Get to Know the New Faculty

The new full-time faculty members for 2013-14.

The University of Hartford welcomes 16 new full-time faculty members for the 2013-14 academic year, representing a wide range of backgrounds and interests.

Below is a list of the new faculty members and brief descriptions of their backgrounds.

Click here to read more detailed information about each of the new faculty members, including biographical information and scholarly and interdisciplinary interests.


Barney School of Business

Donald May, Visiting Lecturer, Department of Accounting and Taxation
May worked in public accounting for 29 years, primarily concentrating on taxation of corporations, partnerships, individuals and non-profit organizations. He also has provided accounting and auditing services to small- and medium-sized businesses and non-profit organizations, and he has taught at Suffolk University, Providence College, and Northeastern University. His areas of teaching are taxation, auditing, fraud examination, accounting information systems and other accounting courses, both at the undergraduate and graduate levels.


College of Arts and Sciences

Kristin Comeforo, Assistant Professor, School of Communication
Comeforo weds practitioner experience with scholarly endeavor to bring a unique mix of application and theory into her advertising classrooms. In 2009 she received her PhD in communication from Rutgers University, concentrating on critical media studies. She also holds an MBA in global marketing and a bachelor’s degree in management science. Comeforo has served as an Account Executive, Marketing Manager, and New Business Coordinator across a variety of advertising, direct response, trade marketing, and media firms. Her teaching career began in 1998 at Berkeley College, where she taught as a full-time faculty member through the spring of 2013. She also has taught media studies and advertising at The City College of New York, and New York Institute of Technology.

Yingcui Li, Assistant Professor, Department of Biology
Li received her PhD in cell and developmental biology from Temple University. Prior to joining the University of Hartford, she was a faculty member at the School of Dental Medicine, UConn Health Center. She has been deeply involved in research and teaching in the field of developmental biology for about 20 years, and has published her work in many highly regarded journals. Most recently, Li was honored as an Arthritis National Research Foundation Scholar, Grace Haussner Memorial Fellow, and Jack and Bonnie Schoomer Memorial Fellow.

Dawn Neese, Visiting Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology
Neese is a licensed clinical psychologist who works with children, adolescents, and adults. After obtaining her doctorate from Purdue University, she completed her internship and post-doctoral fellowship in pediatric psychology at the Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio. Neese has worked in private practice in Manchester, Conn., for 13 years, where she has specialized in the treatment of adolescents and young adults, eating disorders, and health-related issues. In 2008 she took a two-year sabbatical from her practice to work with active-duty military service members and their families in Landstuhl, Germany. Much of this work focused on the impact of deployment on families and reintegration issues following deployment.

Cesar Rodriguez, Visiting Instructor, Jackie McLean Fellow, Department of Sociology
Rodriguez is joining the faculty for the 2013-14 academic year as the Jackie McLean Fellow. A PhD candidate in sociology at the University of California at Santa Barbara, Rodriguez’s doctoral research is on the “school to prison pipeline” (STPP), which examines the connections between struggling inter-city schools and the incarceration of students of color. Rodriguez grew up in the multicultural, immigrant communities of Daly City and South San Francisco, and he started his path to a PhD at a community college. With a strong interest in social justice, his current areas of study include gentrification, education, mass incarceration, youth, and popular culture.

Paola Sacchetti, Assistant Professor, Department of Biology
Sacchetti’s dream is to help treat as many patients as possible affected by neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson’s Disease. Sacchetti was born in Italy and left in 1992 to obtain a bachelor’s degree in biology from Wayne State University in Detroit. She went on to earn a PhD in neurobiology. Sacchetti returned to Europe for postdoctoral training at INSERM, Lille, France, (2000-2005) and the Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden, (2005-2009). Prior to joining the University of Hartford, Sacchetti worked as a visiting assistant professor in biology at Mount Holyoke College.

Adam Silver, Assistant Professor, Department of Biology
Silver received a Bachelor of Science from Stonehill College, where he had the opportunity to conduct research, making him a strong advocate for undergraduate research. He earned a PhD from UConn, and his doctoral research focused on the identification of genes that are required to colonize the leech digestive tract. Silver received several awards while studying at UConn, including the Schwenk Graduate Student Mentor/Fellowship, the Pfizer Summer Fellowship Award in Molecular and Cell Biology, and the Dr. Arthur Chovnick Graduate Fellowship in Genetics. Upon completion of his PhD, Silver was awarded an NIH fellowship in immunobiology at the Yale University School of Medicine.

Kelly Tahaney Weber, Assistant Professor of Psychology and Associate Director of the Graduate Institute of Professional Psychology
Weber is a child, adolescent, and family therapist who also has experience working with couples and adults. She is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist, and has been an adjunct faculty member with the University’s Graduate Institute of Professional Psychology since 2003. Weber also is a co-managing partner and co-owner of Counseling Affiliates, LLC, a multi-specialty group practice with offices in Glastonbury and Farmington, Conn. Weber, who has extensive clinical experience, holds a bachelor’s degree from Rutgers University and a master’s and doctorate in clinical psychology from the University of Hartford.


College of Education, Nursing and Health Professions

Leonard Heroux Jr., Assistant Professor, Department of Health Sciences and Nursing
Upon graduation from Quinnipiac College, Heroux went on to work at Gaylord Hospital, New Britain General Hospital, and Hartford Hospital, where he served for 28 years. Heroux has worked as a staff therapist, supervisor, educator, and manager, and he says his life’s goal is to “improve the human condition through commitment to the care and rehabilitation of the sick and injured.” He earned a master’s degree from Cambridge College, and has served the University of Hartford for 28 years as a lecturer and adjunct faculty member. Heroux’s scholarly interests include “the seamless integration between the digital world and patient care.”

Zahra Ladhani, Assistant Professor, Department of Health Sciences and Nursing
Ladhani’s research interests are in the areas of health professionals’ education with particular focus on exploring strategies to integrate community-based education and competency approach in the curriculum. Ladhani has served as technical advisor to a number of academic and non-academic health institutions in Pakistan and Afghanistan. She has extensive experience planning and managing primary health care programs, training and supervising community-based workers, and providing technical back-stopping to local health care organizations. Currently Ladhani, along with a colleague from Suez Canal University in Egypt, is compiling a book for the World Health Organization on community-based educational strategies.

Dawn Roller, Visiting Assistant Professor, Department of Rehabilitation Sciences
Roller’s initial years of practice were as an orthopedic and sports medicine physical therapy assistant. She returned to school at the University of Hartford and completed her BS in physical therapy in 2001. Roller joined the staff of the Center for Motion Analysis at Connecticut Children’s Medical Center in 2004 and continued to practice there until she joined the University of Hartford faculty this past May. At the Center for Motion Analysis, she utilized 3D motion data capture for clinical decision-making and research, primarily in the pediatric population. Roller expects to complete her clinical Doctorate in Physical Therapy through MGH Institute of Health Professions in December 2013.

Teresa Twomey, Visiting Assistant Professor, Department of Health Sciences and Nursing
Twomey has held many leadership roles as a registered nurse including Executive Director of the Nursing Career Center of Connecticut, a non-profit organization that was founded by the state’s two leading professional nursing organizations to address the nursing shortage. She also has served as Director of Pediatric Services and Branch Administrator for home health care agencies in the Washington, D.C., area and in Connecticut. Most recently, Twomey received her Doctorate in Educational Leadership. She has extensive experience in nursing education and has served on the faculties of Goodwin College and Quinnipiac University. Her specialty in nursing is Neonatal Intensive Care Nursing and Children with Special Healthcare Needs.


College of Engineering, Technology, and Architecture

Sigridur Osk Bjarnadottir, Visiting Assistant Professor, Department of Civil, Environmental, and Biomedical Engineering
Bjarnadottir, who was born in Reykjavik, Iceland, holds a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering and earned a master’s degree and PhD in structural engineering from Michigan Technological University. Her current research interests are focused on the hurricane risk assessment of power distribution poles considering the potential impacts of climate change on hurricane frequency and/or intensity. In addition, she has started to develop climatic adaptation strategies that could aid in mitigating potential damage to power distribution poles. She believes that similar methodologies for risk assessments can be developed for other forms of infrastructure and for other natural hazards, such as floods.

Eoin King, Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering
King holds a BAI in mechanical engineering, a postgraduate diploma in statistics, and a PhD in acoustics from Trinity College Dublin. His doctoral dissertation developed a practical framework for undertaking strategic noise mapping in Europe. In 2008, King was awarded a Post Doctoral Research Fellowship at Trinity College Dublin from the National Roads Authority of Ireland. The following year, he was awarded an Innovation Voucher from Enterprise Ireland, a government agency responsible for the development and growth of Irish enterprises. King took a position as an acoustic consultant with an Irish civil engineering firm, where he worked with the National Roads Authority and developed the largest and most complex strategic noise maps prepared in Ireland to date.


The Hartt School

Karen Cook, Associate Professor of Music History, Academic and Contemporary Studies Division
Cook earned her PhD in musicology and a certificate in medieval and Renaissance studies from Duke University. She received Master of Music degrees in musicology and theory pedagogy from Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, and Bachelor of Arts degrees in music performance and religion from Gettysburg College. While at Duke, Cook served as Director of Duke Collegium Musicum, Director of Duke Early Instrument Consorts, and as a visiting instructor, and she also taught at Peabody Preparatory. In addition to her broad range of teaching experience, Cook also is a practicing singer, conductor, and instrumental performer of medieval, Renaissance, Baroque, and contemporary repertory, and she is a passionate supporter of digital technology and research methods in scholarship.

Javon Jackson, Associate Professor of Jazz and Chair, Jackie McLean Institute of Jazz, Music Performance Division
Tenor saxophonist Javon Jackson came into international prominence touring and recording with the legendary drummer Art Blakey as a member of his band, Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers. Jackson went on to release 14 recordings as a band leader and tour and record over 135 CDs with a number of jazz greats. In addition to his performance schedule, Jackson is a highly sought-after jazz educator, conducting clinics and lectures at universities throughout the U.S. and abroad. He served as an assistant professor of jazz at Long Island University and in the Conservatory of Music at Purchase College in New York. In 2012, Jackson was the recipient of the prestigious Benny Golson Award from Howard University for recognition of legendary excellence in jazz.