and neural network modeling. His research is primarily in neural network modeling and cognitive development and he helped develop the cognitive science concentration at Williams.

He is co-author with John L. Pollock of the second edition of the classic “Contemporary Theories of Knowledge” (1999) that introduces the reader to the fundamental issues and approaches in the field of epistemology and in which the case is made for the strong connection between epistemology and artificial intelligence. He has more recently written on skepticism, principles of rationality, and epistemic externalism. His chapter on Is There Reason for Skepticism? will appear in the forthcoming volume, “Knowledge and Skepticism.”

Cruz teaches “Introduction to Metaphysics and Epistemology” and “Contemporary Epistemology.” He received his B.A. in philosophy from Williams College and his Ph.D. in philosophy and cognitive science from the University of Arizona.

He is a past board member of the Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities. An avid cyclist, he is an expert-rated member of the North Atlantic Velo cycling team.

Liza Johnson

Johnson has recently completed principal photography on “South of Ten,” a neorealist film project made with nonactors in the Mississippi Gulf Coast in the aftermath of the hurricane. She also has a feature film in development.

Her previous works have screened widely in international film festivals, including the Berlin Film Festival, the Rotterdam Film Festival, and the New York Video Festival at Lincoln Center, as well as in fine arts venues and many queer film festivals. Her video installations have been exhibited at Artists’ Space in New York, the ICA in Philadelphia, and at the Williams College Museum of Art.

She has curated many programs and exhibitions of film and video, and she has also published critical writings about film and art. Her recent films, videos, and installations include “Desert Motel,” “If Then Maybe,” “Fernweh/The Opposite of Homesick,” “Giftwrap,” and “Good Sister/Bad Sister.”

Johnson teaches film and video production and theory and criticism at Williams, and also teaches in the American Studies program. She is preparing a new video production class for the Williams In New York program called Cinema and the City.

Ileana Perez Velazquez

Perez Velazquez composes works for orchestral, chamber, solo, vocal, and electronic media in a style that reflects a personal and creative approach to the musical influence of her native Cuba. She has received several national composition awards and was a recipient of a 2000 Cintas Fellowship in Composition, administered by Arts International, NYC.

Her compositions have been performed in concerts and international festivals in the United States, Cuba, Venezuela, Colombia, Mexico, Spain, the Netherlands, France, and Lebanon. Her work has been commissioned and performed by soloists, ensembles, and orchestras, including the Hopkins Center of Dartmouth College for the Flux Quartet, Cuarteto Eco from Madrid, Spain, Insomnio instrumental ensemble from the Netherlands, and the Berkshire Symphony Orchestra.

In 2005 she premiered “Inflorescence” with the Berkshire Symphony Orchestra and had works performed at the National Conference of the Society of Composer Inc. and the San Francisco Conservatory, Sonic Circuits XII International Electronic Music Festival in Boston, Columbia University Italian Academy, and XI Guitar Festival of Palma de Mallorca, Spain.

Perez Velazquez teaches courses on music composition and electronic music. She received her B.M. in piano and composition from the Higher Institute of Arts, Havana, Cuba, her M.A. in electroacoustic music from Dartmouth College, and her doctorate in music composition from Indiana University.

END

Williams College is consistently ranked one of the nation’s top liberal arts colleges. The college’s 2,000 students are taught by a faculty noted for the quality of their teaching and research, and the achievement of academic goals includes active participation of students with faculty in this research. Students’ educational experience is enriched by the residential campus environment which provides a host of opportunities for interaction with one another and with faculty beyond the classroom. Admission decisions are made regardless of a student’s financial ability, and the college provides grants and other assistance to meet the demonstrated needs of all who are admitted. Founded in 1793, it is the second oldest institution of higher learning in Massachusetts. The college is located in Williamstown, Mass. To visit the college on the Internet: www.williams.edu

END