University of Scranton Appoints New Faculty Members

The University has appointed 14 new, full-time faculty members for the 2025-2026 academic year.
a collage of individual portrait headshots showing the new hires this year at the university of scranton
Pictured are 12 of the new, full-time faculty members this academic year at The University of Scranton.

The University of Scranton has appointed 14 new full-time faculty members for the 2025-2026 academic year.

a portrait of an individual with long black hairSara Chan Yun Yu, Ph.D., was named an assistant professor in the Philosophy Department. Her research interests lie in ethics, social epistemology and the philosophy of religion. She earned her Ph.D. at the University of Notre Dame, where she was the recipient of two graduate fellowships. Prior to that, she graduated from the University of Oxford (BPhil in Philosophy, Blackfriars Hall) and the University of St. Andrews (MA in Philosophy and Psychology). She publishes on the philosophy of disability and has spoken at conferences across the world.

a portrait of an individual with dark hairBeatriz Fontoura, Ph.D., was named an assistant professor in the Chemistry Department. Most recently, she was a postdoctoral research associate in the Department of Chemistry at Wake Forest University where she also served as a research instructor in analytical chemistry instrumentation. Dr. Fontoura earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in chemistry from Federal University of Viçosa, Brazil, and a Doctor of Philosophy in chemistry from Federal University of São Carlos, Brazil. She has been a contributor to numerous scholarly publications, is a journal reviewer for several academic journals, and is a member of leading Chemistry organizations. She has presented at conferences and events in both South and North America. In addition to her native Portuguese, she is fluent in English and speaks intermediate Spanish.

a portrait of an individual with curly hairNathan Henceroth, Ph.D., was named an assistant professor in the Political Science Department. Prior to joining the University, he was assistant professor of Computer Science and Political Science at Albright College, where his teaching focused on comparative politics, European politics, political economy and research methodology. Previously, he was visiting assistant professor of Political Science at Allegheny College. He earned a bachelor’s degree in international relations and French at Centre College, a master’s degree in international economics and politics at Charles University, Prague, and a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. In partnership with other academic colleagues, he has published works in peer-reviewed publications and has also presented at numerous professional conferences in his field. He is fluent in French and has intermediate fluency in Czech/Slovak.

a portrait of an individual with dark hairHyun Kim, Ph.D., was named an assistant professor in the Department of Health and Human Performance. She joined the University after serving for nine years on the faculty at Alma College where she was assistant professor, then associate professor of Public Health and was also program coordinator of the Public Health Program. She received a bachelor’s degree in merchandising from Indiana University, a Master of Science degree in economics from State University of New York, Buffalo, and a Ph.D. in community health from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She is a member of notable professional organizations in her field and is a regular presenter at the American Society for Nutrition meetings, among other professional organizations.

a portrait of an individual with glassesMegan Ossont, Ph.D., was named an assistant professor in the Department of Nursing. A Registered Nurse Practitioner with certification in family psychiatric mental health and as a nurse educator, Dr. Ossont was most recently assistant clinical professor at Drexel University of Graduate Nursing. She has served as a psychiatric nurse practitioner with the Federal Bureau of Prisons, where she was also selected as part of the National Forensic Psychiatry Team, and previously practiced at other correctional health care organizations and Geisinger Health Systems Department of Psychiatry, where she was named part of the residency faculty. Dr. Ossont earned a bachelor’s degree in nursing from The University of Scranton, a master’s degree in nursing from the University of Pennsylvania and a Doctor of Philosophy in nursing from Villanova University. She has presented at conferences, and her work is published in professional journals.

a portrait of an individual wearing a collared shirtCorey Posa was named a faculty specialist in the Department of Nursing. A nurse navigator with nursing experience in substance use and high-risk obstetric care, she specializes in perinatal addiction medicine. Most recently, she was a nurse navigator at UPMC Magee-Women’s Hospital Pregnancy and Women’s Recovery Center. Previously, she served as a staff nurse in other units at UPMC. She earned a Bachelor of Science in nursing and Master of Science in nursing education from Duquesne University and is a Registered Nurse. She has presented at numerous professional organizations about Care of the Perinatal Patient with Opioid Use Disorder.

Carissa Pupo, DNP, previously an adjunct faculty member in the Nurse Anesthesia Program at the University, was named a faculty specialist in the Department of Nursing. She has worked as a nurse anesthetist at Anesthesia Specialists of Bethlehem and Lehigh Valley Health Network, as a registered nurse at Geisinger Medical Center and a nursing simulated learning lab manager at Bloomsburg University. She received a Bachelor of Science in nursing from Bloomsburg University and a Doctor of Nursing Practice in anesthesia from The University of Scranton. She is a member of the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists and is certified as a critical care registered nurse.

a portrait of an individual with dark hairSwathi Ragulan, Ph.D., was named assistant professor in the Department of Counseling and Human Services. Dr. Ragulan received a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a master’s degree in applied behavior analysis from Rutgers University and went on to earn a Ph.D. in behavior analysis from the University of Nevada, Reno. A Board-Certified Behavior Analyst, she has taught as a lead instructor at the University of Nevada, Reno, and as a teaching assistant for the Global Institute for Behavioral Analysis. Dr. Ragulan has served as a clinical supervisor and assistant clinical director at service delivery organizations in her community, where she provided ABA services across the lifespan to individuals with autism and other developmental disabilities. She has presented extensively on topics in behavior analysis and skill acquisition for individuals with autism and is a contributor to scholarly publication articles.

a portrait of an individual with dark hair Sangita Saha, Ph.D., was named an assistant professor in the Department of History. Most recently, she was a lecturer in South Asian History at Santa Clara University. Previously, she was instructor of record in the Department of History at the University of Michigan — where she received several writing fellowships and research awards — while simultaneously completing her doctoral studies. She received a bachelor’s degree in history from Calcutta University, a master’s degree in modern history from Jawaharlal Nehru University, an M.Phil. degree in social sciences from Jadavpur University and a Ph.D. in history and women’s and gender studies from the University of Michigan. Dr. Saha has presented at conferences and workshops in the U.S., U.K. and Europe. Bilingual in English and Bengali, she has working proficiency in Hindi.

a portrait of an individual wearing glassesSamantha Scott, Ph.D., was named faculty specialist in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies. She previously served as a lecturer in the Department of Theology at Marquette University and Lee University. She earned a bachelor’s degree in theology from Marquette University, master’s degrees in theological studies and biblical studies at Lee University, and a Ph.D. in Judaism and Christianity in Antiquity from Marquette University. She has published journal articles, book chapters and book reviews and has made numerous academic presentations to the Society of Biblical Literature and other societies in her field. She is proficient in many languages, including Hebrew, Greek, Aramaic, Latin, Syriac, German and French.

a portrait of an individual with short, dark hairNavid Shahrouzi, Ph.D., was named an assistant professor in the Department of Physics and Engineering. Dr. Shahrouzi is an electrical engineer with expertise in embedded systems, FPGA prototyping, VLSI and microcontroller design. He previously served as an assistant research and teaching professor at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs, where he co-advised graduate students, served as the IEEE Student Branch Counselor and helped launch The Wire Lion Engineering Club. A senior member of IEEE, Dr. Shahrouzi has published in leading journals and conferences and regularly serves as a reviewer. In industry, he held a key role at Cypress Semiconductor (now Infineon Technologies), where he performed timing sign-off for SRSS IP in advanced microcontrollers. He earned his Ph.D. in electrical engineering from the University of Colorado, an M.Sc. from the University of Guilan, and a B.Sc. from K.N. Toosi University of Technology.

a portrait of an individual with glassesMarlon Mike Toro-Alvarez, Ph.D., was named an assistant professor in the Department of Criminal Justice, Cybersecurity and Sociology. He was previously an evaluator and analyst in cybersecurity and law enforcement training at Boston University, where he was part of a team on several research grant projects. As former head of the National Cybercrime Investigation Unit in the Colombian National Police, he organized the first White Hat Hackers Conference in Bogotá. He has been an instructor at Southern Illinois University and has been a guest lecturer at schools, police academies and criminology and cybercrime centers in South America and Mexico. He earned a bachelor’s degree in police administration from the Department of Police Service, Colombia, a bachelor’s degree in computer sciences from Catholic University, Colombia, a master’s degree in criminal justice from Boston University and a Ph.D. in criminology and criminal justice from Southern Illinois University.

a portrait headshot of an individual, smilingAl Turano, previously an adjunct faculty member, was named a faculty specialist in the Department of Operations and Analytics. Before joining the University, he was senior director, Global Professional Services for Dell Technologies, where he was responsible for an $8 billion global consulting practice specializing in big data, artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things. Previously, he held leadership positions for EMC Corporation, a multinational information technology company, and served in business development, account management, and portfolio and project management roles for businesses and consulting firms. He received a bachelor’s degree in business management from Philadelphia University and a Master of Business Administration degree from Southeastern Oklahoma State University.

a portrait of an individual wearing glassesJacob Zoromski, Ph.D., was named visiting assistant professor in the Department of Mathematics. He earned a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from the University of Wisconsin–Madison and a Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of Notre Dame. Dr. Zoromski has received awards for his work in student teaching.

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