Illinois State University faculty earn promotion and tenure

Chad Buckley is a professor in Milner Library where he serves as head of Collection Development and Biological Sciences Librarian. He has been at Illinois State since 1993. His research interests focus on cost-efficient means of managing library resources for users.

Geoffrey Duce is a professor of piano in the School of Music. Duce has performed in Carnegie Hall, the Berlin Philharmonie, the Wigmore Hall, at the Library of Congress, on BBC Radio, and at Ravinia. Concerto appearances include the Sinfonie Orchester Berlin, the Chattanooga and Olympia Symphonies, and the Scottish Sinfonia, and he was the inaugural Artist in Residence with the Peoria Symphony Orchestra. His solo album of Fantasies and Rhapsodies by CPE Bach, John McCabe, Schubert, and Dohanyi was released in 2023 on Albany Records. Teaching residencies include the University of Taipei and Tunghai University in Taiwan, SouthWest University in Chongqing, China, and the Chicago Chamber Music Festival.

Cynthia Edmonds-Cady is a professor in the School of Social Work. She came to Illinois State in 2007, after completing a Ph.D. at Michigan State University and prior to that, an M.S.W. at The University of Michigan-Ann Arbor. She has presented and published research on anti-oppressive community practice methods, women’s historic and current anti-poverty social movement work, and the use of ecotherapy to strengthen the human/more than human bond. Her current scholarship explores specific arts-based ecotherapy methods within the field of ecopsychology to improve mental health outcomes and tighten connections between humans and the natural world.

Brian Franklin is a professor of expanded media in the Wonsook Kim School of Art where he also serves as associate director. He received an M.F.A. in New Media from the Pennsylvania State University. His creative scholarship addresses language and its power in mass communication. Franklin is also a member of the artist collective Sphere, whose body of work explores the ambiguous relationship between physical and virtual activity. His interdisciplinary and collaborative work has been exhibited nationally and internationally in galleries, festivals, and impromptu takeovers of public space.

Nathan S. Hartman is a professor and director of the Organizational Leadership Institute at Illinois State University’s College of Business. He received his Ph.D. from Virginia Commonwealth University, an MBA from Averett University, and a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Western Michigan University. He previously served as the Reid Standards Product Chair and co-director of John Carroll University’s Leadership Scholars Program. His research interests include gig work, organizational citizenship behaviors, employee selection, and leader development. Hartman enjoys outdoor activities like hiking, trail riding, boating, and traveling with family.

Rebecca A. Hayes, professor, earned her Ph.D. from Michigan State University and is known internationally for her research on socially mediated interactions between individuals and brands. With peer-reviewed publications cited nearly 4,000 times, her work has been featured in the Journal of Public Relations Research, Public Relations, Review, and Computers in Human Behavior, among others. Hayes serves on the Institute for Public Relations’ Digital Media Research Council, advising professionals on developments in artificial intelligence and social media impacting the industry. At Illinois State, Hayes teaches public relations courses and is the advisor for Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA).

John Hooker is a professor and co-director of Communication as Critical Inquiry in the School of Communication. Hooker earned his B.A. and M.A. from Illinois State and his Ph.D. from Purdue University. His research focuses on how to use communication between teachers and students to increase learning. Since gaining tenure, Hooker has focused his research on mentoring new scholars by frequently partnering with graduate students on his projects. He is one of the co-directors of the Com 110 program and was the 2017 recipient of the Stan and Sandy Rives Excellence in Undergraduate Education Award.

K. Megan Hopper (Ph.D., University of Missouri) is a professor and coordinator of the journalism program in the School of Communication. She has published articles on media representation as well as issues related to the journalism profession in scholarly journals including Communication Education, Journal of Media Practice, Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media, Communication Teacher, Journal of Applied Journalism and Media Studies, and Journal of Media Literacy Education. She has also authored several chapters within books on college media outlets, body image, journalism, and media literacy.

Jennifer Howell is professor of French and Francophone studies. Her research focuses on the Francophone cultures of North Africa and of the Vietnamese diaspora, comics, photography, and crime fiction. She is specifically interested in how political trauma is historicized, remembered, and transmitted through popular culture and the visual arts. Her work has appeared in leading journals, including the Journal of North African Studies, European Comic Art, and the French Review. In 2015, she published a monograph, “The Algerian War in French-Language Comics: Postcolonial Memory, History, and Subjectivity,” with Lexington Books. Her current scholarship investigates anti-Black racism in the Maghrib.

Melissa Johnson is professor of art history in the Wonsook Kim College of Fine Arts. Her research examines the histories of craft and its intersections with modern and contemporary art and literature, focusing on contemporary artists who make work in response to the writing of Virginia Woolf. She situates her academic writing with text- and textile-based work as parallel and integrated practices and is working on two writing and textile projects, “Woolf Words” and “Haptic Investigations,” as well as a project on mending and repair.

Antony Joseph is a professor in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders. In 2014, following 24 years of service in executive medicine and audiology, Antony Joseph retired from the United States Navy. Then, after a year as a non-tenure track instructor, he started a tenure-line position at Illinois State University. His Hearing Loss Prevention Laboratory research agenda stems from his background in occupational audiology, interprofessional education and collaboration, population health, and audiology student recruitment. 100% of his lab students have been accepted into graduate schools nationwide. Some of his published work has focused on the epidemiology of blast-related auditory injury, investigation of interprofessional education, and systems to resolve hearing-health deserts.

Jamie Mahurin Smith is a professor in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders. Her research focuses on the short- and long-term needs of children who have experienced early medical challenges, particularly prematurity. She is credentialed as both a speech-language pathologist and a lactation consultant, and she studies feeding challenges in young infants as well as language/cognitive difficulties in older children.

Jennifer Peterson first came to Illinois State University as a part time faculty member in 1993 and joined the University as a full-time faculty member in 2012. Her research focuses on program evaluation and assessment, English Language Learner success, and current trends in health information. She has served at the national level on initiatives to best prepare students for the field. She currently teaches in the health informatics and management program and the Master of Public Health program.

Jihad Qaddour holds a Ph.D. in electrical engineering and two M.S. degrees in electrical engineering and mathematics from Wichita State University. He joined Illinois State University in 2002 as an assistant professor and became a tenured associate professor in 2008. Qaddour has taught telecommunications, networking, control theory, signal processing, digital electronics, and applied mathematics courses. He has authored over 65 research papers, a textbook, and more than 30 technical reports. He has served on numerous academic committees and participated in international conferences. Qaddour played a key role in reviewing President Obama’s broadband Technology Opportunities Program initiative, recommending $45.9 million for broadband expansion. Before Illinois State, he worked at Sprint PCS and Sprint Broadband and was a tenured associate professor at Mesa State College. He founded Global Advanced Telecommunications in Bahrain, Syria Relief and Development, and the International University of Science and Renaissance.

Justin Rickard is a professor of animal science in the Department of Agriculture. His research focuses on food animal production and the impact of livestock production systems on meat quality primarily in pork and beef. In addition, his research also includes the scholarship of teaching and learning in animal sciences.

Rachel Elizabeth Scott is the associate dean for Information Assets at Milner Library. She earned an M.S. in library and information science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a Ph.D. in historical musicology from the University of Memphis. Scott conducts research at the intersections of library collections, scholarly communications, and musicology. She currently serves as editor of Library Resources & Technical Services and holds a variety of editorial board and advisory board positions.

Beth White is a professor in the School of Teaching and Learning. She joined Illinois State University in 2012 after completing a Ph.D. from the University of California, Los Angeles. She teaches courses related to child development and early childhood education. Her research interests include teachers’ civic practices and preservice teacher education.

Liangcheng Yang is a professor of environmental health and sustainability in the Department of Health Sciences. His research focuses on air quality and anaerobic digestion, specializing in livestock emission control, community air quality research in environmental justice areas, and anaerobic digestion waste management technology that converts organic waste into bioenergy. He has secured approximately $2 million in research funding, published 44 peer-reviewed journal articles, and received the University Research Initiative Award and Outstanding Cross-disciplinary Team Research Award.

Li Zeng is a professor of film and digital media in the School of Theatre, Dance, and Film. Zeng joined Illinois State University in 2008 after completing her doctoral degree in Radio/Television/Film at Northwestern University. She received the University Outstanding Teaching Initiative Award in 2013. Her research interests include representation of history in visual culture, women and gender studies, horror and film noir, and Asian cinema and television. She has published book chapters and articles in peer-reviewed journals, including Journal of Cinema and Media Studies, JumpCut, Journal of Chinese Cinemas, Asian Cinema, Visual Anthropology, Critical Arts, and Adaptation.

Neet Priya Bajwa is an associate professor of mathematics education. Bajwa’s research centers on children’s mathematical thinking, particularly investigating the learning and development of number concepts and operations, with emphasis on additive and multiplicative constructs. She leverages both virtual and traditional representations to facilitate mathematical thinking and conceptual understanding. Her work is published in leading journals like Mathematical Thinking and Learning, and Journal of Mathematical Behavior, and she has presented her research at national and international conferences. Bajwa is a recipient of the University Faculty Impact Award (2019) and the Department of Mathematics Researcher award (2024).

Sarah Ballard is a teacher educator and researcher in the Department of Special Education. Her research focuses on health self-management skills in learners with extensive support needs and co-occurring specialized health care needs.

Charles Bell is associate professor in the Department of Criminal Justice Sciences. His research explores how out-of-school suspension, restraint, and seclusion impact families and teachers throughout the U.S. His first book, Suspended: Punishment, Violence, and the Failure of School Safety, was a finalist for the C. Wright Mills Book Award. Bell also serves as a subject matter expert on school punishment, violence, and public health projects with the Center for Disease Control and the National Center for School Safety. His next book, No Restraint: Disabled Children and Institutionalized Violence in America’s Schools, is under contract with New York University Press.

Saskia Beranek is an art historian with a research focus on 17th century Dutch art and the role of women as makers, patrons, and consumers. She has contributed multiple essays to edited volumes and is completing her book manuscript thanks to the support of the Harold Gregor Endowed Professorship. Starting her seventh year in the Wonsook Kim School of Art, she teaches lecture courses and seminars on European art from 1300-1750 focusing on topics related to gender, print culture, and global encounter as well as a survey of art from the renaissance to now and research methods.

Matt Caplan is an associate professor of physics. Before joining Illinois State in 2019, he was a postdoctoral fellow at McGill and his Ph.D. from Indiana University won the 2018 APS Dissertation Award in Nuclear Physics. He has broad interests spanning nuclear physics, plasma physics, and astrophysics. Caplan received a 2023 Cottrell Scholar Award and currently chairs the nuclear weapons seminar series “Twelve Thousand Bombs.” Additionally, he is a scriptwriter and technical advisor for YouTube channels Kurzgesagt and PBS SpaceTime. The videos he has worked on have combined view counts of 1 billion.

Jan-Ulrik Dahl joined Illinois State in 2019 after obtaining a Ph.D. from the University of Potsdam, Germany, and completing postdoctoral training at the University of Michigan. In 2024, he was promoted to associate professor of microbiology and became the inaugural Dr. Fred Gletten Endowed Chair in the Department of Biological Sciences. Funded by the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), he and his international research team study the molecular secrets of bacterial stress responses, with particular focus on pathogens that infect the urogenital tract.

Laura Finan joined Illinois State University in 2018 after completing a Ph.D. in human development and family science at the University of Delaware and a post-doctoral fellowship in prevention science at the University of California, Berkeley and the Prevention Research Center. Her research interests include how social-ecological factors contribute to adolescents’ and young adults’ health and health risk behaviors. She is particularly interested in family relationships as developmental contexts and alcohol and other substance use and problems.

Alec Foster is an associate professor in the Department of Geography, Geology, and the Environment. He earned his Ph.D. in geography and urban studies from Temple University and completed postdoctoral training in the School for Environment and Sustainability at the University of Michigan prior to joining Illinois State. He is a broadly trained human-environment geographer whose research seeks to understand the social impacts of urban environmental change. Foster’s research seeks to make impacts beyond academia by collaborating with and developing knowledge that is useful for planners, policymakers, and practitioners working toward sustainability and justice.

Denise Hammer, DNP, RNC-NIC joined Illinois State University in 2012 to teach maternal infant and pediatric nursing. From 1986-2022 she provided nursing care in the hospital setting, advanced nursing care practices, and received Nursing Excellence Awards. Hammer utilizes her extensive experience to facilitate student education in the classroom and expert guidance in the clinical setting. She was the 2020 Illinois Board of Higher Education Nursing Educator Fellow, a Teaching Award nominee, and an Illinois State Rise Award recipient. She studies to improve student outcomes, and maternal child health care outcomes including neonatal hypoglycemia, late preterm infants, lactation support, neonatal resuscitation, infant safe sleep, and pediatric care.

Nicholas Heller joined Illinois State University in 2018 after completing a Ph.D. in crop sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Heller has taught a number of applied statistics courses at the undergraduate and graduate level. Graduate students from Heller’s group have been awarded the Fisher Outstanding Thesis and runner-up. Heller has supported the pennycress research group on campus as well as research in data training for workforce and for undergraduate students.

Rachel Hockenberry is the associate professor of horn in the School of Music at Illinois State, where she teaches applied horn, horn pedagogy, warmup class, and studio class, conducts the Illinois State horn choir, and performs regularly with the Illinois State Faculty Woodwind and Brass Quintets. An active freelance musician, Hockenberry has performed with the Cincinnati, Columbus, Santa Barbara, Illinois, Quad Cities, Peoria, and Long Beach Symphonies, the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, and many others. She has also performed with artists such as Billy Idol, Pete Townshend, Jon Batiste, and the Beach Boys, and can be heard on albums with the Stiletto Brass Quintet and the Newfound Chamber Winds.

Sundeep Inti joined Illinois State University in the fall of 2020 as an assistant professor in the construction management program in the Department of Technology. He holds a Ph.D. in civil engineering, is a licensed Professional Engineer (PE), and is a LEED-accredited professional (LEED AP). Recognized for his academic excellence, he received the Outstanding Dissertation Award for his doctoral dissertation and twice received the Dwight David Eisenhower Transportation Fellowship from the U.S. Department of Transportation. With over 40 publications, Inti specializes in sustainable construction and is dedicated to advancing research in green infrastructure at Illinois State.

Yousra Javed joined Illinois State University in 2017 after completing a Ph.D. in computing and information systems from UNC Charlotte. Her research focuses on addressing human factors in security and privacy, by leveraging a user-centered design of security and privacy technologies, and using mixed methods to understand user behavior, perceptions, and comprehension of these technologies. Additionally, she is investigating the applications of AI in cybersecurity and privacy. Her work has been published in leading academic journals and conferences such as Information Technology & People, Symposium on Usable Privacy and Security, IEEE European Symposium on Security and Privacy, and Privacy Enhancing Technologies Symposium.

Jeongae Kang is an associate professor in the Department of Special Education. Her research focuses on improving the preparation of effective special education teachers through clinical experience and case-based learning. Kang is also committed to advancing equity, diversity, inclusion, and accessibility in teacher preparation programs. As a research fellow with the Illinois Tutoring Initiative, she has actively engaged in tutor preparation. Additionally, Kang is a founding member and serves as co-editor-in-chief of the Journal of Case Learning and Exceptional Learners (JCLEL).

Sabine Khalil is an associate professor in the Department of Accounting. Khalil joined Illinois State in 2022 after completing a Ph.D. in management information systems at Telecom ParisTech in Paris, France. Khalil has worked extensively on the digital transformation of large organizations and their adoption of new technologies (including cloud computing, Augmented Reality, and Blockchain technology). She has also collaborated with several international researchers in different countries, including Germany, Norway, Italy, China, and France. Her work has been published in leading academic journals (e.g., Journal of Strategic Information Systems, European Business Review) and presented at top conferences (e.g., Academy of Management, International Conference on Information Systems).

Brent Lao is an associate professor of accounting. He enjoys teaching various courses, including intermediate accounting, advanced financial accounting, and financial accounting theory. His research focuses on financial reporting topics such as earnings management and voluntary disclosures, as well as non-financial disclosures such as corporate sustainability reporting. Lao earned his Ph.D. in accounting from the University of Texas at Austin and joined Illinois State University in 2018. 

Ciera Lorio, Ph.D., CCC-SLP joined the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders in 2018. Her research focuses on the use of coaching and caregiver-implemented interventions to support language and literacy development in infants, toddlers, and preschoolers with or at-risk for language disorders. She teaches courses in language and literacy at the undergraduate and graduate levels. Every semester, she leads the interdisciplinary, community-integrated Early Intervention Learning Community and serves as a Civic Engagement Ambassador. She was awarded the Teaching Initiative Award for Early Career Faculty in 2022 and the SLP Educator of the Year Award in 2023.

Drew Lugar is an associate professor of animal science. His research focuses on reproduction and stress in livestock, as well as student stress and teaching pedagogy. Specifically, he focuses on student demographics and student stress related to animal science curriculum and study abroad programs. His work has been published in state, regional and international journals.

Anne McNamara is associate professor of trumpet in the School of Music where she teaches applied trumpet, conducts the trumpet ensemble and performs in the faculty brass quintet. A Yamaha performing artist, she works regularly as a freelance trumpeter including performing principal trumpet with the Heartland Festival Orchestra and as flugelhorn soloist with the Athena Brass Band. Her debut album “A Winter’s Night” features the premiere recordings of several works. As a researcher, she has two publications outlining the history and qualitative data on the collective experience of non-male trumpet professors. For more information, please visit www.annemcnamaratrumpet.com.

Keith Pluymers is an associate professor of history. Pluymers joined Illinois State in 2018 after completing his Ph.D. at the University of Southern California and a postdoc at Caltech. His first book, No Wood, No Kingdom: Political Ecology in the English Atlantic (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2021) examined the relationship between fears of wood scarcity, forest and resource management, and English colonial expansion in the 16th and 17th centuries. No Wood, No Kingdom won the 2022 John Ben Snow Prize from the North American Conference on British Studies. He has received teaching awards at both Caltech and Illinois State. 

E. Tice Sirmans is associate professor of risk management and insurance in the Department of Finance, Insurance, and Law. Her research focuses on the role of the private insurance market in the provision of health insurance in the United States. Research topics include insurer participation in public health programs such as Medicaid and the impact on private insurance of government intervention in health care markets. She has published in numerous academic outlets including the preeminent Journal of Risk and Insurance. Sirmans has received university and external grants for research and has participated in varied university teaching grants and seminars.  

Cherrill Stockmann is an associate professor of nursing. Her research focuses on clinical competence. She has worked extensively on the use of a mental health Objective Structured Clinical Examination in undergraduate nursing education. She is collaborating with colleagues in sociology, criminal justice, social work, and nursing to implement an ethnographic study exploring methamphetamine, opioids and fentanyl use in rural Illinois.

Pui Ying Tong is an Illinois State alum and marketing scholar. Her research focuses on strategies to improve performance in managing interfirm relationships. She also studies product design and consumer preference in the metaverse. Her work has been published in Industrial Marketing Management, Journal of Business Research, and Journal of Public Policy and Marketing.

John Tovar is an associate professor of acting and directing in The School of Theatre, Dance, and Film. Tovar joined the faculty at Illinois State University after completing his masters degree in directing with the School of Theatre and Dance in 2018. Prior to that, he was a fight director, actor, and educator based in Chicago. He was won multiple Joseph Jefferson Awards for his fight choreography in the Chicago theatre scene and has worked with many Broadway, film, and television stars of note. He continues to choreograph professionally for companies such as the Paramount Theatre, Timberlake Playhouse, and our own Illinois Shakespeare Festival.

Susan Watkins Ph.D., RN, CNE, CPAHA is the associate dean for academics in the Mennonite College of Nursing (MCN). She has over 27 years of nursing experience. Watkins cultivates student nurses’ health assessment knowledge, acute care, and ambulatory care nursing practice skills. Watkins received the 2023 Illinois State MCN Outstanding College Service Award, Illinois State MCN 2023 Early Career Research Award, the Illinois State 2022 Service Initiative Award, and the American Association Colleges of Nursing 2022 Exemplary Academic-Practice Partnership Award. She successfully implemented the Health Resources and Services Administration grant-funded Change Agents to the Underserved Service Education project between 2018 and 2023.

Xing (Clara) Wang, Ph.D., ASA, is an associate professor of mathematics. Her expertise includes statistical inference, risk quantification, and mathematical theorems for Risk Management, Actuarial Science, and Insurance. She was an SOA James Hickman scholar and a recipient of the FTC Early Career Award from the American Statistical Association and the American Society for Quality. She also won the NSF CRII award as a solo principal investigator.

John R. Blakeman is an associate professor of nursing. His program of research, which relies on various research designs and methods, is focused on individuals’ conceptions and perceptions of heart attack symptoms. His goal is to reduce the amount of time it takes for individuals to seek care for these symptoms. To date, Blakeman has published 27 peer-reviewed papers in highly respected professional journals. He has received multiple competitive awards including the Clinical Article of the Year Award from the American Heart Association’s Council on Cardiovascular and Stroke Nursing. He has also presented his work regionally and nationally.