Five New College of Florida Professors Awarded Tenure for 2022
- Katherine Brion, Ph.D., assistant professor of art history
- Ryan Buyssens, M.F.A., assistant professor of art
- Peter Cook, Ph.D., assistant professor of psychology
- Nicolas Delon, Ph.D., assistant professor of philosophy and environmental studies
- Kristopher Fennie, Ph.D., assistant professor of epidemiology
Brion teaches courses on the modern and contemporary art of Europe and the United States. Her research examines the intersection of aesthetics and politics in key public artforms of Belle Époque (late 19th– and early 20th-century) France, whether in decorative painting, posters or public school imagery. Brion’s current book project focuses on Belle Époque initiatives to democratize art and provide an aesthetic education to the working classes in collective spaces like the street, the school and the museum.
Buyssens is a recipient of the North Carolina Artist Fellowship who has exhibited his work internationally. Some of his exhibitions have included the 2014 World Maker Faire in New York City; the 2015 3D PrintShow in London, Paris and Dubai; the 2022 Pulse Art + Technology Festival at the Telfair Museum in Georgia; and the 2022 Enmeshed exhibition at the South Bend Museum of Art in Indiana. As an artist, inventor and maker, Buyssens expresses his commentary on logic and progress through the manipulation of various media.
Cook studies animal cognition and comparative neuroscience in a wide range of species. He is particularly interested in finding novel, ecologically valid approaches to studying brain and behavior outside of the traditional laboratory setting. He has examined the effects of toxic algae on memory and brain networks in wild sea lions; trained dogs to voluntarily participate in fMRI studies in order to probe canine preference and individual differences; and used high-resolution imaging of opportunistically-obtained dead brains to examine neural connections in animals.
Delon works primarily in animal ethics and environmental ethics. His research interests also include metaethics; psychology; social, political and legal philosophy; and the work of Friedrich Nietzsche. Delon’s recent courses at New College have included “Philosophy of Mind,” “Food, Animals and the Environment,” “Environmental Ethics,” “Climate Change: Philosophy, Politics, Economics” and “The Good Life.”
Fennie centers his research on the intersection of behavioral and social determinants of health, particularly in the context of global health and vulnerable populations. He has several years of experience working in the field of HIV disease with the goal of understanding how behavior and societal context influence HIV outcomes. He conducts research in the United States (namely Florida) and in Hunan, China.