Regents OK tenure, promotions for UW-Green Bay faculty members

The University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents approved promotions or tenure for 17 UW-Green Bay faculty members during the board’s meeting June 4 and 5 at UW-Milwaukee.

Faculty members promoted from assistant professor to the rank of associate professor with tenure are Tohoro Francis Akakpo, Social Work; Hernan Fernandez-Meardi, Humanistic Studies; T. Heather Herdman, Nursing; Minkyu Lee, Art and Design; Deirdre Radosevich, Human Development; Courtney Sherman, Music; Alison Stehlik, Art and Design; Mussie Teclezion, Business Administration; Gail Trimberger, Social Work; and Le Zhu, Human Biology.

The Regents also approved moving the following individuals from associate professor to the senior rank of full professor: Lucy Arendt, Business Administration; Mathew Dornbush, Natural and Applied Sciences; Susan Gallagher-Lepak, Nursing; Catherine Henze, Humanistic Studies; John A. Luczaj, Natural and Applied Sciences; Bryan D. Vescio, Humanistic Studies; and Amy T. Wolf, Natural and Applied Sciences.

Arendt is a professor of management who serves as director of UW-Green Bay’s Austin E. Cofrin School of Business and as associate dean for the College of Professional Studies. She teaches courses in organizational behavior, leadership and organizational theory. She has published widely about her research into decision making, influence and leadership. Much of her recent scholarship focuses on community response to natural disasters. She is the co-author of the book Long-Term Community Recovery from Natural Disasters (CRC Press, 2014). Arendt received her B.S. in Business Administration and Spanish from UW-Green Bay in 1987, and her M.S. in Administrative Science in 1990. She earned her Ph.D. from UW-Milwaukee. The 2008 recipient of the Founders Association Award for Excellence in Teaching, Arendt has taught courses at UW-Green Bay since the 1990s, and joined the faculty as a full-time lecturer in 2004 and as an assistant professor in 2006.

Dornbush is a professor of biology with the Natural and Applied Sciences academic unit. He teaches at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, serving as chairman of UW-Green Bay’s interdisciplinary master’s degree program in Environmental Science and Policy. His primary research interests involve the role of native plant restorations in improving ecosystems. He has won state and federal grants for projects ranging from the potential use of native tallgrass for bio-energy purposes to the restoration of wild rice, bulrush and wild celery stands in the lower bay. Dornbush, who joined the UW-Green Bay faculty in 2005, holds master’s and doctoral degrees from Iowa State University and a bachelor’s from Augustana (Ill.) College.

Gallagher-Lepak has been a member of the UW-Green Bay Nursing faculty since 2003. She serves as chair of the department and director of BSN-LINC, the online degree-completion program enrolling nurses nationwide. She teaches courses including Pharmacology, Healthy Aging, Theoretical Foundations of Nursing, Management and Leadership, Global Aspects of Healthcare, and Financial Management. Her scholarship has focused on e-learning, clinical reasoning and nursing diagnosis. Gallagher Lepak and colleague T. Heather Herdman are the creators of a new electronic app to aid nurses involved in direct patient care and treatment/diagnostic decisions. Gallagher-Lepak earned her Ph.D. in rehabilitation psychology at UW-Madison after completing her bachelor’s in nursing at Marquette University and master’s at UW-Milwaukee.

Henze is a professor of English affiliated with both the Humanistic Studies academic unit and the Women’s and Gender Studies program. She teaches courses in the humanities, Renaissance literature and music, women in literature, and environmental literature. She is particularly interested in the role of music in English Renaissance theater and the works of Shakespeare. Henze was faculty chairperson of UW-Green Bay’s Adult Degree program at a time the adult-learning program was earning national rankings for its excellence in engaging students via distance learning. Henze earned her doctorate at the University of Chicago, her master’s from the University of Idaho, and bachelor’s from the University of Arkansas. She joined the UW-Green Bay faculty in 1996.

Luczaj joined the Natural and Applied Sciences faculty in 2005. He teaches a wide variety of geoscience and environmental science courses including Introduction to Earth Science, Physical Geology, Geologic Evolution of the Earth, Stratigraphy & Sedimentation, Quaternary Geology, Geologic Field Methods, Groundwater Resources and Regulations, and more. He has won widespread public and scholarly attention for his grants and research. Among the topics he has addressed: mapping the bedrock of Brown County, documenting strontium levels in local aquifers, and exploring groundwater fluctuation in Northeast Wisconsin. Luczaj holds a Ph.D. in geology from Johns Hopkins University, a master’s from the University of Kansas, and a bachelor’s from UW Oshkosh. He is co-author of the fourth edition of the textbook Earth System History.

Vescio is a professor of Humanistic Studies and former chair of UW-Green Bay’s English program. In addition to teaching introductory and advanced humanities courses, he teaches and publishes in the areas of American literature, literary theory, film studies, and world literature. His research has involved theoretical work on the future of the humanities in general and literary studies in particular. He holds both a Ph.D. and M.A. in English from the University of Virginia. He graduated from UW-Madison with a B.A. in English in 1993. Vescio joined the UW-Green Bay faculty in 2002.

Wolf, a biologist and professor of Natural and Applied Sciences, was honored in 2014 with UW-Green Bay’s Founders Association Award of Excellence in Scholarship. Her studies of plant-animal interactions, of native bee populations, and of forest dynamics in Northern Wisconsin are highly regarded. Her work has earned grants from the National Science Foundation, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, the Smithsonian, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, among others. A member of the UW-Green Bay faculty since 2005, Wolf holds a Ph.D. in ecology from the University of California, Davis, and received both her bachelor’s in Biology and master’s in Environmental Science and Policy from UW-Green Bay.

Additionally, the UW System Board of Regents made official the concurrent appointment of Gary L. Miller — who joined UW-Green Bay as chancellor last Aug. 1 — as a full professor with tenure in the Natural and Applied Sciences academic unit. Miller was a professor of ecology with the University of Mississippi prior to entering academic administration on a full-time basis.

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