Three New College of Florida professors are awarded tenure

Congratulations are in order for three New College of Florida professors who were awarded tenure on Tues. Feb. 25 at the Board of Trustees meeting in Sudakoff Center.
Leaders in their respective fields of data science, economics and sociology, Burcin Bozkaya, Ph.D.; Sherry Yu, Ph.D.; and Queen Meccasia Zabriskie, Ph.D., all expressed their profound gratitude for the recognition at the New College Board of Trustees meeting. The professors look forward to their continued academic careers at the College.
“It’s an honor and a privilege for me to reach this milestone,” said Bozkaya, who is a professor and director of data science in the graduate studies program. “I feel highly regarded and overjoyed with this decision.”
Bozkaya earned his Ph.D. in management science from the University of Alberta in Canada. He was formerly a professor of business analytics at Sabanci University’s Sabanci School of Management in Istanbul, Turkey. There, he conducted research on big data and customer behavior analytics, as well as predictive analytics in finance, insurance and telecom. He was also a visiting professor at the media lab at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he analyzed high-dimensional data sets with millions of bank transactions and customer demographics.
Yu is a professor of economics at New College who holds a Ph.D. in economics from Boston University. She specializes in macroeconomics and international economics, and her research focuses on banking regulation, monetary policy and financial contagion. She is currently investigating the role of unconventional monetary policy on financial market movements, exchange rate fluctuations and income inequality.
“I just want to thank everybody,” Yu said at the board meeting. “It gives me really good satisfaction about coming here and being able to contribute my time and effort.”
Zabriskie, a professor of sociology, completed her Ph.D. at Northwestern University. She teaches multiple courses on race, class and gender (and was instrumental in launching the new performance studies area of concentration at New College). Her artistic and creative work explores issues of identity, community, healing and empowerment.
“New College has been such an amazing place to bring all the different parts of what I do together,” Zabriskie said.
New College Provost Barbara Feldman, Ph.D., said of all three professors: “Our faculty is far stronger than it would be without them. It’s only going to get better.”
Abby Weingarten is the editor/writer for New College’s Office of Communications & Marketing.