This fall, seven faculty members joined Dartmouth’s house communities as part of the third cohort of faculty fellows.
In this role, fellows work closely with house leadership teams to enrich programming that fosters meaningful dialogue, intellectual curiosity, and stronger connections between students and faculty. House professors Janice McCabe and Sienna Craig launched the Faculty Fellows Program for all house communities in 2023, and fellows have since introduced numerous programs and events that engage students with their unique interests and perspectives.
“Meaningful engagement from faculty, staff, graduate students, and undergraduates across campus is what makes Dartmouth’s house communities so special,” says Professor of Physics and Astronomy Ryan Hickox, director of house community development. “I’m delighted to welcome this new cohort of faculty fellows, whose expertise spans Arts and Sciences, Thayer, and Geisel.”
All undergraduates are assigned to one of six houses when they arrive as first-year students, and they maintain their affiliation throughout their time at Dartmouth. Each house is overseen by a member of the faculty—the house professor—who lives in a single-family home on campus. House leadership teams also include a residential education professional staff member, four resident fellows, a team of undergraduate advisors, and a program coordinator.
Tenure-line faculty and most graduate students are affiliated automatically with individual houses. Graduate students from Tuck and some Geisel programs, as well as all staff, are invited to affiliate.
The new fellows include Peter Chin, professor of engineering (West House); Diane Gilbert-Diamond ’98, professor of epidemiology, medicine, and pediatrics, and adjunct professor of biological sciences (South House); Matt Hooley, assistant professor of Native American and Indigenous studies (North Park House); Mingwei Huang, assistant professor of women's, gender, and sexuality studies (East Wheelock House); Geoffrey Luke, associate professor of engineering (North Park House); Jonathan Phillips, assistant professor of cognitive science (South House); and Miya Xie, associate professor of Chinese and comparative East Asian literature (Allen House).
Here, each new fellow shares a few words about their motivation for joining Dartmouth’s house communities.
Peter Chin, Professor of Engineering
Faculty Fellow, West House
Chin leads the Learning, Intelligence, and Signal Processing Lab, where he and his students investigate fundamental questions such as "Can intelligence be learned?" through the lens of signal processing, machine learning, game theory, differential geometry, extremal graph theory, and computational neuroscience.
“I have always enjoyed working with undergraduate students—not only those who are in my classes, but also those who work in my research lab,” Chin says. “I believe that the faculty fellow position will allow me to connect with a wider spectrum of students in deep and meaningful ways, outside of classroom or lab environments. I am super excited about helping to create a thriving, living community together at West House!”
Diane Gilbert-Diamond ’98, Professor of Epidemiology, Medicine, and Pediatrics, and Adjunct Professor of Biological Sciences
Faculty Fellow, South House
Gilbert-Diamond ’98 has built a robust NIH-funded research program at the Geisel School of Medicine focused on understanding genetic and environmental drivers of health behaviors. Her research seeks to identify those drivers as they relate to chronic diseases, such as obesity, type II diabetes, and cancer.
“I wanted to join the house communities as a faculty fellow so that I can support Dartmouth in being a warm and welcoming community,” Gilbert-Diamond says. “As a former Dartmouth undergraduate, I remember sometimes feeling lost and isolated on campus and there were many caring staff and faculty members who helped me to feel more at home. I hope that I can ‘pay forward’ that kindness to others.”
Matt Hooley, Assistant Professor of Native American and Indigenous Studies
Faculty Fellow, North Park House
Hooley’s research focuses on how contemporary Indigenous poetry and prose helps articulate critiques of U.S. empire and the co-emergence of modern empire and climate catastrophe. He teaches about cultural histories of colonialism and anticolonialism, paying special attention to Indigenous literary and visual arts modernisms, poetics, and the environmental humanities. His first book, Against Extraction: Indigenous Modernism in the Twin Cities, was published in 2023.
“The house system here seems like such a necessary structure to support students who are navigating an era marked by unprecedented political, economic, and cultural challenges,” Hooley says. “It seems like a perfect way to leverage some of Dartmouth’s greatest strengths: the genuine commitment faculty here have to the well-being and growth of students, and the openness of Dartmouth students to use that faculty support to create new and exciting paths forward for themselves and their peers.”
Mingwei Huang, Assistant Professor of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
Faculty Fellow, East Wheelock House
Huang is an interdisciplinary scholar of race and migration trained in American studies and gender and sexuality studies. At Dartmouth, she has served as faculty advisor for Spare Rib Intersectional Zine and the Sexual Assault Peer Alliance. Her first book, Reconfiguring Racial Capitalism: South Africa in the Chinese Century, serves as an ethnography of contemporary Chinese world-making in Johannesburg, South Africa.
“My interest in student life and curiosity about campus—how it works, its many communities—motivated me to become involved with the house system as a faculty fellow,” Huang says. “I hope to offer programs related to social justice and student well-being and belonging.”
Geoffrey Luke, Associate Professor of Engineering
Faculty Fellow, North Park House
Luke’s research focuses on the intersection of light, sound, and nanotechnology to develop new tools for the diagnosis and treatment of diseases. He is interested in ultrasound and photoacoustic imaging, bionanotechnology, cancer diagnostics and therapy, and molecular imaging.
“Over the last 10 years, I have loved teaching—and learning from—the wonderful students at Dartmouth,” Luke says. “As a house faculty fellow, I am excited to connect with even more students outside of the classroom. I am especially enthusiastic about sharing my love of the outdoors, my passion for creative pursuits, and a perspective on neurodiversity shaped by lived experience. I look forward to working with Melanie [Taylor] and the housing community staff to develop programming that brings these interests to the Dartmouth community.”
Jonathan Phillips, Assistant Professor of Cognitive Science
Faculty Fellow, South House
Phillips directs PhilLab, where he and his students explore both how people think about possibilities themselves and how that influences the language we use, the decisions we make, and our understanding of other minds. Their interdisciplinary approach draws on tools from philosophy, psychology, linguistics, and computer science.
“One of my favorite parts of being a professor has been getting to know students through teaching and doing research together in cognitive science,” Phillips says. “Becoming a faculty fellow at South House seemed like a cool opportunity to expand beyond that. I’m excited to get to interact with students outside of the classroom and lab and to share with them some of my other passions, like backcountry skiing, beekeeping, and restoring an old stone farmhouse.”
Miya Xie, Associate Professor of Chinese and Comparative East Asian Literature
Faculty Fellow, Allen House
Xie is a scholar of comparative literature, specializing in modern Chinese, Korean, and Japanese literature. Her research explores how marginalized communities—whether geographically or metaphorically displaced—navigate transcultural negotiations to gain agency, forge identities, and build connections. Her first book, Territorializing Manchuria: The Transnational Frontier and Literatures of East Asia, won the MLA Prize for a First Book in 2024.
“After coordinating two successful events with Allen House in spring 2024—a talk featuring literary translator Jenna Tang and a Chinese dumpling-making event—I discovered my passion for organizing house programming and connecting with students and colleagues in this intimate setting,” Xie says. “Building community with them beyond classroom and office spaces is deeply meaningful to me. Additionally, I serve as director of graduate studies for the Comparative Literature MA Program this year, and becoming a house faculty fellow enables me to enhance community experiences for Dartmouth graduate students through these complementary roles.”
Staff, graduate students, and faculty who don’t yet have a house affiliation are invited to sign up.