Investiture 2023 Marshals

The Marshals carry specially commissioned batons engraved with the crest of the Guarini School of Graduate and Advanced Studies as they lead their peers in the Investiture procession. 

For the 2023 Investiture ceremony, we are delighted to recognize D. Timothy Poisson, MALS, Debbie Sulca, MS, and Sarah Steimel, PhD, as Investiture Marshals.

D. Timothy Poisson
Hometown: Somerville MA
Degree: Master of Arts in Liberal Studies, creative writing concentration

Tim works as a manager in the Advancement Division at Dartmouth and completed his thesis in creative writing in MALS. During the course of his studies, he has had his work published five times in Clamantis: The MALS Journal, and attended the Oxford summer program in creative writing. For the 2023-24 academic year, he was awarded a Fulbright research grant in affiliation with Trinity College Dublin. He tells us he has immense gratitude for the MALS program, faculty, and classmates.

Debbie Sulca
Hometown: Los Angeles, CA
Degree: Master's of Science in Earth Sciences

Debbie moved to Hanover, NH with a bachelor's degree in Environmental Toxicology and a minor in Latin American and Hemispheric Studies from University of California, Davis. She joined the fluvial research group at Dartmouth's department of Earth Sciences to make progress towards working in river restoration and remediation in urban environments and along the Andes. In addition to studying mercury contamination along the floodplains of the Androscoggin River for her master's thesis project, Debbie traveled to El Salvador as a summer research assistant for a project (collaboration between Consortium of Universities for the Advancement of Hydrologic Science, Inc. and Michigan Technological University) related to sociocultural studies and hydroclimatology in the Central American Dry Corridor. She was recognized as an E.E. Just Liftoff Fellow, and traveled to Colombia to study the Magdalena river basin in the Rivers of the Andes Field Training program hosted by University of Montana in collaboration with Universidad EAFIT. 

Sarah Steimel
Hometown: Calipatra, CA
Degree: PhD, Neuroscience

In addition to her research in clinical epilepsy, Sarah dedicated her time to mentorship, advocacy, and outreach. She is particularly proud of her work in the Graduate Student Council addressing inequity and as an SfN Early Career Policy Ambassador where she met with policymakers, collaborated with Ivy+ institutions, and published reports advocating for science funding and anti-racist recruitment practices. Sarah hopes her efforts have helped make Dartmouth a better place than when she arrived.