2022-2023 New Faculty Introductions
College of Liberal Arts
|
Jennifer Dennis Schaefer Jen Schaefer holds Bachelor's and Master's Degrees in Criminology. Her teaching interests include criminal law and procedure, the death penalty, serial killers, criminological theory, and research methods. She began her teaching career at Indiana State University in 2001. After several years, she moved to Rhode Island while her husband attended law school. During that time, she taught at Massasoit Community College and Bridgewater State University. Jen and her family moved to Indiana in 2010 and she began teaching at Ivy Tech, Evansville. She was the Department Chair of Criminal Justice and Paralegal Studies during her tenure. She and her husband, Jon, have two children, Colby and Marley. |
|
|
Richard Ellman |
|
|
Kelly Kaelin Kelly Kaelin earned her PhD in History and Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at The Pennsylvania State University in May 2022. Her research interests include the histories of religion, gender, and enslavement in the eighteenth-century Atlantic world and her research focuses on German women missionaries ministering to enslaved Black women on the Danish West Indies. Her second research project focuses on the history of religious separatist groups and communal societies in early America. She enjoys teaching a wide array of courses, including Intro to Gender Studies, the History of the Family, and Religion in the Atlantic World, all of which she taught while at Penn State. Originally from the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia, Kelly enjoys camping and hiking in Appalachia and looks forward to finding new outdoor activities in southern Indiana. |
|
|
Keon Kim |
|
|
Kirk Maynard |
|
|
Sophia Okotah Sophia Okotah earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Communication Design at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology and her Master of Arts degree at Indiana University, Bloomington. As an artist and visual communicator, she enjoys working as a design educator while supporting and empowering her students and their interests. She has served in this capacity at KNUST and IU. She extends her philosophy of design for social impact and behavioral change to non-profits, small businesses, and individuals who have stories to tell. She is driven by the passion to use visual communication to improve the health and wellbeing of people. With the belief and guiding principle of designing with empathy and for social impact, she worked with The Advocates For Human Rights in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the Indiana University Mexico Gateway, the Indiana University Student Government, among others. |
|
|
Jessica Roark |
|
|
Taylor Rokick |
|
|
David (Adam) Sizemore Adam Sizemore is from Morehead, Kentucky, and graduated with a bachelor's in Sociology and Philosophy and a master's in Sociology from Morehead State University. He earned his doctorate at the University of Louisville in 2018 in Applied Sociology, with areas of specialization in Public Policy and Environmental Sociology. Adam joins the USI Sociology Department following a four-year tenure as Miami University's Director of Sustainability and co-chair of the Climate Action Task Force. His teaching and research interests fall within the intersection of environmental sociology, rural sociology, and environmental justice. |
|
|
Morgan Stewart Dr. Stewart received his MA in Spanish from Brigham Young University in 2017 and his PhD in Hispanic Studies from the University of Kentucky in 2022. Having taught a wide variety of courses as a graduate student, he enjoys teaching all levels of Spanish language and literature. His research focuses on nineteenth-century fantastic literature in Spain, but he is also interested in twentieth-century Spanish and Latin American fantastic literature as well as science fiction, fantasy, and other genres of the imagination. He currently resides in Evansville with his wife and two young boys. |
|
|
Kristina Todorovic Kristina obtained a B.A. in Psychology from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 2015, a M.A. in Forensic Psychology from Roger Williams University in 2018, and a Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology from the University of Toledo in 2022. She has served as an instructor of record for Principles of Psychology, Lifespan Developmental Psychology, and Psychopathology of Childhood. Kristina's research addresses the theoretical understanding of factors contributing to evidence-based methods in investigative interviewing children. Specifically, her work focuses on children’s autobiographical memory development and memory accuracy. |
|
|
Katherine Watts |
|
|
McManus Woodend |
College of Nursing and Health Professions
|
Alyshia Hanks |
|
|
Kristi Hape Dr. Kristi Hape is an Assistant Professor of Occupational Therapy. She has a passion for school-based practice, pediatrics and mental health. She has clinical experience in the school-based setting including preschool-high school and supporting medically fragile students engaging in school. She has most recently supported the mental health of students in both inpatient and school-based settings. She has a passion for engaging in learning with the next generation of therapists and supporting their growth to allow them to make an impact as occupational therapists. |
|
|
Jennifer Ireland Jennifer is excited to join USI as nursing faculty and will work in both the Undergraduate and FNP courses. She currently is working as FNP part time and have over 10 years of of experience teaching in multiple courses and clinical locations both as adjunct and full time faculty. Her areas of focus in teaching and practice have included pediatrics, mental health of both in and outpatient of all ages, cardiovascular unit, urgent care, and perioperative services including preoperative patient education, assessments, post op follow up and as a scrub nurse. She is passionate about continuing to expand my knowledge and utilizing technology in education. She is interested most in working with educationally focused projects for women and children and improving access to care. |
|
|
Pamela Miller Doctor Pamela (Pam) Miller completed her Master of Science in Nursing with a focus as a pediatric nurse practitioner at Arizona State University in 1999. She completed both her post-master certificate for family practice and a few years later her Doctoral education at the University of Southern Indiana with the first Doctor of Nursing Practice class in 2011. For the past thirty years, Dr. Miller has practiced clinically in primary care serving both adult and pediatric patients. During this time, she precepted numerous nursing students. Although she loved her patients and clinical practice, she had always planned to give back to the university and to nursing by one day coming back to teach. She has now been given the opportunity to do just that. Dr Miller would like to focus on pediatric research and teaching and would really love to develop a pediatric nurse practitioner program for the College of Nursing and the University of Southern Indiana. |
|
|
Amanda Orr Amanda received her BSN ('01) and MSN ('08) from USI. She is currently pursuing her DNP in Advanced Clinical Nursing. She has been working as a Family Nurse Practitioner since 2008 and has been an adjunct instructor for the FNP courses here at USI since 2013. She has worked full-time as nursing instructor the last 3 years. She has nursing experience in ortho/neuro, recovery room, and emergency medicine. As she is working on her DNP, her capstone project is focused on dermatology in family practice. |
|
|
Jana Pace Jana is proud USI alumni having graduated in 2007 from the University of Southern Indiana Occupational Therapy Assistant Program. In 2008 she graduated with a B.S in Psychology and a B.A. in Spanish. She began her OTA career working in orthopedics and also gained experience in Home Health and Acute Care. Jana joined USI in 2020 as an adjunct instructor for the OTA program and joined full time in February of 2022 as the Academic Fieldwork Coordinator and Instructor for the OTA program. |
|
|
Mary Phillips Mary graduated from the USI Respiratory Therapy Program (AS) in 2006 and returned to teach for USI Respiratory Therapy in January 2021. Mary currently teaches in both the entry-level BSRT program as well as the online RRT to BSRT program and is the interim Chair. She holds a Bachelor of Science in healthcare management and is currently pursuing a Master of Education. Mary is passionate about all aspects of respiratory therapy education and has a special interest in innovating the cardiopulmonary pharmacology classroom. Her career experience includes all aspects of inpatient respiratory care, durable medical equipment, outpatient sleep therapy, corporate health, and in-home COPD disease management. In addition to teaching at USI, Mary continues to practice as a staff therapist at Owensboro Health. |
|
|
Melissa Rockman As a graduate of the University of Southern Indiana, Melissa is thrilled to be in her new role as a faculty member of the Diagnostic Medical Sonography program. Melissa's teaching and research interests include obstetric ultrasound and echocardiography. This is Melissa's first position as a university instructor and she is looking forward to learning and growing in her new role. Melissa joined USI in September 2021. |
|
|
Elizabeth Schnarr Beth completed her AS degree in Respiratory Therapy in 2005 and her BS degree in Health Services in 2006 at USI. She later pursued her MS in Respiratory Care from Canisius College in 2020. Beth joined USI in the Fall of 2020 as an adjunct instructor, and in May 2022, she accepted the position as the Director of Clinical Education for the Respiratory Therapy program. Her research interests include innovative teaching strategies to increase student engagement and in advancing knowledge and autonomy in the respiratory therapy profession. |
|
|
Ryan Williams Ryan Williams received his BS in Radiologic and Imaging Sciences and a minor in Health Administration in 2014 at the University of Southern Indiana. Williams has over 8 years of experience in a level two trauma hospital as a Radiologic Technologist. As a technologist, Williams has received the Award for Excellence and the Technologist of the Year Award. Williams worked as an Adjunct at USI where he taught Radiographic Positioning, Radiographic Exposure, and Critique. In May of 2022, Williams received his MBA-HA degree and began his career at USI as an Assistant Professor. |
David L. Rice Library
|
Kirsten Williams Kirsten joined The David L. Rice Library in 2011 as Senior Library Assistant for Interlibrary Loan, at that time part of the reference department. In 2014 she was promoted to Library Associate, and interlibrary loan moved to the technical services (now Resource Management) department. In 2021 she received her MLIS (Master of Library and Information Science) degree from San Jose State University and was hired as the Resource Sharing & Cataloging Librarian in February of this year. Kirsten’s research interests include eBook lending, copyright law, linked data, and mentorship. In her free time, she likes to read, knit, and take long walks with her husband and their extremely adorable beagle, Gus. Kirsten joined USI in spring 2022. |
Pott College of Science, Engineering, and Education
|
Anne-Claire Limon-Lewis Dr. Anne-Claire Limon-Lewis, a French West Indies native, has been associated with the Chemistry Department at USI since 2005. She received her doctorate in natural products chemistry at the University of South Florida in Tampa. Her avid interests in medicinal plants led her to working with Antarctic invertebrates and tropical mangrove fungi for their terpenoid metabolic deterrents as drug discovery compounds, under the mentorship of Dr. Bill Baker. She has elucidated seven novel molecular structures and authored a patent. Hobbies include diving, sailing, hiking, cooking, gardening, and the arts, fueling her curiosities for natural products. In addition to teaching CHEM 141 and CHEM 353, she looks forward to researching microorganisms’ chemistry present in southern Indiana's backyards. |
|
|
Jacob Lutter Dr. Lutter graduated with a BS in Chemistry from Shippensburg University in 2013. Afterwards he pursued a PhD in Inorganic Chemistry at the University of Michigan, advised by Vince Pecoraro, completing his thesis on trivalent lanthanide ion luminescence in 2018. Before concluding his time at U of M, he worked as a teaching postdoc, serving as an instructor for physical and inorganic chemistry courses. Then, he joined Matt Allen's group at Wayne State University as a postdoctoral research fellow working on redox active MRI contrast, and cultivated his own undergraduate research group working on trivalent lanthide ion coordination compounds. |
|
|
Simone Nance Dr. Simone Nance earned a BA in Elementary Education from USI ('06), M.Ed. from Indiana Wesleyan ('09), and Ed.D. in Curriculum & Instruction with an Educational Technology focus from the University of Florida ('16). She was an elementary teacher for 13 years, and began teaching as an adjunct at USI in January 2022. Her courses will focus on instructional technology and teaching methods at the elementary level. Simone's dissertation explored the effects of computer programming concepts on mathematical problem solving skills with fifth grade students. Her additional interests include effective classroom technology implementation, data-based instruction, inquiry instructional models, and STEM disciplines. |
|
|
Milad Rezvani-Rad Dr. Milad Rezvani-Rad earned his Ph.D. in the field of Mechanical Engineering from the University of Alberta. His multi-disciplinary research is about solidification of water inside closed piping systems, development of functional multi-layered thermal-sprayed coatings as electric resistance heating systems to mitigate ice accumulation and over-pressurization within pipes, failure analysis and material characterization of coatings, and simulation of thermally sprayed coatings performance using both analytical and numerical models. After a period of postdoctoral fellowship, he joined the School of Trades and Technologies at Red Deer Polytechnic as a full-time instructor where he taught fundamental courses in the Mechanical Engineering Technology program. |
Romain College of Business
|
Fernando Ferreira Fernando joined USI in January 2022. |
|
|
Xiaozhe (Ben) Gu Dr. Gu received his Ph.D. in accounting from the University of Texas at Arlington in 2022. His research interests include corporate governance, voluntary disclosure, ESG, and corporate finance. He teaches financial accounting and cost accounting. |
|
|
Christian Will Pinto Christian is a Computer Engineer from Honduras. He graduated from Purdue University with a Master's in Technology, Leadership, and Innovation. He has five years of experience teaching at a High School level and three years at Purdue University as an instructor for the Design Thinking in Technology class. My research interest is mainly based on Computational Thinking in a STEM environment and how to improve teacher preparation. |