Marie Hoeger Bement
Marie Hoeger Bement is a Professor in the Department of Physical Therapy. She has a strong clinical and research background that is the foundation for her research investigating nonpharmacological pain management across the lifespan. This research is in line with her teaching and service initiatives to improve pain education worldwide. Dr. Bement received her MPT from the University of Iowa. As a clinician, she quickly became aware of the lack of knowledge in the treatment of people with chronic pain. Consequently, she returned to graduate school to study the causes and treatment of chronic pain. As a PhD student at the University of Iowa, Dr. Bement’s primary research focus was on the mechanisms of chronic pain with a secondary focus on the influence of low-intensity exercise on pain perception in an animal model of chronic pain. At Marquette University and recent Fulbright scholar, she has continued this research in human participants with an emphasis on pain modulation and management in clinical and healthy populations.

Jill McNew-Birren
Jill McNew-Birren supports the development of pre-service science teachers and doctoral students as an associate professor in Marquette University’s Department of Education, Policy and Leadership. Her research lies at the nexus of education, policy, and public engagement. Jill considers how publics make sense of science in contexts of environmental crisis and potential enhancement of processes through which science education contributes to preparing effective and engaged citizens. Jill’s research informs her teaching and mentoring of pre-service teachers and education scholars, as well as public forums in which citizens engage in finding solutions to science-related policy problems.

Joshua Ezra Burns
Joshua Ezra Burns is Associate Dean for Academic Affairs in the Klingler College of Arts and Sciences and an Associate Professor in the Department of Theology. He earned his B.A. in Classics at New York University, his Ph.D. in Religious Studies at Yale University, and, most recently, his M.S. in Higher Education Administration and Policy at Northwestern University. Prior to his current administrative appointment, Joshua served his department as Assistant Chair and Director of Graduate Studies. He currently serves as a member of the University Academic Senate and an unhealthy number of committees. When not absorbed in academic bureaucracy, Joshua moonlights as an award-winning historian of religion known for his research on Jewish civilization in antiquity and early Jewish-Christian relations.

Jacob Carpenter
Jacob Carpenter is an Associate Professor of Legal Writing at Marquette University’s Law School. He earned his B.A. from DePauw University (‘99) and his J.D. from Mercer University School of Law (’02).  He then practiced law for four years at a private law firm in northern Illinois, practicing primarily in the firm’s civil litigation group, as well as in real estate and estate planning. Then, in 2006 he began teaching full-time at DePaul University’s College of Law, before joining the Marquette faculty in 2012. Professor Carpenter teaches Legal Analysis, Writing, and Research courses at the law school, and focuses his scholarship on legal writing. Outside the law school, he provides lawyer trainings for the National Institute for Trial Advocacy, including teaching annual courses in Washington, D.C., Chicago, and Los Angeles.  Professor Carpenter has also chaired three committees for the national Legal Writing Institute and is currently serving on the editorial board for the Legal Writing Institute’s Monograph Series. Back at Marquette, Professor Carpenter has twice chaired the university’s Committee on Teaching. At home, he, his wife, and their three children live in Cedarburg, WI. When they can escape their children’s sports’ schedules, they enjoy spending time Up North and vacationing at national parks.

George D. Cashman
George Cashman is an associate professor in the Finance Department. He joined Marquette University in 2015, after spending eight years at Texas Tech University. He earned his bachelor’s degree in economics from Pennsylvania State University, an MBA from the University of Miami, and his doctorate from Arizona State University. Dr. Cashman currently serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Real Estate Literature, the Marquette University Center for Real Estate advisory board, and has served as a trustee on the Milwaukee County Pension Board.

Tyler Farrell
Tyler Farrell is an enthusiastic Visiting Assistant Professor of English at Marquette University and teaches classes in poetry, drama, creative writing, film, and Irish and British Literature. He also plans and leads two study abroad programs; one to Ireland, the other to London. Raised in Milwaukee and educated primarily by the Jesuits, Farrell received his undergraduate degree at Creighton University, Omaha, Nebraska where he studied with Irish poet Eamonn Wall. In 2002 he received his doctorate from UW-Milwaukee where he studied with Irish-American poet James Liddy. He has published three books of poetry with Salmon Poetry: Tethered to the Earth (2008), The Land of Give and Take (2012), and Stichomythia (2018); and contributed a biographical essay on James Liddy for Liddy’s Selected Poems (Arlen House, 2011). Farrell has also published essays, reviews, and poems in many periodicals and anthologies and continues to write and do readings in the Milwaukee area while also researching and writing about the transformative powers of literature, music, and film.

Alissa V. Fial
Alissa Fial is a Research and Instruction Services Librarian at the Raynor Memorial Libraries, where she works with students, faculty and staff in the areas of Biomedical Sciences, Nursing, Physician Assistant Studies, and Dentistry.  She collaborates with faculty on their research needs as well as providing library instruction and research consultations to students.  Alissa earned a Master of Library and Information Sciences (MLIS) from the University of Arizona, a MA in Mental Health Counseling from Ball State University and a BA in Psychology and English from Aurora University. She joined Marquette University in August 2018; having previously worked at the University of Nebraska Medical Center.  Alissa actively serves the library profession regionally and nationally through committees and other service activities.

Nakia S. Gordon

Dr. Nakia S. Gordon is an Associate Professor of Psychology. She earned her doctorate in behavioral neuroscience at Bowling Green State University and received additional training in neuroimaging at Michigan State University. Dr. Gordon joined the Marquette Faculty in 2009. Her research explores how emotion and its regulation influences the ways individuals navigate their environments and interactions with other people. She is especially interested in the role physiology plays during shared emotional experiences. Dr. Gordon also serves as assistant chair of the psychology department.

John LaDisa
Dr. LaDisa was a postdoctoral scholar in Pediatric Cardiology at Stanford University for 2.5 years after earning his Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering. He now directs the Visualization Laboratory and the Laboratory for Translational, Experimental and Computational Cardiovascular Research at Marquette University. Research in these labs is supported by grants to study cardiovascular disease, engineer novel treatment strategies, and uniquely visualize results, while training the next generation of undergraduate and graduate scientists in methods applied for these purposes. Dr. LaDisa has been fortunate to bea recipient of the2018 Outstanding Graduate School Educator Award by theMedical College of Wisconsin, the 2015 Milwaukee Business Journal's 40 Under 40 Award, the 2012 STEM Forward Young Engineer of the Year Award, the 2010 Sigma Xi Rising Star Award, and was listed in the 2009 edition of Milwaukee Magazine’s The Next Generation: New leaders under 40 who will change their city. Together with his students, colleagues, and mentors, Dr. LaDisa has published 50 peer-reviewed journal articles and raised over $3.5M in extramural funding.

Patrick Loftis
Patrick Loftis is a Clinical Associate Professor in the Department of Physician Assistant Studies, College of Health Sciences. He has been at Marquette since 2008. His teaching responsibilities include a variety of topics in medicine including cardiology, diagnostic technologies, nephrology and urology. Mr. Loftis earned a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the University of Wisconsin- Milwaukee in 1998 and his Master of Physician Assistant Studies in 2000. Additionally, he maintains an active clinical practice at ProHealth Care in New Berlin in urgent care and occupational medicine. Pat has two teenage daughters and lives in Muskego. He enjoys fishing, cycling, boating and travel in his spare time.

Linda Piacentine
Linda Piacentine is an Associate Professor in the College of Nursing. Dr. Piacentine earned her Ph.D. from Marquette, her M.S. from DePaul University, and her B.S.N. from North Park College in Chicago. She practiced in various nursing roles, including staff nurse, nurse manager, and nurse practitioner, prior to joining Marquette in 2007. Dr. Piacentine’s research explores methods individuals employ to self-manage symptoms that have developed from disease or related treatments, with emphasis on exercise to manage chronic disease symptoms. Linda and her husband, Tom, have two children and have hosted 5 AFS International high school students. They now enjoy traveling, especially to meet families of those they have hosted.

Christopher Simenz
Christopher J Simenz, PhD, CSCS is a Clinical Professor in the Programs in Exercise Science- Department of Physical Therapy at Marquette University. He is a community engaged researcher focused on supporting marginalized populations in wellness, food access and systems, healthcare access and navigation, joblessness, homelessness, incarceration, and addiction. His scholarship is focused on policy change around wellness in community partners such as Milwaukee Public Schools, Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Milwaukee, and United Neighborhood Centers of Milwaukee. Additionally, he works on policy and systems change around wellness and physical activity to support health. Dr. Simenz teaches courses in kinesiology, leadership, and community-based wellness theory and practice and manages student clinical experiences, all of which are informed by the community engagement principles developed in research and partnership with a variety of Milwaukee and Southeast Wisconsin community partners. His leadership coursework includes cultural humility, conflict resolution, behavior change, resume, cover letter and interviewing principles, all of which serve to prepare future clinicians for life beyond campus. Dr. Simenz works to support Milwaukee’s currently homeless and housing/food insecure communities via his roles on the BOD of Frieden’s Community Pantries (Milwaukee’s largest food pantry network) and StreetLife Communities, which allows him to interact with and support the most marginalized in the Milwaukee metro area. Chris and his wife Stacy have two children, Sophia, a high school freshman, and Quentin, an 8^th grader.

Rosemary Stuart
Dr. Rosemary A. Stuart is a professor in the Department Biological Sciences. Originally from Dublin, Ireland, she received her B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees from the University College Dublin, Ireland. She completed her doctoral and habilitation degrees from Ludwig-Maximilians University, Munich, Germany, before joining Marquette’s faculty in 1999. Rosemary directs a student-centered research team focusing on mitochondrial biochemistry and metabolism, which is funded through research grants from the NIH and NSF. Rosemary has previously served as an Associate Dean in the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS), where she was involved in different roles, including facilitating graduate and undergraduate academic program development, and advocating for high-impact learning experiences for undergraduate students. While serving as Associate Dean, she developed CAS’s Career Preparedness Internship Program, a grant-funded initiative to promote student access to paid internship opportunities in Milwaukee, and the MU4Gold Scholars Program, an interdisciplinary initiative which supports early student access to faculty-mentored research, which she continues to co-direct with Dr. Amelia Zurcher, Director of the University Honors Program.  Rosemary currently directs the Biological Sciences Launch Internship program. A strong advocate also for gender equity, Rosemary is presently involved in Marquette’s NSF Advance funded initiative, which seeks to promote and support the participation and advancement of women STEM faculty at Marquette.

Amelia Zurcher
Amelia Zurcher is Director of the University Honors Program and Associate Professor of English, and previously she directed the Women’s and Gender Studies major. She received an MA and Ph.D. in English literature from Princeton and an MA in English Studies from Oxford University. Her research interests include the early modern British literature and culture, in particular ethics, political philosophy, and gender, and the scholarship of teaching and learning. She teaches a wide range of classes, from Shakespeare and film to an interdisciplinary class for freshmen on art and the philosophy of the self, and has received a Marquette Excellence in Teaching award.

 

Facilitator

Gary Meyer
Gary Meyer (Ph.D. Michigan State University in Communication Theory) is senior vice provost for faculty affairs at Marquette University. In this role, Dr. Meyer helps prepare faculty for a meaningful and successful tenure at Marquette University across the many roles they will take on as teachers, scholars, and university leaders. Dr. Meyer works closely with the Center for Teaching and Learning, which serves as a catalyst for promoting a culture of pedagogical excellence on campus. In addition to his responsibilities for faculty affairs, Dr. Meyer serves as Marquette’s accreditation liaison officer to the Higher Learning Commission. Dr. Meyer served as vice provost for undergraduate programs and teaching for five years before being named senior vice provost for faculty affairs in 2015. Meyer also previously served as associate dean in the Diederich College of Communication and director of the corporate communication major. Meyer’s scholarship over the years has focused on using communication theory to develop persuasive messages primarily around health promotion and disease prevention. Gary and his wife Anne have two boys, Max and Charlie, both of whom attend Marquette.

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