Faculty/Staff Support

The individuals listed below have indicated, via academic materials, a research interest or specialty related to diversity. Because UNI has chosen to define diversity in its broadest terms, the subject areas covered are wide, and include everything from culture to communication to civil rights.

For more information, please contact the specific faculty or staff member listed. If you know someone at UNI who should be added to this list, feel free to contact the Office of Compliance and Equity Management, (319) 273-2846.

Staff Making a Difference

Faculty Making a Difference

College of Business Administration

College of Education

College of Humanities and Fine Arts

College of Natural Sciences

College of Social and Behavioral Sciences

Staff Making a Difference

Celeste Bembry

Student Recruitment and Retention Coordinator, CHAS

E-mail: celeste.bembry@uni.edu

Interests: Recruitment and retention of under-represented Americans to UNI, cultural competency amongst the UNI community, cultural promotion through the arts

Clifford Coney

Senior Counselor, Educational Talent Search

E-mail: clifford.coney@uni.edu

Web site: http://www.uni.edu/eop/ets/staff.htm

Interests: Cultural diversity in law enforcement, law enforcement issues

Paula Gilroy

Psychologist, Assistant Director Training, Counseling Center

E-mail: paula.gilroy@uni.edu

Interests: LGBT issues, women therapists and the interaction between their personal issues and their work

Wilfred M. Johnson

Director, Classic Upward Bound

E-mail: wilfred.johnson@uni.edu

Web site: http://www.uni.edu/eop/cub/staff.htm

Interests: Student issues regarding diversity, recruiting and retaining students and faculty, developing communities, general diversity issues; Member: Board of Regents Diversity Task Force Committee, UNI Multicultural Recruitment Team, UNI Enrollment Council, UNI Leadership Advisory Board; chair: Wartburg College Diversity Board

Drake Martin

Assistant Director for Residence Education, Residence Hall Program Administration

E-mail: drake.martin@uni.edu

Interests: Chair of Student Affairs Diversity Committee, advisor to DOR Inclusive Communities Team, coordinator of Safe Zone Project, member of UNI Diversity Advisory Council

Faculty Making a Difference

College of Business Administration

Shahina Amin

Associate Professor, Economics

E-mail: shahina.amin@uni.edu

Web site: UNI Business - Faculty & Staff - Shahina Amin

Interests: Child labor and gender employment issues in developing countries

Dale Cyphert

Associate Professor, Management

E-mail: dale.cyphert@uni.edu

Web site: UNI Business - Faculty & Staff - Dale Cyphert

Interests: Variations in decision-making norms across socioeconomic levels

Lisa Jepsen

Associate Professor, Economics

E-mail: lisa.jepsen@uni.edu

Web site: UNI Business - Faculty & Staff - Lisa Jepsen

Interests: Economic demography, labor economics and same-sex couples and the relationship between wages and sexual orientation

Atul Mitra

Professor, Management

E-mail: atul.mitra@uni.edu

Web site: UNI Business - Faculty & Staff - Atul Mitra

Interests: Pay-for-knowledge systems, psychophysical analysis of compensation issues, international compensation analysis, cross-cultural issues and outsourcing

Mohammed Rawwas

Professor, Marketing

E-mail: mohammed.rawwas@uni.edu

Web site: UNI Business - Faculty & Staff - Mohammed Rawwas

Interest: Cross-cultural studies

Christine R. Schrage

Instructor, Marketing

E-mail: christine.schrage@uni.edu

Web site: UNI Business - Faculty & Staff - Christine R. Schrage

Interests: International management and marketing, entrepreneurship and micro-credit operations, most involving women, in underdeveloped countries

College of Education

Penny Beed

Professor, Curriculum and Instruction

E-mail: penny.beed@uni.edu

Interests: Cultural and economic diversity, using diversity to students' advantage in the classroom

Mingshui Cai

Professor, Curriculum and Instruction

E-mail: mingshui.cai@uni.edu

Interests: Multicultural children's and young adult literature, critical literacy

Lyn Countryman

Interim Director and Professor, R&D School

E-mail: lyn.countryman@uni.edu

Interest: Gender equity in the science classroom

Michele K. Devlin

Professor, Health, Physical Education and Leisure Services

E-mail: michele.yehieli@uni.edu

Interests: Refugee, minority and immigrant care, cultural competency and health communication with underserved populations

Susan R. Dobie

Associate Professor, Health, Physical Education and Leisure Services

E-mail: susan.dobie@uni.edu

Web site: http://www.uni.edu/coe/hpels/About_ HPELS/faculty/Susan_Dobie.shtml

Interests: Health literacy and health disparities

Beth Dykstra Van Meeteren

Instructor, Curriculum and Instruction

E-mail: beth.vanmeeteren@uni.edu

Interest: Needs of diverse learners

Linda M. Fitzgerald

Professor, Curriculum and Instruction

E-mail: linda.fitzgerald@uni.edu

Interests: Preparing teachers for diversity in their classrooms, with particular attention to inclusion regardless of ability level but also race, class and ethnicity, identifying dispositions for social justice

Barbara Gager

Academic Advisor, College of Education Student Advising

E-mail: barbara.gager@uni.edu

Interest: Needs of diverse learners

Timothy W. Gilson

Assistant Professor, Educational Leadership, Counseling and Postsecondary Education

E-mail: tim.gilson@uni.edu

Interests: Alternative education, at-risk issues for students, recruiting and retaining minority students

Leigh C. Martin

Instructor, Office of Student Field Experiences

Center Coordinator for Out-of-State and International Student Teaching

E-mail: leigh.martin@uni.edu

Web site: http://www.uni.edu/stdteach/centers/int/index.htm

Interest: Coordinating out-of-state and international student teaching

Lynn E. Nielsen

Professor, Curriculum and Instruction

E-mail: lynn.nielsen@uni.edu

Interests: Recruiting and retaining male elementary education majors

Nicholas J. Pace

Associate Professor, Educational Leadership, Counseling and Postsecondary Education

E-mail: nick.pace@uni.edu

Interest: How K-12 educational settings support LGBTQ youth

Mary Salazar Guenther

Instructor, R&D School

E-mail: mary.guenther@uni.edu

Interests: Preparing teachers for diversity in their classrooms, with particular interest in social justice issues, multicultural literature, and differentiated curriculum

Amy H. Staples

Associate Professor, Special Education

E-mail: amy.staples@uni.edu

Interest: Inclusion, social justice, cultural competence

Denise Tallakson

Instructor, Curriculum and Instruction

E-mail: denise.tallakson@uni.edu

Interest: Preparing teachers for diversity in their classrooms, with particular interest in multiple intelligences, integrating the arts, multicultural literature and differentiated curriculum

Deborah Tidwell

Associate Professor, Curriculum and Instruction

E-mail: deborah.tidwell@uni.edu

Web site: http://ci.coe.uni.edu/facstaff/tidwelld.html

Interests: Diverse learners, bilingual education and multicultural education

Jennifer J. Waldron

Associate Professor, Health, Physical Education, and Leisure Services

E-mail: jennifer.waldron@uni.edu

Interests: Gender and sexual orientation in sport/physical activity; feminist theory; queer theory

College of Humanities and Fine Arts

Kenneth Atkinson

Associate Professor, History

E-mail: kenneth.atkinson@uni.edu

Web site: http://www.uni.edu/atkinson

Interests: Religion, Middle Eastern religions, inter-religious dialogue

Melissa Beall

Professor, Communication Studies

E-mail: melissa.beall@uni.edu

Interest: Culture

Harry Brod

Professor, Philosophy and World Religions

E-mail: harry.brod@uni.edu

Interests: Gender studies, Jewish studies, social and political philosophy, humanities, history of philosophy, applied ethics, feminism, work of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel

Joyce Chen

Associate Professor, Communication Studies

E-mail: joyce.chen@uni.edu

Personal Web site: http://www.uni.edu/~chen/

Interest: Media, culture and society

Scharron A. Clayton

Associate Professor, Philosophy and World Religions

E-mail: scharron.clayton@uni.edu

Interests: Ethnic and cultural studies, African American culture, human relations

Betty A. DeBerg

Professor, Philosophy and World Religions

E-mail: betty.deberg@uni.edu

Interests: Religion and culture in the United States, women and religion, history of Christianity

Victoria P. DeFrancisco

Professor, Communication Studies

Diversity Fellow, Office of the Executive Vice President and Provost

E-mail: victoria.defrancisco@uni.edu

Interests: Gender, intercultural communication, feminist theory

Erica A. Voss

Associate Professor, Art

E-mail: erica.duffy@uni.edu

Web site: http://www.uni.edu/artdept/duffy.html

Interests: Process of communication and how perceptions of a "disability," different experiences and different cultural/social/economic backgrounds affect the way people communicate

Cynthia Goatley

Professor, Theatre

E-mail: cynthia.goatley@uni.edu

Web site: http://www.uni.edu/goatley

Interest: Shows and performances related to diversity

Vince Gotera

North American Review Editor & Professor, Languages and Literatures

Editor, North American Review

E-mail: vince.gotera@uni.edu

Interests: Multicultural literature, especially Asian American; American literature, Vietnam War studies

David M. Grant

Assistant Professor, Languages and Literatures

E-mail: david.grant@uni.edu

Interests: Native American literature and rhetoric, teaching of writing to Navajo students; Anglo student interactions with Lakota culture and notions of literacy and rhetorical action, including acknowledging marginalized literacies about natural, urban and virtual environments

Susan Hill

Associate Professor, Philosophy and World Religions

E-mail: susan.hill@uni.edu

Interests: Religion and literature, history of Christianity, feminism and gender, queer studies

Randy A. Hogancamp

Associate Professor, School of Music

E-mail: randy.hogancamp@uni.edu

Interest: Non-Western drumming (Africa - Ewe and Malinke; Japan - Taiko)

Margaret G. Holland

Associate Professor, Philosophy and World Religions

E-mail: margaret.holland@uni.edu

Interests: Ethics, history of philosophy, philosophy and literature, feminist theory

Julie E. Husband

Associate Professor, English Language and Literature

E-mail: julie.husband@uni.edu

Interest: Effect of anti-slavery icons

Anne Lair Mawdsley

Associate Professor, Languages & Literatures

E-mail: anne.lair@uni.edu

Interests: French and francophone culture and diversity; Member, CHFA diversity advisory committee

Christopher R. Martin

Interim Department Head & Professor, Communication Studies

E-mail: christopher.martin@uni.edu

Personal Web site: http://mediacrit.com

Interests: Mass media representations of labor and the working class, class inequality; history of television representations of race, class and gender

Karen Mitchell

Professor, Communication Studies

Director, SAVE Forum Actors

E-mail: karen.mitchell@uni.edu

Interests: Gender studies, performance and social change

Pierre D. Mvuyekure

Professor, Languages and Literatures

E-mail: pierre.mvuyekure@uni.edu

Interests: Multicultural literature, African American/African Diaspora literatures, post-colonial studies and theory, blues and jazz in literature and film

Anne G. Myles

Associate Professor, Languages and Literatures

E-mail: anne.myles@uni.edu

Interests: Slavery, the religious imagination, American women writers, gender studies

Catherine H. Palczewski

Professor, Communication Studies

E-mail: catherine.palczewski@uni.edu

Personal Web site: http://www.uni.edu/palczews

Interests: Feminist theory and criticism, gender in communication, Native American rhetoric, social protest

Martha J. Reineke

Professor, Philosophy and World Religions

E-mail: martha.reineke@uni.edu

Interests: Feminist theory, religion and society, existentialism, religion and psychoanalysis

James B. Robinson

Associate Professor, Philosophy and World Religions

E-mail: james.robinson@uni.edu

Interests: Tibetan Buddhism, Asian religions, history of religions

Laura Terlip

Associate Professor, Communication Studies

E-mail: laura.terlip@uni.edu

Interest: Building multicultural organizations

Sonia L. Yetter

Associate Professor, Languages & Literatures

E-mail: sonia.yetter@uni.edu

Interest: Languages

College of Natural Sciences

Mohammed F. Fahmy

Professor, Industrial Technology

E-mail: mohammed.fahmy@uni.edu

Interests: Islamic history, interfaith relationships, Middle East culture and history

Douglas R. Hotek

Associate Professor, Industrial Technology

E-mail: doug.hotek@uni.edu

Interests: Women teachers of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) at the secondary level, identities of individuals and groups who learn and work in the world of technology

Catherine M. Miller

Associate Professor, Mathematics

CTE Diversity Committee Co-Chair

E-mail: catherine.miller@uni.edu

Interests: Assessing field experiences for diversity, how Teacher Education programs can better prepare graduates to succeed in diverse classrooms, preparing teacher candidates to embrace and implement the Diversity Principle

Robert D. Seager

Professor, Biology

E-mail: seager@uni.edu

Interest: Relationships between science and religion

V. Eugene Wallingford

Department Head & Associate Professor, Computer Science

Department Head

E-mail: wallingf@cs.uni.edu

Interest: Increasing participation in computer science, and in science and engineering more generally, among underrepresented groups, including women and minorities

College of Social and Behavioral Sciences

Pita Ogaba Agbese

Professor, Political Science

E-mail: pita.agbese@uni.edu

Interests: Third World politics, African politics, international relations, international law

Phyllis Baker

Director, Women's and Gender Studies

Professor, Sociology, Anthropology, Criminology

E-mail: phyllis.baker@uni.edu

Web site: http://www.uni.edu/womenstudies/

Interests: Women's and gender issues

Barbara A. Cutter

Interim Director & Associate Professor, Women's & Gender Studies

E-mail: barbara.cutter@uni.edu

Web site: http://www.uni.edu/cutter/default.htm

Interests: Women's and gender history, cultural history, 19th century United States

Cynthia D. Dunn

Associate Professor, Sociology, Anthropology and Criminology

E-mail: cyndi.dunn@uni.edu

Interests: Language and culture, gender, emotion, Japan

Xavier Escandell

Associate Professor, Sociology, Anthropology and Criminology

E-mail: xavier.escandell@uni.edu

Interests: Immigration and transnationalism, political sociology, Latin America, European Union

William M. Fleming

Associate Professor, School of Applied Human Sciences

E-mail: michael.fleming@uni.edu

Interest: Etiology of male coercive behaviors and attitudes, fathering and non-residential father-child relationships/father adolescent relationships, divorce and predictors of post-divorce adjustment

Carissa M. Froyum Roise

Assistant Professor, Sociology, Anthropology and Criminology

E-mail: carissa.froyum@uni.edu

Interests: Social inequality (race, class, gender), sexuality, sociology of families, feminist theory

Michael B. Gasser

Professor, Psychology

E-mail: michael.gasser@uni.edu

Web site: http://www.uni.edu/~gasser/index.html

Interests: Personnel in intercultural environments, differences in pay expectations (what group differences exist and how pay expectations influence important social outcomes)

Mark Grey

Professor, Sociology, Anthropology and Criminology

Director, Iowa Center for Immigrant Leadership and Integration

E-mail: mark.grey@uni.edu

Interests: Ethnic relations, social change, Southern Africa, U.S. rural communities

Helen C. Harton

Professor, Psychology

Coordinator, Psychology Graduate Studies

E-mail: helen.harton@uni.edu

Web site: http://www.uni.edu/harton

Interests: Attitudes, social influence, prejudice, relationship satisfaction and jealousy, complex systems theory, computer applications

Robert T. Hitlan

Associate Professor, Psychology

E-mail: rob.hitlan@uni.edu

Web site: http://www.uni.edu/hitlan

Interests: Social ostracism, harassment including sexual, ethnic and bystander harassment experiences; emerging workplace diversity issues including ethnicity, bilingualism and workplace exclusion

Laura E. Kaplan

Associate Professor, Social Work

Diversity Fellow, Office of the Executive Vice President and Provost

E-mail: laura.kaplan@uni.edu

Interests: Ethics and moral reasoning, sexual, racial and ethnic minority concerns, HIV/AIDS, women, disparities in access and treatment

Alexandra M. Kogl

Associate Professor, Political Science

E-mail: ana.kogl@uni.edu

Interests: Feminist theory, feminist and political economy (gender and work-life balance)

Jian Li

Associate Professor, Sociology, Anthropology and Criminology

E-mail: lee.jli@uni.edu

Interests: Medical anthropology, development and health, health equity, anthropological theory, peoples and cultures of China

Julie Lowell

Associate Professor, Sociology, Anthropology and Criminology

E-mail: julie.lowell@uni.edu

Interests: North American archaeology, American Southwest, household and small community organization, uses of ethnology for archaeological inference, architectural analysis, gender in archaeology

Annette F. Lynch

Professor, School of Applied Human Sciences

E-mail: annette.lynch@uni.edu

Web site: http://www.uni.edu/lynch/

Interests: Role of dress in negotiating cultural change, role of dress in the transmission and reconstruction of gender, design and marketing of African textiles, role of dress in ritual expressions of identity, impact of mass media on constructor of transgender identity, anthropological fieldwork in Nigeria focused upon impact of cultural change and urbanization on production and marketing of traditional textile and apparel products

Otto MacLin

Associate Professor, Psychology

E-mail: otto.maclin@uni.edu

Web site: http://www.uni.edu/~maclino

Interest: Cross-racial identifications

Robert F. Martin

Department Head & Professor, History

E-mail: robert.martin@uni.edu

Interest: The life and work of 19th century activist and reformer Annie Wittenmyer

Alex Oberle

Associate Professor, Geography

E-mail: alex.oberle@uni.edu

Interests: Hispanic urban settlement in the U.S., Latino and Asian immigrant entrepreneurship, Mexican immigrant and Mexican-American ethnic economies, comparative Asian settlement patterns in the U.S. and Canada

J. Henry Owusu

Associate Professor, Geography

E-mail: j.henry.owusu@uni.edu

Interests: Role of the human factor in Third World development, globalization

Laura Praglin

Associate Professor, Social Work

E-mail: laura.praglin@uni.edu

Interests: Minority group relations, immigrant and refugee populations

Gayle M. Rhineberger-Dunn

Associate Professor, Sociology, Anthropology and Criminology

E-mail: gayle.rhineberger@uni.edu

Interests: Crime and social inequality (primarily race, ethnicity and class), popular culture and crime, communities and crime