Northeastern Illinois University has awarded tenure and promotions to associate professor for 17 members of the faculty, who were introduced during the June 23 Board of Trustees meeting.
“I congratulate the newest members of our faculty to earn tenure,” Provost Richard J. Helldobler said. “This is an important milestone in their development as teachers, mentors and role models for Northeastern’s current and future students. Their promotions also build on Northeastern’s tradition of teaching and research excellence.”
Here is the list of awards of tenure and promotion:
Jacqueline Anderson
Social Work
Anderson is an active researcher on women, trauma and homelessness. Her community-based social work practice is incorporated into her line of research. This integration has resulted in a publication in a collection of scholarly monographs and in an abstract for a book titled “Healing from the Trauma of Homelessness and Being Held: Perspectives from an African American Feminist Practitioner.” Anderson has been invited to present her research at national and international conferences, and to conduct training workshops for local and community organizations related to empathy, motivational interviewing dealing with anger, clinical work with small groups, and trauma-informed service delivery.
Marcia Buell
English
Buell’s work has appeared in major journals in her field, such as The Journal of Basic Writing. She is a consistently active and engaged scholar who has presented her research, which is often in collaboration with graduate students and departmental colleagues, at numerous prestigious conferences in her field.
Sarah Cordell
Mathematics
Cordell is a prolific researcher, and her passion for the field of mathematics education has resulted in publications in premier academic journals, and in the current generation of two new manuscripts ready for submission. She has been invited to present the outcome of her original research at many prestigious national conferences.
Mateo Farzaneh
History
Farzaneh’s research interests are constitutionalism and the role of women in the Iran-Iraq War. This has led to the publication of his book, “The Iranian Constitutional Revolution and the Clerical Leadership of Khurasani.” He has many more publications that are the direct result of his conference presentations at the national and international levels. Farzaneh is the recipient of a COR grant, which he used to travel to Iran to examine a recently opened archive in Tehran, for a project that explores the last years of the Pahlavi regime before the Islamic Revolution of 1979.
Scott Hegerty
Economics
Hegerty’s prolific research focuses on empirical and applied international macroeconomics and trade, and has resulted in articles in a wide range of peer-reviewed journals in economics. He regularly presents his work at national and international conferences and to the media and other organizations. Most recently, Hegerty was successful in obtaining placement on the Fulbright Special Program roster.
Zada Johnson
Educational Inquiry and Curriculum Studies
Johnson’s research focuses on the role of ritual, tradition and culture in the South, as well as how these concepts manifest themselves in Chicago’s Bronzeville community. Johnson has published articles in peer-reviewed publications, including the “New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture.” She has also presented her research at important national meetings.
Jolanta Jonak
Special Education
Jonak has participated in research and creative activities at the international, national, state and local levels. Her research topics include best practices in assessment, support for students with high-incidence disabilities, and assessment and learning strategies for culturally and linguistically diverse students. Jonak has had seven articles published in peer-reviewed journals, and four articles are currently in development. She has also presented her peer-reviewed research at many professional meetings in her discipline.
Jin Kim
Social Work
Kim’s area of expertise is aging policy research. Since arriving at Northeastern, he has published many peer-reviewed articles and book chapters in the areas of poverty, public program participation and health service use. He has also presented this research at several national meetings. He recently submitted three manuscripts in the areas of sexual victimization, societal income inequality, and the effectiveness of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Kim edited two research methods textbooks that are currently used in the Social Work program at Northeastern.
Christina Madda
Literacy, Leadership and Development
Madda’s research focuses on urban education and equity. Since her arrival at Northeastern, Madda has published in the peer-reviewed journal The New Educator, she has published four book chapters and she has presented the results of her scholarship at the premier educational research conferences in her field, including the American Educational Research Association and the Literacy Research Association.
Christopher Merchant
Psychology
Merchant is a practitioner and a researcher. In addition to his clinical work, he researches depression and suicide. He is currently developing a peer mentoring system in psychology, one of the first in the country, in collaboration with colleagues in his department. He is co-PI of a National Science Foundation grant, and hopes to serve as co-PI of another recently submitted proposal. Merchant is a committed mentor who has advised countless students as they prepared their capstone projects.
Graciela Perera
Computer Science
When Perera came to Northeastern, she provided evidence of very productive research agenda. She has advanced this scholarship by producing more peer-reviewed publications, obtaining funding for research and teaching activities, and participating in conferences and national organization meetings. She organized a regional conference at El Centro about GENI, a network research tool, and obtained funding for equipment at the El Centro Computer Science lab. She has fully developed a research group based on the Affinity Research Group Model for undergraduate and graduate students.
Myles Polsgrove
Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Athletics
Polsgrove’s research agenda includes three major areas: motor skill performance, holistic movement and movement programming. He has published a data-driven, peer-reviewed manuscript on the impact of yoga on flexibility and balance of college athletes, and a manuscript on the impact of social media on health and fitness knowledge. He has also presented his research at major national conferences in his field.
Vida Sacic
Art
Sacic’s work includes more than 30 national and international exhibitions. She has provided commissioned and professional work for nationally recognized brands, as well as smaller organizations. Sacic has consistently shown her work, given guest lectures, attended conferences for professional development and volunteered her time to design organizations. In addition to the exhibitions of her own work, she has curated other exhibitions, received residency and Northeastern research awards, and has been featured in several publications. She is the primary author of Northeastern’s new program in Graphic Design.
Shannon Saszik
Psychology
Saszik’s research activities are organized under two themes: the impact of the environment on the development of hormonal and neuronal substrates of the expression of complex social behavior, and the role of dopamine in the transition of dark- to light-adaptive circuits in the visual system. In many instances, her research is conducted on equipment she built. Saszik has published peer-reviewed articles, has presented at local, regional and national conferences in her field, and has successfully obtained internal grant funding.
Angela Sweigart-Gallagher
Communication, Media and Theatre
Sweigart-Gallagher’s research and her creative work address gender and sexuality. Sweigart-Gallagher has an impressive range of scholarly and academic work, including turns as a director, writer, actress, reviewer, editor, performance artist, dramaturge and presenter. The quality of these efforts has been recognized with peer-reviewed publications in significant journals and a nomination for the AATE Distinguished Book Award for her book “Nationalism and Youth in Theatre Performance.”
Susan Tang
Music
Tang is an active performer and presenter in a range of venues including Ravinia, a tour of the Pacific Northwest and Canada, and the Jewel Box series at Northeastern. She has published an article in the journal Clavier Companion, a widely read publication among piano performers. She has also been invited to give master classes and lectures at the local and national level. Tang often serves as a judge for the national and statewide competitions of the Music Teacher National Association and other organizations.
Kenneth Voglesonger
Earth Science
Voglesonger’s research focuses on the aqueous geochemistry of urban waters. He has published in peer-reviewed journals, and has another submission under review. He has been very active in the pursuit of external funding, having been a PI or Co-PI in 26 proposals, nine of which were funded. Voglesonger has also presented his research at professional conferences, and he has mentored students in their research, resulting in their own conference presentations at local, regional and national events.
