Introducing New Members of the Faculty

To help introduce to the Cornell community the new members of the university's faculty, the Cornell Chronicle is publishing brief, new-faculty profiles each week during the semester.

James Eli Adams

Associate professor, English
College: Arts and Sciences
Academic Focus: Victorian literature and culture. Since 1993, he has been the co-editor of Victorian Studies, the leading journal for interdisciplinary scholarship on Victorian Britain. He is the author of Dandies and Desert Saints: Styles of Victorian Masculinity (1995) and the joint editor of Sexualities in Victorian Britain (1996), and he is working on a history of Victorian literature, to be published by Blackwell as part of a new 10-volume History of British Literature.
Previous position: Associate professor, Indiana University at Bloomington.
Academic background: B.S., literature and mathematics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1977; B.A., English language and literature, Oxford University (Rhodes Scholar) 1979; and Ph.D., English, Cornell, 1987.

Christopher J. Collins

Assistant professor, human resource studies
College: Industrial and Labor Relations
Academic focus: The link between strategic human resource practices and performance in high-technology organizations; entrepreneurship and innovation; recruitment practices and job choice.
Previous position: Doctoral student, 1997-2000; consultant on staffing, human resource planning and analysis to high-tech firms, 1992-97.
Academic background: B.A., management and accounting, Mercyhurst College, 1989; MBA, human resource management and organizational behavior, University of Buffalo, 1992; Ph.D., organizational behavior, human resources, University of Maryland at College Park, May 2000.

Melissa C. Thomas-Hunt

Assistant professor, organizational behavior
College:Johnson Graduate School of Management
Academic focus:Research activities focus on conflict management, negotiation and team-management processes. Her current research examines the contribution of expertise within diverse groups and the effects of relationships on negotiation processes and outcomes.
Previous position:Assistant professor of
Organization Behavior, Olin School of Business, Washington University, 1996-2000.
Academic background:B.S., chemical engineering, Princeton University, 1989; M.S., organization behavior, 1995, and Ph.D., organization behavior, 1997, both at the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management, Northwestern University.

Kate Walsh

Assistant professor, management, operations and human resources
College:Hotel Administration
Academic focus:Current research interests include delivering expertise; identity and relationship building in professional service; and the service organization.
Previous position:Instructor, Cornell School of Hotel Administration Executive Education Program, 1996-2000; instructor, Boston College, spring 1997; corporate director of training and development, Nikko Hotel International, New York City, 1991-94.
Academic background:B.S., accounting, Fairfield University, 1985; M.P.S., hotel administration, Cornell, 1990; Ph.D., organization studies, Carroll School of Management, Boston College, 2000.

September 21, 2000