We are all new students at one point or another, whether it is your family moving or just moving up to a new school. The School of Communication’s three new faculty members feel the same way as they are now in a new school to teach students and prepare them for a successful future and to work on amazing research projects.
Drs. Steve Rahko, Joel Reed, and Fernando Severino are no strangers to being new in an unfamiliar place this semester. These three scholars stood out from many, many other applicants.
“Their passion for their field, their desire to be at Illinois State University, and their research profiles,” said Dr. Steve Hunt, professor and director of the School of Communication. “All three new faculty members were drawn to ISU because of the positive reputation that the School of Communication has earned over the years.”
These three professors are from all over the country. Rahko is from Wisconsin and completed his undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral degrees at Indiana University. Reed is from Missouri; completed his bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Missouri State University and his doctorate at the University of Missouri (“Mizzou”); and has taught at Missouri State, Texas A&M, Mizzou, and Monmouth College before coming to Illinois State. Diaz is from Chile and moved to New York in 2012 for a master’s degree and then to the University of Minnesota for his doctorate. He has his Ph.D. in mass communication and has worked in journalism, worked for CNN Chile, and has had multiple teaching assistant positions throughout his college career. Before Illinois State, he was an assistant professor at California State University, Dominguez Hills.
“Students want to know and feel confident that they are learning from professors who are experts in their fields and are passionate about what they are teaching,” Hunt said, “and these three professors are awesome.”
The new faculty are all thrilled to be starting at Illinois State and are loving their current students and how engaged they are. This fall Rahko teaches classes in classical rhetoric and in communication and leadership. Reed is teaching public relations campaigns, and next semester he will begin teaching executive speech writing. Lastly, Severino teaches in the Latin America and Latino/a Studies Program as well as Freedom of Expression and Freedom of the Press in the School of Communication.
They have all begun teaching two classes this semester so that they can focus on their research. In the spring they will all be teaching three classes. They are looking forward to meeting all the students and engage with them so that they can have successful careers after graduation!
