Carleton announces Winter 2026 faculty promotions

Three members of the Carleton faculty have been awarded tenure and promoted to associate professor. The promotions were approved by the Board of Trustees at its February meeting and take effect September 1, 2026.

Meet the newly promoted faculty members:

Barry Costanzi, assistant professor of physics

Professor Costanzi holds a BA in physics and mathematics, magna cum laude, from St. Olaf College (2009) and an MS and PhD in physics from the University of Minnesota–Twin Cities. He was a visiting professor at both Carleton and St. Olaf prior to beginning his tenure-track appointment in Carleton’s Department of Physics and Astronomy in 2020. Costanzi teaches a wide variety of classes in physics and astronomy, including Solid State Physics, Computer Simulations, and Advanced Electricity and Magnetism, as well as introductory-level classes like Astrophysical Systems: Mechanics and Relativity, and Atomic and Nuclear Physics. The primary focus of Costanzi’s research relates to the fundamental physics and application of magnetic materials. He has recently started several research projects, including a project to better understand a measurement error seen frequently during a popular physics lab, and another project that aims to use a laser cutter available in Carleton’s Makerspace to create a high-quality lithographic pattern without the need for access to a cleanroom. Within physics and astronomy at Carleton, Costanzi serves as the student work coordinator, where he helps to recruit, train, and schedule around 40 student workers every term. At a college-wide level, Costanzi has served two terms on the Community Board on Sexual Misconduct, with his second term coming as part of a direct request from the Title IX Coordinator.

Daniel Maxbauer, assistant professor of geology

Professor Maxbauer graduated from Saint John’s University in 2011 with a BA in natural sciences. He went on to earn an MA from Wesleyan University in earth and environmental sciences, and a PhD in 2017 from the University of Minnesota in earth sciences. First joining Carleton’s geology department as a visiting assistant professor, he started a tenure-track position in 2019. Maxbauer teaches classes that contribute to both geology and the environmental studies program, with a course on paleoclimate, a course on carbon and climate, and an upper-level seminar on soils. Woven throughout his pedagogy is the goal that students use data or quantitative information to help them continue to think deeply and critically about a topic. There are three distinct strands to Maxbauer’s research: using lakes to construct climate records for the past 10,000 years; testing the feasibility of a process to remove carbon, with a field trial in the Upper Arb; and analyzing temperature data from Carleton’s geothermal system to assess its performance over time. His research has resulted in multiple peer-reviewed articles — several of which include student authors — and he has presented with students at international conferences. At Carleton, Maxbauer has served on the Sustainability Working Group and as the geology representative to the STEM Board. Department colleagues emphasize his contributions to the College through his work on the geothermal system, and note that he has taken part in numerous conversations with other institutions interested in adopting a similar approach. Maxbauer currently serves as an elected member of the Budget Committee.

Brooke Okazaki, assistant professor of music

Professor Okazaki graduated from the University of Oklahoma with a BA in international area studies with a focus on East Asia in 2004 and received a second BA from the University of Oklahoma in musical arts in double bass performance in 2008. She went on to study at the University of Pennsylvania, where she earned an MA in East Asian languages in 2012 and a PhD in musicology in 2015. After teaching at SUNY Geneseo and the University of Vermont from 2015 to 2019, Okazaki joined Carleton as an assistant professor of music in Fall 2019. Okazaki teaches a range of courses in the music department that serve both music majors and the larger liberal arts curriculum. In addition to teaching core classes such as Western Music: 1830–Present, she teaches courses that focus on opera, K-Pop, music and the movies, musical theater, and video game music. Okazaki is a prolific scholar, publishing on a variety of topics, including Western music in Japan, Japanese film, and popular music in Japan. She has published the monograph, Searching for Wagner in Japan; the book, Shonen’s Knife’s Happy Hour: Food, Gender, Rock and Roll, which is a survey of Japanese women in popular music; and scholarship on Godzilla films, video game music, and many other topics. Okazaki has been a committed member of her professional community, serving on the American Musicological Society Midwest Chapter as nominating committee chair and as an external reviewer on journal submissions in her field. At Carleton, Okazaki was a dedicated member of the Junior Faculty Affairs Committee and volunteered to lead a panel for the Perlman Center for Learning and Teaching. She has also served on hiring committees to bring new faculty to her department and collaborated with her colleagues on rethinking the music curriculum.