Northeastern Illinois University awarded 11 members of the faculty tenure and promotion to associate professor, effective Aug. 19, 2024. The following faculty members were introduced and approved by the Board of Trustees to receive this promotion during the Board’s April 18, 2024 meeting.
Baron earned a Ph.D. in Communications from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Baron is a faculty member and graduate advisor in the Department of Communication, Media and Theatre (CMT). Her research centers on mediated communication, both within the context of interpersonal and instructional settings, with a focus on warranting theory. She has authored articles and book chapters, presented her work at conferences and served on discussion panels. She completed Northeastern’s Online Teaching Fundamentals and the Quality Matters Designing Your Own Course certificate programs, which led to revising CMTC 300: Mediated Communication to be more effective for student learning. In addition, as part of the Title V Creating Access to Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) for All grant, Baron developed a new course titled CMTC 102: Public Speaking for STEM.
Cu earned a Ph.D. in Information Systems and Decisions Sciences from Louisiana State University-Baton Rouge, and a Ph.D. in Business Administration from Old Dominican University. He is a faculty member in the Department of Accounting, Business Law and Finance. Cu’s current research includes diverse strands and focuses on business intelligence and analytics, IT diffusion, Internet of Things/artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, and mixed methods research. He had two peer-reviewed papers published in the Journal of Computer Information Systems — one in 2019, the other in 2023 — and also conducted several presentations at local, regional, national and international conferences, as well as chaired several sessions at the top-tier conferences of the management information systems field such as Americas Conference on Information Systems, and Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS).
Ermis-Demirtas earned a Ph.D. in Counselor Education from Texas A&M University-Corpus Cristi. She is faculty member and faculty advisor for Clinical Mental Health Counseling in the Department of Counselor Education. Ermis-Demirtas’ research interests in counseling include instrument development, self-harming behaviors, sociocultural discrimination and mental health outcomes in marginalized and minoritized youth, creative interventions in school counseling, and counseling children and youth. She has four manuscripts published in peer-reviewed journals; has presented nine content sessions and one poster session at national counseling conferences; and four sessions at the state conferences in Wisconsin, Illinois and Georgia. In 2022 and 2023, she received two research-based awards: the Illinois Counseling Association Wendell S. Dysinger Award for Professional Counseling Publication, and the North Center Association for Counselor Education and Supervision Outstanding Research Award, respectively.
Gilfillan earned a Ph.D. in Counselor Education and Supervision from The Pennsylvania State University. She is faculty member, associate chair and faculty advisor for School Counseling in the Department of Counselor Education. Currently, Gilfillian advises all graduates in School Counseling as well as all of the endorsement-only School Counseling students. Her research focuses on the training and professional development of school counselors, and college and career readiness counseling. In 2023, she worked with three different research teams to bring a school counseling perspective to the projects. The topics included universal design for learning; advocacy in counseling; and bullying and school avoidance. Two of the teams’ articles have been published and the third was recently accepted for publication.
Goldstein earned an M.F.A. in Directing from Northwestern University. He is a faculty member and artistic director of Stage Center Theatre in the Department of Communication, Media and Theatre (CMT). Goldstein’s creative work focuses on new play development models; representation, diversity and inclusion in storytelling; and presenting contemporary stories to fuel social change. He has directed four mainstage productions at Stage Center Theatre as well as five productions for the Children’s Theatre Workshop course, and four readings as part of thINKtank: a partnership between Northeastern, Chicago State University and Chicago Dramatists. He has developed three new courses at the graduate level (CMTT 430: Performance Theory; CMTT 446: Arts Administration; CMTT 473: Special Topics in Theatre: National Identity and Theatre) and subsequently adapted one into a new course taught in multiple modalities at the undergraduate level (CMTT 334: Special Topics in Theatre: National Identity and Theatre). Goldstein’s courses take a transparent and active approach to reinventing the theatrical curriculum to center on equity, diversity and inclusion and breaking down traditionally limited ways of teaching theatre.
Martinez earned a Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Illinois at Chicago. He is a faculty member in the Department of Sociology. During Martinez’s time at Northeastern, he obtained extensive training in online course development and design revising, and developed courses using backward design and principles of Universal Design Learning. He earned Quality Matters credentialing for Design Your Online Course (2020) and Improve Your Online Course (2021) for the course SOC 316: Race and Ethnic Relations. In Fall 2022, Martinez developed and taught an independent study course for an NEIU Sociology major to train the student in qualitative interview research analysis with a focus on human research subjects training, transcribing interviews, coding transcripts and writing up analytical memos.
Mojica earned a Ph.D. in Social Work from Loyola University. He is a faculty member in the Department of Social Work. Mojica serves as the curriculum specialist for the advanced practice sequence in the Master of Social Work program. In this role, he ensures the curricula meet all the standards of the accrediting body and enhances the educational experience for students by incorporating relevance in the rapidly evolving field of social work, identifying key areas for improvement and innovation. He has taught a total of 35 courses, serving nearly 700 students in both the full and advanced programs.
Remus earned an M.S. in Library and Information Science from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and an M.A. in History from Northeastern. He is a faculty member and Social Sciences librarian in the Ronald Williams Library on the Main Campus. Remus is responsible for selecting and maintaining information resources for African and African American Studies, Counselor Education, Geography and Environmental Studies, Gerontology, History, Political Science and Psychology. His research is in history, and more specifically, on the topic of the intellectual and political history of American socialism. Remus co-authored the peer-reviewed journal article “The organization of psychological assessment instruments for religiosity and spirituality: Relevant subject headings in the APA PsycTests database,” with Masami Takahashi, Ph.D., which was published in the inaugural March 2023 issue of the Japanese Journal for the Psychology of Religion and Spirituality.
Rocha earned a Ph.D. in Social Work from the University of Illinois Chicago. She is faculty member and Master of Social Work (MSW) director of field education in the Department of Social Work. During her time, Rocha led the development of the field education component in the then newly accredited master’s level social work program. In FY21, she served as interim MSW program director. In her capacity as director of field education, she used her great attention to detail and organizational skills to match a total of 520 foundation and advanced level students to academic year-long internships in various agencies and programs in the Chicagoland area. Rocha has also trained and provided technical assistance to many field practicum instructors/liaisons and acting MSW field directors.
Wu earned a Ph.D. in Rehabilitation Counselor Education from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She is a faculty member and faculty advisor for Rehabilitation Counseling in the Department of Counselor Education. Wu’s research interests center on mental health counseling and vocational rehabilitation practices for individuals with diverse disabilities, and incorporates the World Health Organization's International Classification of functioning, disability and health model as a guiding framework. In 2021, she was awarded the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living and Rehabilitation Research Switzer Research Fellowship Grant, securing $70,000 for her research. Wu has also published several peer-reviewed articles and delivered many presentations.
Yang earned a Ph.D. in Computer Science and Engineering from The Pennsylvania State University. She is a faculty member in the Department of Computer Science. Yang is involved in graduate student work, and has supervised seven graduate students' projects as a primary advisor, three projects as a co-advisor, one thesis and one independent study. She has given presentations at conferences, published journal and conference papers in peer-reviewed publications and has received funding to sponsor research activities. In October 2023, she presented "Ransomware Attack Protection Based on Defense-in-Depth Algorithms" as a podium presentation at the INFORMS Annual Conference with Dr. Cu and Arish Ali, her Computer Science graduate student advisee.
Northeastern also awarded promotions to professor to the following faculty members:
- Kim Ambriz, Art + Design
- Brandon Bisbey, World Languages and Cultures
- Amanda Dykema-Engblade, Psychology
- Ryan Gallagher, Economics
- Zada Johnson, Educational Inquiry and Curriculum Studies
- Adam Messinger, Justice Studies
- Ana Nieves, Art + Design
- Joshua Salzmann, History
- Rose Sperrazza, Music and Dance
- Susan Tang, Music and Dance
Additionally, the following professors have been approved for Professional Advancement Increases (increased pay) by demonstrating superior teaching/performance of primary duties; superior or significant research/creative activity; and superior or significant service in the aggregate, that is, taken as a whole, through at least the last five years prior to their evaluation and approval by Interim Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs R. Shayne Cofer:
- Sharon L. Bethea, Counselor Education
- Jon Hageman, Anthropology
- Russell Zanca, Anthropology
