Four Academic Departments Welcome New Tenure-Track Professors

Four academic departments welcomed new tenure-track professors this fall. The five professors are Timothy VanHaitsma (kinesiology), Sarah Jirek (sociology), Enrico Manlapig (economics and business), Meagan Stirling (art) and Meredith Whitnah (sociology).

VanHaitsma, a graduate of Calvin College, earned a Master of Science at Indiana University and a Doctorate of Philosophy in Exercise and Sports Science at the University of Utah.

“I was a biology major as an undergrad and also a runner,” he says. “When I took my first kinesiology class, everything made sense to me as a scholar and a runner. My two loves coincided and connected, and it was the first class where I felt at home.”

VanHaitsma’s research focuses on the sensation of fatigue in athletes. “I’m trying to understand why athletes are tired a day after they exercise,” he says. “What makes athletes want to quit? There is a community of professional athletes here who may be interested and who could benefit from the findings.”

He has taught at Indiana, Utah and Georgetown College since 2003.

Jirek, a 2001 Westmont alumna, earned a Master of Social Work and a doctorate from the University of Michigan. Mentor and retiring Westmont professor Judy Alexander contacted Jirek about possibly filling the vacancy she would be leaving. “I had been eying the faculty openings at Westmont for some time and was thrilled at the opportunity to apply,” she says. “I am thrilled to be back here.”

Jirek’s research is on trauma recovery and post-traumatic growth. “I am really fascinated in working with people and researching people who are at a crossroads in their lives,” she says. “After the biggest, most horrible thing that’s ever happened to them has occurred, some people go downhill, some people recover over time, and some people actually grow beyond their initial phase of development and do something amazing with that experience. It becomes part of who they are and maybe even their mission in life to help others who had similar experiences. That’s called post-traumatic growth.”

Jirek taught at the University of Tampa for the past three years.

Manlapig, a graduate of the University of Queensland, taught at Hope College for two years before becoming capital efficiency senior associate at Deloitte Financial Advisory Services the past two years.

He earned a Master of Arts in economics, Master of Philosophy in Economics and a Doctor of Philosophy in Economics at Columbia University.

Before graduate school, he was a decision analyst at PricewaterhouseCoopers Applied Decision Analysis.

His graduate school research focused on the economics of speed dating. “I watched the dating habits of fellow grad students and then wrote theories about why they proposed the way that they did,” he says.

“I’d like to study matching markets, which speed dating is, but also delve into the behavioral side of economics. How do people make consistent mistakes that we can understand and that we can model?”

Stirling, a printmaker and installation artist, enjoys creating with large printmaking presses, acid, copper and etching. “I love combining different media with printmaking, which is a very traditional form of art, with painting and photography.”

Stirling, a graduate of Whitworth University, earned a Master of Art and a Master of Fine Art at the University of Wisconsin. She taught at the University of Colorado Denver, including the Beijing International College for the past four years.

“I am excited about the wonderful facilities here and hope to move the art department forward with the vision we want for the students and the school,” she says. “I’m looking forward to more one on one interaction with students in the smaller atmosphere.”

Whitnah, a graduate of Gordon College, is a trained sociologist who studies forms of injustice in society.

“There’s something very unique about what the Christian liberal arts education offers our world,” she says. “As a sociologist, I’m concerned about seeing those types of patterns and contingencies that exist in social life. The combination of critical thinking and compassionate engagement with the world is something the Christian liberal arts education offers.”

Whitnah earned a Master of Arts and a doctorate in sociology at the University of Notre Dame.

Her research has focused on the intersection of gender and religion. “Sociology offers a window into understanding how things outside of our own individual personal experiences have influenced us and shaped the way the world functions,” she says. “So it’s sort of enlightens our understanding of how we’re participating in society and how society is also forming us.”

She will be arriving in January after finishing at Notre Dame.