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Promotions

Loyola celebrates the attainments of its faculty members who were recently tenured and/or promoted, one of the most important career milestones in a faculty member's career.

During the 2024-25 academic year, 23 Loyola faculty members were tenured and/or promoted. Their accomplishments will continue to strengthen student learning experiences, and their scholarly contributions will continue to enrich human and universal understanding and experience.

The profiles of these distinguished faculty members, which follow, describe the faculty members' areas of expertise and give insight into their most significant and rewarding career dimensions.

Natka Bianchini

Promoted

Professor of Visual and Performing Arts

Research Interests

  • 20th Century American theatre history
  • Directing
  • Queer theatre

Favorite Courses Taught at Loyola

  • Queer Theatre and Film
  • American Musical Theatre: Uptown and Down
  • Intro to Theatre History
  • Directing I & II

Recent/Noteworthy Publications or Presentations

  • Director, Hurrican Diane by Madeleine George, Iron Crow Theatre, Jan/Feb 2023
  • Co-editor, Albee and Influence, Brill Press, 2021
  • Managing Director, Iron Crow Theatre, 2023-present

Most Significant Service to Loyola, Your Professional, and/or Baltimore Community

  • Class Dean to the class of 2019 (2016-2019)
  • Theatre Program Area Head (2021-present, 2014-2016)

Grants/Fellowships Awarded

  • Center for Humanities Grant (2022) to produce lobby exhibit at the LNDL on historic Playbills
  • Gordon Center for the Performing Arts Individual Artist Grant

What is Significant or Rewarding about Loyola

It is always a joy to work so closely with the undergraduate students at Loyola University Maryland. Because I work with students in both the classroom and the rehersal room, I get to witness their academic, professional, and personal transformations over their time on campus. Collaborating with such talented and creative students on the creation of full-scale plays and musicals each year is not only my passion but it is a gift of service to the entire University community.

Robbie Bishop-Monroe, DBA

Tenured and Promoted

Associate Professor of Accounting

Research Interests

  • Diversity and Ethics
  • Technology

Favorite Courses Taught at Loyola

  • Auditing
  • Forensic Accounting
  • Intermediate Accounting I

Recent/Noteworthy Publications or Presentations

  • Bishop-Monroe, R., Makoko, S., & Waldrup, B. (Forthcoming - Accepted for Publication
    May 2024). Board Succession Planning: Strengthening Board Assets through a
    Diversity Audit. The CPA Journal
  • Bishop-Monroe, R., & Garcia, J. L. (2022). Where do I Start? A Pathway for Personal Growth for Faculty Committed to Creating Inclusive Classrooms. Issues in Accounting Education. https://doi.org/10.2308/ISSUES-2021-068
  • Bishop-Monroe, R., et al., Thank you whistleblower! How organizations can cultivate whistleblower activity to enhance business success, Organizational Dynamics (2021), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.orgdyn.2020.100814
  • Bishop-Monroe, R., Geng, X., & Law, D. (2020) How Can the Accounting Profession Attract a Diverse Generation Z? CPA journal, 89 (12), pages 58-63, https://www.cpajournal.com/author/robbie-bishop-monroe/

Most Significant Service to Loyola, Your Professional, and/or Baltimore Community

  • Loyola - Loyola University Maryland President’s Council of Equity and Inclusion Committee Member https://www.loyola.edu/department/equity-inclusion/institutional commitment/presidents-council.html (Academic year 2022 - 2023 - Present)
  • Baltimore Community - Board member at the Marian House - Catholic Organization in Baltimore, Maryland that assists women of color with housing, careers, and transitional assistance Marian House. https://www.marianhouse.org/about-us/board-and-staff/ (September 2023 - Present)
  • Professional - American Accounting Association (AAA) 2023 Audit Section - Panel Member - “Auditing Your Accounting Program: Removing Barriers to Student Success” January 2023

What is Significant or Rewarding about Loyola

The most rewarding professional aspect of working for Loyola University is the encouragement to incorporate Jesuit values into the class curriculum. I have taken the opportunity to do this by integrating experiential learning, creating a diversity course, and including reflection exercises into my classes. My experience at Loyola has taught me how to embrace continuous self-improvement as a professor for the greater good of the students. It has been fulfilling to see my students grow from the Jesuit values I have introduced. Finally, my experience at Loyola has also grown my own faith by bringing these values into an academic setting.

James Bunzli, Ph.D.

Promoted

Professor of Visual and Performing Arts

Research Interests

  • Study and creation of Autobiographical Solo Performance. I create new work as a writer/performer and as a director/developer with other performers.
  • Directing and acting for professional theatres in the region.
  • Staging Shakespeare in new and relevant ways that address the current "moment."

Favorite Courses Taught at Loyola

  • DR 251: Experience of Theatre
  • DR 350: Acting I
  • HN 321: Introduction to Theatrical Production

Recent/Noteworthy Publications or Presentations

  • Served as Interim Artistic Director for Compass Rose Theatre, 2021/2022
  • Performed original One Man Show, "1973 Dodge Monaco Station Wagon" at Charm City Fringe (October 2023). and 
  • Forthcoming, "selfPORTRAITs" at Charm City Fringe (October 2024) (this piece was created with Loyola students and premiered in february 2024 as an on-campus production)

Most Significant Service to Loyola, Your Professional, and/or Baltimore Community

  • Assistant Director, Honors Program
  • Poison Cup Players, Faculty Moderator
  • Member Research and Sabbatical Committee

Grants/Fellowships Awarded

  • NEH Summer Grant Nominee, Loyola University
  • Maryland State Arts Council Operating Grant, Compass Rose Theatre
  • Canadian Studies Fellowship for Extended Research in Quebec

What is Significant or Rewarding about Loyola

Since I arrived at Loyola in 2001, I have enjoyed the atmosphere of shared responsibility -- for learning, but also for each other's well-being. This ethos of caring has made my time here both pleasant and productive. As a theatre teacher and a scholar/practitioner, I have enjoyed the freedom to experiment, to explore. Rather than just thinking I know more than students and should "educate" them, I see teaching at Loyola as a shared discovery. Each member of the community has as much to teach me as I have to teach them.

Martin Camper, Ph.D.

Promoted

Professor of Writing

Research Interests

My scholarship occupies four research areas: (1) the rhetoric of textual interpretations, (2) Christian rhetorics of biblical interpretation, (3) composition pedagogy, and (4) value-based reasoning. All four areas stem from my interest in the rhetorical architecture of human inquiry and argument.

Favorite Courses Taught at Loyola

  • Honors 210: Eloquentia Perfecta
  • Writing 220: Introduction to Rhetoric
  • Writing 311: Style

Recent/Noteworthy Publications or Presentations

  • Camper, Martin. “Justice Kennedy’s Definitional Construction of Gay Rights in Lawrence and Obergefell: Legal Rhetorical Analysis with the Interpretive Stases.” The Rhetoric of Judging Well: The Conflicted Legacy of Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, edited by David A. Frank and Francis J. Mootz III, Pennsylvania State University Press, 2023, pp. 45-60.
  • Camper, Martin. “Making Meaning out of Texts: An Approach through the Interpretive Stases.” The Routledge Handbook of Language and Persuasion, edited by Jeanne Fahnestock and Randy Allen Harris, Routledge, 2023, pp. 96-112.
  • “Certainty from an Uncertain Text: The American Methodist Debate over Women’s Preaching.” Keynote, American Society for the History of Rhetoric Symposium. Denver, CO. May 24, 2024.

Most Significant Service to Loyola, Your Professional, and/or Baltimore Community

  • Assessment Coordinator, Writing Department, 2021-present
  • Director, Center for the Humanities, 2021-2024
  • Member, Executive Council, International Society for the History of Rhetoric, 2019-2024

Grants/Fellowships Awarded

  • Summer Stipend for "How the Bibles Meaning Changes: Argument and Controversy in the Christian Church," National Endowment for the Humanities. 2017.
  • Research Fellowship for "How the Bible's Meaning Changes: Argument and Controversy in the Christian Church," International Society for the History of Rhetoric. January 2017.

What is Significant or Rewarding about Loyola

One of the most rewarding aspects of my job is working with students. Because of the small faculty-student ratio, I can meet individual students where they are and really help them cultivate critical and reflective reading, writing, and thinking skills. I also often have the same students in multiple classes across semesters, so I can support and witness their intellectual growth over a long stretch of time. Loyola students continually inspire and impress me with their earnest curiosity and passion for justice. It is an honor and a privilege to walk with them on this leg of their life journeys.

Kristina Cardona Collins

Promoted

Associate Clinical Professor of Teacher Education

Research Interests

My current areas of research interests are second language acquisition, language development for culturally and linguistically diverse students, literacy education, critical theory, culturally responsive pedagogy, and teacher development.

Favorite Courses Taught at Loyola

  • RE 242
  • RE 540
  • RE 603

Recent/Noteworthy Publications or Presentations

  • Reimagining Writing Assessment for Socio-and Racio Linguistic Justice: Acknowledging the Use of Linguistic Repertoires for Black and Latix Students. In Handbook of Research on Writing Instruction Practices for Equitable and Effective Teaching. 2022. Co-authored with Dr. Margarita Gomez.
  • Who Gets to Count as Emerging Bilinguals?: Adapting a Holistic Writing Rubric for All. In Bilingualism for All: Raciolinguistic Perspectives on Dual Language Education. November 2020. Co-authored with Dr. Margarita Gomez
  • Whose Language Is Legit? Intersections of Race, Ethnicity, and Language. Journal of Cases in Educational Leadership. March 2016 19: 51–61, first published February 9, 2016. Co-authored with Dr. Margarita Gomez.

Most Significant Service to Loyola, Your Professional, and/or Baltimore Community

  • SoE Faculty Council
  • Archbishop Borders School Board Member
  • Literacy Graduate Program Co-Director

Grants/Fellowships Awarded

  • Center for Equity, Leadership, and Social Justice in Education Faculty Associate

What is Significant or Rewarding about Loyola

The most rewarding aspect of teaching, professional development, and service is the opportunity to foster meaningful growth—both in myself and in others. Through teaching, I have the privilege of shaping future educators, empowering them with tools and strategies to create equitable and inclusive classrooms. Professional development allows me to stay on the cutting edge of education, pilot innovative practices like Computational Thinking, and share expertise with colleagues. Service opportunities provide me a platform to give back to the community that I love and that has provided me the chance to live my passion for education each day. Each of these endeavors deepens my commitment to education and inspires transformative change for myself and my community.

Marian Crotty, Ph.D.

Promoted

Professor of Writing

Research Interests

  • Fiction
  • Creative Nonfiction

Favorite Courses Taught at Loyola

  • Senior Seminar
  • Fiction
  • Writing about Place

Recent/Noteworthy Publications or Presentations

  • Near Strangers, Autumn House Press, 2024
  • What Counts as Love, University of Iowa Press, 2017
  • "Halloween" anthologized in Best American Short Stories 2020

Most Significant Service to Loyola, Your Professional, and/or Baltimore Community

  • Director of the Humanities Symposium
  • Chair of the Writers at Work Series
  • Contributing Editor at The Common

Grants/Fellowships Awarded

  • Janet Heidinger Kafka Prize
  • Walker E. Dakin Fellowship, Sewanee Writers' Conference
  • Artist Residency, Yaddo

What is Significant or Rewarding about Loyola

I love meeting new students, introducing them to new writers, and helping them to find their own voices. Watching students transform their ideas and experiences into art has been a remarkable and rewarding experience. I appreciate create writing's invitation to slow down and notice the world around us and to regard each other with curiosity and empathy. I'm grateful to have found myself at a university that vlues undergraduate teaching and the education of the whole person.

Scott Emge, MBA

Promoted

Associate Teaching Professor of Finance

Favorite Courses Taught at Loyola

  • FI 322: Investments
  • FI 122: Survey of Finance
  • GB 827: Valuation

Most Significant Service to Loyola, Your Professional, and/or Baltimore Community

  • Finance Department Advisory Board
  • Prospective & Accepted Student Open House

What is Significant or Rewarding About Loyola

One of the most rewarding aspects of teaching at Loyola is seeing the students grow intellectually and personally. It is especially fulfilling to develop connections with students and be a small part of their journey and success once they graduate and embark on their lives outside of Loyola.

Jenny Glick

Promoted

Associate Teaching Professor of Communication and Media

Research Interests

I am interested in best practices for combatting misinformation in a digital age

Favorite Courses Taught at Loyola

  • The Greyhound News
  • News Reporting and Writing
  • Public Speaking

Most Significant Service to Loyola, Your Professional, and/or Baltimore Community

  • The Greyhound student newspaper. I put us onto a new updated portal, have increased editorship opportunities, and brought back THE GREYHOUND print edition

Grants/Fellowships Awarded

  • Honored with a "faculty champion" grant from the Center for Community News in Vermont in fall 2024

What is Significant or Rewarding About Loyola

What do I love about Loyola? The answer is two-fold; I love the people and the mission. I have an opportunity every day to collaborate with smart and energetic educators in the Department of Communication and Media. We are more than colleagues, we are friends. Some institutions are run top down. I appreciate Loyola’s culture of inclusion for faculty, and the consistent support for my ideas on how to strengthening our journalism program with a new and improved student newspaper.

Margarita Gómez, Ph.D.

Promoted

Professor of Teacher Education

Research Interests

My research interests focus on a) translanguaging and writing development for multilingual learners and b) teacher education in support of multilingual learners' literacy development. Since receiving tenure, my research has expanded from supporting multilingual learners' literacy from a translanguaging lens, which is committed to supporting literacy in socially just and humanizing ways.

Favorite Courses Taught at Loyola

  • RE 605: Principles and Practices of Teaching Writing
  • RE 603: Language, Literacy, and Culture
  • RE345/562: Literacy Assessment and Instruction for Multilingual Learners

Recent/Noteworthy Publications or Presentations

  • M. Gort, M. A. Zapata, K. Seltzer & M. Gómez (Eds.), (forthcoming, anticipated 2024) Translanguaging perspectives on writing development and pedagogy: Learning from findings across contexts. Information Age Publishing.
  • Gómez, M. & Collins, K. (2022). Reimagining writing assessment for socio-and racio-linguistic justice: Acknowledging the use of linguistic repertoires for Black and Latinx students. In T. Hodges (Ed.) Handbook of Research on Writing Instruction Practices for Equitable and Effective Teaching (pp. 1-22). DOI: 10.4018/978-1- 6684-3745-2.ch001
  • Gómez, M. & Lewis, M. (2022). Identifying the Assets of Emergent Bilingual Middle School Students' Writing: Opportunities to Validate Students’ Linguistic Repertoires and Identities. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, DOI: 10.1080/13670050.2022.2079371

Most Significant Service to Loyola, Your Professional, and/or Baltimore Community

  • Undergraduate Curriculum Committee, Chair (University)
  • Undergraduate Program Director (Program)
  • Literacy Research Association Conference, Multilingualism and Multiculturalism Chair (Professional)
  • Credit for All Language Learners Act, SB 395, Passed in Legislature (Community)

Grants/Fellowships Awarded

  • NOYES Crest grant, 2022 (CREST personnel)

What is Significant or Rewarding about Loyola

As an engaged scholar, Loyola's Jesuit mission and core values align greatly with my own approaches to teaching, research and service. I have appreciated the encouragement and support to mentor students, pursue my equity driven research, and actively engage with the Baltimore community in service to/with multilinguals. 

Ana Gómez-Pérez, Ph.D.

Promoted

Professor of Modern Languages and Literatures

Research Interests

My literary research to date has been focused primarily on Spanish prose, in particular the novel, from the latter half of the nineteenth century to the nineteen seventies. For many years now, I have focused most of my research on Rosa Chacel (1898-1994). My book on her masterpiece La sinrazón [Dream of Reason] (1960) is forthcoming this year in North Carolina Studies in the Romance Language and Literatures (NCSRLL), a University of North Carolina Press series.

Favorite Courses Taught at Loyola

  • SN 203 (Introduction to Reading Literature)
  • SN 335 (Contemporary Spanish Literature: 1975 to the Present)
  • SN 336 (Rewriting the Self: Women's Literature in Contemporary Spain)

Recent/Noteworthy Publications or Presentations

  • Desde un camino olvidado de todos. Mujer, vanguardia, exilio y existencialismo en La sinrazón de Rosa Chacel. [Forthcoming in North Carolina Studies in the Romance Language and Literatures (NCSRLL), a University of North Carolina Press series]
  • "La vanguardia como punto de partida: Cuestiones de genero en Estación. Ida y vuelta y La sinrazón de Rosa Chancel" Anales de la Literatura Contemporánea Española (ALeC), vol. 46, no. 1, 2021, pp. 79-100.
  • "Las confesiones de Rosa Chacel: Memorias de Leticia Valle y La sinrazón." Bulletin of Spanish Studies, vol. 96, no 2, 2019, pp. 261-279.

Most Significant Service to Loyola, Your Professional, and/or Baltimore Community

  • Chair of the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures
  • Associate chair of the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures
  • Member of the Faculty Affairs Committee

Grants/Fellowships Awarded

  • Summer Research Grant (2008, 2021, 2015)

What is Significant or Rewarding about Loyola

I am committed to teaching the Spanish language, as well as Hispanic cultures and literatures. My aim is to foster appreciation, respect and curiosity for other languages and cultures, and to pass on my love of literature to my students. At Loyola, I have found the perfect place to share my values and knowledge in the classroom. Our institution also supports my enthusiasm for learning and research and has given me the opportunity to participate in trying to make my department and our university as a whole the best they can be. For all of this, I am grateful.

David Gordon

Promoted

Associate Teaching Professor of Philosophy

Research Interests

My main research interests are in the Philosophy of Evolutionary Biology, the intrsection between science and religion, environmental philosophy, and the history of philosophy.

Favorite Courses Taught at Loyola

  • Environmental Philosophy
  • Environmental Ethics
  • Messina seminars for Foundations of Philosophy

Recent/Noteworthy Publications or Presentations

  • The Implications of Evolution for Metaphysics: Theism, Idealism, and Naturalism. Lexington Books. (August 2023)
  • “Reason, Justice, and the Road Warrior” in Mad Max and Philosophy: Thinking through the Wasteland, Matthew Meyer and David Koepsell, eds., Wiley-Blackwell. (April 2024)
  • “Darwinism, Belief, & Religion: A Critical Analysis” in Ruminating on Ruse: Themes in the Evolutionary Naturalism of Michael Ruse, Bradford McCall, ed., Wipf and Stock Publishers. Forthcoming (February 2025)

Most Significant Service to Loyola, Your Professional, and/or Baltimore Community

  • Cosmos and Creation Conference - attendee since 2016, Executive Board membber, 2021-22, co-director 2022-present
  • Thoreau Society - elected to Board of Directors at July 2024 Annual Meeting
  • The American Chestnut Foundation (TACF) - elected to MD chapter at fall 2024 Annual Meeting

Grants/Fellowships Awarded

  • CFH Grant to give paper at the Thoreau Society Annual Gathering in Concord, July 2024 - $1,500
  • Dean's Supplemental Fund for Teaching Faculty to give paper at the Society for the Advancement of American
  • Philosophy (SAAP) conference in Boston, March 2024 - $1,500 CFH Grant to give paper at the Thoreau Society Annual Gathering in Concord, July 2023 - $1,500

What is Significant or Rewarding About Loyola

What I find most rewarding about teaching at Loyola is the ability to hang out with such great people, who also happen to be very intelligent. There is so much activity going on around campus, and it is such a privilege to be part of it. Environmental films, lectures, philosophy club meetings, meditation sessions, interesting students, conferences, religious gatherings, etc. I often tell my students I have taken a lot of classes and taught a lot of classes at lot of different schools, and Loyola is one of the best. It is a sane rational place with good faith-based values.

Fuat Gürsözlü, Ph.D.

Promoted

Professor of Philosophy

Research Interests

My research interests are Social Political Philosophy and Democratic Theory. I spend a great deal of time exploring ways to make democracy more inclusive, egalitarian, and peaceful.

Favorite Courses Taught at Loyola

  • PL 201: Foundations of Philosophy
  • PL 343: Philosophy of Human Rights
  • PL 334: Contemporary Political Philosophy

Recent/Noteworthy Publications or Presentations

  • Agonistic Democrazy and Political Practice, Palgrave McMillan, 2022.
  • "Partisanship and Democrazy" in Politics, Polarity, and Peace, ed. William Barnes, Brill, 2023, 62-82.
  • "Democracy and Peace: Is Democracy Good for Peace?" in Peaceful Approaches for a More Peaceful World, ed. Sanjay Lal, Brill, 2022, 8-29.

Most Significant Service to Loyola, Your Professional, and/or Baltimore Community

  • Chair, Philosophy Department
  • Co-Chair, Committee on Evaluator Training
  • President, Concerned Philosophers for Peace

Grants/Fellowships Awarded

  • Loyola Summer Research Grant
  • Fellow, Reignite Community-Engaged Seminar

What is Significant or Rewarding about Loyola

It is a joy to work closely with our students, mentoring and advising them. I am also constantly amazed by how caring and dedicated my colleagues are to our students.

Sean Keehan

Promoted

Associate Teaching Professor of Economics

Research Interests

My research interest is health economics and specifically, what categories of health spending are growing the fastest and what actions could be taken to slow this growth. I am also interested in ways that health care providers could run their practices more efficiently, which could not only save money but improve patient outcomes.

Favorite Courses Taught at Loyola

  • Health Economics
  • Microeconomic Principles
  • Macroeconomic Principles

Recent/Noteworthy Publications or Presentations

  • Coyle, Sara, Keehan, Sean, and Schwartz, Jeremy. "Obesity and Food Access: Do Consumer Preferences Matter." The American Economist, 2023.

Most Significant Service to Loyola, Your Professional, and/or Baltimore Community

When the pandemic started, I was part of the COVID-19 Health Care Working Group and assisted the University Rapid Response Team with implementing the best policies for a challenging and unpredictable few years when Loyola did much better than other universities. 

What is Most Significant or Rewarding About Loyola

I find most rewarding that I have the privilege of teaching young men and women the subject of Economics at a university that values what my colleagues and I bring to the classroom. For students taking the principles courses, I love changing their perceptions about the subject and teaching them essential skills that they will use in their lives. And for students talking health economics, I love teaching them a complicated and ever-changing subject that has led to many fulfilling career opportunities for recent alumni.

Matthew Kirkhart, Ph.D.

Promoted

Professor of Psychology

Research Interests

Broadly my interests include learning, memory, cognition, and medical/health psychology. Specifically I have recently focused on second-language learning approaches using gestures that facilitate new vocabulary learning, and how experience is related to trauma and recovery from trauma.

Favorite Courses Taught at Loyola

  • PY620: Theories of Counseling and Psychotherapy
  • PY820: Cognitive and Affective Bases of Behavior
  • PY845: Models of Psychotherapy: Interpersonal

Recent/Noteworthy Publications or Presentations

  • Lewis, T.N., Kirkhart, M.W., & Stickles, E. (2024). Pattern iconicity for second language acquisitions: Differential effects of gesture type on lexical category. In Brown, A., & Eskildsen, S.W. (Eds.) Multimodality Across Epistemologies in Second Language Research. Routledge.
  • Despeaux, K., Lating, J. M., Everly, G. S., Jr., Sherman, M. F., & Kirkhart, M. W. (2019). A randomized control trial assessing the efficacy of Psychological First Aid. Journal of Nervous & Mental Disease, 207(8), 626-632.
  • Seebach, C., Kirkhart, M., Lating, J. M., Wegener, S. T., Song, Y., Riley, L. H. III, & Archer, K. R. (2012). Examining the role of positive and negative affect in recovery from spine surgery. Pain, 153, 518-525.

Most Significant Service to Loyola, Your Professional, and/or Baltimore Community

  • Chair, Department of Psychology
  • Interim Chair, Teacher Education
  • Director of Masters Education, Practitioner Track

Grants/Fellowships Awarded

  • 2010 Senior Faculty Sabbatical, Loyola University Maryland
  • 1998 Summer Research Grant, Loyola University Maryland

What is Significant or Rewarding about Loyola

Of all the activities I do professionally, I value teaching and mentoring the most. One of the most rewarding aspects of my job at Loyola University Maryland is that I am fortunate enough to work at a university that values teaching so strongly. I am moswt rewarded by being allowed to be a part of the professional development of graduate students, starting in their first semester in the program through graduation, when they are starting their independent professional careers. Being allowed to be a part of their growth through independence is a true gift to me.

Jake London, Ph.D.

Tenured and Promoted

Associate Teaching Professor of Information Systems, Law and Operations

Research Interests

I am a behavioral researcher who tends to conduct observational studies that focus on the how (i.e., the manner and consequence of use) and the why (i.e., preconditions or motivation of use) of technology use in modern life as I seek to understand not just what people intend to do with technology, but what they actually do and why they do it.

Favorite Courses Taught at Loyola

  • IS 352
  • EL/GB 704
  • IS 251

Recent/Noteworthy Publications or Presentations

  • London, J., & Matthews, K. (2021). Crisis communication on social media-Lessons from Covid-19. Journal of Decision Systems, (My first publication at Loyola!)
  • London, J., Li, S., & Sun, H. (2022). Seems Legit: An Investigation of the Assessing and Sharing of Unverifiable Messages on Online Social Networks. Information Systems Research (A project published in the premiere journal in my field)

Most Significant Service to Loyola, Your Professional, and/or Baltimore Community

  • Served as chair of the Faculty Development committee and guided to acceptance four policy initiatives that clarify the research expectations for Sellinger faculty.
  • Served on the CIO search committee.
  • Currently serving as chair of ATC and member of CETL and working with CETL chair to develop resources for enhancing the use of technology among faculty.

What is Significant or Rewarding about Loyola

Culture. I have been associated with four different institutions of higher education and worked for a half-dozen other organizations and Loyola's culture stands above all. When I first joined Loyola, the use of Latin terms like 'cura personalis' and 'magis' felt hokey. However, I quickly learned it to be true that out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks, and Loyola's heart beats for her students. This culture permeates everything that happens on campus from hiring (I served on the CIO search committee) to curriculum (I serve on the CETL), and it is an honor to embrace.

Patrick LoPresto

Promoted

Teaching Professor of Psychology

Jon Malis, MFA

Promoted

Professor of Visual and Performing Arts

Research Interests

  • Generative AI As A Creative Tool
  • Translations Between Physical and Digital Versions of The Same Artwork

Favorite Courses Taught at Loyola

  • PT386: Video Art
  • PT270: Introduction to Digital Photography
  • PT300: Photocraft

Recent/Noteworthy Publications or Presentations

  • The Grotesque Hand - Using AI As A Creative Collaborator (conference presentation). Electronic Visualization and the Arts London: British Computer Society. London, UK.
  • Moving Colour (exhibition). Winchester Gallery, University of Southampton, Winchester, UK.
  • Q&A (exhibition). Pazo Fine Art, Kensington, MD

Most Significant Service to Loyola, Your Professional, and/or Baltimore Community

  • Chair of Academic Technology Committee, 2021-24
  • Chair of Visual & Performing Arts, 2024-pres
  • Executive Committee on Governance, 2021-24

Grants/Fellowships Awarded

  • Grants for Artists (grantee). Maryland State Arts Council, Baltimore & Annapolis, MD, 2024
  • The District of Columbia Commission on the Arts & Humanities (art Bank Purchase Grant), Washington, DC, 2021
  • AJCU Leadership Institute (fellowship), Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities, Washington, DC & Chicago, IL, 2022-23

What is Significant or Rewarding about Loyola

Throughout all my work at Loyola, one word continuously comes to mind - [our shared] community. Whether students, staff, faculty, administrators, or a friend of the institution, I've really come to see us all as one big family. Everyone demonstrates the utmost care and respect for each other's success and wellbeing, and a large part of my personal commitment to Loyola has been in leadership and teaching positions that allow me to set up our community members for success in a variety of fields. As we celebrate tenure and promotion, I can't think of a better reward than celebrating everyone's shared successes.

Regina Massella

Promoted

Associate Teaching Professor of Educational Leadership

Research Interests

I am focused on research-based instructional strategies that school leaders can use to update and improve achievement and success of colleagues, staff members and students. I research examples of effective culturally responsive teaching and leadership both in journals and ASCD publications.

Favorite Courses Taught at Loyola

  • AD 651 Leadership and Equity
  • AD 650 Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment
  • AD 668 School Law, Policy, and Ethics

Recent/Noteworthy Publications or Presentations

  • Conference Presentations
    • "The Critical Role of the Assistant Principal as a 21st Century Leader" Keynote Speaker- Maryland Association of Secondary School Prinicpals-November 2019
    • "More Than Enough" Presentation: Womens' Leadership Conference-Maryland Association of Elementary and Secondary School Prinicpal-March 2025

Most Significant Service to Loyola, Your Professional, and/or Baltimore Community

  • Graduate Curriculum Committee Member
  • Maryland Association of Secondary School Principals Executive Board Member
  • Volunteer for YMCA Teen Leadership Program Mentor

What is Significant or Rewarding About Loyola

Teaching has always been a profession to me, and it has always been in my heart. The most effective teachers teach from the heart and the head. Content and pedagogy make the teacher. Content and pedagogy make the school leader. This belief has framed my commitment to what Kouzes and Posner (2023) mean when they say effective school leaders must "model the Way." I believe the way is grounded in the Jesuit values at Loyola. To be recognized as highly effective by my students and my peers will always be my goal so that I know I am making a difference in our world.

Oghenetoja Okoh, Ph.D.

Tenured and Promoted

Associate Professor of History

Research Interests

Current research interests: minority identities and citizenship in modern Africa. Future research: men, masculinity, and prestige through post-colonial Nigerian migration.

Favorite Courses Taught at Loyola

  • Gender and Power in Modern Africa
  • Minority Identity and Citizenship in the Modern World
  • Contesting Empire

Recent/Noteworthy Publications or Presentations

  • Minority Identities in Nigeria: Contesting and Claiming Citizenship in the Twentieth Centure, forthcoming with Cambridge University Press (2025)

Most Significant Service to Loyola, Your Professional, and/or Baltimore Community

  • Interim Director of the African and African American Studies minor program
  • President's Council on Equity and INclusion
  • Implementation Team Member of Loyola's Truth and Reconciliation Project

Grants/Fellowships Awarded

  • Peace and Justice Studies, Bunting Publication Grant (2024)
  • Center for Humanities Publications Grant (2023)
  • NEH Summer Stipend (2020)

What is Significant or Rewarding about Loyola

The relationships I've built with students and colleagues here at Loyola have been the most rewarding part of my time here at Loyola. Teaching and guiding young people to find the best parts of themselves, and to nurture their talents is, for me, both an honor and a privilege. I also have the pleasure of working with colleagues who authentically care for me and support my well being. Loyola has been a great place to work!

Joan Ricart-Huguet, Ph.D.

Tenured and Promoted

Associate Professor of Political Science

Research Interests

My research interests are in Political Economy and include political elites, colonial investments and legacies, education, and culture. Most of my work focuses on East and West African countries and I have a growing interest in Latin America.

Favorite Courses Taught at Loyola

  • PS 309 Political Economy of Development
  • PS 311 African Politics
  • PS 350 Comparative Politics

Recent/Noteworthy Publications or Presentations

  • Paine, Jack, Xiaoyan Qiu and Joan Ricart-Huguet. Endogenous Colonial Borders: Precolonial States and Geography in the Partition of Africa. 2025. American Political Science Review.
  • Ricart-Huguet, Joan. 2022. Why Do Different Cultures Form and Persist? Learning from the Case of Makerere University. The Journal of Modern African Studies, 60(4). 429-456. Best Article award from the African Politics Conference Group (APCG)(2022)

Most Significant Service to Loyola, Your Professional, and/or Baltimore Community

  • Service to faculty: As leaders of the FAC, Sibren Isaacman and Rebecca Trump asked me what electoral system should be adopted to compose the Search Committee to elect the new Dean of LCAS. I suggested the use of approval voting, a system that favors broad-consensus candidates and thus reduces polarization. The FAC adopted my recommendation for the Search Committee and for other service positions.
  • Service to students: Undergraduate research is one of the 10 high-impact practices identified by the American Colleges and Universities and played a crucial role in my professional development. Consequently, I mentored and conducted research with seven Loyola students majoring or double majoring in seven disciplines (Political Science, History, Economics, Spanish, English, French, and Global Studies). This diversity is fitting given that my own research is very interdisciplinary.
  • Service to the profession: I regularly co-organize workshops to create forums where scholars, and junior scholars in particular, can present their research. These include a Conference on Political and Economic Development at Yale, a Workshop on Nationalism and National Identity in the Global South at Princeton, a Workshop on Culture at IE University in Madrid, and an upcoming annual Workshop on Empirical Political Science in the DMV area.

Grants/Fellowships Awarded

  • The Institute for Humane Studies, George Mason University. 2022
  • Ethics, Politics, & Economic Research Fund, Yale University. 2021
  • Centennial Research Grants, American Political Science Association. 2021

What is Significant or Rewarding about Loyola

Covid-19 struck in my first year as Assistant Professor, just as I was learning the ropes of my new job. Although we were physically apart for the following two semesters, the unflinching support of my Department then and throughout my time as Assistant Professor has enabled me to embark on a successful career in teaching and research. Loyola is an exceptionally welcoming workplace with a friendly campus culture. And that is perhaps the most important ingredient for a life that is meaningful and rewarding.

Leah Katherine Saal, Ph.D.

Promoted

Professor of Teacher Education - Literacy

Research Interests

Saal's engaged scholarly agenda focuses on the intersectionality of literacy and social justice. Her research includes two dovetailing strands: 1) the literacies of adults and older students and 2) the preparation and support of literacy leaders to work for social justice.

Favorite Courses Taught at Loyola

  • RE510: Foundations of Literacy Curriculum and Instructions
  • RE610: Disciplinary & Digital Literacies
  • RE737: Literacy Assessment I

Recent Noteworthy Publications/Presentations

Most Significant Service to Loyola, Your Professional, and/or Baltimore Community

  • Chair of Loyola University Maryland Board of Rank and Tenure

  • Chair of the Adult Literacy and Adult Education SIG for AERA
  • Co-Director Literacy Programs

Grants/Fellowships Awarded

  • Schoenbrodt, L., & Saal, L. K. (Pls), Maryland Department of Disabilities/Ethan Saylor Alliance, Revision of Model Curriculum for Law Enforcement and Interacting with People with Intellectual and/or Developmental Disabilities. June 2024 [$74,151.00].
  • Saal, L. K., & Schoenbrodt, L. (Pls), U.S. Department of Health and Hospitals, Maryland Developmental Disabilities Council, LEADing to Learn: Training Corrections Supervisors to Work with Individuals with Developmental Disabilities. August 2022 [$197,715.23]

What is Significant or Rewarding about Loyola

I chose Loyola because I as excited about Loyola's mission and how that misison aligned with my vision for my own vocation - as a scholar, educator, and community member.

I believe that education (broadly) and literacy (specifically) are a social justice issues and human rights for all people. Working to highlight and improve educational equity and access in Baltimore and beyond along with dedicated colleagues, students, and others is the most rewarding part of being a member of the Loyola University Maryland community.

Lisa Scheifele, Ph.D.

Promoted

Professor of Biology

Research Interests

My research centes on the field of synthetic biology in which genes, genomes, and cells are synthesized from scratch, allowing us to create living entities not previously found in nature. My work with the Build-a-Genome Network has allowed us to make fundamental discoveries about how cells operate, introduce this field into undergraduate curricula nationwide, and participate in interdisciplinary Bio-Art collaborations.

Favorite Courses Taught at Loyola

  • BL150: Foundations of Biology I
  • BL322: Synthetic Biology with Lab
  • BL438: Exploring the Human Genome

Recent/Noteworthy Publications or Presentations

  • Zhang W... Build-A-Genome Class [Ryan Accardo, Leighanne A. Brammer Basta, Nicholas R. Bello, Lousanna Cai, Stephanie Cerritos, MacIntosh Cornwell, Anthony D’Amato, Maria Hacker, Kenneth Hersey, Emma Kennedy, Ardeshir Kianercy, Dohee Kim, Griffin McCutcheon, Kimiko McGirr, Nora Meaney, Maisa Nimer, Carla Sabbatini, Lisa Z. Scheifele, Lucas S. Shores, Cassandra Silvestrone, Arden Snee, Antonio Spina, Anthony Staiti, Matt Stuver, Elli Tian, Danielle Whearty, Calvin Zhao, Karen Zeller];... Boeke JD. Manipulating the 3D organization of the largest synthetic yeast chromosome. Molecular Cell. 2023 83(23):4424-4437.
  • Luo J,... Build-A-Genome Class [Greg Adoff, Ju Young Ahn, Anvesh Annadanam, Surekha Annadanam, Henri Berger, Yi Chen, Michael Chickering, Andrew D’Avino, Oren Fishman, Jay Im, Sangmin Kim, Sunghan Kim, Hong Seo Lim, Lauren Meyer, Allison Moyer, Natalie A. Murphy, Peter Natov, Arthur Radley, Lisa Scheifele, Arushi Tripathy, Rebeca Vergara Greeno, Tony Wang, Nick Wilkerson, Karen Zeller, Tony Zheng, and Vivian Zhou];.....Boeke JD. Synthetic chromosome fusion: Effects on mitotic and meiotic genome structure and function. Cell Genomics. 2023 3(11):100439.
  • Boeke JD; the Build-A-Genome Course [Joel S.Bader, Leighanne Basta, Yizhi Cai, Carolyn Chapman, Eric Cooper, Jessica Dymond, Jeffrey Han, Richard M. Jones, Stephanie Lauer, Bing-Zhi Li, Debra Mathews, Nick Matinyan, Héloïse Muller, Robert Newman, Raquel Ordoñez Ciriza, Matthew Payea, Amanda Qu, Franziska Sandmeier, Lisa Scheifele, Hashmat Sikder, Yingjin Yuan, Karen Zeller, Yu Zhao]. Build-A-Genome and the “awesome power of undergraduates”. Genetics. 2024 227(4):iyae083.

Grants/Fellowships Awarded

  • National Science Foundation, Research Coordination Network-Undergraduate Biology Education: The Build-a- Genome Network. August 1, 2018- July 31, 2025. $511,184.
  • National Science Foundation, Advancing Informal STEM Learning program. Introducing Synthetic Biology Using Co-Designed, Culturally Responsive Biomaker Activities for Family Engagement in Underserved Communities. September 15, 2024-August 31, 2027. $1,686,589 (co-PI).

Most Significant Service to Loyola, Your Professional, and/or Baltimore Community

  • Chair, Department of Biology
  • Working Group Leader, Addressing Challenges in Teaching program, National Institute on Scientific Teaching
  • Executive Director, Baltimore Underground Science Space (BUGSS)

What is Significant or Rewarding about Loyola

What has been most significant about my time at Loyola is the strong community and relationships that I have formed. In the classroom, students are eager not only to learn new things, but also to work collaboratively and to discover together. The opportunity to mentor students in lab research is always transformative for them and for me as we follow the data to wherever a project may lead. My colleagues have helped me to grow, particularly as a teacher, through great and generous discussions that have helped me to better serve the full breadth of Loyla's students.

Marie Yeh, Ph.D.

Promoted

Professor of Marketing

Research Interests

Stemming from my multidisciplinary background in public health and nonprofit work, I research deeply entrenched social problems like stigma, mental illness, substance abuse, and sexual violence against  women. Bringing marketing thought, theory and practice to bear, I conduct translational research seeking to find actionable solutions that enhance health and well-being among vulnerable consumers.

Favorite Courses Taught at Loyola

  • MK440 - Selling Concepts & Strategies - While this literally prepares students for careers in sales, this class actually teaches essential life skills such as communication skills, rapport-building, listening, questioning, perspective taking, and adaptive communication.
  • GB742 - Customer Experience Design & Delivery - This class teaches professionals how to evaluate, design, deliver, manage and conduct ongoing research on the customer and their experience with your firm.
  • MK401 - Content Marketing - This class prepares students for careers requiring skills in search engine optimizaiton and content creation providing real-world certifications and hands-on experiences with semrush and HubSpot softwares.

Recent/Noteworthy Publications or Presentations

  • Yeh, Marie A., Meike Eilert, Aphrodite Vlahos, Stacey Menzel Baker, and Tony Stovall, “Toward a 'Human Being to Commodity Model' as an Explanation for Men's Violent, Sexual Consumption of Women,” (Fall 2021), Journal of Consumer Affairs, 55(3), 911-938. (1st 2 authors primarily responsible for the paper) - Nominated for 2021 Best Paper Award in 2022 for the Journal of Consumer Affairs
  • Yeh, Marie A., Kristen Walker, Meike Eilert, and Kim Legocki, “Folklore as a Frame for Understanding UGC: Pharma Folklore from YouTube Reflections on Psychiatric Drugs for Depression.” (2023), Journal of Marketing Management. DOI: 10.1080/0267257X.2023.2209579
  • Yeh, Marie A., Robert D. Jewell and Veronica L Thomas, (2017) “The Stigma of Mental Illness: Using Segmentation for Social Change,” Journal of Public Policy and Marketing, 36(1), 97-116.

Most Significant Service to Loyola, Your Professional, and/or Baltimore Community

  • Moderation of the Sigma Society where I organized A Night of Networking, speakers and site visits, concretely giving students additional educational and experiential learning activities outside of the classroom.
  • Sellinger Faculty Assembly Chair in 2019-20 and 2022-23 where I lead the school's efforts to reduce the business core and when transitioning to our first ever non-academic dean.
  • Graduate Curriculum Committee Chair from 2021-23.

Grants/Fellowships Awarded

  • Citizen Consumers as Anti-Poverty Agents (Fall 2023). Sellinger Dean's Fund for Excellence, Sellinger School of Business and Management, ($1,025.98)
  • Vomiting for Views: An Investigation of Risky Behaviors in User-Generated Alcohol Branded YouTube Videos and its Role in Driving Engagement, (2022). Sellinger Summer Research Grant ($5,000).
  • Conceptualizing Mental Health Stigma: A Comparison of Theoretical Models (2018), Sellinger Summer Research Grant ($6,000) & Loyola Summer Research Grant ($4,000). Role: Principal Investigator.

What is Significant or Rewarding about Loyola

My mission statement is to Change the World. I have been able to do just that here at Loyola, one student at a time, one research paper at a time. At Loyola, I have strived to change the world by building the skills, knowledge and confidence of our students, researching how marketing impacts vulnerable populations, and by engaging in service that develops students into tomorrow's change makers. I am able to make deep, lasting relationships with my students in and outside of the classroom which is what I find the most rewarding.

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