Faculty Profiles

Instructor, Angela Weber, soprano, has performed such roles as Papagena in the The Magic Flute, Barbarina in Le Nozze di Figaro, Mable from Pirates of Penzance, Lucy from The Telephone, and Little Red from the children’s opera Little Red Riding Hood. Solo appearances also include Faure’s Requiem, with the Skokie Valley Symphony Orchestra; Shubert’s Mass in G with the University of South Florida; and as a featured soloist on the radio broadcast, “Impromptu” aired on WFMT.

Internationally, Ms. Weber has participated in the Dvorák International Voice Competition in Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic. She was also a soloist at the International Advent Singing Festival in Vienna, Austria; the Festival Internazionale di Musica in Tuscany, Italy; and recently appeared as soloist in the Ghent Arts and Music Festival in Belgium. Ms. Weber has been a soloist and chorus member in many L’Opera Piccola productions.

Angela has been the soprano soloist and section leader at Park Ridge Community Church since 2002.

Dr. Rolanda West is  an instructor in the Justice Studies Department of Northeastern Illinois University and the co-founder and Executive Director of Alternative Education Research Institute. She co-founded the organization to assist local community organizations in the research and development of programs that would provide educational opportunities for populations that have been overlooked. For the past decade, Dr. West has worked as an instructor, program consultant and community activist for underrepresented populations, primarily formerly incarcerated youth and adults.

Dr. West has previously taught courses at Loyola University Chicago’s School of Education and has worked with south- and west-side community-based organizations in the research, development and evaluation of programs designed for underrepresented populations.  Recently, Dr. West accepted the nomination for the Fellowship of Reconciliation’s Nation Council and continues to serve as a Board member for the Renaissance Collaborative in Chicago’s historic Bronzeville neighborhood.

​Outside of teaching, West has worked as a consultant for Los Angeles Unified School District and the Federal Department of Probation District Courts in Inglewood, California, developing Empowerment Education and Reentry programs for the formerly incarcerated. As a consultant West has worked with organizations in the U.S. and Latin America, providing staff development training and program research and development for underserved communities. ​

Dr. Amanda West is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker who received her MSW in 1999 from the University of Denver, and her PhD in social work from the University of Utah in 2014. After serving children and families in the community mental health arena for over 15 years in both clinical and administrative roles, she developed a passion and sincere interest in the struggles and strengths afforded to this population. As a result, her research has expanded in its focus on children and mental health to include trauma-based phenomena such as child trafficking. Her research focuses on the life experiences of victims and survivors of child trafficking in the United States through qualitative methodologies.

Dr. West’s focus in the classroom fosters a student-centered and cooperative learning environment, in which both student and professor explore the content of goals of the course in a reciprocal exchange of knowledge and experience. Her hope in teaching students is not only to present new knowledge but to encourage critical thinking skills that will enable students to embrace the often complex role of social workers in their professional careers. 

Durene I. Wheeler, Ph.D., is Professor at Northeastern Illinois University in the department of Educational Inquiry & Curriculum Studies. She holds a core faculty appointment in African & African American Studies (AFAM) along with Women’s, Gender, & Sexuality Studies (WGS). Dr. Wheeler has served as Program Coordinator for both AFAM and WGS academic programs. Additionally, Dr. Wheeler served as founding Graduate Facilitator and Advisor for the Master of Arts in Community and Teacher Leaders program at NEIU. 

Her teaching and research interests include historical intersections of race, class, and gender in U.S. Education, practical application methods of critical race and feminist pedagogy, and helping teachers and parents in fostering more socially justice classrooms and school environments. Dr. Wheeler has presented at several National and Regional conferences on issues of intersectionality, social justice in education and anti-racist pedagogy. She is co-editor of the anthology Black Women’s Liberatory Pedagogies: Resistance, Transformation, and Healing within and Beyond the Academy addressing the pedagogical practices of Black women in and outside of the academy across multiple disciplines.

Dan Wirth has been involved with theatre for most of his life. As a professional actor he toured throughout the United States with The Acting Company. While living in New York City, he performed at the Public Theatre, the Harold Clurman Theatre, the 18th Street Playhouse, Lamb’s Theatre, Playwright’s Horizons, The American Place Theatre, and the Actor’s and Director’s Lab (later renamed the Samuel Beckett Theatre.) In Europe, he performed at the Edinburgh International Theatre Festival and in London’s West End. Regionally, he has appeared at the Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, and the Utah and Oregon Shakespeare Festivals.

He worked with the esteemed directors Alan Schneider, Joseph Papp, Michael Langham, Liviu Ciulei, Garland Wright, Jerry Turner, and Sharon Ott, and has appeared on-stage with James Cromwell, J. T. Walsh, Jimmy Smits, Jamey Sheridan, Bob Gunton, Diane Venora, Kathleen Widdoes, David Warrilow, Alvin Epstein, Leigh Taylor-Young, Margaret Reed, Howard Korder, Wayne Knight, and Jeff Daniels. Dan was a Chicago Cub in the film Rookie of the Year. In Chicago, he appeared at the Raven Theatre and again at the Filament Theatre in Lounging. He has directed for six theatre companies in the Chicago area including Fury Theatre's production of The Merry Wives of Windsor.

As Artistic Director of The Intimate Theatre, his production of Miss Julie, the play's world premiere in a new translation, had a highly successful run with a cast of professional actors. This was a very ambitious undertaking for a new theatre company, and its success generated a great deal of visibility and respect for the group. An award winning playwright, Dan’s play Used Carlotta won new play contests at the Source Theatre in Washington, D.C. and the New American Comedy Festival in Ukiah, California, and was produced each time. It was also a finalist in the National Playwrights Conference at the O'Neill Theater Center. The Cleveland Public Theatre featured Urban Renovator Blues in their Eighth Festival of New Plays. In Chicago, his production of the play was chosen as the premiere theatre piece for the reopening of Cabaret Voltaire, a performing space that went on to feature many new and experimental theatre works. Also a published poet and a film maker, Dan has taught theatre and communication courses at Dominican University, Wright College, Harper College, Oakton College, Daley College, Barat College, and Lake Forest College.

In his numerous years at Northeastern Illinois University he has directed Nuevas Voces, Babel, Offended!, Episode 26, Why Torture Is Wrong, And The People Who Love Them, The Cherry Orchard, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Fuddy Meers, An Inspector Calls, Charley’s Aunt, The Skin of Our Teeth, The Birthday Party, Dracula, Buried Child, Little Murders, The Curate Shakespeare As You Like It, The Nerd, four Children’s Theatre productions, and eight Summer Transition Program Drama Workshops. He appeared on stage at NEIU as a very large Lady Bracknell in The Importance of Being Earnest. He has an M.F.A. from The University of California, San Diego, and a B.S. from Central Michigan University.

Krista Wortendyke (b. 1979, Nyack, New York) is a Chicago based conceptual artist. She received her MFA in Photography from Columbia College in 2007. Her ongoing work examines violence through the lens of photography. Her images are a result of a constant grappling with the mediation of war and brutality both locally and globally. Her work has been exhibited at the Museum of Contemporary Photography, PAcker Schopf Gallery and David Weinberg Gallery in Chicago, SOHO20 Gallery in New York, and many other venues across the United States. Additionally, Krista's work is part of the permanent collection at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston.