MU DIFFICULT DIALOGUES PROGRAM
Spring 2011 Advanced Cohort
The Difficult Dialogues Advanced Cohort is comprised of past DDI faculty fellows.
Elizabeth Brixey is an assistant professor on the print and digital news faculty in the Missouri School of Journalism. As a teaching editor at the Columbia Missourian, she oversees coverage of the arts and K-12 education. She is part of a team of editors looking at what journalists do, why we do it and how we can be more meaningful. She is a 1985 graduate of the journalism school and, until 2003, worked as a reporter and editor at the Wisconsin State Journal in Madison.
Miriam Golomb is an associate professor of biological Sciences. Herlaboratory studies the evolution and pathogenesis of Haemophilus influenzae, a gram-negative bacterium which causes diseases ranging from otitis media to meningitis. Nonencapsulated H. influenzae (NTHI) is an important cause of many respiratory illnesses, including those which complicate cystic fibrosis and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. In collaboration with Tom Phillips’ laboratory, she is currently investigating early events in NTHi colonization of respiratory cells, including function of the Lav protein of nonencapsulated H. influenzae, an outer membrane protein that belongs to a family of virulence-related autotransporters. Miriam received her Ph.D. from the University of California-Berkley.
Alejandra Gudiño completed a MS in anthropology and museum studies in Mexico City and a MBA in Columbia, Mo. She is a faculty at the College of Human Environmental Sciences-Extension. She is a Certified Relationship Enhancement Program Leader and provides relationship education to Latino couples; is a research fellow at the MU Cambio Center; and is the co-chair of the workgroups “Strengthening Families and Family Involvement in Education” for the NCERA: Latinos and Immigrants in Midwestern Communities, Inter-State University Network. Alejandra has been involved with integrating Latino newcomers to Missouri over the past ten years. Her work has included serving as director of the after school program through the Centro Latino; and served as a planning committee member and chair for different themes at the annual Cambio de Colores Conference. Her research interest included the impact of demographic changes in social networks; how culture can inform curriculum; and Latino teens risk behaviors, early pregnancy and identity.
Glen Heggie is the director of the Nuclear Medicine Technology program. Heggie spent 27 years overseeing the clinical portion of the Nuclear Medicine Technology program in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada where he also completed three degrees in post-secondary education and its administration (BEd, MEd, EdD). Earning his designation as a registered technologist from the Canadian Society of Radiographic Technologists in 1973 he also holds a Fellowship with the Canadian Association of Medical Radiation Technologists (CAMRT). Other than nuclear medicine, Heggie has worked in anatomic pathology, medical laboratory and radiotherapy and has acted as a consultant for national professional associations in both nuclear medicine and medical sonography.
Elizabeth Hornbeck is a visiting assistant professor in Architectural Studies. She instructs courses including architecture in film, Renaissance and Baroque architecture and modern architecture.
April Langley began teaching at the University of Missouri in 2001, when she joined the faculty as an assistant professor of English in the newly developed area concentration of African Diaspora Studies. She graduated summa cum laude with a BA in English from Mills College; she attended the University of Notre Dame and received her PhD in English in 2001. Langley specializes in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century African-American and American literature and theory.
Mark Milanick attempted to double major in English literature and physics as an undergraduate. His doctoral degree is in biophysics and theoretical biology and postdoctoral work was in physiology. He is currently a faculty member in the Department of Medical Pharmacology and Physiology and an investigator at the Dalton Cardiovascular Research Center. His previous research includes studies of red blood cell physiology and how proteins harness the energy of ATP to pump salt and calcium out of cells. His new research direction is developing assays, equipment, and other tools for the study of biologically and clinically interesting measurements for home, classroom, clinic and field use. Mark teaches gastrointestinal physiology and includes a section on lactase hypersecretion and iron absorption in order to raise multicultural and gender issues in the medical school classroom. He also facilitates in the medical school small group problem solving curriculum. Mark teaches a graduate course in Ethics Education thru Engagement, Enactment, And Empowerment as well as directs an undergraduate laboratory in physiology. He has been trained to be a facilitator in the Alternatives to Violence Project and has served as a facilitator for several Let’s Talk Columbia Study Circles.
S. David Mitchell is an associate professor at the University of Missouri School of Law. He has an MA in sociology and earned his law degree at the University of Pennsylvania. He teaches courses on Torts, Criminal Justice Administration, and Law and Society. His scholarship interests focus on issues surrounding felon disenfranchisement, ex-offender reentry and the restoration of rights, and citizenship. Prior to joining the law school faculty, Professor Mitchell was a scholar in residence in the sociology department at the University of Colorado at Boulder. He has taught history at the Collegiate School in New York City and served as the director of Student Multicultural Services.
LuAnne Roth is an instructor in the English department where she teaches courses in American folklore and film studies and serves as associate editor of the Center for eResearch. Roth’s research has primarily focused on foodways and material culture in America, her current study interrogating cinematic representations of the Thanksgiving meal through a postcolonial lens. Her courses focus in particular on how food and film are used to negotiate ethnicity, race, gender and power.
Catherine Rymph is associate professor of history at MU. She received her PhD in 1998 from the University of Iowa. She published Republican Women: Feminism and Conservatism from Suffrage through the Rise of the New Right in 2006 and is currently working on a history of the American foster care system. At MU she teaches courses on 20th Century U.S. History, Women and Politics, and Adoption and Child Welfare.
Michael Sykuta is an associate professor in the Division of Applied Social Sciences and director of the Contracting and Organizations Research Institute at MU. He holds a PhD in economics from Washington University in St. Louis. His research focuses on the economics of business organization, with particular interest in organizational governance and contracting between firms. He also studies the political economy of regulation and its effects on the organization of firms and markets. He teaches the management strategy capstone in the agribusiness management major, a course on the economics of contracting in the Crosby MBA program, and doctoral seminars on microeconomic theory and on the organization of firms and industries.
Teresa VanDover is a visiting professor in the Teacher Development Program. Her background of experience includes teaching both special education and regular education, and serving as a principal at Shepard Elementary and Lee Expressive Arts Schools. Her interests include teacher leadership as well as culturally responsive curriculum to meet the needs of all learners. She is currently an associate professor at Stephens College for Graduate and Continuing Studies. In 1998 VanDover received her doctoral degree in education leadership and policy analysis at the University of Missouri.
