Andrew J. Niemiec, chair and associate professor of neuroscience at Kenyon, died at the age of 58 on Wednesday, June 17, 2020. He had suffered a cerebral hemorrhage a few days earlier, after which he had been transported by air ambulance from Mount Vernon to the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center in Columbus.
“Andy was a passionate teacher, dedicated to his students and his discipline,” said President Sean M. Decatur. “He will be sorely missed.”
Niemiec earned his bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees from Loyola University Chicago. His bachelor’s in psychology was awarded in 1984, followed by a master’s in sensory physiology and perception in 1989 and a doctorate in experimental psychology in 1991. His graduate work was followed by a three-year National Institutes of Health Postdoctoral Research Fellowship at the University of Michigan Medical School’s Kresge Hearing Research Institute in Ann Arbor.
Niemiec joined the Kenyon faculty in 1994 as an assistant professor of psychology, having previously taught at Loyola while completing his doctoral work. He won tenure and promotion to associate professor of psychology at the College in 2000. He had been associate professor of neuroscience since the inception of the program in that field in 2012.
“Andy was committed to fairness,” said longtime colleague Hewlet McFarlane, professor of neuroscience. “Whether it was in dealing with students or faculty and staff members, he always wanted to make sure that whatever we did, our approach was fair for everyone involved. It was a central guiding principle in his life, and I always admired that in him. I will miss him terribly.”
Widely published in professional journals, Niemiec had research interests that ranged from complex sound processing in human and other animal auditory systems to the return of auditory function following trauma and auditory receptor-cell regeneration. He had also been successful in obtaining grants in support of his research, much of which was conducted with Summer Science Scholars and other students.
“Andy’s love and interest in the animal kingdom extended to his classes and scholarship, where he developed a popular course on animal cognition which examined topics like learning, language, and numerical competence in non-human animals,” said Sheryl Hemkin, associate provost, associate professor of chemistry, and a colleague in both neuroscience and scientific computing. “His research also examined sensory processes in animals, and students who talked with me would often tell stories about the first time they heard rats laughing. The animals involved in Andy’s research often became part of his family, literally. As his chinchillas aged, he brought them into his own home, and they quite happily lived to more than twice their expected lifespan.”