During its May meeting, Linfield University’s board of trustees voted to grant four faculty members tenure, promotion or both. They also awarded emeritus status to three longtime professors.
Jeremy Weisz, Jennifer Rauch, Rainer Seitz and Mindy Zeitzer all received promotions or tenure. Dawn Nowacki, Henny Breen and Michelle Nelson were each granted emeritus status in recognition of their longtime service to the Linfield community.
Promotions and tenure:
Jeremy Weisz, promoted to professor of biology
Weisz has served as the chair of the biology department, the College of Arts and Sciences’ COVID-19 Emergency Response Team, the CAS representative on strategic planning committees and he’s been a reviewer for six academic journals. He has made substantial contributions to the field of microbiology, evident through his publication of three peer-reviewed articles in collaboration with students and peers, featured in journals such as Frontiers in Marine Science. He also spoke at the Oregon Wine Symposium as an expert on Oregon wine microbiomes.
Jennifer Rauch, professor of journalism and media studies — granted tenure
Rauch has served as the chair of the Department of Journalism and Media Studies, a faculty mentor for the first scholars program and faculty advisor for The Linfield Review, among others. She published the book “Resisting the News: Engaged Audiences, Alternative Media and Popular Critique of Journalism”; a chapter in The Routledge Handbook of Ecomedia Studies and the article “Contexts and Consequences of Hybridity: A Multidimensional View of Alternative Media Audiences.”
Rainer Seitz, awarded tenure and promoted to associate professor of business
Seitz has served as a member of the Linfield Faculty Senate since its inception in 2021, is a member of the Business Advisory Council, earned a Linfield Student-Faculty Collaborative Research Grant and is a board member and co-founder of the Portland Industrial & Organizational Psychology Association. Since joining Linfield in 2017, he has worked on two significant research projects: “Second-Chance Employment” aims to develop a predictive model for successful workforce reintegration of formerly incarcerated individuals; and an interdisciplinary exploration of social sustainability in the wine industry.
Mindy Zeitzer, awarded tenure and promoted to the rank of associate professor
Zeitzer serves as one of the directors of the Traditional BSN programs, on the Faculty Senate, the Technology Advisory Council, the ANA Moral Resilience Panel and is board chair for the Jewish Federation of Greater Portland. Her Faculty Development Grant supported the development and research as the Principal Investigator for the Clinical Psychopharmacology Institute. She co-authored a chapter in the “Family Health Care Nursing: Theory, Practice and Research” textbook, which won the “Book of the Year Award 2022” by American Journal of Nursing in the Environmental Health category. She is also the recipient of the 2023 Haugeberg Faculty Award.
Awarded emeritus status:
Dawn Nowacki, professor of political science and Elizabeth and Morris Glicksman Chair in Political Science at Linfield
Nowacki joined Linfield in 1994 and has been a significant part of the McMinnville campus community since, with dozens attending her ‘Last Lecture’ in May. She has received several honors, including the 2020 Edith Green Distinguished Professor Award and a Fulbright Teaching Fellowship for Russia in 2001. Her academic work includes articles on ethnic politics in former Soviet Republics, as well as women and leadership in post-Soviet states. She served as Linfield’s Fulbright advisor, and conducted numerous collaborative research projects with undergraduate students on women and politics in various world regions.
Henny Breen, professor of nursing and director of the RN-BSN program
Breen joined Linfield in 2011. Her clinical practice included psychiatric and mental health nursing, community health, private counseling, group therapy, quality management, disease management and nursing management. She taught in both prelicensure and post-licensure programs until she made online teaching her full-time practice in 2011. “We have been very fortunate to have Dr. Breen as faculty over the years. She has been able to mentor many of our faculty to online teaching and learning and has been a wealth of knowledge regarding best practice,” said Dean Paul Smith, citing her authorship of “Online Nursing Education: A Collaborative Approach.”
Michelle Nelson, Glen and Helen Jackson Professor of Business
Nelson joined Linfield in 2000. In the years since, she has taught courses in marketing, marketing research, social entrepreneurship and international business, and served as department chair for six years. She led January Term courses in Germany, Austria, Japan, South Korea, South Africa and Argentina, and is described as “a mentor, advisor and advocate for countless students, faculty and staff members … her passion for education, unwavering commitment to excellence and genuine care for the Linfield community have had a lasting impact on all who have had the privilege of working with her.”
