With expertise in disciplines ranging from acting to zoography, six Gettysburg College professors were granted tenure by the college's Board of Trustees and promoted to the rank of associate professor, effective Sept. 1.

The newly tenured faculty members teach in different academic departments across campus.

Yasemin Akbaba is a political science professor who teaches courses including Turkish Politics, International Relations, Contemporary Issues in Middle East Politics, and Nationalism and Ethnic Conflict. Her research focuses on ethnic and religious group movements as well as international conflict (with a specific look at the Middle East). Akbaba holds a Ph.D. from University of Missouri-Columbia and a B.S. from Middle East Technical University in Turkey. She has taught at Gettysburg College since 2006 and previously at University of Missouri-Columbia.

Christopher Kauffman ’92 is a theatre arts professor who teaches acting and directing courses. The co-author of three plays, he has acted in and directed productions around the world. Kauffman holds an M.F.A. from Brandeis University and a B.A. from Gettysburg College, where he has been teaching since 2004.

Yahya Madra is an economics professor who holds a Ph.D. from University of Massachusetts-Amherst and a B.A. from Bogazici University in Turkey. His research interests include Marxism and psychoanalysis, economic methodology and the philosophy of economics, and contemporary art. He has been a faculty member since 2007, and was a visiting professor here from 2006 to 2007. He previously taught at Skidmore College.

Monica Ogra is an environmental studies professor whose research focuses on sustainable development, cultural and political ecology, feminist environmentalism, animal geographies, and institutional ethnography. Her courses focus on world geography, environmental issues, international development, globalization, and gender. Ogra holds a Ph.D. from University of Colorado-Boulder, a master's degree from University of Denver, and a B.S. from Syracuse University. She has taught at Gettysburg College since 2006.

Kathleen Sasnett is a professor of voice and opera in the Sunderman Conservatory of Music. An award-winning soprano, she has performed leading operatic and musical theatre roles throughout the U.S. and Europe. Sasnett holds a doctoral degree from The Ohio State University, a master’s from Central Washington University, and a B.A. from University of Washington. She has taught at Gettysburg College since 2006 and previously at The Ohio State University. Listen to her perform.

Beatriz Trigo is a professor of Spanish who holds a Ph.D. and master’s from Arizona State University and a B.A. from Santiago de Compostela University in Spain. Since coming to Gettysburg College in 2007, she has taught courses on 20th and 21st Century Peninsular Literature and the Film of Spain, and Spanish Composition, Conversation, and Culture. Trigo’s research and publications focus on 20th and 21st century Peninsular narrative, the fantastic, gender, film, and Galician studies. She previously taught at Washington & Jefferson College.

Founded in 1832, Gettysburg College is a highly selective four-year residential college of liberal arts and sciences with a strong academic tradition. Alumni include Rhodes Scholars, a Nobel laureate, and other distinguished scholars. The college enrolls 2,600 undergraduate students and is located on a 200-acre campus adjacent to the Gettysburg National Military Park in Pennsylvania.

Contact: Tracey Dukert, assistant director of news content, 717.337.6521