Five Assumption Professors Promoted for Fall 2024 Semester
The following professors were granted tenure and promoted to Associate Professors:
Bridget Leonard, Associate Professor, Marketing
Bridget Leonard, Ph.D., has been granted tenure and promoted to Associate Professor of Marketing. Leonard received her H.B.Com in 2006 and her M.B.A in 2009 from Laurentian University in Ontario, Canada. Leonard received her Ph.D. in Marketing from the University of Colorado Boulder in 2014. Her research focuses on consumer well-being, particularly on vulnerable consumers. She is the co-author of multiple works, including The Role of Wisdom in Navigating Social Media Paradoxes: Implications for Consumers, Firms, and Public Policy. Leonard has been faculty at Assumption since 2017.
Gary Senecal, Associate Professor, Health and Human Services
Gary Senecal, Ph.D., has been granted tenure and promoted to Associate Professor of Health and Human Services. Senecal received his B.A in 2007
from Saint Anselm College and his master’s degree in 2009 from KU Leuven in Belgium. He received his Ph.D. in psychology from the University of West Georgia in 2015. Senecal’s research focuses on the psychology of social reintegration and retirement for both military veterans and athletes. Most recently, he co-authored Grieving the Loss of Athletic Identity, published by Lexington Books. Senecal has been faculty at Assumption since 2014.
The following professors were promoted to Full Professors:
Jessica McCready, Professor, Biology
Jessica McCready, Ph.D., has been promoted to Professor of Biology. McCready received her B.S. in nutrition from Cornell University in 1998. She received her Ph.D. in Anatomy from Virginia Commonwealth University in 2006. McCready was a Postdoctoral associate at Tufts University School of Medicine from 2006 to 2012. McCready has co-authored numerous articles on the effects of obesity and pregnancy on breast cancer development. McCready has been faculty at Assumption since 2012.
Irina Mukhina, Professor, History 
Irina Mukhina, Ph.D., has been promoted to Professor of History. Mukhina received her B.A. in history from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. She received both her M.A. and her Ph.D. in history from Boston College. Mukhina is currently working on a research project titled GULAG Spaces in Public Memory and Daily Life, analyzing how the memories of former Gulag compounds are being retained as the physical locations are transformed into new public spaces. Mukhina has been faculty at Assumption since 2007.
Toby Norris, Professor, Art History
Toby Norris, Ph.D., has been promoted to Professor of Art History. Norris received his B.A. from Magdalen College at Oxford University in 1989, his M.Phil from Glasgow University in 1993, and his Ph.D. in art history from Northwestern University in 2005. Norris specializes in the art of the first half of the twentieth century, specifically focusing on traditional art and the rise of modern art as the focal point of the art history of that time. He is also the author of Marginal to the Mainstream: French Modernism Between the Wars. Norris has been faculty at Assumption since 2006.