MU DIFFICULT DIALOGUES PROGRAM
Fall 2010 Faculty Fellows
Leo Agnew is the human resources manager at the MU Libraries. His research interests focus on organizational analysis and change. He has 20 years of human resource experience and recently completed a masters of public affairs through MU’s Truman School.
Alaine Arnott is a doctoral candidate in the Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis program focusing on higher education administration at the University of Missouri. She holds a BS in art education and a BAA in 2-D Design as well as a MBA from the Gordon E. Crosby, Jr. Program at the University of Missouri. Currently, she is an instructor for the course New Products Marketing as well as a graduate research assistant in Student Auxiliary Services.
Allen Bluedorn is the Emma S. Hibbs Distinguished Professor and the Robert J. Trulaske, Sr. College of Business’s associate dean for graduate studies and research. He received his PhD in sociology from the University of Iowa, and after four years on the management faculty at the Pennsylvania State University, joined the management faculty at the University of Missouri in 1981. For over a quarter century he has studied time as a psychological and cultural phenomenon in organizations and society. In 2002 his book, The Human Organization of Time: Temporal Realities and Experience, was published by Stanford University Press. He is an award-winning instructor, with his teaching at the University of Missouri having earned him many awards, including the Schutz, Governor’s, and Kemper awards. In 2005 he delivered the University of Missouri’s 21st Century Corps of Discovery Lecture, “All Times Are Not the Same: Time and Its Impact on Human Life.”
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.
Brett Johnson, a doctoral candidate in theatre at the University of Missouri, holds a BA in theatre from Susquehanna University and an MA in Theatre from MU. His primary research interests include American musical theatre history and performance, Tennessee Williams, and acting pedagogy. Brett is the recipient of the Donald K. Anderson Graduate Teaching Assistant Award, a Huggins Fellowship, a University Fellowship, and the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival Award for Merit in Directing.
Heather Eastman-Mueller, PhD, CHES, is a health promotion professional and the curriculum coordinator of the Sexual Health Advocate Peer Education program at the MU Student Health Center. She teaches, Sexual Health Advocacy and Service Learning, in the Women’s and Gender Studies department. This course investigates sexuality through a cultural lens and challenges students to reflect on how religion, politics, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and gender identity impacts them as sexual beings. Eastman-Mueller enjoys teaching as well as research investigating sexuality, evaluation, and assessment. Her dissertation, Construction and the Initial Validation of a Sexual Health Knowledge, Attitudes, and Behavior Scale for the College Student Population, will be published in the next edition of the Handbook for Sexuality-Related Measures.
Luis Occeña, PhD, is associate professor and interim chair of the Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering at the University of Missouri. He has been a supporter of diversity issues ever since he attended an affirmative action/gender/sexual harassment workshop by Mable Grimes in the late 80s. He later organized a climate study in the College of Engineering in the early 90s with the help of Noor Azizan-Gardner. With almost 40 percent of the undergraduate student population in his department being female, he worked with Roger Worthington to increase his department female faculty percentage from 0 to 25 percent. As a 2009 Difficult Dialogue fellow, he continues to find ways to support diversity in his sphere of influence.
Cynthia Reeser is an assistant teaching professor in the Department of Human Development and Family Studies. She teaches that department's Principles of Human Development across the Lifespan, the largest writing intensive course on the Mizzou campus. In addition to her interest in human development, Reeser studies the differential effects of public policy on various subpopulations in the American population. For her dissertation, she tracked these effects on family-of-origin variables influencing the human development of females of the Baby Boom Generation. Her research interests coincide with her teaching assignments, which currently include adults and aging, the study of Black families, and the effects of federal and state polices on families and youth development programs.
Jeff Rouder is a professor in psychological sciences and an adjunct professor in statistics. His research focuses on developing nonlinear mathematical and statistical models of human memory, perception and cognition. He teaches statistics and research methods; where he focuses on helping students interpret quantitative information in assessing arguments and positions.
Sarah Symonds is a third year PhD Student in the Department of Communication. While she mainly teaches public speaking, her main research interests are family, gender and friendship communication. She is interested in tying her previous research of culture and communication into her current teaching styles and hopes to facilitate dialogues and discussions that lives her students questioning the status quo and how they approach the world.
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. VanDover received her doctoral degree in 1998 in educational leadership and policy analysis at the University of Missouri.
