Elissa Cox
Assistant Professor of Art
Office: Edgar Fine Arts 307A
E-mail: coxe@uiu.edu
Phone: (563) 425-5850Elissa Cox earned her Master in Fine Arts in 2007 at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio. Elissa graduated in 2003 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in ceramics and a Bachelor of Art in art history from the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. Elissa taught in 2007-2008 as a visiting lecturer at the University of Kentucky in Lexington.
Elissa has exhibited throughout the United States in cities such as Philadelphia, Denver, Minneapolis, Seattle, Dayton, and Boston. This past year solo shows include Rupture at Slocomb Galleries in Johnson City, Tennessee, From Hither to Thither at the Lexington Art League in Lexington, Kentucky, and Seep at the New Harmony Contemporary Art Gallery in New Harmony, Indiana. She was also a resident at Sculpture Space in Utica, N.Y. in the summer of 2008. Elissa will be exhibiting her work in solo exhibitions this upcoming year at Penn State College, Sculpture Center in Cleveland, Ohio, and Pittsburg State University in Kansas.
To view Elissa’s personal web page, please click here.
Dr. Adrianne Finlay
Assistant Professor of English
Office: Colgrove-Walker 208
E-mail: finlaya@uiu.edu
Phone: (563) 425-5792Adrianne Finlay is an Assistant Professor of English. Dr. Finlay has a B.A. in English from the SUNY New Paltz and a M.A. and Ph.D. in English Language and Literature from SUNY Binghamton.
Dr. John Grummel
Assistant Professor of Political Science
Office: Professional Building
E-mail: grummelj@uiu.edu
Phone: (563) 425-5249John Grummel is an Assistant Professor of Political Science. Dr. Grummel has a B.A. in Political Science from San Jose State University and a M.A.T. in Education and Social Science from the College of Notre Dame and a M.A. in Political Science from San Francisco State University. He received his Ph.D. in Political Science from Kent State University.
Pamela Humphrey
Visiting Assistant Professor of Psychology
Office: Professional Building 30
E-mail: humphreyp@uiu.edu
Phone: (563) 425-5246
Dr. Laura Kemmer
Assistant Professor of Psychology
Office: Professional Building
E-mail: kemmerl@uiu.edu
Phone: (563) 425-5713Laura Kemmer is an Assistant Professor of Psychology. Dr. Kemmer has a B.A. in Russian Language and Literature from Macalester College and a M.A. in Slavic Linguistics from the University of Washington. She received her Ph.D. in Cognitive Science from UC San Diego.
Dr. John Mason
Assistant Professor of Criminology
Office: Colgrove-Walker 205
E-mail: masonj@uiu.edu
Phone: (563) 425-5753Dr. John Mason is the assistant professor of criminology. He received a Bachelor of Sciences from Catherine Spalding University in Louisville Kentucky, where he was a non-traditional undergraduate student and one of the first graduates of a week end college program there. His undergraduate majors were Business Administration, History, Geology, Anthropology, and Archaeology. He earned two masters degrees from Indiana University, Bloomington, a Masters of Arts in Criminal Justice and Masters of Science in Instructional Design. He earned his PhD at Bowling Green State University, Ohio, in 1996.
Dr. Mason was raised in Louisville, Kentucky. Prior to coming to Upper Iowa University he worked for the Commonwealth of Kentucky Corrections Cabinet as a Correctional Officer, Sergeant, Lieutenant, and Probation/Parole Officer Supervisor.
Dr. Mason is quite pleased that many of his previous students are employed across the nation in justice system positions. Additionally many of his former students have risen to supervisory positions. Many of them attribute their success to their UIU education.
On UIU home football game Saturdays he can be found near the north end-zone firing his cannons for each UIU score. Dr. Mason is also an accomplished wood worker and among other projects builds the carriages for his artillery pieces.
Dr. Don McComb
Professor of Graphic Design
Office: Edgar Fine Arts 307
E-mail: mccombd@uiu.edu
Phone: (563) 425-5243Dr. Don McComb has taught Graphic Design and Photography at Upper Iowa University since 2000. He previously held teaching positions at Middle Tennessee State University, Illinois State University, the University of Iowa, and South Oregon University. Dr. McComb earned a bachelor's degree in Communication Arts from Wartburg College, and graduate degrees in Journalism and in Mass Communication from the University of Iowa. He has professional experience as a reporter and producer for Minnesota Public Radio, and as the editor and designer of various newspapers, magazines, and academic journals.
Throughout his career, Dr. McComb has been involved with various academic and professional organizations including The International Visual Literacy Association, the International Communication Association, and the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, where he served three years as Teaching Standards Chair of the Cultural and Critical Communication Division.
Dr. McComb has presented and published research on the cultural history of design. His areas of expertise include avant garde and postmodern typography. His work has appeared in Visual Communication Quarterly, Journal of Visual Literacy, American Visual Studies, and Journal of Communication Inquiry, of which he is a former editor.
Dr. Douglas McReynolds
Bissell Professor of English and Director of Academic Assessment
Office: Colgrove-Walker 211
E-mail: mcreynoldsd@uiu.edu
Phone: (563) 425-5212Dr. Doug McReynolds has been at Upper Iowa University since 1980. He earned his bachelor's and master's degrees in English at The University of Missouri and his doctorate in creative writing at The University of Denver. At Upper Iowa, he is responsible for courses in American and African American literatures, cinema, literary criticism, and creative writing.
A student of Western movies and Midwestern American literature, Dr. McReynolds is the author of some two dozen professional articles published in such journals as The Explicator, Literature/Film Quarterly, Extrapolation and Rocky Mountain Review. His poems, stories, and personal essays have been published widely.
On campus, "Doc" is highly active with student groups and organizations. He serves as faculty advisor to the predominantly African American fraternity Alpha Nu Omega and its sister organization, Phi Beta Delta. He has been named "Advisor of the Year" three times; in 1996 he was honored by the University for his "outstanding contribution to clubs and organizations." He regularly takes a class of students to England, Spain, or Italy during Upper Iowa's Interim.
At home, Dr. McReynolds enjoys cooking, gardening, wine collecting, early rock 'n' roll music, photography, and his 1971 Triumph 650cc motorcycle. He has won several medals in Master's swimming competition.
Dr. Mari Molseed
Professor of Sociology
Office: Professional Building 28
E-mail: molseedm@uiu.edu
Phone: (563) 425-5386Dr. Mari J. Molseed received her Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Iowa in 1990. She has taught sociology, criminology, and human services courses at Upper Iowa University since 2001. She previously held faculty positions at Pennsylvania State University and the University of Dubuque. Sociological theory, gender inequality, family, and homelessness are Dr. Molseed's primary research interests. She has published several articles addressing these and other issues in journals such as the American Journal of Sociology, The Sociological Quarterly, Symbolic Interaction, and Sociological Viewpoints. She has also presented numerous papers at sociology conferences for academic organizations such as the Society for the Study of Symbolic Interaction and the Midwest Sociological Society. In addition to having been active in those two professional organizations, Dr. Molseed is currently a member of the American Sociological Association and the Great Plains Sociological Society.
Sioux Patashnik-Maurer
Instructor in English and ESL
Office: Colgrove-Walker 207
E-mail: patashniks@uiu.edu
Phone: (563) 425-5242Sioux Patashnik Maurer began teaching at Upper Iowa University in 2001. Previous to her position with UIU, Sioux was a full-time faculty member and taught English literature and writing at Seton Hall University in South Orange, New Jersey, for ten years. Sioux received her B.A. from St. Thomas Aquinas College, an M.A. from Seton Hall University, and is currently working on her Ph.D. from Capella University.
In 2001, Sioux made a life changing and career move by accepting a full time position here at Upper Iowa and has never looked back. Sioux said being a part of a small, academic community has provided many advantages and opportunities that influence the educational atmosphere for her students.
Her goal as a literature and writing instructor is to motivate her students by providing a rich diversity of teaching methods grounded in sound writing and pedagogical principles. Working with a diverse student body provides a challenging and rewarding environment, and she looks forward to the opportunities that await her in her classroom each day. To this end, she strives to provide a varied forum of learning in a place where the students feel comfortable to share ideas and work with other students. Her classrooms are open arenas for discussion, and she encourages student participation to a large degree. She feels it is her responsibility to help students think for themselves.
Her teaching load is varied; she teaches English 101 as well as sophomore writing classes, Introduction to Literature, Women and Literature, and Poetry of the Beats. In addition to her teaching, she is a dedicated equestrian; she has been riding and training horses most of her life. Sioux and her husband live on an acreage outside of Fayette where they keep horses and have built a new home. When she is not teaching, Sioux spends her time training her three-year-old filly, riding, and maintaining her acreage. She also enjoys quiet hours, too: reading and drawing, and working with stained glass.
Dr. Nick Serra
Associate Professor of English / Chair, Division of Liberal Arts
Office: Colgrove-Walker 209
E-mail: serran@uiu.edu
Phone: (563) 425-5210Dr. Nick Serra is Associate Professor of English and Chair of the Division of Liberal Arts. He received his B.A. in English from the University of Notre Dame in 1989, an M.A. in English from Drake University in 1991, and a Ph.D. in English from Binghamton University (S.U.N.Y. Binghamton) in 1996.
An Iowa native, Dr. Serra teaches the Sophomore Writing sequence at UIU, as well as the British literature courses in the English major. His main areas of interest are the poetry of William Butler Yeats, high modernism, and the Western esoteric tradition.
His publications include "Similarities in Difference: A Key to Yeats's System" (Thelema, September 1998), "Crowley, Continuity, and Qabalah" (Yeats-Eliot Review 15:3), and "Examining Yeats's Colon: The Magical and Philosophical Progression of Ideas in 'Among School Children'" (Yeats-Eliot Review 23:1).
Dr. Serra is a frequent attendee at both national and international literary conferences, most recently presenting "Subversive Invocations: The Anti-Apotheosis of 'Easter, 1916'" at the University of Sunderland's annual Irish Studies Conference in Sunderland, England.
Dr. Donald Shaffer
Assistant Professor of History
Office: Professional Building 2A
E-mail: shafferd@uiu.edu
Phone: (563) 425-5751Donald R. Shaffer received his Ph.D. in History from the University of Maryland, College Park, where he studied under Ira Berlin. Since then, Dr. Shaffer has held positions with the National Park Service, San Diego State University, SUNY Plattsburgh, the University of Wyoming, and the University of Northern Colorado.
His scholarly work to date primarily addresses the experience of African Americans following the the U.S. Civil War (1861-65). Dr. Shaffer's first book, After the Glory: The Struggles of Black Civil War Veterans, was published in 2004 by the University Press of Kansas. It won the 2005 Peter Seaborg Award for Civil War Scholarship. Dr. Shaffer has just completed, with Elizabeth Regosin of St. Lawrence University, a primary source reader on Civil War pension files as they pertain to the experiences of former slaves. This publication, titled Voices of Emancipation, was published on May 24, 2008 by NYU Press.
Dr. Shaffer also has articles which have appeared in the academic journal Civil War History; the anthology, Southern Families at War, edited by Catherine Clinton for Oxford University Press; and the anthology Union Soldiers and the Northern Home Front: Wartime Experiences, Postwar Adjustments, edited by Paul A. Cimbala and Randall M. Miller for Fordham University Press.
Dr. Shaffer gave his most recent conference paper with Elizabeth Regosin at the 2008 meeting of the Organization of American Historians in New York City, related to his current project on pension files and former slaves. His most recent stand-alone paper was the keynote address for "Understanding the African American Civil War Experience," the second annual conference on the Civil War hosted by the University of Mississippi. Dr. Shaffer also has delivered other papers in the past at the annual meetings of the American Historical Association, Organization of American Historians, Southern Historical Association, Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association, Association for the Study of Afro-American Life and History, and the Society for Military History.
Dr. Shaffer participated in two significant academic gatherings in Summer 2008. In June he traveled to Yale University in New Haven, Conn. for the Slave Narratives Seminar. He was only one of only 35 CIC faculty nationally chosen for this event. In July, he attended the annual Institute for the Editing of Historical Documents at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. Read more about Dr. Shaffer's summer activities.
Dr. Shaffer also has been a fellow at the West Point Summer Seminar in Military History at the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, N.Y. In addition, he has been a participant at the Black History Workshop put on by the University of Houston; the Conference on African Americans in the Civil War at Virginia State University; and at "Frontlines: Gender, Identity, and War" sponsored by Monash University in Melbourne, Australia.
For more information about Donald Shaffer, please check out his personal website.
John Siblik
Assistant Professor of Art
Office: Edgar Fine Arts 303
E-mail: siblikj@uiu.edu
Phone: (563) 425-5241John Siblik has taught Studio Art and Art History at Upper Iowa University since 2002. He earned his Bachelor's of Fine Art and Bachelor's of Science in Art Education from Northern Illinois University and his Master's of Fine Art from Southern Illinois University in Cardondale, Illinois.
Professor Siblik enjoys collaborating with students on and off campus, working with local artists, and getting involved with community projects. This includes helping students build and run their own ceramic kiln, collaborating with students on sculptural installations and performance pieces, advising the University art club, team teaching with area artists, creating community based art projects as well as providing art programs for area youth.
He has exhibited throughout the United States and abroad in cities such as Chicago, St. Louis, Memphis, Harrisburg, and Bristol, England. Recent exhibits include: The Dubuque Museum of Art Biennial Juried Exhibit, Day Into Night at the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, the 19th Northern National Art Competition at Nicolet College in Rhinelander, Wisconsin, and Wind and Water, Iowa's Evolving Landscape at the Hearst Center for the Arts in Cedar Falls, Iowa. Siblik also just recently had the opportunity to present his environmental sculpture "RIVER WEAVING" at the College Art Association Conference in New York, New York.
Professor Siblik's work has been collected by a small number of private and public collections including the Somerset Paper Company in Somerset, England, Northeast Normal University in Changchun, China, The Lillie M. Kleven Print Collection at Bemidji State University in Minnesota, the Permanent Collection at Indiana State University, the Mitchell Museum in Mt. Vernon, Illinois, and the Morris Library at Southern Illinois University.
Professor Siblik lives in Fayette with his family. In his spare time he enjoys canoeing, hiking, and gardening. John's late summer is reserved for canning pickles and tomatoes. To view Professor Siblik's personal web page, please click here: http://www.uiu.edu/~siblikj/.
Melle Starsen
Assistant Professor of Communications
Office: Colgrove-Walker 208
E-mail: starsenm@uiu.edu
Phone: (563) 425-5300Melle Starsen, Assistant Professor of Communications, has been teaching at the university level since 1990. Before that, she spent nine years in television as a writer, producer, director, videographer, and editor at PBS stations.
Professor Starsen has been responsible for over 100 documentaries, PSAs and promotional videos. Prior to her stint in television, she worked for ten years as a newspaper and publication writer, editor, public information officer, information specialist, public relations director, and reporter.
In addition, Professor Starsen has written two novels and three short stories that have been published, and she has won awards for her screenplays. Professor Starsen teaches courses in effective listening, media writing, media ethics, workplace communication, intercultural communication, television, interviewing, feature writing, and news editing. She created the sports communication major in 2001.
Dr. Robert Tindol
Assistant Professor of English
Office: Colgrove-Walker 212
E-mail: tindolr@uiu.edu
Phone: (563) 425-5829Robert Tindol holds a joint appointment at Upper Iowa University as assistant professor of English and assistant professor of communications. A native Texan, he earned his Ph.D. in English at Claremont Graduate University in Claremont, California, and has taught at UIU since August 2007.
Tindol has extensive experience in both print journalism and academia, having worked for a daily newspaper and a statewide political magazine in Texas and for a regional wire service in Los Angeles. In addition, he previously worked for 11 years as lead science writer at the California Institute of Technology, and for 9 years as a science writer in the news bureau at the University of Texas at Austin. He taught journalism as an adjunct at Howard Payne University in Brownwood, Texas, while regional editor at the Brownwood Bulletin, and later taught English as an adjunct at Austin Community College and Pasadena City College in Pasadena, California.
Tindol’s academic interests include the role of science in American society and the interactions between science and literature. He is currently working on a book about the influence of early American Puritanism on the public’s attitude toward science.
He will regularly teach the “Writing in the Sciences” class at UIU, as well as literature classes on topics such as the American Renaissance, and communications classes such as media ethics and reporting. He is also the faculty advisor for The Collegian, the student weekly newspaper at Upper Iowa.
He has won more than a dozen writing awards from organizations such as the Associated Press and the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education. He is a former board member of the Public Relations Association of Southern California Colleges, and has been a member of the National Association of Science Writers since 1996.
Dr. Roland Vazquez
Associate Professor of Social Science and Anthropology
Office: Professional Building 4
E-mail: vazquezr@uiu.edu
Phone: (563) 425-5236Dr. Roland Vazquez is Associate Professor of Social Sciences and Anthropology. He graduated from Bucknell University in 1986 with a B.S. in Math.
After spending almost two years in Spain, Dr. Vazquez continued his education at Rutgers University, where he received his M.A. (1992), M.Phil (1993) and Ph.D. (1998), all in Anthropology.
Dr. Vazquez teaches courses in Anthropology, Philosophy, and Spanish as well as being in charge of these three departments, all of which are housed in the Division of Liberal Arts.
Among his research interests are Basque and Spanish politics and the symbolic and political aspects of culture. Dr. Vazquez's publications include “Begging to Differ: On Pluralism and ‘Civil’ Society” (2002, Anthropological Quarterly 75(2):413-18) and “Spain: Basque Nationalism and Conflict in Democratic Spain” (2003, Encyclopedia of Modern Ethnic Conflict, Joseph R. Rudolph, ed., Greenwood Press, pp. 215-23). Among his translations is Possible Paradises: Basque Emigration to Latin Americas by José Manuel Azcona, (2003, University of Nevada Press, Spanish to English). He has presented papers at conferences in the U.S. and abroad.
Jerry Wadian
Associate Professor of Speech
Office: Colgrove-Walker 106
E-mail: wadianj@uiu.edu
Phone: (563) 425-5247Mr. Wadian was raised in Massillon, Ohio, a high school football factory 50 miles south of Cleveland. He has a B.A. in English and Theatre from St. Mary's College in Winona, Minnesota, and an M.A. in Communications with a major in Theatre and a minor in public address from Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio.
Mr. Wadian came to Upper Iowa in the fall of 1971 after a 13-month tour of duty with the infantry in Vietnam. At Upper Iowa, he served as Director of Theatre for 20 years; he now teaches public speaking and interpersonal communications. Occasionally, he also teaches an interim course entitled, "The Vietnam War, Fact, Fiction and Myth."
Mr. Wadian is also employed by the Fayette County Union, an award-winning newspaper in nearby West Union. There he handles all facets of sports, writing, editing, photography, and layout, covering Upper Iowa and two local high schools. He also does general photography, as well as feature- and some news writing. He has won several State awards for his photography.
