Meet Jessica McQuigg, Tami Navarro, and Jacob Soule
August 2022 – Drew University is excited to welcome 16 new faculty members in the College of Liberal Arts this academic year.
Who are they? Why did they come to Drew? What are they most excited about? How about a fun fact about them?
Let’s meet three of Drew’s freshest faculty faces…
Jessica McQuigg | Assistant Professor of Biology
Why did you come to Drew?
I really value experiential learning and engaging with students using innovative pedagogy. At Drew, I am excited to really get to know my students and to work with them in and out of the classroom. I want to provide opportunities for students that are outside the norm and that challenge students to think about the world around them in new ways.
Where were you before Drew?
I come to Drew from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, where I just completed my PhD in Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Biology.
What’s something your students don’t know about you?
I’m an amphibian disease ecologist and work on understanding how environmental characteristics influence disease dynamics between frogs and the amphibian chytrid fungus. My favorite frogs to work with are American toads because they are so docile compared to many other frog species! When your work requires you to catch frogs with your bare hands or to weigh frogs on a digital scale, it really helps when the animal is slow and clumsy about hopping away.
Tami Navarro | Assistant Professor of Pan-African Studies
Why did you come to Drew?
I came to Drew because I am excited about working closely with students and helping them discover their academic interests and passions. I’m looking forward to getting into the classroom and engaging in conversations with my students.
Where were you before Drew?
I previously worked at Barnard College as the Associate Director of the Barnard Center for Research on Women (BCRW) before coming to Drew.
What’s something your students don’t know about you?
Before going to graduate school, I worked as a snorkel instructor at an underwater national park in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Jacob Soule | Assistant Teaching Professor of English
Why did you come to Drew?
Where were you before Drew?
Prior to coming to Drew I taught at Auburn University for a couple years, and before that I was in graduate school at Duke University. Originally, though, I am from the UK, where I lived until 2013, teaching high school for some of that time in London.
I am a big football (soccer) fan, specifically Arsenal. Something slightly unusual about me is that, although I am a very social person, one of my favourite activities is going to the cinema by myself. It’s the perfect refuge when life gets hectic!
