COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES ANNUAL REPORT 2017-2018 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS Executive Summary 1 African and African American Studies 4 Anthropology 12 Art 15 Biology 28 Chemistry 50 Child Advocacy Studies Minor 65 College of Arts and Sciences Education Program (CASEP) 71 Communication, Media and Theatre 78 Computer Science 92 Earth Science 100 Economics 107 English 112 English Language Program 132 Geography and Environmental Studies 134 Global Studies 144 History 148 Justice Studies 155 Latino and Latin American Studies 164 Linguistics 167 Mathematics 176 Mathematics Development* 187 Music and Dance 198 Philosophy 212 Physics 219 Political Science 226 Psychology and Gerontology MA Program 235 Social Work 257 Sociology 272 Student Center for Science Engagement (SCSE) 286 Teaching English as a Second/Foreign Language 292 Women’s and Gender Studies 303 World Languages and Cultures 314 2 COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES ANNUAL REPORT Executive Summary The College of Arts and Sciences, through a faculty of world-class researchers and teachers, offers a vibrant and ever-evolving curriculum in the liberal arts and sciences. We aim to sustain a relevant and cutting-edge curriculum that also honors and embodies the very best principles and practices of liberal arts and sciences traditions, preparing students for meaningful professional, civically-engaged, and personal lives in which they are equipped to meet the challenges and address the problems of our troubled contemporary world with humanity, intellect, and a profound sense of their own capacities. The CAS promotes and seeks to ensure student success through its support for and implementation and ongoing assessment of high impact pedagogical practices and disciplinary best practices, placing a premium on creating opportunities for our students to take part in research and be engaged in impactful ways. The College also actively engages in community partnerships with local organizations, schools, and universities to further our mission. These partnerships positively impact the surrounding community, region, and world, forging important alliances with those entities that share our mission of improving lives and communities by bringing to bear our collective intellects on our most pressing obstacles to the good life. Thus, our graduates engage in the larger community, not only as life-long learners, but as life-long change-makers. As the largest college of the University, the CAS serves all undergraduate students at Northeastern, housing the General Education-Distributive Learning Program, offering developmental education programs, as well as offering 27 majors and 47 minors across the Fine Arts, Humanities, Natural Sciences, Social/Behavioral Sciences, Mathematics and Professional Studies areas. The CAS also serves graduate students in 16 disciplines and 3 certificate programs. In 2018, the College of Arts and Sciences conferred a total of 1123 degrees at the Spring 2018 commencement. The CAS continues to generate the most credit hours in the University, offering 61911 of the total 84033 credit hours, or approximately 74% of the total credit hours generated in Fall 2017. Despite the budgetary challenges and subsequent staff reorganization that severely impacted our college, our faculty and staff continue to provide an exceptional 1 environment for teaching, learning and scholarship. Our Department Staff do an exceptional job of supporting their Chairs, Coordinators and Faculty, some of them supporting two, three or four departments. We would be remiss if we did not also recognize the extraordinary work of the CAS Dean’s Office Staff who support the college’s 34 programs with 18 chairs, 14 coordinators or directors, 17 department support staff, over 150 tenure-track faculty and over 200 instructors. In addition, due to these same budgetary challenges that Illinois public universities faced as a whole, we welcomed only four tenure-track faculty members in Fall 2017. Dr. Patricia Aguado (SWK), Dr. Samantha Brown-Xu (CHEM), Dr. Aissetu Barry Ibrahima (SWK), and Dr. Ryan Poll (ENGL), As always, we celebrate the many accomplishments of the College of Arts and Sciences, a few of which are as follows: Our prolific CAS Faculty have produced over 300 publications, presentations or performances in the last year. One of our Physics Majors, Cesar Bustos, was not only chosen as a Student Laureate of the Lincoln Academy of Illinois and honored at the 43rd Convocation and Investiture of Student Laureates in Springfield, Illinois, but was also selected to speak at the December 2017 Graduation Ceremony. Another of our stellar students, Lawrence Berlin (TESL) and Therese Schuepfer (PSYC) from the College of Arts and Sciences were among those awarded emeritus status and were honored during the December 2017 Commencement. Additionally, Saba Ayman-Nolley (PSYC), Judith Kaplan-Weinger (LING) and Shahrzad Mahootian (LING) were awarded emeritus status and were honored during the May 2018 Commencement. In Fall 2017, the Art Department offered a new Bachelor of Arts in Graphic Design and added the Minor in Interaction Design. In addition, the Digital Photo Lab upgrade was completed in Spring 2018. It was also the beginning of our Bachelor of Arts in Music (B.M.) and the Bachelor of Social Work (BSW). In the area of promotion and tenure, three CAS faculty members were promoted to Full Professor: Christina Ciecierski (Economics), Lesa Davis (Anthropology), Chielozona Eze (English) and six CAS faculty were promoted to Associate Professor: Wilfredo Alvarez (CMT), Brandon Bisbey (WLC), Francisco Iacobelli (CS), Brook Johnson (SOC), Shayne Pepper (CMT), Joshua Salzmann (HIST). Paulo Acioli (Physics) was awarded The Bernard Brommel Distinguished Research Professor Award and the 2017 Audrey Reynolds Distinguished Teaching Award to CAS faculty Maureen Erber (Psychology). Congratulations to four of our CAS instructors who received the NEIU Instructor/Academic Support Professional/Academic Resource Professional Excellence Awards 2017 (for the 2015-2016 Academic Year): John Armour (ELP), Josef Ben Levi (SOC), John Bliss (CMT) and Kathleen Kane (CMT). 2 We also wish to recognize the following faculty members who are recipients of the Faculty Excellence Award Teaching and Resource Professional Excellence Awards 2017 for their achievements and contributions to the academic community in the academic year 2015-2016. Teaching / Performance of Primary Duties William Adler (PSCI), Brooke Johnson (SOC), Jennifer Slate (BIO), Xiwei Wang (CS) Research / Creative Activities Rachel Adler (CS), Christina Ciecierski (ECON), Jon Hageman (ANTH), Robert Heitzinger (MUS), Lisa Hollis-Sawyer (PSYC), Adam Messinger (JUST), Gregory Neddenreip (PSCI), Ana Nieves (ART), Masami Takahashi (PSYC), Cindy Voisine (BIO), Zhonggang Zeng (MATH) Service Nancy Matthews (JUST), Marina Polyashuck (MATH) The following faculty were awarded sabbatical or educational leaves for the Fall 2017 or Spring 2018 terms: Sabbatical leaves awarded 2017-2018 Sarah Cordell , Associate Professor, Mathematics (Spring 2018) David Farmer, Associate Professor, Psychology (Spring 2018) Julie Kim, Professor, English (Fall 2017/Spring 2018) Cyndi Moran, Professor, Communication, Media and Theatre (Fall 2017) Marina Polyashuk, Associate Professor, Mathematics (Fall 2017) Linda Rueckert, Professor, Psychology (Fall 2017) Jennifer Slate, Professor, Biology (Fall 2017/Spring 2018) Susan Tang, Associate Professor, Music (Fall 2017/Spring 2018) Zhonggang Zeng, Professor, Mathematics (Spring 2018) Educational leaves for Level I-V Administrators and Department Chairs 2017-2018 Marcelo Sztainberg, Associate Dean, College of Arts and Sciences (Fall 2017) Educational leaves for full-time Instructors 2017-2018 Lizz Otto-Cramer, CMT (Spring 2018) Cheryl Park, BIO (Spring 2018) Brian White, ENG (Fall 2017) We take great pride in the many achievements of the outstanding faculty and staff of the College of Arts and Sciences and appreciate their dedication. Their expertise and accomplishments inform and enrich the College's diverse and inclusive learning environments that enable student success, empowering our students to avail themselves of the many opportunities for intellectual discovery through original research, civic engagement, and academic pursuit as they develop their own worldviews through growing social and cultural awareness. Katrina Bell-Jordan, Interim Dean, College of Arts and Sciences 3 AFRICAN/AFRICAN AMERICAN STUDIES MINOR Annual Report 2017-2018 Submitted by Sharon L. Bethea I. Executive Summary The African and African American Studies Program (AFAM) is the study, research, interpretation and dissemination of knowledge about Africans, both on the continent of Africa and in the Diaspora. Administratively, AFAM is housed in the Sociology Department as a part of a larger combined department that includes Sociology, Women Studies, and Latino and Latin American Studies programs. AFAM is designed to provide a curriculum that prepares its minors for advanced graduate studies in African/African American and African Diaspora Studies, international affairs, education, social work, social policy studies, and legal and professional training as well as in such fields as communications, writing, teaching, theatre, and dance. The mission of AFAM is to provide a high quality undergraduate interdisciplinary academic curriculum and services to enrich the educational experiences of Northeastern Illinois University’s diverse faculty, staff, and student body. AFAM is an 18-credit hour program. The