Catching up with Union faculty

Carolyn Rodak spent most of her high school free time in orchestra pits or marching down the streets of Farmington Hills, Mich., all the way to two state band championships.

Jeff Corbin didn’t know until late in his undergraduate career what branch of biology would be his life’s focus.

Hans-Friedrich Mueller, the Thomas Lamont Professor of Ancient and Modern Literatures, grew up in Milwaukee, Wis., thinking sidewalks and walkability were a normal feature of the landscape.

Visiting assistant professor of history Nicole de Silva grew up in Riverside, Calif., where a landscape once filled with orange groves is now more dominated by rows of midcentury suburban tract housing.

Originally born in Saudi Arabia, Luke Dosiek spent his childhood in Upstate New York, developing a love for outdoor activities, fine cuisine (think: poutine and Michigan-style hot dogs) and collegiate sports.

The lengths a woodworker will go to acquire a prime piece of wood can at times border on the extreme. This is certainly the case for Jeff Jauregui.

Prateek Arora, assistant professor of economics, was born in India.

Mercedes Mayna Medrano has been a visiting professor of Spanish and Hispanic studies since fall 2022.

Growing up in the Dupont Circle neighborhood of Washington, D.C., John Rieffel had access to some of the world’s best cultural institutions.

Professor of geosciences Holli Frey grew up Duane, N.Y., a town of 137 people in the northern Adirondacks, where her parents were the town supervisor and a tax collector/medical technologist, and also ran a cabin and boat rental business.