New Faculty For New Year

With a new year come new changes at EMU. New professors and a new department are sure to enhance the college experience.

Kicking off the host of changes is the creation of an entire new department: Visual and Communication Arts. This includes the old Art and Communications departments, while also incorporating the new Digital Media and Photography majors. The department is co-chaired by Cindy Gusler and Jerry Holsopple.

Also among the changes to the department is the addition of a new professor, Lara Scott. A former professor at Greenville College, she has been actively participating in her field since receiving degrees at Yale University and the University of Pennsylvania. Her goal is to teach art holistically, as a way to interact with every aspect of the world around us.

There's a whole host of new professors at EMU this year, ranging in specialty from biology to nursing to theology, that are as new to teaching at EMU as the youngest freshman are to college life.

Peter Dula, professor of religion and culture and alum of EMU, brings much to the table through the diversity of his various teaching experiences. These range from Lancaster Mennonite High School to Duke University to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to Baghdad, Iraq. One of his central focuses in teaching at EMU will be a focus on understanding how to deal with other religions.

Professor of English Violet (Vi) Dutcher comes to EMU after many years of teaching at Kent State University and The University of Akron, where she received her master's degree. She will be working towards increasing the writing aptitude of EMU students using various methods, including a Writing Tutors Workshop, working specifically with other professors to "strengthen the Writing Intensive curriculum," and "developing courses that will strengthen students' writing in their majors."

Toni Flanagan, professor of teacher education, has extensive experience in middle and high school education. This experience will be put to use, not only in teaching, but also in a possible program to develop relationships with local school systems through a teacher-mentoring program.

Professor of Biology Greta Ann Herin has studied extensively in the field of neurobiology. She has mostly recently completed a three-year postdoctoral fellowship at the Max Planck Institute Brain Research in Frankfurt, Germany. Her doctoral dissertation was also in that field. She was the recipient of the Scottish Rite Schizophrenia Research Fellowship, and has numerous publications to her name.

Karen Madison, professor of nursing, possesses professional certification as an adult nurse practitioner and has over 25 years of professional and teaching experience in the field. She is also a clinical specialist in adult psychiatric-mental health.

Matthew Siderhurst, professor of chemistry, has also received a Ph.D. in entomology from Colorado State University. He has numerous publications in this field, several grants, has received important academic and teaching awards, and has three patents pending that are related to his doctoral work on termites, as well as one from related work on the western corn rootworm. He looks forward to the benefits inherent in a small college setting, including "small class sizes, opportunities for undergraduate research and close interactions between students and teachers."

Heidi Winters Vogel, professor of theater, brings extensive teaching, directing, costuming and stage management experience to EMU. She has taught at four different institutions, and directed at three. Her goal in teaching here is to "demand high artistic standards, while anchoring the students' work in their faith." She says that for "God's will to be done, our voices must be heard, and for our voice to be heard, it must be of the highest quality."

These teachers represent valuable additions to the EMU teaching staff. They hope and plan to turn the students' learning in new directions and enrich their college experience.