For nearly 38 years, Susan Kinchelow worked in the Dietrich College Dean's Office. Originally hired as an assistant to the dean, she was promoted to assistant dean by the late Stephen Fienberg and again to associate dean by Richard Scheines. As Kinchelow develops a routine to her days in retirement, she plans to volunteer at a Christian ministry.

Linda Flower came to Carnegie Mellon University in 1972. Her groundbreaking research into cognitive rhetoric and community literacy helped garner national and international recognition for the university’s rhetoric program. In addition to publishing multiple books, Flower has served as the co-director of the National Center for the Study of Writing and Literacy at Berkely and CMU, is a founder of Pittsburgh’s Community Literacy Center, and created Carnegie Mellon’s Community Think Tank series. She has received multiple awards recognizing her scholarship, including the Rhetoric Society Book Award for her book, Community Literacy and the Rhetoric of Public Engagement and the National Council of Teachers’ James R. Squire Award for her transformational influence on the teaching profession. As she settles into retirement, Linda is looking forward to her new job as a volunteer tree tender for Tree Pittsburgh.

Laurie Eisenberg was a member of the faculty in the Department of History for 30 years. Her scholarship areas include the Arab-Israeli conflict and peace process; the interaction of multiple Middle East actors like Jordan, Lebanon, Israel and the Palestinians; relations between Jews and Muslims; and religious fundamentalism in the Middle East. Eisenberg loved teaching her Palestinian-Arab-Israeli courses, which incorporated different types of role-playing exercises. During her last week of classes, Eisenberg gifted each of her Middle East history students a relevant book from her personal library. She then ran a free “garage sale” in her office that allowed her to give away more than 100 of her books. It was an opportunity to visit with current and former students and to say goodbye and wish each one well.

Susan Polansky joined the faculty at Carnegie Mellon in 1986, when Modern Languages was a small program in the History Department with five full-time faculty. She has played an integral role in the growth of Modern Languages as a department in the college. Polansky served as head of the department from 2007 to 2020, when she resumed her full-time role as teaching professor of Hispanic studies. In retirement, Polansky looks forward to enjoying time with family and friends, good weather in California and continuing with Hispanic Studies, yoga and calligraphy practice.

Robert Cavalier joined the faculty at Dietrich College more than 30 years ago and moved into an emeritus position six years ago. He was director of CMU's Center for the Advancement of Applied Ethics and Political Philosophy from 2005 to 2007, which has been renamed the Center for Ethics and Policy. While an emeritus faculty member, he continued to be engaged in his work after ‘retirement.’ He deeply appreciates the interdisciplinary nature of the work being done in the Philosophy Department and the university as a whole. Since the Dobbs decision, he has published numerous editorials and Op Ed articles on the consequences of that decision, drawing on the work that he and his colleagues did on the issue of abortion in 2018. He is currently working with Joe Trotter in the Department of History on a deliberative forum regarding the issue of reparations. He is also taking advantage of the bike trails in the summer, snowshoeing in the winter, and travel.

Kenneth Kotovsky served as a full-time employee at Carnegie Mellon for 31 years. From 1989-2010, he served as director of undergraduate studies in Psychology. Kotovksy’s work focuses on the mental resources we commit to problem-solving, how people solve problems and how they overcome difficulties by developing resources and mobilizing competencies, with a focus on non-conscious learning. In retirement, Kenneth is looking forward to lingering over a hard copy of the morning paper, biking, sailing and traveling with his wife of 62 years, his children and grandchildren.

Ginger Placone joined CMU in 1996 as a part-time administrative assistant to Michael Scheier for his Breast Cancer Recovery Project and progressed to a research assistant with The Pittsburgh Mind Body Center. Placone rose to the role of administrative assistant for the head of the Department of Psychology, first assisting Mike Scheier for two terms before working alongside Mike Tarr during his tenure as head of the department. Upon retirement, she was Tarr’s executive coordinator. In retirement, Placone plans to travel with her husband, Ron, and spend as much time as possible with her granddaughter and family.

Junker began his career at CMU as postdoc in August 1990 and joined the faculty of the Department of Statistics in 1991. From 2012 to 2019, he also served as associate dean of Dietrich College. Junker was an affiliated faculty member of the H. John Heinz III College and an associate of the Learning Research and Development Center. His research interests — which have applications in education, psychology, the social sciences and biostatistics — include mixture and hierarchical models for multivariate discrete measures; nonparametric, semiparametric and parametric inference for latent variable models; and social network modeling and analysis. Junker is a fellow of the Institute of Mathematical Statistics; a past member of the board of trustees and past president of the Psychometric Society; and a fellow of the American Educational Research Association. He also is co-chair of the Design and Analysis Committee for the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) and a member of technical advisory boards for the Law School Admissions Test and the Duolingo English Test.

During his time at CMU, Junker’s role as a faculty member was front and center, with family life and personal interests, especially live music, a welcome respite. In retirement, he expects that to be inverted, with personal interests and family (and an overflowing job jar) taking center stage, and some remaining activities and consulting in statistics as respite from that.