New Faculty 2012


Christine M. Angel, Ph.D.

Christine M. Angel, Ph.D., an Assistant Professor in the Division of Library and Information Science, received her doctorate from the University of South Carolina. Her research interests are in the areas of information representation and retrieval. While pursuing her doctoral studies, Dr. Angel was a recipient of the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) Doctoral Fellowship and taught at the University of South Carolina.



Barry Baxt, Ph.D.

Barry Baxt, Ph.D., Full Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences, received his B.A. in Biology from CUNY, Brooklyn College and his Ph.D. in Microbiology and Immunology from SUNY, Downstate Medical Center. Dr. Baxt was a lead scientist in the Foreign Animal Disease Research Unit of the Plum Island Animal Disease Center for 30 years. His research centered on molecular virology and viral receptors. He is recognized internationally as an expert on foot-and-mouth disease virus. He retired from the Federal Government in 2007 and since then has been an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at St. John's University.



Hoon Choi, Ph.D.

Hoon Choi, Ph.D., Assistant Professor in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies, earned a B.A. in Theology and Art History from Boston College. He holds a Master of Divinity degree from Yale University, the Divinity School. He earned a Ph.D. from Loyola University Chicago, where he has also taught a popular course called "Christian Marriage." His professional interests include Roman Catholic moral theology, trans-cultural gender studies, and issues of race in theology.



Collin Craig, Ph.D.

Collin Craig, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of First-Year Writing in the Institute for Core Studies, has a B.A. in English; M.A. in Composition and Rhetoric; and a Ph.D. in Rhetoric and Critical Studies in Literacy and Pedagogy from Michigan State University. His research explores African American rhetorical and literacy traditions of identity formation. Specifically, he explores black male literacies as rhetorical practice in higher education.



Meredith C. Foley, Ph.D.

Meredith C. Foley, Ph.D., an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry, earned her B.S. degree from the University of Notre Dame in Indiana and her doctoral degree at New York University in 2011. Her research focuses on elucidating the atomic-level details of DNA repair mechanisms using computational methods. Dr. Foley had previously been an Adjunct Assistant Professor at St. John's University and a Chemistry Instructor at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point.



David Kaspar, Ph.D.

David Kaspar, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Philosophy, earned his Ph.D. at SUNY Buffalo and has previously taught at the University of Nevada, Reno and at Mansfield University. He works primarily in ethics and in political philosophy. His book, Intuitionism, will be released this year.



Robyn Kurasaki, PSY .D.

Robyn Kurasaki, Psy.D., Assistant Professor, Psychology Department, has been working as a school psychologist for the past several years and began her teaching career at Queens College. Research interests include the evaluation of programs aimed to enhance the social-emotional well-being of school-aged children and the influence of parents on child development. She earned a B.A. in Psychology, an M.S. in School Psychology and a Psy.D. in School Psychology from St. John's University.



Moti Mizrahi, Ph.D.

Moti Mizrahi, Ph.D., an Assistant Professor of Philosophy, earned his doctorate from The Graduate Center of the City University of New York. His areas of specialization include epistemology and philosophy of science. While pursuing his doctoral studies, Dr. Mizrahi served as a Teaching Fellow at Hunter College. He has been an Adjunct Professor at The Fashion Institute of Technology, Fairleigh Dickinson University and St. John's University.



Steve Puig, Ph.D.

Steve Puig, Ph.D., Assistant Professor in Languages and Literatures, earned his Ph.D. at the City University of New York. He specialized in 20th-and 21st-century French and Francophone literature and culture, with an emphasis on urban culture. He has written several articles on French Caribbean novels, particularly on Haitian novelists, and on urban writers. He has taught at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (where he received his M.A. in Romance Languages), Hunter College and Medgar Evers College in New York.



Rebecca Wiseheart, Ph.D.

Rebecca Wiseheart, Ph.D., Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, earned her degrees from the University of Florida. Before joining the faculty at St. John's, she worked as a speech-language pathologist in private practice and in the public schools. Her research focuses on understanding the complex relationships between language development and cognitive processing in children with dyslexia.



Yong Yu, Ph.D.

Yong Yu, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, earned his Ph.D. in Biology from the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Before coming to St. John's, he was an Associate Research Scientist at Columbia University. His research focuses on cell membrane proteins, especially ion channels and receptors. He makes use of molecular biology, biochemistry, biophysics and electrophysiology methods to investigate their structure and function and the roles that they play in human diseases.



Yue (Angela) Zhuo, Ph.D.

Angela Zhuo, Ph.D., Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, received her Ph.D. in sociology from the University at Albany, State University of New York in May 2012. She received an LL.B. in Law and a B.A. in English from Tianjin University, China, and an M.A. in Economics from Nankai University, China. Her research interests include crime and criminal justice, migration, family, and substance abuse. While pursuing her graduate studies, she served as a full-time statistician at the Research Institute on Addictions of the University at Buffalo, The State University of New York for three years.