Franklin University Switzerland is proud to welcome and introduce a new faculty and two staff members.
Dr. Silvia Piccinelli will join Franklin University Switzerland as Assistant Professor of Environmental Sciences, effective January 1, 2023. Dr. Piccinelli will join the Division of Environmental Sciences, Mathematics, Psychology and Health, filling the faculty position left vacant by Professor Hale, who has accepted a position in Iceland that will start in January.
Dr. Piccinelli received her Ph.D. in Chemical and Environmental Sciences at the University of Insubria (Italy) and is currently an NSF Post-Doctoral Researcher at the University of Geneva (Switzerland). Dr. Piccinelli's specialization is phytosociology, climate change, and alpine ecology at large. This expertise will contribute to the growth of the Environmental Sciences and Studies programs at Franklin. Dr. Picinelli’s very promising research agenda meshes well with the current teaching requirements in Environmental Science and with involving both undergraduate and graduate students directly, including for experiences like academic travel.
Ellen Sunkwa Mills joins Franklin as Institutional Research Officer. She will be assisting the Vice President of Academic Affairs, Andrew Starcher, in further developing an institutional quality assurance framework, strategy and system that meets Franklin’s needs for internal decision-making processes and for compliance with the expectations our accreditors and other external bodies. As part of this work, she will develop, administer and publish surveys and reports such as Vital Signs, the Institutional Effectiveness Report, surveys and evaluations. This work will help us understand ourselves and especially the degree to which we are meeting our promises to our students and other stakeholders. Ellen will also take part in the team that is developing a quality assurance portal for committee work and other quality assurance activities. Ellen, a Swiss citizen, is originally from Ghana. She has extensive experience in monitoring, project management, data management, compliance and administration. While in Geneva, she earned diplomas in Business Administration and Law, and maintains annual certification for compliance in the fields of financial intermediation and trust and estate management.
Rachel Simpkin officially began on November 2 as Registrar. She has worked in education for decades, including extensive experience in international schools, especially in Switzerland and Italy. Most recently she was University Guidance Counselor and IB Mathematics Teaching at the International School of Ticino. Rachel is originally from the UK and holds degrees and certification from University of Sheffield, Loughborough University of Technology and Roehampton University. The outgoing Registrar, Carole Wellington, is working with Rachel in the month of November in passing on expertise gained over more than 10 years at Franklin, before finally enjoying her well-earned retirement.