Rebecca J. Hester joins science and technology faculty
Rebecca J. Hester has been appointed an assistant professor in the Department of Science and Technology in Society at Virginia Tech’s College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences.
Hester is one of 16 new faculty members this fall at the college. This year’s hires enhance existing program strengths and increase the college’s national profile across the arts, humanities, and human and social sciences.
“Faculty excellence is at the heart of Virginia Tech’s ability to succeed,” Dean Elizabeth Spiller said. "I am very pleased to welcome such a gifted and transformative group of scholars, artists, and teachers to the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences."
Hester’s scholarship focuses on body politics, global health, immigration, and the cultural politics of health and medicine. Her recent research examines what is considered to constitute “biological danger” and the politics of attempts to preempt, prevent, and eradicate such danger. She will be teaching foundations of social medicine; issues in humanities, science, and technology; and monsters, zombies, and cyborgs.
Hester is a co-editor of “Translocalities/Translocalidades: Feminist Politics of Translation in the Latin/a Américas.” She has been published in the journal HealthCare Ethics Committee Forum and has an article forthcoming in Latino Studies.
Hester holds a Ph.D. and a master's degree from the University of California at Santa Cruz and a bachelor's degree from the University of California at Berkeley.
