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Faculty & Staff

Please use the accordions below to view all faculty and staff information for the College of Arts & Sciences.

The art and design faculty at UAFS are all working designers and artists with years of experience doing exactly what they teach. Our studio art faculty show their work nationally and internationally while our award-winning design faculty stay on the forward edge with work in the design field. Each faculty member is committed to their students and works hard to give them the tools necessary to succeed in their chosen field of study. All faculty have terminal degrees and maintain strong ties to artistic development through art exhibition as well as design.

Katie Waugh, M.F.A.

Department Head/Associate Professor
Office: Windgate Art and Design
Phone: 479-788-7549
Artwork: katiewaugh.com
 

Colin McLain, M.F.A.

Associate Professor
Office: Windgate Art and Design
Phone: 479-788-7576
Bio: Colin McLain is an associate professor of graphic design. Colin is a Yankee by birth, who spent a brief stint in the Phoenix public education system (it was a dry education), but grew up in the tornado alley of Tulsa, Oklahoma. His education includes an A.A.S. in graphic design from Oklahoma State University — Institute of Technology, a B.F.A. from Oklahoma State University, and a M.F.A. from Arizona State University. His graphic design career began in 1989, and he continues to freelance. Colin teaches courses in 3-D design, digital imaging, typography, advertising design, identity, package design, graphic design business practices, and internships.
 

Bryan Alexis, M.A., M.F.A.

Professor
Office: Windgate Art and Design
Phone: 479-788-7240
Bio: Bryan Alexis received his Bachelor of Arts in graphic design from Southern Arkansas University and holds a Master of Arts in graphic design from Northwestern State University of Louisiana and a Master of Fine Arts in visual design from the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville. Bryan has worked at UAFS for more six years teaching graphic design, web, motion, creative, and advertising design. He has spent the last thirteen years teaching graphic design in Arkansas colleges and has worked as a graphic designer in various capacities from freelance to art director for over seventeen years. Bryan was born in DeLeon, Texas, and was raised in Louisiana. He now lives in Fort Smith with his wife Amy and three children, Jonah, Jude, and Trinity.

 

Matthew Bailey, Ph.D.

Gallery Director
Office: Windgate Art and Design 108
Phone: 479-788-7542
Bio: Dr. Bailey received his PhD in Art History with a major focus on American Art from Washington University in Saint Louis in 2014. He was the recipient of several fellowships during his graduate career, including a fellowship from the Winterthur Museum & Gardens in Winterthur, Delaware, the Henry Luce / American Council of Learned Societies Dissertation Fellowship in American Art, and a Tyson Fellowship at the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Arkansas. He also worked for or collaborated on projects with several museums, including an internship at the Smithsonian Museum of American Art as an undergraduate as well as performing public talks and completing a number of writing projects for the collection and exhibits at the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum at Washington University in Saint Louis. He has been an instructor for several institutions since 2008, having served as a visiting professor at UAFS in 2019 before beginning his current position as Gallery Director in August 2021.

 

Ernest Cialone, M.F.A.

Professor
Office: Windgate Art and Design
Phone: 479-788-7541
Bio: Ernest Cialone holds a B.A. from the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville and a M.F.A. in painting from the University of North Dakota in 1983. After teaching at Jamestown College in 1990, he accepted a position the following year at what would later become UAFS. Since the late '90s, Ernest has concentrated on the graphic arts of drawing and printmaking. He has instituted several new classes for the university’s studio art program including artistic anatomy and upper-level classes in relief, intaglio, and screen printing.

 

Sophia Farmer, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor
Office: Windgate Art and Design 236
Phone: 479-788-7561
Bio: Dr. Sophia Maxine Farmer earned her Ph.D. in 2019 and her M.A. in 2014 from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and her B.A. in 2012 from the University of Toronto. Dr. Farmer specializes in Italian modern art, ecocritical art history, and the socio-political structures that affected the production of artworks during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. She has received numerous fellowships, grants, and awards to fund her research including Postdoctoral Fellowships with the Scholars Program at The Getty Research Institute (2019–2020), a Wolfsonian–Florida International University Fellowship (2018), a Visiting Graduate Student Fellowship at the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Yale University (2018), and a Graduate Fellowship at the Center for Italian Modern Art in New York. Dr. Farmer enjoys teaching a wide range of courses in art history and is committed to promoting the art of underrepresented groups. 

 

Peter Cullum, M.F.A.

Assistant Professor
Office: Windgate Art and Design
Phone: 479-788-7583
Artwork: petercullum.com 
Bio: Born in New Mexico, Peter Cullum grew up just outside of Sallisaw, Oklahoma. He received his A.A. from Westark Community College, B.A. from the University of Arkansas - Fort Smith, a certificate in painting from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, and his M.F.A. from the University of Colorado Boulder. He has taught courses in 2-D design, drawing, color, painting, digital art, digital imaging, and capstone. His artworks are in various private collections and have been exhibited in Pennsylvania, Arkansas, and Colorado.

Dr. Meredith Akins

Interim Department Head/Associate Professor
Office: Math-Science 103
Phone: 479-788-7618
 

Dr. Sandhya Baviskar

Associate Professor
Office: Math-Science 230
Phone: 479-788-7789
 

James Brandli

Instructor
Office: Math-Science 213-B
Phone: 479-788-7823
 

Dr. Thomas M Buchanan

Professor
Office: Math-Science 228
Phone: 479-788-7617

Email: Tom.Buchanan@uafs.edu

Dr. Joshua Burns

Assistant Professor
Office: Math-Science 231
Phone: 479-788-7665
 

Dr. Joey Cornell 

Adjunct Faculty 
Office: Math-Science 213
Phone: 479-788-7746
 

Cassie Duffin

Instructional Lab Manager
Office: Math-Science 238-D
Phone: 479-788-7613
 

Dr. Kristine Garner

Assistant Professor
Office: Math-Science 216
Phone: 479-788-7614
 

Dr. Ragupathy Kannan

Professor
Office: Math-Science 222
Phone: 479-788-7616
 

Roger Lightner

Assistant Professor
Office: Math-Science 238-F
Phone: 479-788-7625
 

Dr. David A McClellan

Professor
Office: Math-Science 226
Phone: 479-788-7959
 

Dr. Becky Mroczek

Associate Professor
Office: Math-Science 220
Phone: 479-788-7964
Email: Becky.Mroczek@uafs.edu

Dr. Jeff Shaver

Associate Professor
Office: Math-Science 224
Phone: 479-788-7609
 

Dr. Amy Skypala

Associate Professor
Office: Math-Science 218
Phone: 479-788-7825

Email: Amy.Skypala@uafs.edu 

 

Biological Sciences Staff

Jennifer Burns

Administrative Specialist
Office: Math-Science 102
Phone: 479-788-7735

Email: Jennifer.Burns@uafs.edu 

Computer Science Faculty

John Hightower

Department Head/Assistant Professor 
Office: Baldor Technology Center 249-A
Phone: 479-788-7883
Email: John.Hightower@uafs.edu
 

Gail Fulenwider

Assistant Professor
Office: Baldor Technology Center 149
Phone: 479-788-7897
Email: Gail.Fulenwider@uafs.edu
 

Andrew Mackey

Instructor
Office: Baldor Technology Center 121-B
Phone: 479-788-7882
Email: Andrew.Mackey@uafs.edu
 

Dr. Brian McLaughlan

Associate Professor
Office: Baldor Technology Center 121-D
Phone: 479-788-7824
Email: Brian.McLaughlan@uafs.edu


Dr. Janet Renwick

Professor
Office: Baldor Technology Center 119-E
Phone: 479-788-7727
Email: Janet.Renwick@uafs.edu


Dr. Brittany Bright

Assistant Professor
Office: Baldor Technology Center 119-C
Phone: 479-488-7876
Email: Brittany.Bright@uafs.edu


Israel Cuevas

Visiting Instructor
Office: Baldor Technology Center 121-A
Phone: 479-488-7886
Email: Israel.Cuevas@uafs.edu
 

Computer Science Staff

Cindy Boyd

Administrative Specialist
Office: Baldor Technology Center 249

Phone: 479-788-7756
Email: Cindy.Boyd@uafs.edu

Dr. Steve Wilson

Department Chair/Associate Professor
Office: Vines 162
Phone: 479-788-7568
Bio: Dr. Wilson is the department chair and an associate professor of criminal justice. He served four years in the U.S. Air Security and seven years as a police officer before earning his Ph.D. in criminal justice in 2005 from the University of Nebraska. He teaches courses related to law enforcement, management and supervision, research methods, statistics, race and ethnicity, and human trafficking. Dr. Wilson's research interests include curriculum development, firearm violence, concealed weapons, attitudes toward the criminal justice system, and organizational policy. He received the James L. Madison Award for Best Published Article in 2012.
 

Dr. Dennis Williams

Assistant Professor
Office: Vines 229
Phone: 479-788-7332
Bio: Dr. Dennis Williams joined UAFS in 2012. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in sociology in 1998 from Louisiana Tech University and a Master of Arts in gerontology in 2001 from the University of Louisiana at Monroe. He received his Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Oklahoma in 2008.
 

Mary Isis Wuestewald

Instructor
Office: Vines 231
Phone: 479-788-7744
Bio: Mary Isis Wuestewald has taught at UAFS since 2010. She received her Bachelor of Arts in psychology from Oakland University and her Master of Science in criminal justice from Wayne State University, where she served as a graduate teaching assistant. She is currently a Ph.D. candidate in criminal justice and criminology at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.
 

Don Balch

Instructor
Office: Gardner 140
Phone: 479-788-7428

Bio: Don Balch is a full-time instructor in the Western Arkansas Technical Center at UAFS. He obtained his Bachelor of Science in occupational education from Southern Illinois University Carbondale in 1983 and his Master of Education from the University of Arkansas in 2011. He served four years in the U.S. Air Force Security Police. After his military service, he joined the Fort Smith Police Department, working in every division of the department during his career. He is a retired corporal from the Fort Smith Police Department where he was a certified crime scene analyst and technician.

Dr. Brian Rice

Assistant Professor
Office: Gardner 133
Phone: 479-788-7427

Bio: Dr. Brian Rice joined UAFS in 2015. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in criminal justice from UALR in 2008 and a Master of Arts in public administration from Arkansas State University in 2014. He received his D.P.A. from Valdosta State University in 2020. Dr. Rice retired in 2108 from the Fort Smith Police Department where he served as a captain in several divisions including Patrol, Criminal Investigations, Administration, and Internal Affairs.

Roxy Wylie

Administrative Specialist III
Office: Gardner 219
Phone: 479-788-7570

Bio: Roxy Wylie is the administrative specialist for the department and a 2021 UAFS alumna with a bachelor's in history. She is pursuing a master's degree in library science with a concentration in archives.

Engineering Faculty

John Hightower

Department Head
Office: Baldor Technology Center 249-A
Phone: 479-788-7883
Email: John.Hightower@uafs.edu
 

Dr. Kevin Lewelling

Professor of Electrical Engineering
Office: Baldor Technology Center 234
Phone: 479-788-7736
Email: Kevin.Lewelling@uafs.edu
 

Nick Huisman

Instructor of Mechanical Engineering
Office: Baldor Technology Center 238
Phone: 479-788-7733
Email: Nick.Huisman@uafs.edu

 

Engineering Staff

Cindy Boyd

Administrative Specialist
Office: Baldor Technology Center 249
Phone: 479-788-7756
Email: Cindy.Boyd@uafs.edu

English, Rhetoric and Writing, and Media Communication Faculty


Charmaine Beleele, M.A.

Adjunct Instructor
 

Erik Carlson, Ph.D.

Associate Professor, Faculty Senate Chair
Office: Vines 113
Phone: 479-788-7535
Bio: Erik Carlson is an associate professor of English.  He specializes in Old English and Germanic philology, and his publications have focused on the literature of Early Medieval England and the development of Old English emotional vocabulary under the influence of ecclesiastical Latin. He is pleased to be teaching Chaucer and History and Development of the English Language as well as composition and literature courses.  His recent publications include an article in Traditio titled “Dryhthelm’s Desire: Gregorian Compunction and Bede’s Celestial Topography” and a chapter in Old English and Continental Germanic Literature in Comparative Perspectives titled “Mæg wið Mæge: Drinking with Beowulf.” His current projects include an article on The Dream of the Rood (under review) and an investigation into the emotional vocabulary of the Heliand, a ninth-century poetic Gospel harmony written in Old Saxon.
 
Jo Carson, M.A.
Adjunct Instructor
 
Rod Carveth, M.A.
Adjunct Instructor
 
Janine Chitty, Ph.D.
Director of English with Teacher Licensure, Associate Professor
Office: Vines 216
Phone: 479-788-7535
Bio: Dr. Janine Chitty is an associate professor of English and English with teacher licensure. She completed her Ph.D. in curriculum and instruction from the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville and has 15 years of experience in the secondary education classroom. She is currently teaching composition, literature, and English undergraduate education courses at UAFS and graduate courses in UAFS Master of Education program. Courses taught include Action Research in Education, Young Adult Multicultural Literature, and Capstone (both graduate and undergraduate). Her research interests include K-12 literacy with an emphasis in multiliteracies and technology in the classroom and curriculum and instructional design. She is currently working on multiple publications and presentations which reflect her research interests.
 
Stacey DuVaul, M.A.
Instructor
Office: Vines 135
Phone: 479-788-7661
Bio: Stacey DuVaul is a Composition instructor in the College of Arts and Sciences.  She earned both a BA in English Education and an MS in College Teaching of English from Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, OK, after completing undergraduate work at Westark College (now UAFS) and OU. She has secondary education certification for Composition, Grammar, and Literature in both Arkansas and Oklahoma and taught all of those, along with Speech/Drama, for several years prior to beginning her teaching career at UAFS in 1992. Besides spending time with family, she loves to write (for pleasure, performance, and publication), study the Bible, teach VBS classes for teens, do charitable work, and raise German Shepherds.  Her philosophy of teaching is that students do not care how much teachers know until they know how much we care, so she strives to help all students feel welcome and be successful.
 
Steven Gattis
Adjunct Instructor

Christian Anton Gerard, Ph.D.

Associate Professor 
Office: Vines 
Phone: 479-788-7560
Bio: Dr. Christian Anton Gerard is an Associate Professor of Rhetoric and Writing and faculty advisor for Applause (The national undergraduate literary arts and culture magazine house at UAFS), a woodworker, a hot rod and boating enthusiast, a lover of lawn-mowing, kayaking, and hiking, and he is the author of two full-length books of poetry, Holdfast (C&R Press) and Wilmot Here, Collect for Stella (WordTech). Gerard’s received Bread Loaf Writers' Conference scholarships, the Iron Horse Literary Review’s Discovered Voices Award, many Pushcart Prize nominations, and he was a 2017 Best of the Net finalist. His creative and critical work appears widely in national and international journals and anthologies. Gerard enthusiastically teaches poetry, fiction, and nonfiction writing with a focus on craft and tradition.
 

Brandon Goldsmith, Ph.D.

Visiting Instructor
Bio: Dr. Brandon Chase Goldsmith, PhD., is a Visiting Instructor of Media Communication. He wrote and produced The Western District play and book. Dr. Goldsmith is the Writer, Co-Producer, and Co-Director for The Western District feature length documentary. He is CEO of BCG Creative Solutions where he designs social media videos and television commercials for small business, politicians, events, and local cities. As a professional speechwriter, he composes major addresses and presentations for political and business leaders throughout the region and across the state. Dr. Goldsmith serves as a Commissioner on the City Advertising and Promotion Commission of Fort Smith, Arkansas. He teaches public speaking, theater, and media communication, including classes on iPhone movie making, editing and media production. Dr. Goldsmith is the President and Co-Founder of the River Valley Film Society, and Executive Director for the Fort Smith International Film Festival. 

 
Joe Hardin, Ph.D.
Professor
Office: Vines 230
Phone: 479-788-7291
Bio: Dr. Joe Hardin is former dean of the College of Languages and Communication at UAFS and was Writing Program Administrator at Western Kentucky University and Northwestern State University.  Dr. Hardin is a former member of the Executive Board of the Council of Writing Program Administrators (2006-2009) and member of the CCCC Committee on Teacher Preparation (2005-2008).  His books include Opening Spaces: Critical Pedagogy and Resistance Theory in Composition (SUNY P) and Choices: Situations for College Writing(Fountainhead P).  Dr. Hardin has published in the areas of writing program administration, composition theory, sound production and composition, and food studies.  Dr. Hardin is also a published songwriter and musician.
 
Kelly Jennings, Ph.D.
Professor
Office: Vines 139
Phone: 479-788-7907
Bio: Dr. Kelly Jennings grew up in New Orleans and did her M.F.A. in fiction and doctorate in comparative literature at the University of Arkansas. Her area of specialty was Roman translations of Greek literature from the Alexandrian era; these days she works in science fiction and popular culture. She works as a part-time editor for the small press Candlemark & Gleam, and has published a number of short stories and three novels.
 
Kevin Jones, Ph.D.
Professor
Office: Vines 111
Phone: 479-788-7429
Bio: Dr. Kevin Jones, Professor, began at UAFS as an adjunct English instructor in 2005 and has served in a full-time position since 2007. His teaching interests include English education courses, American and British literature, composition, Communication and Cultural Studies, and Theatre. His research areas include American and British cultural and historical studies. He completed his Ph.D. in English from the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville in May 2011. He has taught English, speech, communication, humanities, and theatre at the junior high through university levels since 1997 in Missouri, Oklahoma, and Arkansas. He also holds a B.S. in Education, specializing in speech, theatre, and English, and a M.A. in theatre from Missouri State University (formerly Southwest Missouri State University) in Springfield, Missouri. He is the author of two books on Fort Smith history, numerous articles on local and national history, the importance of archives, music and film studies, and is the Coordinator of the UAFS/Sebastian County Archives Project and Director of The Local Color Radio Hour, which highlights local culture and history.
 

Macy Jones, M.A.

Adjunct Instructor
 
Mitzi Jones, M.A.
Assistant Professor
Office: Vines 138
Phone: 479-788-7550
Bio: Ms. Mitzi Jones began teaching full-time at UAFS in 1999 and has taught all the general education courses offered in English, rhetoric, and writing at least a couple of times each,  most in both traditional classrooms and online. She has been pursuing a Ph.D. in rhetoric and composition at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville since 2008. Her research areas include composition pedagogy, writing program administration, and assessment. She is also the immediate past president of The Montessori School of Fort Smith, where her children have attended school since 2005. 
 
Lindsy Lawrence, Ph.D.
Department Chair, Professor
Office: Vines 133
Phone: 479-788-7266
Bio: Dr. Lindsy Lawrence is a Professor of English. She has published work on Elizabeth Gaskell, serial poetry publication, and Neo-Victorian themes in contemporary television series such as Downton Abbey and Doctor Who. Her recent publications include a chapter on women poets in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine in Women, Periodicals and Print Culture in Britain, 1830s-1900s: The Victorian Period (2019) and a forthcoming essay on poetry in Belgravia and collaboration with undergraduate researchers. Her book project utilizes archival research, digital bibliographic studies, and computational analysis to explore the work of women poets in the new monthly literary miscellanies of the Romantic Victorian period. She teaches a variety of courses in cultural studies, digital humanities, and eighteenth and nineteenth-century British literature. She is Co-Director of the Periodical Poetry Index, periodicalpoetry.org.periodicalpoetry.org.
 

Erin Lawson-Virtue, M.A.

Adjunct Instructor
 

Ann-Gee Lee, Ph.D.

Professor
Office: Vines 148
Phone: 479-788-7363
Bio: Ann-Gee Lee teaches the first-year composition courses Composition I with an emphasis on culture and Composition II with an emphasis on disability studies. She also teaches various rhetoric courses and courses for the teaching English as a second language certificate: ENGL/FORL 4333 Second Language Assessment as well as Literature of Diverse Cultures, which has a focus on Asian-American influences. Her research interests comprise publications and presentations on women’s studies, civic discourse, covert rhetoric (secret codes, scripts/ languages, silence, body rhetoric, civic disobedience), popular culture (film, television, and music study), ESL theory and pedagogy, multi-genre writing, multiliteracies, multiculturalism, and play in the classroom.
 

Monica Luebke, Ph.D.

Professor, Director of Writing
Office: Vines 132
Phone: 479-788-7966
Bio: Dr. Monica Luebke completed her M.A. in English at Stephen F. Austin State University and her Ph.D. in rhetoric and composition at the University of Louisville where she specialized in rhetorical history and theory, composition theory and pedagogy, writing-across-the-curriculum, and writing program administration. She currently serves as the director of writing and rhetoric at UAFS, teaching upper-division courses in rhetoric as well as Composition I and II. Her writing pedagogy is process-oriented, student-centered, and always aimed at enacting change. She teaches her students that effective writing solves problems in a variety of contexts and asks her students to write in response to rhetorical situations outside the classroom, encouraging them to use their writing to become agents of social change.
 

Mary Lutze, Ph.D.

Writing Center Director, Assistant Professor
Office: Vines
Phone: 479-788-7227
Bio: Dr. Mary Lutze is an Assistant Professor of English and the Director of the UAFS Writing Center. Prior to joining the faculty at UAFS, Dr. Lutze held the position of Writing Center Associate Director at Loyola University Chicago, where she earned her Ph.D. in English in May 2020. She has presented and published essays in several academic areas of interest, including Early Modern English literature, Disability Studies, Writing Center theory and practice, and Deaf Theatre. In her courses, she highlights literary and dramatic texts that challenge conventional understandings of representation, subjectivity, normalcy, and the monstrous. In her downtime, she enjoys creating chalkboard art; trying new restaurants in Fort Smith with Dr. Lee; and tending the numerous (and hilariously named) plants in the Writing Center and at home. Odds are, you will find her streaming music in her office as she brainstorms how best to assist UAFS students in achieving academic success. 
 

Kimberly Robinson, D.A.

Professor
Office: Vines 137
Phone: 479-788-7678
Bio: Dr. Kimberly Robinson is a professor and holds a Doctor of Arts in English from Idaho State University with an emphasis on rhetoric and composition, bibliography, and 18th-century British literature. She is a peer reviewer for Higher Learning Commission Quality Initiative Proposals and serves on the university’s reaffirmation of accreditation senior leadership team. She has been a grant writer and an administrator and is certified to write technical and administrative procedure. Her recent publications include co-authored articles entitled “Beyond the On-Campus Humanities Learning Experience: A Case Study in Utilizing Assessment Tools in an On-line Dance Studies Course” (Interdisciplinary Humanities, 31.1) and “Student Learning Outcomes: Changes in the Playing Field” (The International Journal of Pedagogy and Curriculum, 19.2). She enjoys traveling to visit sites of literary, archaeological, and historical significance, backyard birding, and restoring vintage linens.
 

Amanda Schafer, Ph.D.

Adjunct Instructor
 

Dennis Siler, Ph.D.

Professor
Office: Vines 224-A
Phone: 479-788-7537
Bio: Dennis Siler is an associate professor with a Ph.D. in English from the University of Arkansas with an emphasis on Shakespeare and Renaissance literature and drama. His M.A. in English is from Wake Forest University. His book "The Influence of the Roman Poet Ovid on Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream" was published by Mellen Press in 2010. Another book, a collection of scholarly essays entitled "Parley P. Pratt and the Making of Mormonism," which he co-edited with two colleagues, was Published by Arthur Clark Company (a division of O.U. Press) in November 2011. His research interests include Renaissance drama, performance pedagogy, and period music as well as Native American literature. His most recent projects involve the alchemical drama in English literature from Shakespeare to J.K. Rowling. In his spare time, he builds musical instruments and attempts to play them.
 

Susan Simkowski, Ph.D.

Adjunct Instructor
 

Nicki Reamer Stancil, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor
Office: Ballman-Speer
Phone: 479-788-7539
Bio: Dr. Nicki is an Assistant Professor of Media Communication, one of the UAFS eSports coaches, and the 2021 Lucille Speakman Master Teacher Award recipient. Originally a first-generation student from Ohio, she earned her BA in Communication Studies (emphasizing Journalism) from the University of Toledo, her MA in Communication Studies from Kent State University, and her PhD in American Culture Studies (emphasizing Critical Film and Media) and a graduate certificate in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality studies from Bowling Green State University. Her research emphasizes critical, feminist perspectives on new media, digital spaces, and popular television, and the myriad ways audiences/viewers/users interact with these media to build and maintain culture, community, and identity. In her classrooms, she focuses on compassionate, cooperative pedagogy to build open and engaging learning environments.
 

Jennifer Stewart, M.D.

Adjunct Instructor
Email: Jennifer.Stewart@uafs.edu

 

Bret Strauch, Ph.D.

Associate Professor
Office: Ball-Speer 107-A
Phone: 479-788-7971
Bio: Dr. Bret Strauch is an associate professor in the English, Rhetoric, and Writing Department. He earned his doctorate from Bowling Green State University, specializing in digital writing and multimodal composition, writing pedagogy, and rhetorical theory. Recently his research has turned toward investigating the phenomena and genre of the internet meme. He is currently examining the internet meme as a space for gender politics and discourse, specifically examining the ways in which the genre subverts, redefines, and mediates notions of modern masculinity.
 

Dusan Stojanovic, M.A.

Adjunct Instructor
Email: Dusan.Stojanovic@uafs.edu

 

Cammie Sublette, Ph.D.

Professor
Office: Vines  226
Phone: 479-788-7615
Bio: Dr. Cammie Sublette has been at UAFS since 2003 and was department head for more than 7 of those years. She teaches Comp I, Comp II, and a range of literature and film courses, including Introduction to Literary and Cultural Studies, Introduction to Film, 20th Century American Literature, The Short Story, The Novel, Postmodernism, African American Literature, Popular Culture, Major Author Studies: Toni Morrison, Horror Films, Food in Film & Literature, Major Author Studies: Mark Twain, and 21st Century Monsters. Her research interests span all sorts of cultural studies areas, including food studies and race and gender representation in film and literature.  Dr. Sublette has recent publications appearing in the collections Horror Comes Home: Essays on Hauntings, Possessions and Other Domestic Terrors in Cinema and The Politics of Horror. Sublette has a forthcoming essay in Beyond the Living Dead: Essays on the Romero Legacy.  Dr. Sublette is also the co-editor of Devouring Cultures: Perspectives on Food, Power, and Identity from the Zombie Apocalypse to Downton Abbey. https://www.amazon.com/Devouring-Cultures-Perspectives-Identity-Apocalypse/dp/1557286914. Dr. Sublette is also the UAFS Title III SIP Grant Director. 
 

Carolyn Thompson, M.A.

Senior Instructor
Office: Vines
Phone: 479-788-7364
Bio: Carolyn Thompson is a native of Dardanelle and joined UAFS in fall 2010. She is currently teaching Introduction to Speech and mass communication courses in the Media Communication Department. Her academic interests include professional public speaking, group communication, and academic strategies.
 

Jeffery Warndof, M.A.

Clinical Instructor - Writing Center
Office: Vines
Phone: 479-788-7526
Bio: Mr. Jeffrey Warndorf's prior experience includes teaching freshman composition as a graduate assistant, teaching English in South Korea, and working as an Academic Advisor at the University of Arkansas at Monticello. He holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Creative Writing and a Master of Arts in TESOL. In his spare time, he enjoys writing screenplays, cooking, gardening, and watching LeBron dominate.
 

Terri Wells, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor
Office: Vines 136
Phone: 479-788-7425
Bio: Dr. Terri Wells earned her Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin. In her academic journey, she has studied literature, historic preservation, linguistics, and TESL. While at UAFS, she has taught courses in speech, communication, literature, language, language education, and composition. Her current interests include usability and accessibility in online learning and training; business, technical, scientific and medical writing; and language in the workplace. In her spare time she enjoys dabbling in family history research and working on jigsaw puzzles.
 

Carol Westcamp-Sessums, Ph.D.

Professor
Office: Vines 134
Phone: 479-788-7533
Bio: Dr. Carol Westcamp-Sessums has been teaching full time at UAFS since 2000, helping students improve their writing and understanding of literature. Her specialty is in American literature, specifically American drama and literature of place/environment. Dr. Westcamp has developed and teaches a variety of online courses, from freshman composition to the introduction to literature courses, as well as upper level English courses for both the undergraduate and graduate programs. She has taught a variety of classes on drama, short story, Tennessee Williams, absurdist literature, environmental literature, and even reality television. She strives to find innovative techniques in her classes as well as building communities even in the online courses.
 

Sarah Winterberg, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor
Office: Vines
Phone: 479-788-7365
Bio: Dr. Sarah Griffith Winterberg, Assistant Professor of English at the University of Arkansas Fort Smith, is a first generation college graduate and the first person from her hometown of Johnson Bayou, Louisiana to receive a PhD. Her dissertation titled, “Composition Instructors’ Interactions with Classroom Discourse Communities: A Qualitative Study” provided insight into the writing challenges facing first generation students and other at-risk students. Her background motivates her research in pedagogy and mindfulness studies. She teaches a variety of courses in composition, rhetoric, workplace writing, and editing. She serves as the faculty advisor for the Garden Club of UAFS to promote students to learn mindfulness practices and sustainable living practices. She is a RYT200, yoga instructor with Yoga Alliance. She is also a member of the National Council of Teachers of English, College Composition and Communication, and Arkansas Council of Teachers of English and Language Arts, where she serves as the editor of the Arkansas English Journal beginning with the Spring 2022 edition. 
 

Laura Witherington, Ph.D.

Associate Professor 
Office: Vines 147
Phone: 479-788-7294
Bio: Dr. Laura Witherington has taught in university English and education departments since 1998. Her primary research field is 19th-century American literature and popular culture. Her publications have explored Home Box Office series, intellectual labor, the extra-diegetic life of texts in film, Disney's use of Jane Austen's themes, and pedagogy for k-16 classrooms. She's currently researching West Point in popular nineteenth-century narratives; and Henry James's and Edith Wharton's use of New York urban landscapes. 
 
 
 

English, Rhetoric, and Writing & Media Communication Staff

 

Taylor Wright

Administrative Specialist II
Office: Vines
Phone: 479-788-7557
Bio: Ms. Taylor Wright is the administrative specialist for the department, and she is a UAFS alumna holding an interdisciplinary Bachelor's degree in biology, math, and education.  She is currently working on a Master's degree in library and information studies.
 

History, Social Sciences, and Philosophy Faculty

Dr. Steven Kite

Department Head/Associate Professor
Office: Gardner Building, Room 215
Phone: 479-788-7362
Email: Steve.Kite@uafs.edu

 

Dr. Ben Anderson

Instructor
Office: Echols 113-B
Phone: 479-788-7513
Email: Ben.Anderson@uafs.edu

 

Dr. Eric Baker

Assistant Professor
Office: Vines 114
Phone: 479-788-7579
Email: Eric.Baker@uafs.edu

Dr. Svetla Dimitrova

Assistant Professor
Office: Vines 110
Phone: 479-788-7531
Email: Svetla.Dimitrova@uafs.edu

Billy Higgins

Associate Professor
Office: Gardner 222
Phone: 479-788-7588
Email: Billy.Higgins@uafs.edu

 

Dr. Daniel Maher

Professor / Diversity Studies Minor Degree Coordinator
Office: Gardner 226
Phone: 479-788-7572
Email: Daniel.Maher@uafs.edu

 

Dr. Matt McCoy

Associate Professor
Office: Gardner 223
Phone: 479-788-7565
Email: Matt.McCoy@uafs.edu

 

Dr. Joshua Packwood

Associate Professor
Office: Gardner 233
Phone: 479-788-7571
Email: Joshua.Packwood@uafs.edu

 

Dr. Evan C. Rothera

Assistant Professor
Office: Gardner 218
Phone: 479-788-7243
Email: Evan.Rothera@uafs.edu

 

Dr. Todd Timmons

Professor
Office: Vines 109
Phone: 479-788-7630
Email: Todd.Timmons@uafs.edu

 

Tom Wing

Director of the Drennen-Scott Historic Site/Assistant Professor
Office: Drennen-Scott House
Phone: 479-262-2750
Email: Tom.Wing@uafs.edu

 

Dr. Williams Yamkam

Associate Professor
Office: Vines 112
Phone: 479-788-7981
Email: Williams.Yamkam@uafs.edu

 

History, Social Sciences, and Philosophy Staff

Roxy Wylie

Administrative Specialist
Office: Gardner 219
Phone: 479-788-7570
Email: Roxy.Wylie@uafs.edu

 

Shelley Blanton

Archivist - The Pebley Center
Office: Boreham Library 137
Phone: 479-788-7213
Email: Shelley.Blanton@uafs.edu

Mathematics Staff

Dr. Linus Yu

Associate Dean/Department Head
Office: Math-Science 112
Phone: 479-788-7415
Email: Linus.Yu@uafs.edu

 

Sarah Durham

Senior Instructor
Office: Math-Science 211-A
Phone: 479-788-7668
Email: Sarah.Durham@uafs.edu

 

Emily Foss

Assistant Professor
Office: Math-Science 221
Phone: 479-788-7419
Email: Emily.Foss@uafs.edu

 

Steve Henderson

Assistant Professor
Office: Math-Science 315
Phone: 479-788-7163
Email: Steve.Henderson@uafs.edu

 

Dr. Brandon Hutchison

Assistant Professor
Office: Math-Science 217
Phone: 479-788-7414
Email: Brandon.Hutchison@uafs.edu

 

Dr. Chizuko Iwaki

Assistant Professor
Office: Math-Science 223
Phone: 479-788-7629
Email: Chizuko.Iwaki@uafs.edu

 

Dr. Jack Jackson II

Professor
Office: Math-Science 229
Phone: 479-788-7620
Email: Jack.Jackson@uafs.edu

 

Grizel Macias Mendez

Instructor
Office: Math-Science 238-B
Phone: 479-788-7628
Email: Grizel.MaciasMendez@uafs.edu

 

Casey McEver

Senior Instructor
Office: Math-Science 211-B
Phone: 479-788-7666
Email: Casey.McEver@uafs.edu

 

Dr. Kayla Murray

Assistant Professor
Office: Math-Science 238-C
Phone: 479-788-7626
Email: Kayla.Murray@uafs.edu

 

Roberta Parks

Assistant Professor
Office: Math-Science 238-A
Phone: 479-788-7777
Email: Roberta.Parks@uafs.edu

 

Dr. Myron Rigsby

Associate Professor
Office: Math-Science 227
Phone: 479-788-7632
Email: Myron.Rigsby@uafs.edu

 

Dr. Noel Sagullo

Associate Professor
Office: Math-Science 219
Phone: 479-788-7934
Email: Noel.Sagullo@uafs.edu

 

Robbin Stockton

Instructor
Office: Math-Science 238-E
Phone: 479-788-7606
Email: Robbin.Stockton@uafs.edu

 

Dr. Daiho Uhm

Associate Professor
Office: Math-Science 225
Phone: 479-788-7636
Email: Daiho.Uhm@uafs.edu

 

Dr. Jerry West

Assistant Professor
Office: Math-Science 215
Phone: 479-788-7654
Email: Jerry.West@uafs.edu

 

Mathematics Staff

Julie Martin

Administrative Assistant
Office: Math-Science 112
Phone: 479-788-7960
Email: Julie.Martin@uafs.edu

Music Faculty

Dr. Andrew DeBoer

Interim Department Head/James and Ann Bumpass Distinguished Chair of Music/Associate Professor
Office: Breedlove 206-A
Phone: 479-788-7547
Website: andrewdeboer.com 
Bio: Hailed for his "impressive array of colors and moods," Andrew DeBoer is an associate professor of music for clarinet and interim department head. He serves as principal clarinetist with the Fort Smith Symphony and regularly plays with the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra. He has also performed with such orchestras as the Arizona Opera and the Phoenix Symphony Orchestra and soloed with the Hastings Symphony and 43rd Army Band. DeBoer is passionate about teaching, with some of his former students accepted at such prestigious schools as the Cleveland Institute of Music, New York University, Arizona State, Vanderbilt, and Ohio State. DeBoer has recorded several solo albums and can be heard on the Fort Smith Symphony's critically acclaimed album of Florence Price symphonies. DeBoer completed both his Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees at Arizona State University and earned a Bachelor of Music at Hastings College. He has completed additional studies with Pascual Martinez-Forteza (New York Philharmonic Orchestra), Susan Warner (Chicago Lyric Opera), and Bill King (Michigan Opera Theatre Orchestra), among others.
 
 

Don Bailey

Director of Jazz Studies / Associate Professor - Music
Office: Breedlove 109
Phone: 479-788-7554
Bio: Don Bailey joined the teaching staff in 1985 and helped to develop the curriculum for a jazz studies concentration associated with the Bachelor of Arts in Music. He teaches all of the core music theory courses as well as orchestration and composition and also directs the vocal jazz group and jazz lab ensemble. Under his direction, the award-winning Jazz Catz vocal ensemble continues to perform for the community, in area schools, and at jazz festivals. Bailey is active as a clinician and adjudicator throughout Arkansas and Oklahoma. He developed the first comprehensive summer jazz band camp in Arkansas and a jazz improv for strings camp for orchestral strings — one of only a handful in the country. Bailey received his formative music education performing as a freelance musician in New York and his home state of New Jersey. He earned his Bachelor of Music Education from Iowa Wesleyan College and his Master of Arts in Music from the University of Northern Iowa where he was a teaching assistant in jazz studies under Dr. Bob Washut. He performs in his own combo throughout the state and is the director and saxophonist for the Kool Cats Jazz Quartet, an outreach of the Fort Smith Symphony.
 
 

Terri Bailey

Staff Accompanist
Office: Breedlove 117
Phone: 479-788-7974
Bio: Terri Bailey is the staff accompanist for the UAFS Department of Music and Theatre. Her duties include providing piano accompaniment for the University Chorale, Women's Chorus, Jazz Band, and Jazz Catz as well as for junior and senior recitals, studio classes, private lessons, and weekly recitals. She received a Bachelor of Music Education in pipe organ from the University of Nebraska - Lincoln and then taught elementary music and beginning band in the Iowa and Nebraska Public School systems for 10 years. After moving to Fort Smith, she became a freelance musician and private piano instructor. She has accompanied the Fort Smith Public Schools for 35 years. She and her husband, Don, are co-founders of New Song Music Company, which publishes their original music compositions. She provides piano accompaniment for for various local churches, community recitals, and solo/ensemble contests and is a member of the Don Bailey Jazz Combo and the Kool Cats Jazz Quartet, an outreach of the Fort Smith Symphony.

 

Jarrett Bastow

Adjunct Instructor - String Bass
Email: Jarrett.Bastow@uafs.edu
Website: jarrettbastow.com
Bio: Jarrett Bastow is a professional bassist based in Tulsa, Oklahoma, originally from Albany, New York. He is a section bassist for the Tulsa Symphony, assistant principal bass for the Springfield (Missouri) Symphony Orchestra, and principal bass for the Symphony of Northwest Arkansas. His Suzuki training began at Northwestern University. He has also taught with the Symphony of Northwest Arkansas, Tulsa and Bartlesville public school districts respectively, the bART Conservatory of Music, and Brigham Young University. He is currently teaching for Harmony Project Tulsa. Jarrett received his Bachelor and Master of Music in double bass performance from Ithaca College and Northwestern University, respectively. He also holds a Master of Arts in leadership and cultural management from Colorado State University. His certifications include a graduate certificate in change management from Cornell University and a certificate in grant proposal writing from Fort Hays State University.

 

Damian Cheek

Adjunct Instructor - Saxophone
Email: Damian.Cheek@uafs.edu
Bio: Damian Cheek is an emerging saxophonist, educator, and music theorist currently based in Fort Smith. He is nearing completion of a doctorate in musical arts and master’s in music theory from the University of Oklahoma, and holds a master’s in music from Oklahoma State University (2016) and a bachelor’s in music education from Tennessee Tech University (2014). Damian has been recognized as an award-winning soloist and chamber performer, having performed as a soloist with various ensembles locally, nationally, and internationally. As a proponent of chamber music, Damian strives to broaden the range of music for the saxophone through arrangements and commissioning works by young composers. 

 

Louann Dooly

Adjunct Instructor - Humanities / Bassoon
Phone: 479-788-7530

Bio: Louann Dooly received her undergraduate degree in music education - vocal and instrumental education from Arkansas Tech University and her master’s degree in conducting from the University of Central Arkansas. She has performed with many workshops, symphonies, orchestras, and musical groups across the state and is the double reed instructor for area River Valley schools as well as the assistant choir director at First United Methodist Church in Fort Smith.

 

David Holland

Adjunct Instructor - Guitar, Music Appreciation, and Humanities
Bio:
 

Ginny Hudson

Senior Instructor
Office: Breedlove 206-B
Phone: 479-788-7536
Bio: Virginia Hudson teaches the flute studio and directs the Flute Choir. Members of her flute studio have been state, regional, and national winners in Music Teacher’s National Association and National Flute Association competitions and frequently earn spots in competitive summer masterclasses and orchestral institutes. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in music, magna cum laude, from Arkansas Tech University and a Master of Music in flute performance from the Longy School of Music. She has played in masterclasses for such well-renowned flutists as Fenwick Smith, Jeffrey Khaner, Sandra Church, Tadeo Coelho, Gary Schocker, and Aralee Dorough and is an active performer in the region, playing piccolo and flute with the Fort Smith Symphony. While in Boston, she performed as assistant principal flute with the Lowell House Opera Orchestra at Harvard University and as a soloist and freelancer in the greater Boston area. She is also a member of the UAFS Woodwind Faculty trio, which regularly tours the state performing chamber recitals for members of Arkansas school band programs, and frequently serves as an adjudicator for regional and state solo and ensemble assessments in Arkansas and Oklahoma and all-region and all-state competitions.
 
 

Dr. Stephen Husarik

Professor - Humanities / Music History
Office: Breedlove 212
Phone: 479-788-7555
Email: Stephen.Husarik@uafs.edu
Bio: Dr. Stephen Husarik has authored and/or contributed to more than a half dozen books, co-edited 30 issues of Interdisciplinary Humanities (2009-2020), and published more than 30 learned articles in the area of music history. In addition, Husarik has lectured on Beethoven’s music in almost three dozen venues from Beijing to Rome.  He is the first to discover “The Psycho Theme” in music for the film of that title, de-code Vladimir Horowitz’s “Carmen Variations” from the piano roll, author a survey of 2,000 American keyboard players, and uncover dramatic envelopes in the form of several Beethoven compositions. As head carillonneur of the Donald W. Reynold’s Bell Tower and Carillon, he has performed more than 300 weekly Sunday concerts and was the dedicatee of an original UAFS fight song arrangement by celebrated carillonneur Aimee Lombaert. He is currently working on a digital transcription of Archduke Rudolph’s MUSIKALIEN REGISTER (Katalog Nr. 9) in cooperation with the Geszellschaft Für Musikfreunde, Archiv – Bibliothek, Wien. This open access source will make the archduke’s massive collection of music available to scholars worldwide. 

 

Shalon Lester

Adjunct Instructor - Piano
Email: Shalon.Lester@uafs.edu
Bio: Hsin-I "Shalon" Lester was born in Tainan, Taiwan, and began studying piano at the age of 3. She went on to study and pursue her music career at Tainan University of Technology music school, where she earned her five-year junior college music program. During this period she was frequently given the “Excellent Performance” award in the piano performance exam. In 2007 she moved to the U.S. and continued her passion of piano at Oklahoma City University, earning both a bachelor's and master's in piano performance. Shalon currently performs with the Fort Smith Symphony and, along with her husband, leads music at Heritage Church.

Dr. Elizabeth Momand

Professor - Voice
Office: Breedlove 204-C
Phone: 479-788-7540
Email: Elizabeth.Momand@uafs.edu
Bio: Elizabeth Blanton Momand, soprano, directs the Opera and Musical Theatre Workshop and teaches applied voice, vocal pedagogy, diction, secondary vocal methods and materials, and aural skills. She received her Bachelor of Music and Master of Music in vocal performance from Mississippi College where she was an active performer of chamber and solo recital music. She completed her Doctorate of Musical Arts in vocal performance at the University of Texas at Austin. As a soprano soloist, Dr. Momand has performed numerous oratorio roles with orchestra. Her students at UAFS have been winners of state, regional, national, and international competitions and scholarships, and many have been admitted to prestigious graduate programs and summer festivals across the United States and abroad. Dr. Momand is an active researcher on the music of women composers and has presented her peer-reviewed work at the regional, national, and international levels of prestigious professional organizations. Dr. Momand has been recognized for her work both as an educator and scholar. She is the current president of the South Central Chapter of the College Music Society and has served as governor, president, vice-president, and secretary of the Arkansas chapter of the National Association of Teachers of Singing and is a trained accreditation visitor for the National Association of Schools of Music.

Dr. Ryan Patterson

Visiting Assistant Professor - Percussion
Office: Breedlove 204-A
Phone: 479-788-7581
Email: Ryan.Patterson@uafs.edu
Bio: Dr. Ryan Patterson is a percussionist and educator based in Fort Smith. At UAFS he oversees private instruction for percussionists, directs the UAFS Percussion Ensemble and the Lions Athletic Band, and is the instructor for music technology. He previously served as performer and director of The Pans of Texas steel pan ensemble based on the University of Texas – Austin campus and has performed and studied with the Saakamu Dance Troupe  at the Bernard Woma Dagara Music Center and the Dagbe Cultural Institute, both in Ghana. Dr. Patterson is an active performer and presenter and holds a Bachelor of Music from Furman University, a Master of Music from the University of Missouri, and a Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of Texas.

 

Dr. Scott Tomlison

Associate Professor - Music / Coordinator - Music Education
Office: Breedlove 204-B
Phone: 479-788-7538
Email: Scott.Tomlison@uafs.edu
Bio: Dr. Scott Tomlison's duties include supervising student teachers, teaching methods courses, and conducting the Jazz Band and Brass Ensemble. Prior to his appointment at UAFS, he was the coordinator of music education and chair of the D’Angelo Department of Music at Mercyhurst University in Erie, Pennsylvania. He taught public school music for a total of nine years in Missouri, Kentucky, and Ohio. His previous collegiate experience also includes director of bands at McPherson College and Manchester University and assistant conductor of the University of Missouri Wind Ensemble and Concert Band, as well as drill writer for “Marching Mizzou” and the Murray State University Marching Band. He has also served on the brass staff for various drum and bugle corps in Ohio, Tennessee, Connecticut, and Louisiana. His research interests include using recordings as models in the rehearsal setting, concert program development, and ensemble grading practices. He holds a Bachelor of Music Education from Eastern Kentucky University, a Master of Music Education from Murray State, and a Ph.D. in curriculum and instruction from the University of Missouri-Columbia.

Dr. Timothy Workman

Director of Choral Activities / Associate Professor - Voice
Office: Breedlove 113
Phone: 479-788-7543
Email: Timothy.Workman@uafs.edu
Bio: Timothy James Workman conducts the Leonis Chamber Singers, the university’s elite ensemble, as well as the UAFS Women’s Chorus and has been integral in the formation of a brand new men’s chorus, which started in the fall of 2019. He was previously selected by the Arkansas Choral Directors Association to direct the Arkansas Region 4 Senior High Mixed Choir for All Region Convention and judge the Region 6 Choral Performance Assessments. He has led several outreach initiatives including a summer vocal workshop and the formation of two a cappella groups. He holds a bachelor's in vocal performance and a master's in choral conducting from Brigham Young University and a doctorate in choral conducting from the University of Texas at Austin. Before coming to Arkansas, he was the director of choral studies at Florida State College at Jacksonville. He has enjoyed success as a community choir director and has a growing career as a tenor and counter-tenor soloist.

 

Dr. Alexandra Zacharella

Director of Bands / Associate Professor - Low Brass
Office: Breedlove 116
Phone: 479-788-7972
Email: Alex.Zacharella@uafs.edu
Bio: A native of New Jersey, Alexandra Zacharella holds a Doctor of Musical Arts in trombone performance from the University of Southern California's Thornton School of Music with minors in conducting, music education, and jazz studies; a Master of Music in trombone performance from the University of Michigan; and a Bachelor of Music in trombone performance and music education from the University of Hartford's The Hartt School. Zacharella is an active low brass and wind ensemble clinician and has presented clinics and masterclasses, performances, and research at clinics, conferences, and festivals across the country and around the world. Zacharella is a Bach Artist and a Signature Artist for Warburton and currently serves as the president-elect of the College Music Society - South Central Chapter and on the International Initiatives Committee for the College Music Society.

 

Theatre Faculty

Pablo Guerra-Monje

Professor/Production Designer
Office: Breedlove 220
Phone: 479-788-7693
Bio: Pablo Guerra-Monje studied Applied Arts in sculpture at Escuela de Artes Aplicadas La Palma of Madrid before attending Spain’s Royal School for Dramatic Arts to study scenography. He moved to the United States and earned his Master of Fine Arts with a concentration in scenic design from the University of Memphis. He worked at the National Hispanic Cultural Center in Albuquerque, New Mexico and the Santa Fe (New Mexico) Opera. After teaching at the High School level, he joined the faculty at UAFS in 2008. He has been awarded state, regional, and national awards from the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival and the Association of Theatre in Higher Education and has presented his work at the Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design and Space 2011 in Prague and the 2017 World Stage Design exhibit in Taipei. 
 
 

Stephen Copeland

Technical Director
Office: Breedlove 120
Phone: 479-788-7589
Bio: Recognized by the Classroom Teacher Associations of Fort Smith and the Arkansas State Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival, Stephen Copeland has been working in the theatre of Northwest Arkansas for the last two decades. He has been the technical director for Southside High School Theatre, chief field task manager for G and G Solutions, and head carpenter for NI Productions. He has also worked with the Western Arkansas Ballet, Alma Performing Art Center, Academy for the Arts, Community School of the Arts, Fort Smith Symphony, Van Buren Performing Arts Center, and Young Actors Guild in addition to collaborating with Fort Smith Little Theatre, ArcBest Performing Art Center, and UAFS Season of Entertainment.
 

Melissa Schoenfeld

Adjunct Instructor - Dance

Bio: Melissa Schoenfeld has been with Western Arkansas Ballet for 29 years. Previous to joining WAB, she earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in fine arts - ballet pedagogy from the University of Oklahoma, one of the top dance departments in the country. She has performed with Oklahoma Festival Ballet Company, Renaissance Festival Featured Presentation on PBS Television, and with Western Arkansas Ballet. Under her direction WAB Company auditioned and was asked to become a performing member of Regional Dance America/Southwest, a national organization of regional ballet companies.

Sally Story

Assistant Professor/Director
Office: Breedlove 111
Phone: 479-788-7303
Bio: Sally has been teaching in higher education for almost 20 years and directing theatre for 30 years. Prior to joining the faculty at UAFS, Sally Story taught at Midwestern State University, Concordia College, Lock Haven University, Mount Aloysius College, James Madison University, Randolph College, and Temple University. She has a B.A. in theatre/English from James Madison University and a M.F.A. in directing from Temple University. Favorite productions she has directed include LES MISÉRABLES, PERFECT ARRANGEMENT, BIG FISH, THE GOD OF HELL, and OUR TOWN.

Physical Sciences Faculty

Dr. Sayo Fakayode

Department Head/Professor
Office: Math-Science 102
Phone: 479-788-7622
Email: Sayo.Fakayode@uafs.edu

Brian Abbott

Senior Instructor - Chemistry
Office: Math-Science 318
Phone: 479-788-7391
 

Dr. Souvik Banerjee

Assistant Professor - Chemistry
Office: Math-Science 317
Phone: 479-788-7826
Email: Souvik.Banerjee@uafs.edu 

Dr. Jim Belcher

Associate Professor - Physics
Office: Math-Science 313
Phone: 479-788-7968


Dr. David Burkey

Assistant Professor - Chemistry
Office: Math-Science 320
Phone: 479-788-7793
Email: David.Burkey@uafs.edu

Dr. James Christiansen

Assistant Professor - Physics
Office: Math-Science 328
Phone: 479-788-7969

 

Dr. Nawa Dahal

Assistant Professor - Physics
Office: Math-Science 325
Phone: 479-788-7641
 

Dr. Jeremy Durchman

Assistant Professor - Chemistry
Office: Math-Science 316
Phone: 479-788-7963
 

Chris Knubley

Assistant Professor - Geoscience
Office: Math-Science 326
Phone: 479-788-7637
 

Dr. Jordan Mader

Assistant Professor - Chemistry
Office: Math-Science 322
Phone: 479-788-7671
 

Dr. Dave Mayo

Associate Professor - Geoscience
Office: Math-Science 329
Phone: 479-788-7646


Dr. Archana Mishra

Assistant Professor - Chemistry
Office: Math-Science 330
Phone: 479-788-7638

Dr. Maurice Testa

Assistant Professor - Geoscience
Office: Math-Science 327

Phone: 479-788-7718
Email: Maurice.Testa@uafs.edu

 

Physical Sciences Staff

Jennifer Burns

Administrative Specialist
Office: Math-Science 102

Phone: 479-788-7735
Email: Jennifer.Burns@uafs.edu

 

Dr. Michael Comer

Lab Coordinator
Office: Math-Science 339
Phone: 479-788-7621
Email: Michael.Comer@uafs.edu

Mary Sobhani, Ph.D.

Department Head/Associate Professor
Office: Vines 219
Phone: 479-788-7979
Bio: Born in Costa Rica, Dr. Mary A. Sobhani brings to our department a rich background in international work and study. As an undergraduate student, Dr. Sobhani studied at the Universidad de Santiago de Compostela in Galicia, Spain, as part of her Bachelor of Arts in Spanish. A graduate of the Ivy League's University of Pennsylvania as well as the University of Arkansas, Dr. Sobhani now serves as head of the World Languages Department.  
 
In addition to her love for teaching, she also serves as the founder and managing editor of Azahares, UAFS’s premier Spanish-language in-house publication. Her areas of interest include U.S. Latino literature, post-secular studies, and Spanish pedagogy. Her recent publications include “'God, too, has His Jests’: The Postsecular Role of Humor in Luis Alberto Urrea’s 'The Hummingbird’s Daughter'” in Hispanic Studies Review and “Piloting a New Framework for Unit Cohesion” in The Department Chair. 
 

Gray Langston, M.A.

Adjunct Faculty
Phone: 479-758-7552
 

Madeline Martinez-Santiago, M.A.

Instructor
Office: Vines 221
Phone: 479-788-7562
 

Lynda McClellan, M.A.

Adjunct Instructor
Phone: 479-788-7973
 

Rosario Nolasco-Schultheiss, Ph.D.

Associate Professor
Office: Vines 143
Phone: 479-788-7970
Bio: Associate Professor Rosario Nolasco-Schultheiss, a native of Mexico City, graduated with a doctoral degree in comparative literature and cultural studies from the University of Arkansas. Her approach to literature and culture is framed within environmental, eco-feminist, and eco-theological theories. Her academic work has dealt with narratives by women authors such as Carmen Laforet, Ana Castillo, Elmaz Abinader, and Rigoberta Menchú. 
 

Ana Maria Romo Blas, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor
Office: Vines 217
Phone: 479-788-7260
 

Francesco Tarelli, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor
Office: Vines 219
Phone: 479-788-7563
 

Jane Wineland, M.A.

Adjunct Faculty - French
Office: Vines 214
Phone: 479-788-7552

Email: Jane.Wineland@uafs.edu
Bio: Jane Wineland's love for France was ignited nearly a half-century ago with a life-changing year of language immersion in Paris. As an instructor at UAFS, she takes a low-stress approach, placing equal emphasis on language and culture. "Madame W" loves working with university students and teaches with passion and humor. She views teaching not as a job, but a calling.

In addition to teaching all French courses at UAFS, she provides translation services for Immigration and Naturalization hearings and on two occasions has worked with the U. S. Marshals Service to provided translation assistance in Lyon, France, for symposia hosted by INTERPOL, the world's largest international police organization.