UMKC New Faculty 2007
The College of Arts & Sciences
Art and Art History
Ricky Allman
Assistant Professor of Painting/Drawing- Contact information: , FA206, office phone: 235-2995
MFA, Rhode IslandSchool of Design; BFAMassachusettsCollege of Art; AS, UtahValleyState College
ProfessorAllman is a recent graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design. His latest work focuses on ideas aboutthe coexistence of utopia and dystopia, creation and destruction, and other apocalyptic themes and metaphors.He draws inspiration from his childhood in Utah, the landscape and the interaction of nature and architecture. His work is exhibited nationally in Los Angeles, New York, Miami and elsewhere. This fall Professor Allman will teach Painting and Foundation Drawing.
Lance Duffin
Visiting Instructor, Art History, Department of Art and Art History, 205 Fine Arts Building, e-mail:
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Mr. Duffin joins the Department of Art and Art History as the coordinator of the UMKC Gallery of Art, lecturer in art history and principal undergraduate adviser. He earned both his B.A. and M.A. in art history at the University of Utah. Before joining the faculty at UMKC, he was instructor of art history at the University of Utah, where he specialized in teaching courses focusing on women's issues and cultural diversity. In addition, he taught a series of innovative courses in photography using digital imagery and computer generated designs.
His researchspecialty deals with contributions of African-American visual artists to the Harlem Renaissance during the 1920s and 1930s.
Communication Studies
Michael McDonald
Associate Professor of Communication Studies- Contact Information: 202 Haag Hall, 235-1337.
Ph.D., University of Kansas, M.A., University of Missouri at Kansas City, B.A., University of Missouri at Kansas City
Professor McDonald has taught for 21 years at RockhurstUniversity. His research focuses on the Rhetorical and Organizational aspects of communication. An interest in the critical approaches to organization has led him to examine language as it operates as power in organizations. Professor McDonald is interested in organizational rhetoric, organizational culture, intercultural communication, political communication, interpersonal communication and qualitative methods. This fall Professor McDonald will teach Introduction to the Study of Human Communication and Interpersonal Communication.
English
Anthony Sze-Fai Shiu
Assistant Professor of English - Contact Information:
Cockefair Hall 117, Office Phone: 235-5205
Ph.D., American Studies, MichiganStateUniversity,M.A., English, University of Vermont
A.B., English, OhioUniversity
Professor Shiu was an assistant professor of English at SpringfieldCollege, where he taught courses in composition, American literature, and American ethnic literatures. He has published essays on a variety of topics including Filipino American literature, the interracial dynamics of musical production and expression, and the relationship between racial equality and state power. He also served as guest editor of CR: The New Centennial Review for the “As/Am: Declarations of Asian America” special issue. Professor Shiu will teach courses in American literature and African American literature and will help develop new courses for the English Department, such as Asian American literature.
Christie Hodgen
Assistant Professor of English - Contact Information:
Dept. of English, CH – 112
B.A., University of Virginia; M.F.A., IndianaUniversity; Ph.D., University of Missouri-Columbia
Christie Hodgen is the author of the novel "Hello, I Must Be Going (Norton 2006), which was featured in Barnes and Noble's Discover Great New Writers series, and the short story collection "A Jeweler's Eye for Flaw" (University of Massachusetts Press 2003), winner of the AWP award in short fiction. Her fiction has appeared in over a dozen magazines and anthologies, and has won several awards, including a Pushcart Prize, a National Endowment for the Arts Literature Grant, the Faulkner Society Novella Prize, and the Ernest Hemingway Award for Short Fiction. In addition to fiction writing she will teach classes in contemporary literature and the history of the short story.
Jennifer Frangos
Dr. Frangos joins the English Department from TexasTechUniversity. A specialist in eighteenth-century British literature, her research focuses on print culture and discursive practices; she is at work on a study of sexual relationships between women in the period and, with Cristobal Silva, an edited collection, “Teaching the Transatlantic Eighteenth Century”(forthcoming from Cambridge Scholars Press). Dr. Frangos is an editor of the academic journal, The Eighteenth Century: Theory and Interpretation. She received a Ph.D. from StonyBrookUniversity, an M.A. from the University at Buffalo, and an A.B. from VassarCollege.
Hadara Bar-Nadav
Assistant Professor of Poetry -Contact information:
Dept of English, CH – 121
PhD, University of Nebraska-Lincoln; MA, MontclairStateUniversity; BA, WilliamPatersonCollege
Hadara Bar-Nadav’s first book of poetry _A Glass of Milk to Kiss Goodnight_ (MARGIE/IntuiT House, March 2007) was chosen by Kim Addonizio as the winner of the 2005 MARGIE/ /Book Prize. Her Pushcart-nominated poetry has appeared in such journals as the Beloit Poetry Journal, Colorado Review, Denver Quarterly, The Journal, TriQuarterly, and Verse. Bar-Nadav was an Assistant Professor of English at St.John’s University in Minnesota before joining the English Department at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. Over the next year, she will be teaching the Writing of Poetry, Contemporary Poetry, and Black Women Writers.
Foreign Languages and Literatures
Andrew Billing
Visiting Assistant Professor of French – Contact Information: Scofield 213, ph. 235-2826
Ph.D., University of California, Irvine; M.A., University of Canterbury, New Zealand; B.A. (Hons), University of Otago, New Zealand.
Professor Billing recently completed his doctoral studies at the University of California, Irvine. His research explores the intersections between literary fiction, politics, and moral and political philosophy in the French Enlightenment, with particular attention to the literary and political works of Jean-Jacques Rousseau. His teaching interests include eighteenth-century French literature, Enlightenment political and moral philosophy, intellectual history, narrative, and critical theory. This fall Professor Billing will teach Masterpieces of French Literature and Second-Year French Language.
Larson Powell
Assistant Professor of German - Contact Information: , Scofield 206A, office phone: 235-1316.
M.A., M.Phil., Ph.D, ColumbiaUniversity; B.A., HarvardCollege.
Prof. Powell taught at TexasA&MUniversity, U Mass Amherst and FordhamUniversity before coming to UMKC. His first book on modern German poetry will be published by Camden House in 2008; a second book on post-1945 media art (electronic music, radioplays, film soundtracks)is in preparation. He has published and lectured in German, French and English, on German film andliterature as well as on musicology, psychoanalysisand philosophical aesthetics. He will be teaching a survey of German 20th century literature and a course on German film, along with language courses, in 2007-2008.
Nacer Khelouz
Visiting Assistant Professor of French – Contact Information: SH 204, X5996
Licence, Maîtrise (Université de Paris VIII); Ph.D. (University of Pittsburgh)
Professor Khelouz is a recent graduate from the University of Pittsburgh. His research focuses on the omnipresence of the political aspect in the Algerian and extensively Maghrebian Francophone Novel during the French colonization. An ignored double articulation that dominated Francophone novels in Maghreb countries during this period – subject writing and writing the subject – led him to re-question the repetitive and western mechanical categorization of these novels not only as Ideological (i.e. Condolences). Considered from this angle, his interest is to emphasis Aesthetic and literary dimensions within these novels from which they were kept apart. His teaching interests give a large credit to the intersection/interaction between French Literature/civilization and Francophone writers in their local realities. This Fall semester, Professor Khelouz will teach Intermediate French 1, Oral French and Francophone World.
History
Pellom McDaniels III
Assistant Professor of History and American Studies – Contact information: , 203 Cockefair Hall, office phone: 235-1339
Ph.D., M.A., EmoryUniversity; B.S., OregonStateUniversity
Professor McDaniels is a recent graduate of EmoryUniversity in Atlanta, Georgia. His research focuses on African American masculinity and the historical development of the black sports hero as a cultural icon of resistance, manhood and citizenship. McDaniels’ research interests include histories and philosophies of resistance; representations of the black sports hero in twentieth century literature; nineteenth century African American masculinities; and, representations of African American manhood in popular culture. Professor McDaniels is also interested in African American art and literature, folklore, and photography. This fall Professor McDaniels will teach Masculinity in History, and a History of Sport.
Philosophy
Dana Tulodziecki
Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Office: 219 Cockefair Hall
Contact Information TBA, Philosophy Department General Phone Number: (816) 235-1331
Ph.D. 2007, M. Phil. 2002, M.A. 2001. ColumbiaUniversity
M.Sc. History and Philosophy of Science 1999, B.Sc. Philosophy (First Class Honours) 1998. The LondonSchool of Economics.
Professor Tulodziecki earned her Ph.D. from ColumbiaUniversity in 2007. Her research focuses on the history and philosophy of science, especially on questions of the philosophical implications of scientific method. She recently published a paper called ‘Breaking the Ties: Epistemic Significance, Bacilli, and Underdetermination’ in Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences (forthcoming). Professor Tulodziecki has particular interests in the history and philosophy of medicine. A native of Germany, Professor Tulodziecki is fluent in several languages, and has also published translations of philosophical works. In the fall she will be teaching "Logic and the Scientific Method" and "Epistemology."
Physics
Anthony Caruso
Assistant Professor of Physics -Contact information:
Ph.D., M.S., University of Nebraska – Lincoln; B.A.BethanyCollege
Professor Caruso is a recent transfer from North Dakota State University (NDSU) as a Research Professor whose duties included leading groups in organic spintronics and nuclear batteries. Previous to NDSU, Dr. Caruso was a graduate from the University of Nebraska – Lincoln, where a dissertation prize regarding interfacial electronic structure was awarded. At UMKC, the Caruso group will study the relationship between the electronic and magnetic structure in organic-based solids, as it relates to understanding room temperature transition behavior, with ultimate application in advanced magneto electronic devices. Additionally, the Caruso group has interest in resolving the incident energy of neutrons emitted from fissile materials, whose application is directly related with homeland security.
Psychology
Jared Bruce
Assistant Professor of Psychology - Contact Information: Department of Psychology, 4825 Troost Bldg, Rm 111-G. E-mail: , Office phone: 235-5429. Office fax: 235-1062.
Ph.D., M.S., The PennsylvaniaStateUniversity; B.A., The University of Maine
Dr. Bruce recently completed his postdoctoral fellowship in clinical neuropsychology at Brown Medical school.His research focuses on the applied aspects of medical neuropsychology, witha particular emphasis on patients with multiple sclerosis, concussions,and mild cognitive impairment. Teaching interests include neurological disorders of behavior, neuropsychological assessment, and clinical psychology. This fall Dr. Brucewill teach psychobiology and intellectual assessment.
Social Work
Monica Nandan, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, School of Social Work - Contact Information: 4825 Troost, Suite 116
816-235-1025,
Ph.D. and M.S.W. from Florida State University in Tallahassee, FL., M.B.A. in Health Administration from August University in Augusta, GA., M.B.A. in Finance and earned her Bachelor’s degree in Business from India.
Teaching interests include the following: community organizing, policy practice, management of non-profit organizations, gerontology, program evaluation and research. She will be teaching research methods courses for the School of Social Work, M.S.W. graduate program at UMKC. Her research interests have included aging in America, intergenerational programs, and political and civic engagement in schools and on college campuses. She has added social entrepreneurship to her research repertoire. Her articles have been published in journals such as Social Work Research, Journal of Gerontological Social Work, Roundtable, and Gerontology and Geriatric Education; recently her manuscripts were accepted for publication in the Journal of Cross-Cultural Gerontology and Community Education Journal; her research has also been published in several conference proceedings. She has presented at several national and regional conferences. She is a strong proponent of interdisciplinary approaches to ameliorate social problems; she uses business acumen with social work skills to address deep-seated societal problems.
Department of Sociology, Criminal Justice and Criminology
Jennifer Huberman
Assistant Professor of Anthropology – Contact information: ; Manheim 106H, office phone: 235-5424
Ph.D., University of Chicago; M.A., University of Chicago; B.A., BostonUniversity
Professor Huberman’s doctoral work and current research explores the ways that lower class children in urban India experience city life and navigate some of the new forms of wealth, poverty, work, and consumerism that have emerged in the context of globalization. She taught in the Social Science Core Curriculum at the University of Chicago and also instructed in Hindi. She was a Visiting Assistant Professor at UMKC in 2006-2007. She will teach courses on qualitative research methods, the anthropology of childhood, economic anthropology, and introduction to cultural anthropology.
Sookhee Oh
Assistant Professor of Sociology – Contact information: Manheim 203A, office phone: 235-5848
Ph.D., The New School; Master of City Planning, Seoul National University; B.A., Ewha Woman’s University, Korea
Professor Oh most recently was a post-doctoral research associate working on immigrant political incorporation with Professor John Logan in the Department of Sociology at BrownUniversity. Her dissertation was a study of suburban Koreans in the New York-New Jersey metropolitan area. Through her research she has learned GIS techniques, and she attended a summer institute summer at the University of California-Santa Barbara on “Spatial Analysis for the Undergraduate Social Science Curriculum.” She will teach courses on research methods and on urban sociology.
Kristin Bechtel
Visiting Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice-- Contact information: , Manheim Hall 206-I, office phone: 235-5955
M.S., University of Missouri-Kansas City; B.S., SamHoustonStateUniversity
Kristin Bechtel is a doctoral studentin Criminal Justice & Criminology at the University of Cincinnati. Her research focuses on the effectiveness of therapeutic interventions for incarcerated offenders reentering the community. Over the last several years she has assessed scores of correctional treatment programs across the United States, determining the extent to which they meet the best practices for behavioral intervention. Her areas of teaching expertise include research methods, principles of corrections, white collar crime, ethics in police behavior, and criminological theory.
Theatre
Mitch Brian
(Screenwriting) received his BA in Film Production from CaliforniaStateUniversity, Northridge and his MA in Communication Studies from UMKC.
Before teaching at UMKC he taught screenwriting at ColumbiaCollege, Hollywood. He has written teleplays for all the major networks as well as HBO and FX. He co-created and wrote episodes for Batman: the Animated Series and co-wrote the NBC mini-series The 70’s. He has written feature screenplays for directors Chris Columbus, Oliver Stone, Luis Mandoki and Robert Schwentke as well as for producers including Gina Davis, Mike Medavoy and James Ellroy. His screenplays have dealt with a variety of historical figures including John Brown, Frank Luke, Thomas Jefferson, J. Paul Getty and Lana Turner. His literary adaptations include Far From the Madding Crowd, Dracula, The Totem and Seven Days in May.He will be teaching Introduction to Cinema and Screenwriting 1 this Fall and in Screenwriting 2 and The Horror and Science-Fiction Film in the spring.
Women’s and Gender Studies Program
Mary Stewart
WGS is pleased to announce that Dr. Mary Stewart, Professor of Sociology and Director of Women’s Studies at the University of Nevada, Reno, will be joining our faculty next year (WS 08) as the Martha J. Starr Visiting Professor in Women’s & Gender Studies! Before joining the faculty at the UNR in 1989, Dr. Stewart spent 14 years at UMKC where she was both a former member of Department of Sociology and a founding member of the Women’s Studies program. In fact, it was Dr. Stewart who pioneered the development of our Program’s minor. Since then, Dr. Stewart has dramatically expanded the undergraduate program in Women’s Studies at UNR and also just established a new M.A. in Gender, Race, and Identity Studies. In addition to her administrative positions, Dr. Stewart is also a noted researcher. She is the author of Silicone Spills: Breast Implants on Trial and Ordinary Violence: Everyday Assaults Against Women. Prof. Stewart is currently completing her book-length project, Heck Road, a socio-biographical analysis of the changes in the lives of four generations of women over the last century as well as launching a video project exploring issues of gender and sexuality.
Conservatory of Music and Dance
Marciem Bazell
Assistant Professor and Director of Opera
B.M., TempleUniversity
Marciem holds a Bachelor of Music in Opera Performance from TempleUniversity and has done additional work in oboe performance with Louis Rosenblatt of the Philadelphia Orchestra and internship in directing with Adelaide Bishop at the Hartt School of Music. She comes to us from Southern Methodist University where she served as Director of Opera. Before SMU, Marciem was a faculty member at the University of Texas at El Paso. Additional stops and guest directing opportunities occurred at Curtis Institute, the Hartt School of Music, and TempleUniversity. She has studied privately with Margaret Harshaw, Beverly Johnson, and Ellen Rulau. Her most recent directing experiences include La Traviata with the El Paso Opera, Cosi fan tutte and La Tragedie de Carmen at Southern Methodist University and Lucia di Lammermoor at the Chautauqua Opera.
Anthony Humrichouser
Assistant Professor and Director of Music Theatre
M.F.A., Rhode IslandCollege; B.F.A., WesternMichiganUniversity
Anthony holds a B.F.A. in Music Theatre Performance from WesternMichiganUniversity, an M.F.A. in Acting from Rhode IslandCollege and a Certificate from Brown/Trinity Consortium. He comes to us from DrakeUniversity where he served as Director of the musical theatre program and has also served as a faculty member at WesternMichiganUniversity and The Studio--A School of Performing Arts in New Canaan, Connecticut. His most recent directing experiences include Hello Dolly! and The Wizard of Oz at the Des Moines Playhouse as well as The Boyfriend and Quilters at DrakeUniversity.
Aidan Soder
Assistant Professor of Voice
D.M.A., M.A., RiceUniversity; B.M., University of Nebraska at Omaha