College of Arts and Sciences Faculty Profiles
This listing contains selected profiles of College of Arts and Sciences faculty who have appreared in CASNews. Additional profiles will be added as they are published.
A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z
Nobuko Adachi
Dr. Nobuko Adachi is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology. Before coming to ISU she taught at MacMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. She is the editor of a new book, Japanese Diasporas: Unsung Pasts, Conflicting Presents, and Uncertain Futures. She also co-edits Pan-Japan: The International Journal of the Japanese Diaspora. Her primary research focus is on anthropology and Diaspora theory. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Toronto in Canada and was also named Rockefeller Post Doctoral Fellow at the Center for Latin American Studies at the University of Florida. Outside of anthropology, Adachi’s passions are jumping horses and dog training.
Fusun Akman
Dr. Fusun Akman joins the Department of Mathematics from Coastal Carolina University, where she served as an assistant professor since 1999. Her research interests include generalizations of algebraic structures in differential geometry to modern mathematical physics as well as fractal properties and distributions of prime numbers in the integers. Dr. Akman earned her Ph.D. in 1993 from Yale University, and she has served on the faculty at Utah State University and as an H.C. Wang Assistant Professor at Cornell University.
Olcay Akman
Dr. Olcay Akman joins the Department of Mathematics as an assistant professor after completing a year at ISU as a visiting assistant professor. Previous to coming to ISU, he served on the faculty at the College of Charleston, Cornell University, Utah State University, and Coastal Carolina University. Dr. Akman’s research interests include modeling for lifetime data, weighted distributions, selection models, and statistical computing. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Maine.
David Anderson
Dr. David Anderson is an associate professor of philosophy at Illinois State University. He earned his PhD in philosophy from Harvard University and received his MTS from Harvard Divinity School. He serves as chair of the steering committee of the Consortium on Cognitive Science Instruction and sponsor of the consortium's archive. Anderson conducts research in the areas of philosophy of language, metaphysics, philosophy of religion, theories of mind and consciousness.
Roger Anderson
Dr. Roger Anderson, Department of Biological Sciences and Distinguished Professor of Plant Ecology, received his Ph.D. in Botany and Minor Soils from the University of Wisconsin and joined the Illinois State University faculty in 1976. Throughout his career he has authored over 140 publications, published a map, and given several radio and television presentations related to his professional expertise. Anderson has also made over 140 presentations to the general public on topics such as environmental issues, wild flowers, prairie ecology, and fire ecology. He will be the Keynote Speaker and Centennial Scientist in April of this year for the celebration of the 100th year of the Illinois State Academy of Science. "Dr. Anderson is an outstanding researcher in the area of restoration ecology with a national and international reputation," Said Dr. Tak Cheung, Chair of the Department of Biological Sciences. "His work has significant impact on many conservation issues in the Midwest and around the country. We are proud to have Dr. Anderson as a colleague in our Department."
Winfred Avogo
Dr. Winfred Avogo joins the ISU faculty as an assistant professor of sociology. He earned his MA from the Regional Institute for Population Studies at the University of Ghana and his PhD in sociology from Arizona State University. Avogo's primary research interests focus on demographic and health aspects of social and cultural change in sub-Saharan Africa. He has conducted research on such topics as sexual and reproductive health, including family planning, adolescent health, HIV/AIDS and the demography of armed conflict. Before starting his PhD studies, Avogo played a leading role in the design and implementation of a pilot intervention on adolescent sexual health in Ghana. Prior to that, he supervised the collection and analysis of data on longitudinal panel surveys on community health and family planning.
Jae Meen Baek
Dr. Jae Meen Baek joins the ISU faculty as an assistant professor of mathematics. Baek holds a PhD from Arizona State University, where she also taught courses in mathematics education for several years. In addition, she also developed several courses include early algebraic reasoning, children’s multiplicative reasoning, and rational numbers and proportions. Baek is involved in a number of professional projects to improve teacher quality and increase pedagogical content knowledge of arithmetic and algebra. She served as the principal investigator for many analysis projects investigating Korean school systems.
Cheryl E. Ball
Dr. Cheryl E. Ball joins ISU's English department as an assistant professor of new media studies. She describes “new media” as an interdisciplinary field that connects English studies' areas of composition, rhetoric, technical communication, literature, linguistics, and creative writing with other fields such as art, film, computer science, and mass communication. She teaches students to use writing processes such as those they learn in first-year composition to compose texts in multimedia. Before coming to ISU, Dr. Ball completed her PhD in Rhetoric and Technical Communication from Michigan Technological University in 2005 and was an assistant professor of computers and writing at Utah State University in Logan. She co-edits the online journal Kairos: Rhetoric, Technology, Pedagogy, and her research focuses on reading and evaluating new media texts, especially digital scholarship.
Rita Bailey
The act of swallowing involves twenty-five different muscles and five different nerves from the salivary glands to the trachea. When a person experiences difficulty or chronic discomfort while swallowing, she or he may want to seek the assistance of Dr. Rita L. Bailey, Assistant Professor of Speech Pathology and Audiology, whose specialty is dysphagia, or swallowing disorders. Bailey first became interested in researching dysphagia after having a premature child who suffered from feeding and swallowing problems. She has worked with geriatric populations in nursing homes and hospitals but states her true passion is working with and treating infants and children with dysphagia.
Karie A. Barbour
Dr. Karie A. Barbour joins the Department of Economics as an Assistant Professor. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Tennessee. Dr. Barbour's research interests are in public finance and environmental economics. Her work on welfare program outcomes appears in the Southern Economic Journal and has been presented before the National Association on Welfare Research and Statistics. Her work on the effects of various forms of taxation appears in the National Tax Association Proceedings and will be presented before the American Economic Association.
David Barker
Dr. David Barker, Assistant Professor in the Department of Mathematics, comes to ISU from the University of Missouri, where he did his doctoral work. His research focuses on the transition of students from arithmetic to algebraic reasoning. He received his B.A. and M.A. from the University of Missouri and received the Walter Scott Monroe Research Fellowship in May, 2005. "I chose to come to ISU because of the reputation of the Mathematics Education Group and the collegiality that exists within the Mathematics Department," said Dr. Barker. "I look forward to being a part of the growth that is occurring in the department."
John Baur
Dr. John Baur, Department of Chemistry, received his PhD in Analytical Chemistry from Indiana University in 1990. Since coming to ISU in 1993, Baur has taught courses ranging from introductory analytical chemistry to graduate electrochemical methods. Baur's research centers on developing the Scanning Electrochemical Microscope (SECM) for obtaining chemical images of dynamic surfaces, including living biological systems and catalysts for fuel cells. He hopes to improve technique quality, adapt the instrument for use in cell growth media, and employ it in investigating biological and chemical processes. Baur has delivered numerous invited and peer-reviewed presentations, both national and international, and has published over twenty articles in professional journals. His work has been supported by grants from NIH, NSF, and the Research Corporation.
Ann Beck
Dr. Ann Beck, Professor of Communication Sciences and Disorders, joined the Illinois State University faculty in 1992 as an assistant professor and was promoted to full professor in 2003. During her time at ISU, she has served as Director of the Eckelmann-Taylor Speech and Hearing Clinic, and she currently serves as Senior Associate Dean in the College of Arts and Sciences. Her responsibilities in the College include research support, technology, and facilities. Beck holds a BS and MS from Southern Illinois University in Carbondale and earned her PhD from the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana.
Raymond Bergner
Dr. Ray Bergner, Department of Psychology, received his PhD in Clinical Psychology from the University of Colorado and joined the Illinois State University faculty in 1977. During his thirty years of service, Bergner has written over 60 publications and given over 40 presentations. He has also twice served as President of the Society for Descriptive Psychology and was named the College of Arts and Sciences Lecturer in 1997. Additionally, he has been part of a private practice in psychotherapy in Bloomington since 1978. Bergner just completed a book coming out in the fall for practicing psychotherapists titled Status Dynamics: Creating New Paths to Therapeutic Change. “Ray Bergner is completing his 30th year as an excellent faculty member. He continues to be greatly appreciated by undergraduates in his Psychopathology course and to be an important contributor to the education of our Clinical-Counseling master's students,” said David Barone, Chair of the Psychology Department. “He has amassed an impressive body of scholarly writing and a record of significant service within the university. He is a fine colleague to both senior and junior faculty members."
Sherrilyn M. Billger
Dr. Sherrilyn M. Billger is an assistant professor of economics whose research focuses on topics in labor economics, education, and econometrics. Her work on single-sex education and on incentive pay for teachers and administrators has been presented before the American Education Finance Association, the Society of Labor Economists, and the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management. Her research on pay for performance, policy analysis, and economics of education appears in Industrial and Labor Relations Review, Journal of Labor Research, Industrial Relations, Developments in School Finance, and Applied Economics Letters.
Amy Bloom
Dr. Amy M. Bloom joins the Department of Geography-Geology as Assistant Professor of Environmental Geography. She received her B.A. in Geology, with a double minor in Biology and Environmental Studies, from Augustana College and her M.S. in Geography from the University of Utah. Currently, she is in the final stages of completing her Ph.D. in Geography from the University of Utah. Bloom's research interests lie in the areas of Quaternary environments, climate and environmental change, paleolimnology, and biogeography. Her dissertation research focuses on the study of lake sediments from alpine lakes in the Sierra Nevada to quantitatively reconstruct a high-resolution record of past climatic and environmental conditions—including drought events—for the region throughout the last 10,000 years.
Willard Bohn
Dr. Willard Bohn, Distinguished Professor of Foreign Languages, has been selected to deliver the Oliver Smithies Lecture Series at Balliol Collegeat Oxford University in England. The series was established to bring distinguished academic visitors from abroad to give University-wide lectures. Bohn, a professor of French and Comparative Literature, will speak on the French poet Guillaume Apollinaire, who is generally acknowledged as the father of 20th century French poetry. An active scholar with an international reputation, Bohn has lectured on numerous topics in this country and abroad at universities such as Oxford, UCLA, Yale, the University of Illinois, Washington University, and the Sorbonne in Paris. He is a leading authority on visual poetry, Guillaume Apollinaire, Italian Futurism, and the Dada and Surrealist movements.
Isabel C. Botero
Dr. Isabel C. Botero joins the School of Communication as an assistant professor. Previous to coming to Illinois State, she taught at the University of Minnesota at Duluth and Michigan State University. She was a sports reporter for Noticias U.N.A. in Colombia. Dr. Botero's research interests include voice and silence behaviors in organizations, information exchange in teams, and leadership. Her dissertation research focused on the effects of leader-member relations on employee upward influence behavior. Dr. Botero earned her Ph.D. and M.A. from Michigan State University and her bachelor's degree from Universidad de Antioquia.
Rachel Bowden
Dr. Rachel Bowden, Department of Biological Sciences, received her Ph.D. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from Indiana University and joined Illinois State faculty in 2003. During the upcoming Founders Day Convocation on February 15th, Bowden will be recognized for receiving both the University Teaching Initiative Award and the University Research Initiative Award. She will also be honored at the CAS Awards Ceremony on February 28th. “It is very fortunate for the Department that she joined the faculty,” said Dr. Tak Cheung, Chair of the Biological Sciences Department. “Her research on sex determination in turtles has thus far uncovered many intriguing aspects on the evolution of sex. She is gong to be an important contributor in our understanding of the biological mechanism of sex determination.”
Robert Bradley
Dr. Robert Bradley joined the ISU faculty in 1982 and became a full professor in the Department of Politics and Government in 2005. He received his BA and MA degrees from the University of Akron and his PhD from the University of Kentucky. He has taught primarily law related courses but also teaches courses dealing with American Government, Campaign Politics, and Teaching Citizenship and Governance. He recently developed the Washington, DC Civic Engagement Study Tour course where he takes a select group of undergraduates to the nation’s capital to get an intense behind-the-scenes look at how and why decisions are made. In his research, Dr. Bradley has primarily focused on judicial behavior, civic engagement, and teaching practices. As part of his research, he communicated directly on several occasions with Chief Justice Rehnquist about internal operations of the Supreme Court, and interviewed Justice O’Connor on her views about opinion writing. More recently, he contributed to an amicus brief to a state supreme court which dealt with an application of a specific forensic technique. The brief was the primary reason why the court reversed a trial court’s imposition of the death penalty.
Christopher Breu
Dr. Christopher Breu, Department of English, received his Ph.D. in literature from the University of California at Santa Cruz and joined the ISU faculty in 2000. In 2006, he won the Dean’s Award for Scholarly Achievement, which recognizes faculty for their achievements in research. Breu’s research interests include 20th Century American Literature, Popular Culture, Cultural and Critical Theory, and Gender and Sexuality. His current project is a book that draws upon globalization and psychoanalytic theories to address the underside of global commodity culture as it is represented in the fiction of a range of postmodern writers. “Professor Breu is willing to color outside the lines, which is part of what makes both his teaching and research so strong,” said Dr. Tim Hunt, Chair of the Department of English. “He is committed to asking provocative questions and willing to consider provocative answers.”
Daniel Breyer
Dr. Daniel Breyer joins the ISU faculty as an assistant professor of philosophy. His research focuses on epistemology and moral philosophy, including free will and moral responsibility. He is also interested in Buddhist philosophy and the philosophy of religion. Daniel earned his PhD from Fordham University in New York City and a master's degree in liberal arts from St. John's College in Santa Fe, New Mexico. While completing his dissertation, Daniel taught a wide variety of courses at Fordham, Rutgers and Seton Hall. In his last year at Fordham, he received a distinguished teaching fellowship. This past December, Daniel and his wife, Lauren, had their first child, Aidan.
Herman Brockman
Dr. Herman Brockman came to ISU’s Biology Department in 1963 and retired as Distinguished Professor in 1998. In this period he taught Genetics to thousands of undergraduate and graduate students, graduated many Masters and Ph.D. students, and conducted research, primarily in environmental mutagenesis and the role of certain natural compounds that can protect cells from harmful mutations. This work was funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and other agencies. Dale Birkenholz, emeritus professor of Biological Sciences, interviewed Herman last summer for Renaissance Retirees, the College’s emeritus faculty newsletter. The interview took place in Herman’s small office on campus that is crammed with records and notes from his years at ISU.
Dagmar Budikova
Dr. Dagmar Budikova, Department of Geography-Geology, received her Ph.D. in Climatology from the University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada. In addition to her teaching duties, she also serves as the coordinator of the Hydrogeology Graduate Program and the Geographic Information System (GIS) Services here at Illinois State University, as well as the Honors Director of the Climate Specialty Group with the Association of American Geographers. Her major area of research is climatology. Dr. Budikova’s work has contributed to our knowledge of inter-annual and decadal scale climate variability and change in North America. She has also published several papers in Climate Research, The Canadian Geographer, Physical Geography, and The Professional Geographer. “Working at Illinois State University provides me with an opportunity to balance my research interests with teaching and mentoring students,” said Dr. Budikova.
Bruce Burningham
Dr. Bruce Burningham is an associate professor in the Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures, where he specializes in medieval and early modern Spanish and Latin American literature, Hispanic drama, and performance theory. He is the author of Tilting Cervantes: Baroque Reflections on Postmodern Culture (Vanderbilt UP, 2008) and Radical Theatricality: Jongleuresque Performance on the Early Spanish Stage (Purdue UP, 2007). With a background in both literature and theater, Burningham received his PhD from Yale University and is the recipient of an Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowship and a National Endowment for the Humanities grant. Prior to joining the faculty of Illinois State he taught at Florida Atlantic University and the University of Southern California.
Thomas Burr
Dr. Thomas Burr joins ISU as a new Assistant Professor of Sociology. He earned a BA from the University of California, Berkeley, an MA in international relations at San Francisco State University, and an MA in history and the PhD in sociology from the University of California, Davis. His dissertation analyzed the French and American bicycle markets over the late nineteenth century. He compared how consumer tastes interacted with industry strategies over time, and how these differed nationally, producing different market outcomes. Thomas also has interests in global historical sociology and economic development. In his free time, he likes cycling and watching movies with his wife Lisa and his daughter Gabbi.
Joseph Casto
Dr. Joseph Casto joins the ISU faculty as an assistant professor of biology. Casto received his doctoral degree from Johns Hopkins University in 2001. His dissertation was titled “Development and Hormonal Regulation of Sex Differences in the Song System of European Starlings (Sturnus vulgaris).” He was a postdoctoral fellow at Indiana University. Casto’s teaching and research interests include comparative endocrinology, neuroethology, sensory and behavioral ecology, and sexual differentiation. His articles have appeared in numerous publications, including Journal of Neurobiology, Hormones and Behavior, American Naturalist, and Journal of Evolutionary Biology. Casto has been teaching and conducting research for over two decades in his field of interest, starting as a high school teacher and working most recently in the Office of Research Ethics & Compliance at Illinois State. He is a member of the Society of Neuroscience, the Society for Behavioral Neuroendocrinology, and the Animal Behavior Society.
Sunil Chebolu
Dr. Sunil Chebolu joins the ISU faculty as an assistant professor of mathematics. He received his doctorate in mathematics from the University of Washington in Seattle. He also holds MS degrees in mathematics and statistics. Much of his research deals with algebraic topology and modular representation theory. His areas of expertise include group representations, cohomology theories, triangulated categories, axiomatic homotopy theory, and Galois theory. Chebolu held post-doctorate fellowships in Canada and Sweden. In addition, he taught courses ranging from topology and geometry of manifolds to advanced calculus and linear algebra. He is fluent in four languages (English, Telugu, Hindi, and Bengali). In his free time he enjoys reading the history of science, biking, learning about computers, and travelling.
Susan Chen
Dr. Susan Chen joins the ISU faculty as Assistant Professor of economics. Chen received her PhD in business economics and public policy from the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University. Before coming to ISU, she was an assistant professor at the University of North Dakota. Chen's primary research interests include industrial organization, e-commerce, game theory, pricing, and applied econometrics. Her work has appeared in economic inquiry, the B.E. Journal of Theoretical Economics, and Advances in Applied Microeconomics. She has taught many courses at both the undergraduate and the graduate level. In her spare time, she enjoys music, movies, travel, and outdoor recreation.
Kyle Ciani
Although many of us may not have attended institutions that offered courses in women’s history, contemporary students at ISU are clearly advantaged in their opportunities to study such topics as women’s activism in the 20th century, American Family, or the history of women in North America with Dr. Kyle Ciani, Assistant Professor of History. “Many students come to my classes with preconceived notions of a course about women, and some think it will be a rap session about women’s problems,” said Ciani. “I still get the occasional individual who believes that I spend sixteen weeks teaching about the 19th Amendment, but usually people are excited to learn about the courses I am able to teach at ISU. The rewards are many.”
Brian Clark
Dr. Brian K. Clark, professor of physics, is both an experimental and computational physicist. His current research interests include the origin of the genetic code, the role of genetic organization, structure and dynamics in a population's response to evolutionary pressure, and complex systems. One of his principal goals is to improve our understanding of the role various mechanisms that lead to changes in genetic content play in an evolutionary response. Clark is also developing a realistic model of the surface and electronic structure of self-assembled monolayers on roughened metal surfaces.
Ken Clements
Dr. Ken Clements joined the Department of Mathematics as an associate professor in mathematics education in January 2005. Previous to coming to ISU, he was a professor of education at the Universiti Brunei Darssalem. With an established international reputation in mathematics education, Dr. Clements’s research interests include visualization in mathematics, the learning of geometry, linguistic and pedagogical factors in mathematics learning, and the learning of algebra. He was also co-editor of the first and second International Handbook on Mathematic Education and he founded the Mathematics Education Research Group of Australasia in 1977. Dr. Clements earned his Ph.D. from the from the University of Melbourne in 1980.
Heather Conley
Dr. Heather Conley joins the Department of Geography-Geology as an assistant professor. Her research interests include climate-society interactions, medical geography, disease ecology, and environmental change. She is in the final stages of completing her Ph.D. at the University of Iowa where she received her M.S. degree in 2001. Her dissertation research examines the role of climate variability in the emergence of Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome in the western United States. She will teach courses in natural disasters, global environmental issues, geographic information systems, and medical geography.
Michaelene Cox
Dr. Michaelene Cox received her Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa in 2002. Prior to that, she received her master’s degree in International Studies from Troy State University in Alabama in 1995. Her undergraduate degree is in Political Science and Journalism from Arizona State University. Since receiving her Ph.D., Dr. Cox taught at Brescia University and Western Kentucky University. Her expertise is in Comparative Politics and International Relations with emphasis on Europe. Dr. Cox is already an established scholar with publications in journals such as the Journal of Peace Studies. She will be teaching courses on European politics, international relations, and international law.
Steve Croker
Dr. Steve Croker is a new assistant professor of Psychology. He earned his PhD in Psychology from the University of Nottingham. As Senior Lecturer and Assistant Head of Psychology at the University of Derby he taught courses in Developmental Psychology and Cognitive Science. Croker’s research interests include the development of scientific reasoning, children’s knowledge and understanding of health and illness, the development of temporal visual attention, and magical thinking in adults. He is affiliated with many professional organizations, including the British Psychological Society, the Cognitive Science Society, and the Society for Research in Child Development. He enjoys reading novels, listening to music, and playing the guitar.
Anthony Crubaugh
We are all familiar with Edmund Burke’s famous saying: “Those who don’t know history are destined to repeat it.” However, Dr. Anthony Crubaugh, Associate Professor of History, believes that statement should be clarified. “There’s no simple lesson from studying the past, or at least we don’t all learn the same lesson. However, history can serve as an important compass as we collectively chart our future direction through public policy and as we individually determine our private convictions. What we get from history is greater self-knowledge, a desire for which seems to be part of the human condition. History is the story of our common humanity and as such helps us understand who we are and how we got here.”
Craig Cullen
Dr. Craig Cullen joins the ISU faculty as an assistant professor of mathematics. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Illinois State University in 1999 and his master’s degree from DePaul University in 2004, both in mathematics education. He received his PhD in mathematics education from Illinois State in August of 2009. He has been involved in a four year long longitudinal study exploring children’s development of measurement concepts. Being a part of this study has sparked his interest in how measurement can be used to help students coordinate number and space. Cullen’s teaching philosophy is to engage students in problem solving whenever possible, build a collaborative teaching and learning environment, and allow students to struggle with a concept or idea prior to introducing an efficient mathematical solution. Cullen has been a secondary mathematics teacher at Willowbrook High School (Illinois) and a graduate teaching assistant at Illinois State University.
Roxanna Curto
Dr. Roxanna Curto joins the ISU faculty as an Assistant Professor of French specializing in Francophone literature in the Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures. Roxanna earned her A.B. from Harvard in Romance Studies in 2001, and will be awarded her Ph.D. in French from Yale in December of 2008 for her dissertation, “Intertechs: Colonialism and Technology in French and Francophone Literature.” Roxanna's teaching interests include French language, Francophone literature and culture, and postcolonial and literary theory. During her time at Yale, she taught many courses in French language, and spent a year researching at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris, as well as three summers in Québec and one in Senegal. Roxanna is the recipient of several grants, including a Jacob K. Javits Fellowship in the Humanities, an Enders Fellowship, and a Kenneth Cornell Research Grant. She is originally from the Midwest, and grew up in Iowa City, home to the University of Iowa. In addition to French, Roxanna also speaks Spanish (her family is originally from Argentina), and Italian.
Ryan A. Davis
Dr. Ryan A. Davis joins the Illinois State faculty as an assistant professor of Spanish in the Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures. Davis earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Spanish from Brigham Young University. In 2009, he earned his PhD from Emory University. At Emory he was the recipient of an Andrew W. Mellon Graduate Teaching Fellowship and a Dean’s Teaching Fellowship. Davis is a member of the Modern Language Association and the Midwest Modern Language Association. In addition to English, Davis is fluent in Spanish and can read and speak French and Catalan.
Oguzhan Dincer
Dr. Oguzhan Dincer is a new Assistant Professor in the Department of Economics. He earned his PhD and his MA from the University of Oregon and his BS from the Middle East Technical University in Ankara, Turkey. He joined the Illinois State University faculty after spending three years as a Senior Lecturer at Massey University in New Zealand. His research fields are public finance, economic growth and development, and applied econometrics. He is particularly interested in the effects of institutional quality on economic growth, income inequality and poverty.”
Tasha Dunn
Dr. Tasha Dunn is a new assistant professor of Geology. A Tulane University alumna with a bachelor’s degree in Geology, she earned her master’s degree and her PhD in Geology from the University of Tennessee in 2005 and 2008, respectively. Her research thus far has focused on identification of alkalic rocks using thermal emission spectroscopy and the determination of mineral abundances in ordinary chondrites using powder X-ray diffraction. She currently teaches several classes, including Mineralogy, Petrology, Planetary Geology, and Evolution of the Earth. Prior to entering academia, Dr. Dunn worked as a geologist and program manager at an environmental consulting firm in Atlanta, Georgia. She is a member of the Meteoritical Society, the American Geophysical Union, the Mineralogical Society of America, the Geological Society of America, and the Sigma Xi Research Society.
Cynthia Edmonds-Cady
Dr. Cynthia Edmonds-Cady is a new Assistant Professor in the School of Social Work. She earned her PhD from Michigan State University, her MSW from the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, and her BS from Eastern Michigan University. Her research is on women and poverty, marginalized populations and social movement work, and community practice models. She is currently involved in historical research examining poor white and African American women’s access to motherhood and birth control during the 1940s and 1950s, as well as an edited book project on teaching social work students about diversity, privilege, and oppression. She also enjoys spending time with her husband Joe and their two teenagers, Emily and Mickey. Although she and her family have lived in Michigan for many years, they feel very welcome and at home in the Bloomington-Normal community. “I have met many people both within my own department as well as other departments here at ISU who have been very welcoming and helpful to me in getting settled here.” In the future she is looking forward to getting involved in some larger community outreach projects within the surrounding area.
Donna Eisenstadt
Dr. Donna Eisenstadt is a new Associate Professor in the Psychology Department. She earned her PhD in Psychology from the CUNY Graduate Center. Before coming to ISU, she taught at St. Mary’s College of Maryland, Adelphi University, and Saint Louis University. Eisenstadt is a social psychologist with research foci in the areas of self and social identity, prejudice and prejudice reduction, and psychology and law. She holds memberships in various professional organizations, including the Association for Psychological Science, the Society of Experimental Social Psychology, and the Society for Personality and Social Psychology. In her free time, she enjoys reading novels, playing chess, traveling, and spending time with her friends, family, and three dogs, cat, and guinea pig.
Katherine Ellison
Dr. Katherine Ellison joins the Department of English as an assistant professor. Dr. Ellison is a specialist in Eighteenth-Century British Literature with broadly interdisciplinary interests. She is currently working on two books: one which examines the literary and cultural effects of information in the eighteenth century, and a second book that examines the implications of cryptography manuals for understanding assumptions about language and knowledge in the eighteenth century. Dr. Ellison has also worked as a graphic designer and has extensive background in New Media and Information Technology. She spent the past year as a Visiting Assistant Professor at Emory University where she earned her doctorate in 2004.
Daniel Everett
Dr. Daniel Everett is the new Chair of the Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures. He was recently recruited to work on a research grant from the European Commission entitled, “Characterizing Human Languages by Structural Complexity.” The research is divided into three parts: language development in primates, language acquisition in children, and cultural reflections on languages. Dr. Everett's key area of research is the cultural restrictions on languages, and he will be traveling to the Amazon jungle with several graduate students in January. He will soon publish a book about the seven years he spent among the Pirahã people there. He is one of only three outsiders to become fluent in the Pirahã language, and he will be featured in an issue of New Yorker next month. “I am happy to be here. I really like the Bloomington/Normal community,” said Dr. Everett. “It’s quite different from Europe, but it’s good to be back in the U.S.”
Tomasz Fediuk
Dr. Tomasz A. Fediuk is a new Assistant Professor in the School of Communication. He received his BS in Public Relations and MS in Communication from Illinois State University and earned his PhD from Michigan State University with a focus in strategic communication. His research is on how stakeholders perceive crisis situations, and the impact of communication strategies designed to reduce reputation harm. Other work includes focus on public communication campaigns, primarily pro-social and health campaigns. Dr. Fediuk is also the faculty advisor to the ISU Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA). "I was a member of PRSSA as an undergraduate student and assisted when I was a graduate student." he said. "It is an honor to return and advise such a great program."
Scott Findley
Dr. Scott Findley is a new Assistant Professor in the Department of Economics. He earned his PhD from Colorado State University. His areas of specialization are public finance and macroeconomics. Much of his current work focuses on social security and life-cycle consumption theory. A forthcoming publication in Public Finance Review examines how a new type of saving plan can help households cope with the anticipated long-run solvency problems in the United States Social Security program. This year he is coordinating the Department of Economics Seminar Series.
Jennifer Friberg
Dr. Jennifer Friberg is an Assistant Professor of Speech-Language Pathology. She earned her Ed.D. from Illinois State University, her M.A. from Indiana University, and her B.A. from San Diego State University. Her research focus lies in the area of child language development and disorders and professional practice issues. "I have found working in the Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology to be extremely exciting," said Dr. Friberg. "My colleagues in the department have been welcoming and supportive, and I am enjoying the process of building relationships with my students. I feel quite lucky to be a part of such a dynamic department."
Paul Garris
Dr. Paul Garris, Associate Professor of Biological Sciences with a joint position in Psychology, became interested in science in grade school. He remembers his science teachers encouraged his “rambunctious and inquisitive nature”—traits that would usually get a child into trouble. Instead of trouble, Garris got into neuroscience, and in the almost 10 years he has been at ISU, he has gained national recognition for both his lab and the university, putting ISU on the map as one of the places to study dopamine. Garris’s research on dopamine found that the brain chemical is not connected to pleasure, reversing decades of scientific theories on addiction and advancing research in Parkinson’s disease. These finding have received much attention from the scientific community and major funding agencies such as the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation.
Shamira Gelbman
Dr. Shamira Gelbman joins ISU as an Assistant Professor of Politics and Government. She is completing her PhD at the University of Virginia. Gelbman received her MA from the University of Virginia and her BA from Hunter College, CUNY. Her research is on race, social movements, and democratization in the United States and South Africa. At Virginia, Gelbman taught both American politics and Spanish courses but has spent the last two years away from teaching while she completed research for her dissertation. “It’s wonderful to be back in the classroom again,” she says, “especially with students as engaged and diligent as the ones I’ve encountered here at ISU.” In her free time, Shamira enjoys swimming, crossword puzzles, foreign language study, and weightlifting.
Gabriel Gudding
Dr. Gabriel Gudding is an Associate Professor of English. He was hired in 2002 to teach literature and experimental creative writing in the English Department’s creative writing program, a program that specializes in hybrid and innovative writing. A poet and essayist, his work has been translated into French, Danish, Vietnamese and Spanish. He is currently writing two books: a collection of essays and poems on the moral conception of time, horological history, the semiotics of timepieces and the social epistemology of calendars and clocks; the second is a transgeneric meditation on the cultural and ecological history of the Illinois River and how it changed Great Lakes cultures. He is keenly interested in dysraphic poetry writing, experimental literatures, novelized writing, conceptions of masculinity in avant garde writing communities, gender dynamics in self-defined avant garde poetry movements, creative writing pedagogy, teaching in prisons, Afro-Caribbean poetries, translation as creative writing, and contemporary poetry by American women.
Angela M. Haas
Dr. Angela M. Haas is a new Assistant Professor in the Department of English. She earned her PhD in Rhetoric and Writing—with concentrations in cultural rhetorics, digital rhetorics, and professional communication—from Michigan State University. Her current scholarship is concerned with investigating digital writing practices and the historical, social, cultural, and political contexts that shape those practices, as evidenced by her publications in peer-reviewed journals, such as Computers and Composition, Computers and Composition Online, and Studies in American Indian Literatures, as well as the forthcoming edited collection Webbing Cyberfeminist Practices. With over a decade of teaching experience, Angela has taught a wide range of undergraduate and graduate composition, rhetoric, and technical communication courses. In her free time, she enjoys cooking, baking, traveling, hiking, and spending time with her friends, family, and two cats.
Johanna Haas
Dr. Johanna Haas is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Geography-Geology. Before joining ISU she served as a graduate teaching associate whose courses included the Geography of the United States and Canada, Political Geography, and World Regional Geography. Her dissertation is entitled “Law and Property in the Mountains: A political Economy of Resource Land in the Appalachian Coalfields.” Her areas of research include human/environment interactions, rural development, environmental politics, environmental and property law and theory, and energy policy. Haas graduated summa cum laude from West Virginia University. She earned her J.D. with honors from Ohio State University, where she will also receive her Ph.D. in June. “I was looking to teach at a public school with a strong commitment to both teaching and service to the community,” said Johanna Hass. “When I visited here, I felt very welcome and comfortable. I knew this would be the place I would work.”
Heidi Harbers
Dr. Heidi M. Harbers, Associate Professor of Communication Sciences and Disorders, joined the ISU faculty in the Fall semester of 1997 after spending three years at Edinboro University of Pennsylvania. In addition to teaching courses on phonetics and phonological disorders, Harbers and her students conduct research on phonological awareness and literacy skills of preschool and school-age children with and without communication disorders. “I recently completed a cross-linguistic study with Dr. In-sop Kim and several students,” Harbers said. “[The study] examined the phonological awareness skills of monolingual and bilingual adults who speak English, Spanish or Korean as their primary language.” Additionally, another area of her research concerns students’ attitudes and perceptions about dialects.
Duriel E. Harris
Dr. Duriel E. Harris is a new assistant professor in the English department. She earned her PhD in English from the University of Illinois, her MA from New York University, and her BA from Yale University. Prior to coming to ISU, she was an assistant professor at St. Lawrence University in New York where she taught courses in African American literature and poetry. Harris has research interests in improvisation and black aesthetics, memory and trauma studies, and 18th and 19th century African American literature. Her professional affiliations include the Poetry Society of America and the Association of Writers and Writing Programs. Harris is a sound artist, poet and performer and a member of Douglas R. Ewart and Inventions free jazz ensemble.
Gardenia Harris
African-American women are 23 times more likely than white women to be diganosed with AIDS. Why? That is just one question Dr. Gardenia Harris, Assistant Professor of Social Work, is attempting to answer. In a research project entitled “Risk for HIV among Middle-Age African American Women,” Harris and her collaborators are exploring risk-taking behavior of and preventative practices for middle-age African American women with respect to potential HIV infection. “This is an important area of study,” said Harris. “We need to develop intervention in order to keep African American women from continuing to be over represented in this population.”
Andrew Hartman
Dr. Andrew Hartman joins ISU as an Assistant Professor of History. He earned his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from George Washington University and his B.A. from the University of New Mexico. A specialist in history education, his research deals with American education during the Cold War era. "I look forward to many years of exciting intellectual collaboration with my colleagues, not only in the history department, but throughout the College," said Dr. Hartman.
Susan Hildebrandt
Dr. Susan Hildebrandt joins the ISU faculty as assistant professor of Spanish. She received her PhD in Foreign Language and ESL Education from the University of Iowa in 2006. She specializes in foreign language teacher knowledge, development and evaluation, as well as the National Board of Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS). Her dissertation on the topic of National Board certified teachers of World Languages Other than English won the ACTFL/MLJ Emma Marie Birkmaier Dissertation Award in 2008. She has been published in Hispania and has presented papers at numerous national and international conferences. Sue taught elementary, middle and high school Spanish for six years prior to teaching Spanish and teacher education courses at the college level. Most recently, she was an Assistant Professor of Spanish at Longwood University in Farmville, Virginia, where she coordinated the graduate and undergraduate language teaching program. She is a member of the Modern Language Association, The American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, and the American Educational Research Association. In her free time, she enjoys traveling to visit friends, reading science magazines, and “geeking out” with new technology.
Shawn Hitchcock
Dr. Shawn Hitchcock, Department of Chemistry, received his Ph.D. from the University of California at Davis in 1995. Hitchcock’s research is primarily focused on developing new methods for synthesizing medicinal agents that exist as single isomer drugs. Single isomer drugs are identified as having either left or right-handed forms. This refers to the ability of certain molecules to have shapes that are considered to be non-interchangeable mirror images, just like hands or feet. Many life-saving drugs can only be sold as one version or the other because the human body recognizes the differences between these molecules. He recently won a National Science Foundation Award of over $226,000 for his research on developing catalytic methods of asymmetric synthesis. “There are a number of things that I have enjoyed in my experiences here at Illinois State University. I have enjoyed interacting with really smart and motivated students with a sincere desire to learn,” said Dr. Hitchcock. “However, my greatest satisfaction comes from former students. Many have graduated and moved on to career positions throughout the United States. I feel that I have made an impact in the lives of these students by providing them with an educational environment that enhanced their professional and personal experiences here at ISU.”
Daniel Holland
Dr. Daniel Holland, Professor of Physics, has been a member of the faculty at Illinois State University for the past 13 years. His primary research as a theoretical and computational physicist has been to use signatures of charged particle dynamics as a means of remotely sensing the structure of the Earth’s magnetic field. He uses his theories and simulations to construct models of the magnetic field. In addition to his research, Holland teaches a wide range of courses, and his students frequently have a wide range of backgrounds in their academic preparation in physics. Although he finds enjoyment in teaching all of his courses, his favorites are Mechanics and Mathematical Methods. Both of these courses are thought of as gateway courses between lower-division and upper-division courses in physics. Dr. Holland recently received the Outstanding College Service Award. He feels that this award completes three major areas of recognition for him. “I have received an award in all three primary areas of my duties as a professor,” said Dr. Holland. “Throughout my career I have tried my best to be well-balanced as a professor, and I find it very gratifying to be acknowledged in all three areas.”
Doris Houston
Dr. Doris Houston joins the School of Social Work as an assistant professor.Previous to coming to ISU, she served as the Coordinator of Research Programs at the Center for Prevention Research and Development at the University of Illinois. Building upon her decade of experience at the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, Dr. Houston’ research interests include issues of adoption, foster care, policy development, and grant writing. She earned her bachelor’s degree in 1983, her master’s degree in 1998, and completed her doctorate in 2003, all from the University of Illinois.
Richard Hughes
Dr. Richard Hughes is the History Department’s new history education specialist. Before obtaining his master’s degree in History from Wake Forest and his Ph.D. from the University of Kansas in 2002, he taught history, government, and economics for four years at Southern High School in Durham, North Carolina. While he was working on his Ph.D., he served for six years as the field coordinator of the University of Kansas Center for Economic Education. For the last three years Dr. Hughes has held a tenure-track position at Eastern Oregon University. His scholarly interests lie in the second half of the twentieth century. He is currently working on two book manuscripts: "The ‘Disco Sucks’ Movement of the 1970s: Popular Music and the Cultural Backlash," for the University ofFlorida Press, and "Tangled Up in the Sixties: Progressive Activism and the Pro-Life Movement," for the University of Pennsylvania Press.
William Hunter
Many people cringe when they remember their high school chemistry class. It was a place where they felt stupid and clumsy in comparison to their smart and savvy teachers of chemistry. Dr. William Hunter, Associate Professor of Chemistry, is not only aware of the poor experiences that many people have in chemistry classes but is actively working to positively change students’ encounters with chemistry by thoroughly preparing secondary teachers of chemistry. “I view one of the key issues today as the inaccessibility of chemistry (and the sciences) to the wider population.” Hunter, who—along with his research partners—has been awarded millions of dollars in grant monies during his six years as a faculty member of the Department of Chemistry at ISU, believes that chemists and chemical educators can and must do a better job of figuring out how to make the sciences understandable to the general public. He has staked his professional career upon the knowledge that changes in the way chemistry is taught can make a difference in people’s lives.
John Huxford
Dr. John Huxford is a new assistant professor of communication at Illinois State University. He earned his master’s degree and PhD in communication from the Annenberg School of Communication at the University of Pennsylvania. Huxford has served as a lecturer and researcher at the University of Pennsylvania and the director of journalism at Villanova University. He has designed and taught courses such as Feature Writing, Journalism Practices, Reflexivity in Modern Thought, and Critical Perspectives on the News. Huxford has spent almost 20 years in Britain’s Journalism Industry as an editor, reporter, and writer. He has received a number of honors including the Historical Method Award, a Dissertation Research Fellowship Award, and was selected for the National Communication Association Doctoral Honors Seminar. Huxford is a member of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, the Media Ecology Association, and the National Communication Association.
J. Scott Jordan
Dr. J. Scott Jordan, Professor of Psychology, joined the ISU faculty in the Fall semester of 2001. In addition to teaching classes on behavioral and cognitive sciences this Spring, Jordan and his students also conduct research on the dynamic relationship between perception, action and cognition. He is also currently conducting research on how spatial perception is influenced by whether or not someone does a task alone or with another. "Our data indicate that our goals in a task influence our perception of the location of moving objects, in a way that suggests our minds "work ahead' compared to the physical world. In fact, when controlling movement of the object with another person, this effect increases, as if we are able automatically to incorporate the possibilities created by others' potential actions into our own action plans," Jordan said.
Heather Jordon
Dr. Heather Jordon, Department of Mathematics, received her Ph.D. in Mathematics from Western Michigan University in 1996. A prolific researcher, Jordon has delivered more than forty presentations and published over thirty articles in some of the top journals in her field. Her most influential paper, “Cycle Decompositions of Kn and Kn-I,” written jointly with Brian Alspach, has been cited over forty times in the literature. She is a 2006 recipient of the Hall Medal from the Institute of Combinatorics and its Applications (ICA) and a 2005 recipient of the College of Arts and Sciences Outstanding Teacher Award.
Julie Jung
Dr. Julie Jung, associate professor in the Department of English, has been a committed and highly effective teacher since joining the ISU faculty in 1999. As an assistant professor, she was awarded the University's Teaching Initiative Award, and her teaching has continued to develop in range and impact. This year she was named an Outstanding College Teacher. She is a scholar of rhetoric and composition studies, and in recent years has received national recognition and acclaim for her work. Her book, Revisionary Rhetoric, Feminist Pedagogy, and Multigenre Texts, received the W. Ross Winterowd Award in 2005 for the most outstanding book in composition theory. She serves as associate editor of JAC, a quarterly journal for the interdisciplinary study of rhetoric, writing, multiple literacies, and politics.
Hyun-Sook Kang
Dr. Hyun-Sook Kang joins the ISU faculty as an assistant professor in the Department of English. She holds a PhD in Educational Linguistics from the University of Pennsylvania, an MA from McGill University in Canada, and a BA from Pusan National University in Korea. She teaches courses about methods and assessment in teaching English as a second or foreign language. Her research is centered on the efficacy of input and interaction in facilitating learner attention and acquisition in the learning of a second, foreign, or heritage language. When not reading and writing about language learning, she enjoys taking exercise classes in a gym, going to farmers’ markets, and making road trips.
In-sop Kim
Dr. In-sop Kim joins the ISU faculty as an Assistant Professor of Communication Sciences and Disorders. He earned his BA from Dae-gue University in South Korea and his PhD in speech pathology from Florida State University. Kim’s research focuses on neurologically-based communication and cognition disorders, especially Parkinson's disease and dementia. While a student at Florida State, he taught courses in communication disorders and conducted research in the Neurolinguistic-Neurocognitive Research Lab at Tallahassee Memorial Hospital. In his free time he enjoys playing soccer and the guitar.
Jun-Hyun Kim
Dr. Jun-Hyun Kim is a new assistant professor in the Chemistry department. He earned his PhD in Chemistry from the University of Houston (UH) and completed a Postdoctoral Fellowship at Northwestern University (NU). His research interests include the syntheses and analyses of nanomaterials, the development of new organic and biological molecules, and polymer-inorganic nanocomposites. Kim taught Chemical Engineering at KeiMyung University in South Korea, Organic Chemistry at UH, and served as a mentor in Research Experiences for Undergraduates at NU. He is a member of several professional organizations including the American Chemical Society and the American Association for Cancer Research. He also has previous military experience as a lieutenant in South Korea and enjoys playing all kinds of sports including tennis, soccer, baseball, and basketball in his free time.
Suzanne Kimball
Dr. Suzanne Kimball joins ISU as an Assistant Professor of Audiology. She earned her AuD from the University of Florida, her M.A. from Memphis State University, and her B.A. from the University of Mississippi. Her research is on the efficacy and ethics of hearing aid dispensing. "In just the short time that I have been here at ISU, my experience has been fantastic. I have found ISU to be a very warm and friendly campus," said Dr. Kimball. "The administration, faculty, staff and students appear top notch and have been more than eager to help get me up and running with my classes and research."
John Kostelnick
Dr. John Kostelnick joins ISU as an Assistant Professor of Geography. He is also affiliated with ISU’s newly dedicated Institute for Geospatial Analysis and Mapping (GEOMAP). His areas of teaching and research include geographic information systems (GIS), cartography, remote sensing, and human geography. His specific research interests include developing GIS methods and techniques for modeling and visualizing the impacts of sea level rise; designing and promulgating new cartographic symbols for landmines, minefields, and landmine removal; and evaluating the design and usability of animated and interactive maps. Kostelnick earned his PhD from the University of Kansas, his MA from the University of Nebraska, and his BA from Iowa State University. He previously held a faculty position at Haskell Indian Nations University, where he managed the campus GIS lab and assisted in the development of a GIS program. In his free time, he enjoys travel, fishing, home remodeling projects, and spending time with family and friends.
Erik Larson
Dr. Erik Larson is a new assistant professor in the Department of Biological Sciences. He comes to ISU from the Department of Immunology at the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle, Washington, where he was an NIH Postdoctoral Fellow. He earned his PhD in Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology from Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana and his BS from the University of Oregon in Eugene, Oregon. His research examines the roles of DNA repair pathways in genome maintenance and in the molecular events governing the diversification of antibody genes, which is a process required for optimal immunity. Outside of the laboratory, Erik enjoys fishing, gardening, and spending time with his wife Megan and two children, Abigail and John.
Gary Lewis
Dr. Gary Lewis joins ISU as an Assistant Professor of Mathematics. He earned an M.S. in Mathematics and an M.Ed. in Mathematics Education from Ohio State University. He also earned a Ph.D. from Michigan State University in Teacher Education. Gary’s dissertation investigated the challenges novice teachers face as they attempt to enact elements of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) Professional Standards in their teaching practice. He is also interested in how teachers acquire these types of teaching skills and what forms of professional development support teachers’ learning trajectories as they attempt innovative, student-centered teaching strategies that engage students in the mathematical discourse of the classroom. “For mathematics education reforms to have an impact, teachers need to demonstrate that they truly value students’ ideas and perspectives,” said Lewis. “A discourse-centered classroom where students share ideas and subject them to mathematical verification and scrutiny is a place where students create mathematics that has greater meaning for them and is more likely to be valued and remembered.”
Sabine Loew
Dr. Sabine Loew, Department of Biological Sciences, received her PhD in Ecology and Evolution from the State University of New York at Stony Brook and subsequently received a three-year postdoctoral fellowship at the Smithsonian Institution for her work on paternal care in Sri Lankan toque macaques (monkeys). She joined the ISU faculty in 1995, where she is currently an associate professor; she is also a research associate in the Department of Zoology at Chicago's Field Museum. Besides her research and teaching activities, Loew held the position of Vice Chair in the Department of Biological Sciences from 2005 to 2007 and currently serves as ombudsperson for the College of Arts and Sciences. Loew is a 2005 CAS Outstanding Service Award winner. With a strong focus on conservation genetics and evolutionary biology, this bilingual (German and English) professor has received numerous grants and has produced over fourteen publications, with several manuscripts in preparation.
Juliet Lynd
Dr. Juliet Lynd joins the ISU faculty as an assistant professor of Spanish. Juliet received her PhD in Hispanic literatures and linguistics from the University of Minnesota. She specializes in issues of dictatorship and post-dictatorship culture in the literary and visual arts of South America, and she has also published on gender issues in Latin American avant-garde and popular film. She has taught at both Carleton College and St. Olaf College, as well as in Mexico, where she was the recipient of an award for course development excellence. Her dissertation was nominated for a best dissertation award, and she spent last summer at Columbia University participating in a National Endowment for the Humanities Seminar on Hemispheric American Literature, seeking to frame her work on art and politics in Latin America in a global context.
David Malone
Dr. David Malone, Department of Geography-Geology, has served as Chair of the department since 2000. He is a structural geologist, some one who is responsible for determining the architecture of the Earth’s crust through geologic mapping. He has conducted field work in Haiti, Illinois, Wisconsin, Wyoming and Alaska. His primary research focuses on trying to understand the origin of and movement along the Heart Mountain Fault in Wyoming’s Absaroka Range. Over the last ten years he has received 30 grants totaling over 1.5 million dollars. In addition, he has won the Illinois State University Outstanding Teacher Award and was the University’s nominee for the CASE Award for Outstanding Teaching. Along with his teaching load, he spends two months in the field working with students. “The most satisfying part of my job is seeing the students that I work with realize their goals and succeed in their careers,” said Malone. “Geology is one of the smallest programs on campus, so I have been fortunate to work with every graduate of our program for the last thirteen years. I hear from at least one of our graduates almost daily, and I am anxious to learn what turn their careers have taken.”
Krishna Manavalli
Dr. Krishna Manavalli joins the ISU faculty as an assistant professor of English. She received her PhD from Michigan State University, where she focused on postcolonial and global literary studies. She holds a master's degree in English from Old Dominion University. Her research engages postcolonial literature and theory, Indo-Anglian literature, and feminist cultural studies. She has taught courses ranging from women's writing in America to Middle Eastern studies. Apart from English, she is also fluent in Sanskrit, Hindi, Kannada, Telugu, and Tamil.
David Marx
Dr. David Marx, Department of Physics, received his Ph.D. from the Illinois Institute of Technology and joined the Illinois State University faculty in 2003. During the Founders Day Convocation on February 15th, Marx was recognized for receiving the University Teaching Initiative Award. He will also be honored at the CAS Awards Ceremony on February 28th. “This truly is a special place,” said Marx. “I love the positive working environment here and the support we have from our colleagues, the administration, and all of the staff. We have a great university that I love to see grow and receive national and international recognition.”
Robert McLaughlin
Dr. Robert McLaughlin joined the ISU faculty in 1988 and was promoted to full professor in 2006. In addition to serving as a professor of English, he co-advises Sigma Tau Delta, the English Honors Society, and is director of the Honors Program for the Department. McLaughlin’s teaching interests include contemporary fiction, narrative theory and drama. His research interests include postmodern fiction, Thomas Pynchon, World War II films, and American musical theater. He has authored or co-authored over one hundred articles, book chapters, and reviews and has presented at more than 50 national and international conferences. His publications include We’ll Always Have the Movies: American Cinema during World War II, co-authored with Dr. Sally Parry, and published in 2006.
Sandra Metts
The moment in a close relationship when one partner acts in such a way that threatens the other's identity and experiences of being valued, called positive face, is a moment of particular interest for Dr.Sandra Metts, Professor of Communication. “Although it may not be as immediately apparent, the conversation of a couple on a first date, the attempt to gain forgiveness from someone we have hurt, the challenge of dealing with an embarrassing moment, and even the dynamics of a classroom discussion are all manifestations of the human need to know and be known—to create share meaning.”
Kevin R. Meyer
Dr. Kevin R. Meyer joins ISU as an assistant professor in the School of Communication. He earned his Ph.D. in communication from Ohio University and holds a master’s degree in communication from Illinois State University. Meyer previously taught and coached the debate and forensics squads at Andover High School in Kansas. His teaching interests include instructional communication, small group discussion, argumentation and debate, persuasion, and communication theory. He is a member of the National Communication Association and the Central States Communication Association. In his free time, he enjoys reading, listening to music, playing fantasy sports, rooting for Reggie Redbird, and settling into the new house he and his wife share.
Maria Moore
Dr. Maria Moore is a new Assistant Professor of Communication. A graduate of National Louis University in Chicago, she has twenty-five years of senior broadcast media management experience. Her research focuses on the holistic fusion of technology and humanity through digital media. She taught at the Newhouse School of Communications at Syracuse University and at Columbia College Chicago. She served on the executive boards for the Sundance Film Festival and the National Association of Television Program Executives. She is an accomplished journalist and producer of television programs and is the recipient of numerous awards, including one from the National Association of Governors for Best Outreach Program in America. For fun, Maria enjoys travel, learning about and collecting wine, and always has a good book or two at hand.
Christopher Mulligan
Dr. Christopher Mulligan joins the ISU faculty as an Assistant Professor of Chemistry. Mulligan earned his BA from Northern Illinois University and his PhD in analytical chemistry from Purdue University, where he worked on developing handheld mass spectrometers for on-site chemical analysis. His research focuses on instrumentation development for use in forensic chemistry, environmental protection, and homeland security and “ambient” mass spectrometry, in which chemical species are directly analyzed from their native environment.
Issam Nassar
Dr. Issam Nassar joins ISU as an Assistant Professor of History. He received his D.A. degree from Illinois State University, his M.A. degree from the University of Cincinnati, and his Bachelor of Commerce degree from Birzeit University. A historian of the Middle East, his research involves modern nationalist movements in Palestine/Israel. "After teaching in a smaller university, I find it great to be here at ISU," said Dr. Nassar. "Having a large number of colleagues is a real nice thing as it poses a real intellectual challenge. I am also excited to be teaching a topic that is of great interest to the students nowadays. The Middle East is no longer a topic about a distant place or culture, but is now very much about the United States, its policies and role in war and peace. ISU students are certainly very interested in this topic."
Janice Neuleib
Dr. Janice Neuleib, Professor of English, has established a distinguished record of teaching, research, and service over the course of her 36 years at Illinois State University. Neuleib, who spent three years teaching at United Township High School in East Moline, began teaching writing at ISU in 1970. She has served as Director of the Writing Center, Director of the University Center for Learning Assistance, Director of the Writing Program, and is currently Acting Director of English Education. Since 1992, she has also been the Director of the Illinois State Writing Project, which is affiliated with the National Writing Project. In addition, Neuleib is the Executive Secretary of the Illinois Association of Teachers of English, which is housed at ISU, and is the co-editor of its journal. Among the most rewarding aspects of teaching at ISU have been the opportunities to work with students at all levels and to teach a wide range of subjects. When asked what she has valued most about her time at Illinois State, Neuleib responded, “I’m an extremely curious person, and here at ISU there is always something or someone to explore, so my curiosity always has somewhere to go.”
Monica Noraian
Dr. Monica Noraian is a new assistant professor of history and the Director of the History-Social Sciences Education Program. Noraian holds a PhD from Illinois State University, an EdM from Harvard University, and a BA from the American University in Washington DC. Noraian has been affiliated with the ISU since 1998 and has held a variety of positions. Most recently she has served as the interim director of the History-Social Sciences Education Program and the coordinator of Student teaching. She has taught, advised and supervised students in the History Department. She is the recipient of the a 2003 Outstanding University Teacher Award. Noraian is active in the community. She has served as a guild member and president of the Children's Discovery Museum and as a board member for Normal's Mulberry School. Prior to coming to ISU Noraian taught High School History in the Chicagoland area (West Chicago High School and Stevenson High School).
Adrienne Ohler
Dr. Adrienne Ohler is a new assistant professor of economics at Illinois State University. She earned her bachelor’s degree in mathematics and economics at the University of Illinois in 2002 and a master’s degree in applied economics from Montana State University in 2005. Ohler completed a second master’s degree in statistics and a PhD in economics from Washington State University in 2009. Her research and teaching interests include natural resource and environmental economics, public policy, and econometrics. Adrienne’s work at Illinois State focuses on the renewable energy sector in Illinois and the U.S. and examines the impact of policies designed to encourage its growth.
Katrin Paehler
Dr. Katrin Paehler, a native of the Federal Republic of Germany, is the History Department’s new expert on modern German history. This spring she will be offering for the first time at Illinois State an upper-level course on the Holocaust, thus preparing our students to teach this mandated topic. She obtained her master’s degree from Phillips-Universität in Marburg (the oldest Protestant university in Germany) and just successfully defended her dissertation at American University in Washington. The topic is "Espionage, Ideology, and Personnel Politics: The Making and Unmaking of a Nazi Intelligence Service." This is an especially timely topic because it deals with the misinformation that intelligence services report to their political superiors. Katrin has participated in several summer institutes and workshop at the Holocaust Museum in Washington and at the Holocaust Educational Foundation at Northwestern University.
Maria Pao
In the 1920s, how did the novel experience of riding in a car change people’s conception and understanding of visual perception and language? Dr. Maria Pao, Associate Professor of Spanish, once wrote an article exploring the attempts of some Spanish authors to reproduce the experience of traveling by automobile. Pao’s specialty is Spanish Peninsular literature and poetry of the early 20th century, which was a period of immense change and transformation in the Western world and in Spain in particular. “Having lost the remains of its empire in the 1898 war against the United States,Spain was wrestling with identity issues: What happened to its glory days? Where did things go wrong? How should it approach its future? So I’m interested in seeing how the literature of the period reflected those complex, exciting, and also anxiety-producing times," said Pao. "Sometimes the tone of the works is grave and philosophic, but other times it’s playful and silly. What I try to do in my work is to show how texts produce their effect.”
Jamie Perry
Dr. Jamie Perry joins the ISU faculty as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders. Jamie completed both her BS and PhD at the University of Illinois and her MA at Northern Illinois University. Her research focuses on using bioimaging and 3-d computer technology to study the velopharyngeal mechanism in individuals born with cleft lip and palate. In 2006, she received the Phyllis Ariens Burkhead Memorial Fellowship Award, which is given to an individual who displays academic excellence and has research endeavors with a clinical emphasis. Perry serves on the cleft palate team at Carle Clinic, Urbana. She enjoys using graphite and computer modeling to make anatomical illustrations, some of which are to be published this year in a book chapter she coauthored entitled, “Comprehensive Cleft Care.”
Steven Peters
Dr. Steven Peters joins the Department of Chemistry as an assistant professor. Prior to coming to ISU, he served on the faculty at California State University and St. Mary’s College (Indiana). Dr. Peter’s research interests include biochemistry and biophysical chemistry. He was the recipient of a Camille and Henry Dreyfus Postdoctoral Fellowship (2001-2003). He received his bachelor’s degree in 1989 and his master’s degree in 1990, both from Illinois State University. He received his PhD from the Indiana University in 1997.
Eric Peterson
Dr. Eric Peterson is an assistant professor in the Department of Geography-Geology. His research focuses on the interaction of surface water and ground water in two distinct geologic systems: karst systems, systems dominated by limestone that has been eroded as a result of dissolution (e.g. caves), and glacial-fluvial systems, surfical materials deposited as a result of glaciations (e.g. typical central Illinois surface material). Specifically, his research explores four main topics. One is identifying the physical parameters that control surface water/ground water exchange in streams underlain by glacial deposits. A second is modeling the thermal transport through a glacial-fluvial aquifer. The third is assessing the pathways of fluid migration in a karst aquifer by evaluating the water chemistry, and the fourth is examining the role of conduit geometry in fluid flow through karst aquifers.
William Philpott
Dr. Bill Philpott, assistant professor in the Department of History, is fascinated by the idea that the ordinary places we inhabit every day can open surprisingly vivid windows onto the past. It is the idea at the heart of his current book project, Vacation Land, which explores how tourist development after 1945 transformed the landscape of the Colorado high country, and with it the environmental values of people living, working, and vacationing there. Philpott is also co-author and co-editor of a forthcoming guide to the historical buildings and built landscapes of Wisconsin. Among his other publications, his first book, a study in nineteenth-century labor history titled The Lessons of Leadville, or, Why the Western Federation of Miners Turned Left, won the LeRoy Hafen Award from the Colorado Historical Society.
Aaron Pitluck
Dr. Aaron Pitluck joins the Department of Sociology as an assistant professor. Prior to coming to ISU, he had significant teaching experience, having in four countries taught courses that have ranged from small intensive seminars to large lecture classes. Dr. Pitluck’s areas of specialization include global finance, economic sociology, the Asia-Pacific area, and social theory. His dissertation research focused on speculative activity in global financial markets in Malaysia. He earned his PhD from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Susan Prendergast
Dr. Susan Prendergast, Associate Professor of Communication Sciences and Disorders, received her PhD from the University of Illinois and joined the ISU faculty in 1999. Prendergast’s most recent research has been in the area of Classroom Amplification and particularly a new speaker technology that preserves consonants (the parts of speech that allow us to understand rather than just hear speech) throughout classrooms. Classroom amplification improves academic performance for children with mild and fluctuating hearing loss, for non-native English speaking children, and also for children with normal hearing and no other handicaps. Teachers benefit as well because they don't have to strain their voices to be heard. Both children and teachers, therefore, experience less overall fatigue. "Dr. Prendergast's research in sound field amplification for classrooms has been crucial to many classrooms,” said Walt Smoski, Chair of the Communication Sciences and Disorders Department. “It has given justification to many school districts to obtain sound field systems in order to aid children who have hearing losses perform at or above grade level."
John B. Pryor
Dr. John B. Pryor, Department of Psychology, received his Ph.D. in Psychology from Princeton University in 1977 and began teaching at Illinois State University in 1985. Pryor was the Director of the College of Arts and Sciences Research Office from 1995-1998 and was Acting Chair of the Department of Psychology in 1998-1999. He is a Fellow at the Association for Psychological Science and the American Psychological Association and is a member of the Midwestern Psychological Association and the Society for Experimental Social Psychology. He has received 20 different awards and research grants totaling over 2.5 million dollars. Furthermore, he has published nearly 70 different papers in various academic publications and currently has seven different works in progress. “John is one of the most accomplished scholars in our department,” said Dr. David Barone, Chair of the Department of Psychology.
Rati Ram
Dr. Rati Ram, Distinguished Professor of Economics, received his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago and joined the ISU faculty in 1977. He is recognized world-wide for his work in the areas of economic growth and development, income distribution, and human capital. Early in his career, he coauthored a paper with Nobel Laureate Theodore W. Schultz and has published over 130 journal articles and refereed for more than 75 academic journals. Ram also currently serves on the editorial board of three journals. His work has appeared in such top-rated journals as the American Economic Review, Econometrica, Journal of Political Economy, Quarterly Journal of Economics, and the Review of Economics and Statistics and also in such top field journals as the Journal of Development Economics, Economic Development and Cultural Change, and World Development. “A large part of the external research reputation of the Department of Economics can be attributed to Rati’s research productivity”, said Dr. James Payne, Chair of the Department of Economics. “What I believe has served Rati well in sustaining his research productivity is his work ethic and persistence in a meticulous examination of published research.”
Lori Riverstone-Newell
Dr. Lori Riverstone-Newell is a new Assistant Professor in the Department of Politics and Government. She received her Master’s in Public Administration and her PhD in Political Science from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, where she taught for three years before coming to ISU. Lori has a strong background in nonprofit development and management. She served as the assistant editor of an international academic journal for three years and as the manager of the NEH-funded Tennessee Newspaper Project for four years. Her research interests include public administration, regional cooperation, and federalism. Although she misses her Tennessee family, friends, and students, she says that Bloomington-Normal is “already starting to feel like home. Everyone has been so warm and friendly, I couldn’t ask for a better reception.” In her free time, Lori enjoys reading, cooking, and spending time with her husband, Matthew, and her two teenagers, Nick and Zack.
Amy Robillard
Dr. Amy Robillard, Assistant Professor of English, comes to Illinois State from the program in Composition and Cultural Studies at Syracuse University. Dr. Robillard’s dissertation, “Reimagining Students' Writerly Authority: Co-investigation and Representations of Student Writers in Composition Studies,” reflects her interests in contemporary authorship theories, feminist autobiography, literacy studies, and composition pedagogies. Her research and teaching interests also include narrative theory and working-class literacies.
Jeannette Sánchez-Naranjo
Dr. Jeannette Sánchez-Naranjo joins ISU as an Assistant Professor of Hispanic Linguistics in the Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures. Before coming to ISU, she taught at the University of Toronto, where she did her PhD studies and earned her MA. She has a background in both first and second language teaching and Spanish linguistics, and her research interests concentrate in how child and adult learners solve the puzzle of language acquisition. Her studies focus on the acquisition of semantics and meaning-oriented problems by these learners.
Kathryn Sampeck
Dr. Kathryn Sampeck joins the ISU faculty as an assistant professor of anthropology. She holds a PhD in anthropology from Tulane University and a BA and an MA from the University of Chicago. She is a dedicated instructor with fifteen years of experience in the classroom, lab, and field. Her impressive professional archaeological accomplishments include study of urbanism and political change at the ancient city of Tiwanaku, Bolivia and excavation of the palatial residence of the last king of the Classic Maya city of Copán, Honduras. Her extensive fieldwork in El Salvador included investigations of human activity spanning the earliest human settlement to the late nineteenth century and transcription of a local archive. Sampeck has native fluency in English and Spanish. Her interdisciplinary research focuses on colonialism and Mesoamerican political economic systems, archaeology, and ethnohistory.
Yusuf Sarfati
Dr. Yusuf Sarfati joins the ISU faculty as an assistant professor of Politics and Government. Sarfati, who is originally from Istanbul, Turkey, received his PhD in political science from The Ohio State University. His teaching and research interests include comparative politics, politics of the Middle East, religious parties, and theories of democracy. He is fluent in Turkish, his native language, and is an advanced speaker of Hebrew and German. Sarfati's papers, publications, and presentations focus on the relationship between religion and politics. In his free time, Sarfati enjoys watching movies, playing soccer, and traveling.
Jean Sawyer
Dr. Jean Sawyer joins the Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology as an assistant professor. Previous to coming to ISU, she served as a research assistant in the Stuttering Research Laboratory at the University of Illinois where she conducted a variety of studies regarding the etiology, epidemiology and symptomatology of stuttering in young children. Dr. Sawyer’s research interests include neurophysiology basis of speech and language and neurologically based speech disorders. She earned her bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Iowa in 1976, a master’s degree in Linguistics from the University of Illinois in 2001, and received her Ph.D. from University of Illinois in 2004.
Benjamin Schmeiser
Dr. Benjamin Schmeiser is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures. He has over 14 years of teaching experience, including teaching in a primary school in Spain, a high school in Iowa, and a community college in California. He has also taught at Indiana University and the University of Kentucky. Dr. Schmeiser’s research interests are phonetics and phonology, sociolinguistics, and second language acquisition. He received his Ph.D. at the University of California at Davis and his undergraduate and master’s degrees at the University of Northern Iowa. “I am very honored,” said Dr. Schmeiser, “to be a part of the College of Arts and Sciences here at ISU. I look forward to working diligently to maintain the College’s excellent reputation and high standards.”
William Joel Schneider
Dr. William Joel Schneider, new Assistant Professor of Psychology, received his clinical psychology doctorate from Texas A & M, spent an internship year at Dutchess County (NY) Department of Mental Hygiene, and served two years at Illinois State University in a non-tenure-track faculty appointment. His wide-ranging interests include transtheoretical models of psychological change in individuals, couples, and families, and psychological assessment, including design of scoring and interpretative software. He has already taught General Education courses in psychology and statistics at ISU and will be teaching courses in cognitive assessment and theories of counseling. He also directs the College Learning Assessment Service at the Psychological Services Center.
Douglas Schwalm
Dr. Douglas Schwalm joins ISU as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Economics. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley and B.S. from the University of Michigan. Doug has taught at Louisiana State University. His primary research interests are in health, labor, and applied econometrics. He recently published a paper on the patterns of physician migration in California and the relationship with countrywide HMO penetration. "I am very pleased to be back in the upper midwest," said Dr. Schwalm. "I feel fortunate to be in a department that is not only collegial but is active in both quality of research and dedication to teaching."
Elizabeth M. Scott
When the spring semester is over, Dr. Elizabeth Scott, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, does not say goodbye to her students; rather, she gets her hands dirty as she prepares to provide her students with an out-of-class experience of a lifetime—Scott is the coordinator of ISU’s summer field school in historical archaeology in Ste. Genevieve, Missouri. "For almost 20 years or so, I have been interested in how we can see, through historical archaeology, the roots of present-day American society, and in particular, the roots of our inequalities. Once we see how inequalities in our society came to be—whether they be economic, racial, ethnic, or gender inequalities—then we begin to see that they are not ‘natural,’ and that means they can therefore be changed. That is a very liberating aspect of bringing the past to the present.”
John Shields
Dr. John Shields, Distinguished Professor of English, came to Illinois State in 1979 after completing his PhD in English at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. He is considered a generous and wide-ranging teacher who has inspired many undergraduate majors to enter the field of literary studies. “I was a student in Dr. Shields’ poetry course during the Fall 2006 semester,” said ISU student Kerri Johnson. “We had to work hard, but the class was fascinating because Dr. Shields taught us how to analyze and find relevance in works of literature.” He has encouraged undergraduates and graduate students to publish in forums beyond the University and to test their ideas with national and international audiences. Shields received the first National Endowment for the Humanities grant given to an Illinois State English faculty member and has served as an NEH Fellow at the University of California at Berkeley, Yale University, and Princeton University. In addition, he has been a Fellow of The Society for the Humanities at Cornell University. Shields and his colleague Eric D. Lamore are in the process of establishing The Center for Classicism in American Culture at Illinois State University. The principal driving force behind the Center is the promotion, discovery, and exploration of our nation’s cultural origins.
Rachel Shively
Dr. Rachel Louise Shively is a new Assistant Professor in the Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures. She earned her PhD in Hispanic Linguistics from the University of Minnesota. While at Minnesota, Shively taught courses in Spanish language, Spanish linguistics, and intercultural education. Her interests include linguistic pragmatics, sociolinguistics, intercultural communication, and second language acquisition. Shively holds memberships in various professional organizations, including the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages and the American Association of Applied Linguistics. In her free time, she enjoys reading novels, watching movies, traveling, and spending time with her friends, family, and two cats.
Mark Siderits
Dr. Mark Siderits, Professor of Philosophy, has recently won a Numata Foundation Fellowship to work on a new translation of Indian philosopher Nagarjuna’s revolutionary work Mulamadhyamakakarikas (translated as Fundamental Verses on the Middle Way) with Professor Shoryu Katsura at Ryukoku University in Kyoto, Japan. The Numata Foundation is a research organization with its headquarters in Tokyo, Japan that coordinates and funds scholarly work on translations of important Buddhist texts. The Foundation regularly awards fellowships to accomplished scholars with exemplary research and teaching records. As a student of Buddhist and classical Indian Philosophy, a speaker of Sanskrit, Pali, German, and Japanese, and the author of Personal Identity and Buddhist Philosophy: Empty Persons in addition to countless articles on such topics as analytic philosophy and personal identity, Siderits brings his immense knowledge of non-Western philosophy and abilities as a scholar to the translation project.
Cheri Simonds
Dr. Cheri J. Simonds is an associate professor in the School of Communication. She has co-authored three books on intercultural communication, classroom communication and public speaking, in addition to chapters in other publications focusing on communication theory and information literacy. Her articles have appeared in Communication Education, Basic Communication Course Annual and Communication Research Reports. Simonds has presented at numerous regional and national conferences in communication. She is a recipient of the 2008 Rives Excellence in Undergraduate Education Award (with Stephen Hunt) and the 2007 College of Arts and Sciences Dean’s Award for Outstanding Teaching. She was named an Outstanding University Teacher in 2006, and she was the 2005 Bronze Telly Award Winner for her work on leading instructional discussions.
Neil Skaggs
Dr. Neil Skaggs, Professor of Economics, joined the ISU faculty in 1979 and was promoted to Professor in 1996. Professor Skaggs' research specialty is the history of monetary economics and his work has appeared in the Canadian Journal of Economics, History of Political Economy, The Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Southern Economic Journal, Public Choice, and as book chapters. He has published numerous articles on the development of British monetary theory and policy in the nineteenth century and currently is working on a monograph that traces the influence of the ideas of Henry Thornton from 1800 up to the present.
Maria Ostendorf Smith
Dr. Maria Ostendorf Smith is a new associate professor of Anthropology in the Sociology and Anthropology department. Her area of interest within biological Anthropology is human skeletal analysis and her research focuses on the pre-Columbian peoples of the southeastern United States, specifically from the Tennessee River valley. Analysis consists of identifying health status (e.g., pathology, trauma, nutrition) in order to reconstruct ancient lifestyles, subsistence economies and quality of life. Her doctorate is from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Smith previously taught at Loyola University (Chicago) and Northern Illinois University. She is a member of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists, Paleopathology Association, Southeastern Archaeological Conference and the Midwest Bioarchaeology and Forensic Anthropology Association. Her hobbies include oil painting, watching old black and white movies and anything Jane Austen.
Walt Smoski
Dr. Walter J. Smoski is an associate professor of audiology in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, formerly known as the Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology. He was a clinical audiologist in private practice before joining the ISU faculty in 1984. Smoski served as Interim Department Chair from 2002 to 2004 and as Chair from 2004 to 2007. He is a licensed audiologist in the state of Illinois. His research interests include hearing instruments users’ satisfaction and benefit measures and central auditory processing disorder evaluation and remediation. The department is home to the Eckelmann-Taylor Speech and Hearing Clinic, which serves thousands of patients throughout central Illinois.
Peter Smudde
Dr. Peter Smudde is a new assistant professor in communication. An ISU alumnus with bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the Department of English, he earned his Ph.D. in communication from Wayne State University. Smudde’s sixteen years of corporate communication experience in industry included a wide range of work in public relations, marketing, advertising, and technical writing. He was formerly tenured associate professor at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. His articles have been published in Public Relations Journal, Public Relations Quarterly, Review of Communication, Communication Teacher, Communication Quarterly, Visible Language, and Technical Communication. He has two books in press--one is a long-term public relations case study and the other is an edited volume on education as rhetorical action. He is co-author with Dr. Jeffrey Courtright on a new book studying the discourse genres of public relations through rhetorical, linguistic and business perspectives. Smudde and Courtright published their first book, Power and Public Relations, last year.
Michael D. Sublett
Dr. Mike Sublett, Professor of Geography, received his PhD from the University of Chicago and joined the Illinois State faculty in 1970. During his 37-year career at ISU, Sublett has produced numerous books, articles, and professional papers, as well as several maps and atlases. He has served as the coordinator for the required internship program for Geography undergraduates since 1987 and was department chair for a ten-year period from 1978 to 1988. In his teaching, Sublett says he still most enjoys reading required student logbooks and finding out that the lights are still going on for students as they listen to lectures, participate in team projects, and conduct their individual research projects. “Mike has been the anchor of the Geography program for nearly four decades,” said Dr. Dave Malone, Chair of the Geography-Geology Department. “His dedication to the program and our students is unsurpassed.”
Richard Sullivan
Dr. Richard Sullivan is the newest faculty member to join the Department of Sociology & Anthropology. He recently earned his Ph.D. in sociology at the University of California at Santa Barbara, where he specialized in political sociology, social movements, and labor studies. Sullivan’s dissertation examined the social movement dynamics of labor organizing. He will be teaching Introductory Sociology, Social Movements, and Social Problems for the department in his first year, and in the future he will teach new courses in political sociology and labor studies. Sullivan recently served as faculty mentor for the Office of Student Life’s “Ride to Freedom: Civil Rights Trip” to Memphis, TN. “As a movement scholar and someone personally interested in the struggles of powerless people seeking justice, I thought it would be a great experience,” Sullivan explained. “I also felt, as a new faculty member that this would be a good opportunity to get to know ISU students better by spending time outside the classroom setting.”
Lisa Szczepura
Dr. Lisa Szczepura, Department of Chemistry, joined the ISU faculty in 1997 after receiving both her BS and PhD at the State University of New York at Buffalo and completing a National Science Foundation postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Szczepura is a professor of inorganic chemistry. Her current research involves studying the fundamental chemistry associated with octahedral hexanuclear clusters; these are compounds containing six transition metal centers arranged in a specific geometry (click Read More to see figure). "Fundamental studies are very important in the sciences because they allow us to understand the basic principles of nature," said Szczepura. "Our ultimate goal is to use the information we obtain on these systems to design clusters for specific industrial or commercial applications."
Bernard Ivan Tamas
Dr. Bernard Ivan Tamas, Department of Politics and Government, received his Ph.D. from Rutgers University in 1999. During the upcoming Founders Day Convocation on February 15th, Tamas will be recognized for receiving the University Teaching Initiative Award. He will also be honored at the CAS Awards Ceremony on February 28th. “Bernie is a superb teacher and a maturing scholar," said Dr. Jamal Nassar. "He is the ideal faculty for any department that aims for excellence.” A fter completing his Ph.D., Dr. Tamas spent a year as a postdoctoral fellow at the Harvard-MIT Data Center and visiting scholar at Harvard’s Center for Basic Research in the Social Sciences. Recently, Dr. Tamas authored a book entitled Bush Controversies: Pro and Con Primary Documents. He has received the Hibbert R. Roberts Teaching Excellence Award, as well as the Pi Sigma Alpha Teaching Excellence award two years in a row.
Jonathan Thayn
Dr. Jonathan Thayn joins the ISU faculty as an assistant professor of geography. Jonathan earned his PhD from the University of Kansas where he worked as a research fellow for the Kansas Applied Remote Sensing Program (KARS). Most of Jonathan’s research deals with using time-series’ of satellite imagery to monitor and model ecosystem function. In natural ecosystems his work focuses on the effects of possible climate change and other perturbations. His dissertation work dealt with mapping archaeological soils in the Amazon Basin using variation in vegetation seasonal patterns as a surrogate for soil type. In agricultural systems Jonathan’s work focuses on yield modeling, soil mapping, and human-environment interactions. Jonathan is particularly excited about collaborating with researchers in the Biology and Agronomy Departments at ISU. Jonathan is a member of the Association of American Geographers (AAG),
the American Society of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ASPRS), and the Kansas Academy of Science. He has prepared maps that have appeared in numerous books including War for Korea 1945-1950: A House Burning and Guide to the Atlanta Campaign: Rocky Face Ridge to Kennesaw Mountain.
Renée M. Tobin
Dr. Renée M. Tobin, assistant professor of psychology, joined the ISU faculty in 2002. Her research primarily focuses on personality and social development with a special interest in emotion regulation processes. Her work has appeared in Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Psychological Science, Journal of Personality , and the Handbook of Personality Development. Tobin is the recipient of a 2008 University Research Initiative Award, a 2007 College of Arts and Sciences Research Enhancement Award, and a 2007 University Teaching Initiative Award. She is a certified school psychologist in the state of Illinois. Tobin currently serves as Faculty in Residence at ISU's University Assessment Office, where she is examining student engagement data and related outcomes.
Maura Toro-Morn
As the global economy gains strength and resources, the issue of migration becomes more and more important. Here in the U.S., immigration reform is a hotly debated topic in classrooms, coffeehouses, and in Congress. Illinois State has a resident expert on the topics of migration and immigration in Dr. Maura I. Toro-Morn, Professor of Sociology and Assistant Director of the Unit for International Linkages in the Office of International Studies. Her latest book Migration and Immigration: A Global View was published by Greenwood Press in 2004. Toro-Morn and co-author Marixsa Alicea from DePaul University brought together fourteen scholars from around the world to describe and analyze migration issues in regions all over the world. “As an ‘immigrant’ woman myself, I have always been curious about why people move, how, and what are the consequences of movement” said Toro-Morn. “Technically speaking, I am not an immigrant since I was born a U.S. citizen in Puerto Rico. Yet, I feel like an immigrant because I have gone through all the stages that typically immigrants go through in the process of settlement. In other words, Puerto Ricans do not cross a national border when we migrate to the U.S., but we do cross a cultural border.”
Mary Trouille
Dr. Mary Trouille, Professor of French and Women’s Studies, earned her PhD in French literature from Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois in 1988. Her research interests range across literature, social history, legal history, and gender studies. Her specialization in eighteenth-century French literature and women’s studies earned her a place on the ISU faculty in 1993. She has taught a wide variety of courses in French language, literature, and culture, often with a focus on gender issues. Twelve years ago, she developed “Perspectives on Gender in the Humanities,” a middle-core course for the General Education program which she has taught regularly since then. She recently published Wife-Abuse in Eighteenth-Century France with the Voltaire Foundation in the series Studies on Voltaire and the Eighteenth Century. In addition to her book on spousal abuse, Trouille is the author of Sexual Politics in the Enlightenment: Women Writers Read Rousseau (SUNY, 1997) as well as a number of articles on women writers and gender issues in eighteenth-century society.
Georgia Tsouvala
Dr. Georgia Tsouvala joins ISU as an Assistant Professor of History. She is completing her Ph.D. at the City University of New York. She specializes in ancient history, literature and epigraphy. Her current research focuses on Plutarch and the history of Greece during the early Empire, Boiotian inscriptions, and ancient gender studies. Before coming to ISU, Professor Tsouvala taught classics courses at Hunter College and history courses at Western Illinois University. She has co-directed study abroad trips to Greece and Rome in the past and she hopes to continue doing so in the future. Professor Tsouvala enjoys a good book, a movie, time spent with family and friends, and travelling whenever possible.
Diane Urey
A native Oregonian, Distinguished Professor of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures Dr. Diane Urey spent much of her early years camping, fishing, downhill skiing, and cultivating amateur archaeology. She entered the University of Oregon planning to major in archaeology or math. A summer of study at the University of Madrid and European travel after her first year convinced her to major in Romance Languages in order to pursue her increasing passion for Spanish literature and to return often to Europe. After receiving her BA in Romance Languages from the University of Oregon, she earned her MA and PhD at The Johns Hopkins University and came to Illinois State University in 1981. She served as Chair of the Foreign Languages Department (currently the Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures) from 1987 to 1990 and was named Distinguished Professor in 1998. The primary focus of Professor Urey’s scholarship is Spanish literature of the 19th and 20th centuries, particularly the work of Galdos, Spain's most renowned novelist after Cervantes.
Christine Varga-Harris
Dr. Christine Varga-Harrisjoins ISU Faculty as an Assistant Professor in the Department of History. Varga-Harris received her BA from McGill University in Montreal, her MA from Carleton University in Ottawa, and her PhD from the University of Illinois. She specializes in Russian history, specifically of the Soviet era. She has published articles on postwar Moscow and the social aspects of housing policy in the Khrushchev era. Currently, she is working on a book manuscript entitled Constructing the Soviet Hearth: Home, Citizenship, and Socialism in Russia, 1956-1964. In addition to Russian history, Varga-Harris’ teaching interests include East European Society during the Cold War, gender and fin de siècle Europe. When not engrossed in the history of Russia, Varga-Harris likes to curl up with some contemporary British or Canadian fiction, or plot her return to glorious St. Petersburg for further research. Since moving to the area, she has been enjoying the foreign and independent fare at the Normal theater, as well as exploring the historic neighborhoods of Bloomington-Normal.
Laura Vogel
As a person ages, the immune system begins to decline. But why does this happen? That’s a question Dr. Laura Vogel, Associate Professor of Immunology and Associate Chair for Undergraduate Studies in Biological Sciences, is attempting to answer. “We are trying to determine why the immune system of the elderly functions poorly and what we can do to improve their health,” said Vogel. Vogel recently procured a $193,000 grant from the National Institute for Health to support her important research on the immune system. This funding will support undergraduate and graduate students who help with the research and will also support the purchase of supplies.
Joyce R. Walker
Dr. Joyce R. Walker joins the ISU faculty as a new associate professor of English. She will also serve as Director of the Writing Program. Walker received her doctorate in English with a specialization in writing studies from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. She also holds an MA in English Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, as well as a BA in speech communication from SIUC. Prior to coming to ISU, Walker was an assistant professor at Western Michigan University and at the University of South Florida. Her article, “Narratives in the Database: Memorializng September 11th Online,” published in Computers & Composition in 2007, won the 2008 Elllen Nold award for best article from Computers & Composition, and her collaborative article with James Purdy, “Digital Breadcrumbs: Case Studies for Research Practices Online,” published in 2007 in the online journal Kairos won the Kairos best webtext award for 2008.
Julie Webber
Dr. Julie Webber, Department of Politics and Government and Women's and Gender Studies, received her PhD in Political Science from Purdue University in 2000 and joined the ISU faculty in 2001. She is the author or co-editor of four books, with two in progress. She has published several book chapters and articles in such journals as Educational Theory and Workplace. Her research interests include political theory, international relations theory, conflict and educational violence, and gender studies. Her next book, The Civic Gospel: Fundamentalist Politics in 21st Century America (co-authored with William M. Reynolds of Georgia Southern University) is in press. The book reflects on recent political shifts toward religion in the Midwest and south. The book will appear in the series Transgressions produced by SENSE Publishers, which makes books available free of charge and online to institutions in developing countries as identified by the World Bank.
Kathryn Wehrmann
Dr. Kathryn Wehrmann, School of Social Work, received her PhD from the University of Illinois and joined the ISU faculty in 1998. On June 1 of this year, Wehrmann will be taking over the Presidency of the National Association of Social Workers Illinois Chapter. NASW is one of social work’s leading professional organizations. At both the state and national level, this organization is very active in advocating for social justice in the areas of employment, health and mental health care, and child welfare. Currently, Wehrmann is working on an evaluation of an Illinois Division of Mental Health Evidenced-Based Practice Initiative. What her evaluation study is trying to discover is whether the implementation of specific intervention models that have substantial research findings supporting their effectiveness are actually helping children and families more than interventions that are considered usual practice. “I appreciate the important work that Kathryn is doing in addressing the serious problems that children and their families are facing,” said Dean Olson.
David Weiden
Dr. David Weiden joins the Department of Politics and Government as an assistant professor. Previous to coming to ISU, he served as the Assistant Director of the Docking Institute of Public Affairs and on the faculty of Fort Hays State University, the U.S. Naval Academy, and the University of Denver. With a background as both an attorney and a social scientist, Dr. Weiden’s research interests include the U.S. Supreme Court, comparative judicial systems, and criminal justice policy. Dr. Weiden earned his J.D.from the University of Denver College of Law and his PhD from the University of Texas at Austin.
Christopher R. Wellin
Dr. Christopher R. Wellin begins his career at Illinois State University as an assistant professor of sociology. He earned a PhD in Sociology from Northwestern University and completed post-doctoral fellowships at both the University of California at San Francisco and the University of California, Berkeley. He was previously an assistant professor of sociology and gerontology at Miami University. Some of Wellin’s research interests include aging and the life course, chronic illness and care-giving, qualitative methodology and social inequality. He is a member of the American Sociological Association, the Association for Gerontology in Higher Education, and the Society for the Study of Social Problems (SSSP). He was elected to serve (from 2009-2011) as Chairman of the Division of Youth, Aging, and Life Course for the SSSP. A musician for most of his life, Wellin has been recording music (both original songs and adaptations of others’) in the pop/R&B tradition for release later this year.
Brian J. Wilkinson
Dr. Brian J. Wilkinson, Distinguished Professor of Biological Sciences, joined the ISU faculty in 1979. Wilkinson specializes in the study of bacterial stress responses to various chemical and physical agents. His work has appeared in many journals including Applied and Environmental Microbiology, Letters in Applied Microbiology, Archives of Microbiology, Journal of Bacteriology, and Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy. His research group of undergraduates, master’s and doctoral students, and a post doctoral fellow focus on the Gram-positive bacterial pathogens Staphylococcus aureus, which causes staph infections, and Listeria monocytogenes. Listeria monocytogenes can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people and others with weakened immune systems.
Marion Willetts
Dr. Marion C. Willetts, Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, received her Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Florida in 1997. A prolific researcher and writer, Willetts is the author of numerous publications. She has published in journals such as the Journal of Marriage and Family, Journal of Family Issues, Journal of Divorce and Remarriage, Sex Roles, and Research on Aging, in addition to publishing several book chapters and encyclopedia entries. She is a 2004 recipient of the Outstanding Sociology Teacher of the Year from the Student Education Association and a 2005 recipient of the College Teaching Initiative Award from the College of Arts and Sciences. She also has received numerous research grants from ISU, including a New Faculty Initiative Grant, a Pre-Tenure Faculty Initiative Grant, a Research Enhancement Award, and a Summer Faculty Fellowship.
Deneca Winfrey
Dr. Deneca Winfrey joins Illinois State University as a new assistant professor of social work. She earned a doctorate and a master's degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Winfrey also earned a master’s degree in education from the University of Illinois at Chicago and bachelor's degree in social work from Jackson State University. She was an instructor in the Educational Psychology Department and Research Team Leader for the Summer Research Opportunity Program at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Winfrey is affiliated with the American Educational Research Association and the University Council for Educational Administration. She has conducted individual and group counseling, interactive workshop presentations and has done consulting on least restrictive environment strategies. In her free time, she enjoys watching movies, traveling, and spending time with her family, sorority sisters, and bichon frise.
Stewart Winger
Dr. Stewart Winger joins ISU as an assistant professor of history. He received his B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Chicago. His research centers on Abraham Lincoln, the Civil War, and mid-nineteenth century America. “I am especially excited by the mission of preparing future high school history teachers here at ISU," said Dr. Winger. "This is one of the places where the rubber really meets the road for historians. Preparing future teachers is one small way to get traction in shaping our broader cultural debate. So I view it as an honor and priviledge.”
Matthew Winsor
Dr. Matthew Winsor joins the ISU faculty as an assistant professor of mathematics. Winsor earned his PhD in mathematics education from the University of Iowa. Dr. Winsor began his career as a middle school mathematics teacher in Sandy, Utah and was most recently employed as an assistant professor of mathematics at the University of Texas, El Paso. He has been teaching mathematics for over twelve years. Winsor's articles have appeared in numerous journals and magazines, including The Mathematics Teacher, PRIMUS, and Mathematics Teaching in the Middle School. He has also contributed to a book on curriculum for grades 6-8 entitled Traffic on the Information Superhighway. Winsor collects Hot Wheels as a hobby. He spends all of his spare time helping his wife raise their five children.
Xianwei Yuan
Dr. Xianwei Yuan is joining the Illinois State faculty as an assistant professor of mathematics. She earned her bachelor’s degree in applied mathematics and mathematics education from Shandong Normal University in Jinan, China and received her master’s degree in mathematics education from East China Normal University in Shanghai, China. In 2005 she came to the United States to attend Illinois State University, where she earned her PhD in mathematics education. She has been a research assistant, graduate assistant instructor, and tutor at Illinois State University and has worked at Thomas Metcalf School as a coach for MathCount, a national mathematics competition program. Yuan has received a number of awards and honors including the Outstanding Graduate Teaching Award, the Lea Winegarner Scholarship, the Ada Belle Clark Welsh Scholarship, and the Phares O’Daffer PhD Fellowship.
Corinne Zimmerman
Dr. Corinne Zimmerman is an associate professor of psychology. The recipient of a 2008 University Research Initiative Award, her research focuses on the development of scientific reasoning. The author of numerous publications, her work has appeared in such journals as Brain and Mind, Perception, and the International Journal of Science Education. She has presented her research at more than thirty national and international conferences. In 2007 Zimmerman, along with principal investigators Karen Lind, Anthony Lorsbach, and Chris Merrill, received a million-dollar grant from the Illinois State Board of Education to assist in the creation of institutes for developing teacher leaders among elementary school mathematics and science teachers. Zimmerman, who joined the Illinois State University faculty in 2002, holds a PhD in psychology from the University of Alberta and a BA in psychology at the University of Regina. Her hobbies include knitting, creating collages, and yoga.
Diane Zosky
Dr. Diane Zosky, Associate Professor in the School of Social Work, joined the ISU faculty in 2001. This year she is serving as the Interim Chair of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology and is leading the search committee for a permanent chair. Much of Zosky's research and practice focuses on the area of domestic violence. Her recent work has dealt specifically with the effects of witnessing domestic violence on children. Research confirms that early exposure to trauma, including domestic violence, can have a marked detrimental effect on children. She is currently serving as President of the Board of Directors of Prevent Child Abuse-Illinois, a statewide organization that provides direct services and consultation to the continuum of services for family violence.