COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES ANNUAL REPORT 2016-2017 TABLE OF CONTENTS Executive Summary 4 African and African American Studies 7 Anthropology 15 Art 19 Biology 31 Chemistry 49 Child Advocacy Studies Minor 61 College of Arts and Sciences Education Program (CASEP) 68 Communication, Media and Theatre 74 Computer Science 88 Earth Science* Economics 99 English 105 English Language Program 124 Geography and Environmental Studies 126 Global Studies 134 History 137 Justice Studies 146 Latino and Latin American Studies 158 Linguistics 161 Mathematics 170 Mathematics Development 179 Music*Unable and to be Dance included . 193 Philosophy 204 Physics 211 Political Science 218 Psychology and Gerontology MA Program 226 Social Work 246 Sociology 260 Student Center for Science Engagement (SCSE) 275 Teaching English as a Second/Foreign Language 280 Women’s and Gender Studies 286 World Languages and Cultures 296 *Unable to be included. COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES ANNUAL REPORT Executive Summary The College of Arts and Sciences plays a significant role at the University through its advancement, support and execution of College and University-wide initiatives that ensure student success from recruitment to graduation and beyond. The CAS promotes academic success through its promotion of high impact pedagogical practices and disciplinary best practices, including ongoing assessment. The College also actively engages in community partnerships with local organizations, schools and universities. These partnerships positively impact the surrounding community, region and world. Our graduates engage in the larger community, not only as life-long learners, but as life- long change makers. The CAS serves all undergraduate students at Northeastern, housing the General Education-Distributive Learning Program, offering developmental education programs, as well as offering 26 majors and 48 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 certificate programs. Our faculty and staff continue to provide an exceptional environment for teaching, learning and scholarship. In 2017, the College of Arts and Sciences conferred a total of 1110 degrees. The CAS continues to generate the most credit hours in the University, offering 66,060 of the total 88,886 credit hours, or approximately 74% of the total credit hours generated in Fall 2016. The College of Arts and Sciences had yet another very productive year. The year began with two of our CAS students selected to attend the RNC and DNC conventions in August. Fall 2016 saw the launch of the new MSW program just as the Social Work program celebrated its 30th anniversary, and the opening of the Math Community Center, which supports student success, on the third floor of the Bernard Brommel Hall. Faculty scholarship was high in 2016-2017, with CAS faculty publishing over 200 articles or abstracts, books or book chapters. The Bernard Brommel Distinguished Research Professor Award went to CAS faculty Tony Adams (CMT) and the 2016 Audrey Reynolds Distinguished Teaching Award to CAS faculty Ana Fraiman (Chemistry). 4 Cindy Voisine, Biology, was awarded a Fulbright Scholars award to conduct research in Germany in Fall 2016, and Christina Bueno, History, received a National Endowment of Humanities award to work on research in Summer 2017. CAS faculty were awarded major grants such as the National Science Foundation STEM+C award (Rachel Adler, Computer Science; Joseph Hibdon, Math; Jennifer Slate, Biology; Sudha Srinivas, Physics with GCOE faculty), NSF grant Robert Noyes (Joel Olfelt, Biology; Matt Graham, Math; with GCOE faculty), and a Google grant (Computer Science student team mentored by faculty Rachel Trana, Computer Science). CAS students were active and engaged participants at the 8th annual Student Center for Science Engagement (SCSE) Research Symposium in Fall 2016 and at the 25th Annual NEIU Student Research and Creative Activities Symposium in Spring 2017. CAS faculty also played a significant role as organizers and participants in the NEIU 8th Annual Faculty Research Symposium in November 2016. In addition, NEIU hosted two international conferences in Spring 2017 – The 7th Annual International Conference on Risk Analysis (ICRA7) in May 2017, and the Peer Led Team Learning International Society (PLTLIS) Conference in June 2017. Now in its third year, is the English & Math Enrichment, Readiness, and Growth Experience (EMERGE) Summer Program. This free program continues to support incoming freshmen in gaining the skills needed to successfully place into English 101 and into higher levels of Math for their first fall semester. Of the 34 students who completed the EMERGE English Program, coordinated by John Armour, 79% of the students placed into college-level coursework for Fall 2016. For the EMERGE Math Program, coordinated by Sarah Cordell, Katherine Bird, Joseph Hibdon, and Stevan Ranney, 84 students participated and 80 retook the math placement test. The scores of 64% of students who retook the math placement test advanced them at least one level in Math, 34% at least two levels, and 9% at least three levels. On average, students advanced 1.06 levels in Math. We welcomed twelve new faculty members in Fall 2016: Katie Duffy (Art), Sarah (Watkins) Fabian (Communication, Media and Theatre), Stacy Goguen (Philosophy), Matthew Graham (Math), Orin Harris (Physics), Casey Holtschneider (Social Work), Nabil Kahouadji (Math), Ulugbek Nurmukhamedov (Teaching English as a Second Language, English Language Program), Alex Peimer (Geography & Environmental Studies), Katherine Petersen (Music), and Rachel Trana (Computer Science). 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). In addition, 6 CAS faculty were promoted to associate professor and granted tenure: Wilfredo Alvarez (Communication, Media and Theatre), Brandon Bisbey (World Languages and Cultures), Francisco Iacobelli (Computer Science), Brooke Johnson (Sociology), Shayne Pepper (Communication, Media and Theatre), and Joshua Salzmann (History). Three faculty from the College of Arts and Sciences were among the December 2016 Chair Meritorious Award Recipients: Jade Stanley (Social Work), Saba Ayman-Nolley (Psychology), and Shayne Cofer (Music). Nanette Potee was awarded emeritus status in 2017 and was honored at the May 2017 Commencement. 5 Fourteen of our CAS faculty received a Faculty Excellence Award for the 2016-2017 academic year. In the area of Service: Timothy Barnett (English); in the area of Teaching/Primary Duties: William Adler (Political Science), Elyse Bolterstein (Biology), Nabil Kahouadji (Mathematics), Tracy Luedke (Anthropology), Rachel Trana (Computer Science), Shan Wang (Mathematics); and in the area of Research/Creative Activities: Rachel Adler (Computer Science), Christina Bueno (History), Chielozona Eze (English), Sarah Fabian (Communication, Media and Theatre), Adam Messinger (Justice Studies), Masami Takahashi (Psychology), and Zhonggang Zeng (Mathematics). We would like to recognize the achievements of several CAS instructors who received NEIU Instructor/Academic Support Professional/Academic Resource Professional Excellence Awards: Olivia Cronk (English), Nikolas Hoel (History), Cheryl Park (Biology), Freddy Ann Porps (Computer Science) and Robert Ritsema (Communication, Media and Theatre), and Daniel Wirth (Communication, Media and Theatre). In addition, Kip D. Conwell (Biology) was one of the recipients of the Administrative & Professional/Civil Service Annual Employee Excellence Awards. The success of the College of Arts and Sciences is due to our dedicated and talented faculty and staff who make it possible for the CAS to offer a rich learning experience and abundant opportunities for intellectual discovery, within an inclusive environment that helps students develop their individual worldview, and acquire social and cultural awareness. Katrina Bell-Jordan, Interim Dean, College of Arts and Sciences 6 Annual Report 2016-2017 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 AFAM curriculum consists of three required core courses (9 credit hours). These three courses include: Introduction to African and American Studies (AFAM 200); Foundations of African Civilization (AFAM 301); and Foundations of Africans in the Diaspora (AFAM 302). The curriculum also includes three elective