Staff

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Dr. Michael Joy, Director of the Honors Program

Dr. Michael Joy

Honors Program Director

mjoy@nmu.edu
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Anna Zimmer

Dr. Anna Zimmer

Honors Program Assistant Director

anzimmer@nmu.edu
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Samantha Marier

Samantha Marier

Principal Administrative Assistant

smarier@nmu.edu

Faculty

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Dr. Maria Arenillas

María Guadalupe Arenillas, Ph.D.

Languages, Literatures and International Studies

Degrees:

  • B.A., Universidad Complutense de Madrid
  • M.A., Ph.D., University of Notre Dame

Dr. Arenillas frequently teaches HON 111, Fine Art: Modern Sources. In the 2019 fall semester, she taught HON 111 focusing on documentary film and memory

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Dr. Antony Aumann

Antony Aumann, Ph.D.

Philosophy

Degrees:

  • B.A., Calvin College
  • M.A., Ph.D., Indiana University

Dr. Aumann is another new Honors faculty member! He teaches HON 111, The Philosophy of Bad Art, including in the Winter 2024 semester. 

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Dr. William Broadway

William Broadway, Ph.D.

English

Degrees:

  • B.A., Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville
  • M.A., St. John's College-Annapolis
  • M.A., Ph.D., University of Wisconsin-Madison

Dr. Broadway is another new addition to the Honors Program faculty! He's teaching HON 201, Metamorphic Fables Medieval to Modern, in the Winter 2024 semester.

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Dr. Erin Colwitz

Erin Colwitz, D.M.A.

Music

Degrees:

  • M.M., D.M.A., University of Southern California

A new Honors faculty member, Dr. Colwitz taught HON 111: Pop Music After the Invention of MTV during the Fall 2022 semester.

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Dr. Katie Deaver

Katie Deaver, Ph.D.

Honors Program

Degrees:

  • B.A., Luther College
  • M.AT.S., Th. M., Ph.D., Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago

New Honors faculty member Dr. Katie Deaver has recently taught HON 101, A Tale of Virgins and Harlots, in the Winter 2023 and Fall 2023 semesters.

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Dr. Lynn Domina

Lynn Domina, Ph.D.

English

Degrees:

  • B.A., Michigan State University
  • M.F.A., University of Alabama
  • Ph.D., SUNY Stony Brook

Dr. Domina is another new Honors faculty member! In Fall 2022, she taught HON 201, Marriage: What is it and what is it for? In Fall 2023, Dr. Domina offered a new class for HON 111, "Intersections Among Literature, Visual Art, and Music. 

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Nick Dupras, Ph.D.

Nick Dupras, Ph.D.

History

Degrees:

  • B.S., Northern Michigan University
  • M.A., Ph.D., University of Leeds

Dr. Dupras specializes in a hands-on approach to medieval science and technology, and has taught the development of scientific practice as well as the philosophy of science from the Ancient Greeks through the Scientific Revolution.

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Mark Flaherty, Ph.D.

Mark Flaherty, Ph.D.

Music

Degrees:

  • B.A., Carleton College
  • M.A., Yale University School of Music
  • Ph.D., University of Minnesota

Dr. Flaherty has taught HON 111, Fine Art: Modern Sources -- Jazz and the American Experience.

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Dr. Tara Foster

Tara Foster, Ph.D.

Languages, Literatures and International Studies

Degrees:

  • B.A., Rice University
  • M.A., Ph.D., Rutgers University

Dr. Foster has also recently joined us as an Honors faculty member! In Winter 2023, she taught HON 201, Once and Future: The Legends of King Arthur. 

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Rachel Fugate

Rachel Fugate

Degrees:

  • B.A., Birmingham-Southern College
  • M.A., Syracuse University

Formerly the Collections Curator for NMU's DeVos Art Museum, Rachel has taught HON 111, Fine Art - Modern Sources: The History & Visual Culture of Diseased & Unwell Bodies.

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Dr. Petra Hendrickson

Petra Hendrickson, Ph.D.

Political Science and Public Administration

Degrees:

  • B.A., Indiana State University
  • M.A. & Ph.D., Michigan State University

Dr. Hendrickson is also a new member of the NMU Honors Program faculty! For two semester, Petra offered HON 211, Muggle Social Science Perspectives on the Wizarding World. Most recently, she taught HON 211 in the Fall 2023 semester as Star Trek and the Social Sciences.

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Austin Hummell, Ph.D.

English

Degrees:

  • B.A., Principia College
  • M.A., University of Maine
  • Ph.D. University of Missouri-Columbia

Austin Hummell has recently taught HON 101, "Simile, Prayer and Praise: Tracking the Origins of the Contemporary Poem."  

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Vincent Jeevar, Ph.D.

Vincent Jeevar, Ph.D.

Psychological Science

Degrees:

  • B.S., M.S., & Ph.D., Grand Canyon University

Dr. Jeevar has taught HON 211, The Social Sciences - The Influence of Music on Identity and HON 211 -  Social Media & Development.

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Karl Johnson, Ph.D.

Karl Johnson, Ph.D.

Social Work

Degrees:

  • Ph.D., University of Wisconsin-Madison

Dr. Johnson taught HON 302, World Cultures: Social Sciences -- Civil Society, Citizenship and Social Rights: Understanding Contemporary China and the Claim of Exceptionalism.

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Dr. Michael Joy, Director of the Honors Program

Michael Joy, Ph.D.

Languages, Literatures and International Studies

Degrees:

  • B.A., Carleton College
  • M.A., Ph.D., University of Minnesota

Dr. Joy frequently teaches HON 201, How Don Quixote Made Our World.

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Caroline Krzakowski, Ph.D.

Caroline Krzakowski, Ph.D.

English

Degrees:

  • B.A., Concordia University
  • M.A., Queens University
  • Ph.D., McGill University

Caroline is once again teaching HON 101, Origins of Western Values - Antiquity: The Citizen, the Other, and the State, during the Fall 2022 semester.

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Dr. Nelly Kupper

Nelly G. Kupper, Ph.D.

Languages, Literatures and International Studies

Degrees:

  • B.F.A., Virginia Commonwealth University
  • M.A. & Ph.D., University of Tennessee-Knoxville

Dr. Nelly G. Kupper frequently teaches HON 111, Modern Art - European Sources, and recently taught HON 301, World Cultures: A Humanities Perspective - Russia.

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Steven Leuthold, Ph.D.

Art and Design

Degrees:

  • B.A., University of Montana
  • M.A., Washington State University
  • Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania

One of the first professors to teach in NMU's Honors Program, Dr. Leuthold recently taught HON 211, Art and the Social Sciences: A Global Survey.

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Timothy O'Neill, Ph.D.

Timothy O'Neill, Ph.D.

History

Degrees:

  • B.A., University of Maryland
  • M.A., University of Chicago
  • M.A. & Ph.D., University of Washington

Dr. O'Neill taught HON 301, World Cultures - A Humanities Perspective: Tibet in Fact and Fiction.

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Dr. Russell Prather

Russell Prather, Ph.D.

English

Degrees:

  • B.A., University of British Columbia
  • M.A., M.F.A., & Ph.D., University of Washington

Dr. Prather taught HON 111, British Literature and Art of the Eighteen and Nineteenth Centuries.

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Dr. Sydney Sarasin

Sydney Sarasin, Ph.D.

DeVos Art Museum

Degrees:

  • B.A., Northern Michigan University
  • M.A., Ph.D., Temple University

Sydney Sarasin is also joining the Honors Program faculty! They are teaching HON 101, Finding the Sacred in Ancient Rome, in the Winter 2024 semester. 

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Jon Sherman, Ph.D.

Jon Sherman, Ph.D.

Languages, Literatures and International Studies. 

Degrees:

  • B.A., University of Vermont
  • M.A., University of Massachusetts
  • Ph.D., University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Dr. Sherman has taught HON 101, Origins of Western Values: Antiquity -- Meeting the Foreign: Monstrosity and Alterity in the Ancient and Medieval World and HON 201, Origins of Western Values: Medieval to Modern -- Crime, Conspiracy and the Occult: Turn-of-the-Century European Culture.

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Dr. Joshua Thompson

Joshua Thompson, Ph.D.

Math and Computer Science

Degrees:

  • B.A., Wofford College
  • M.A., Wake Forest University
  • Ph.D., University of Utah
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Professor Dan Truckey

Daniel Truckey

Beaumier U.P. Heritage Center

Degrees:

  • B.S., Northern Michigan University
  • M.A., Cooperstown Graduate Program

Daniel Truckey has recently taught HON 211 - Upper Peninsula in Popular Culture: Defining & Interpreting a Diverse Identity.

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Professor Lex van Blommestein

Lex van Blommestein

Theatre and Dance

Degrees:

  • B.A., University of Windsor
  • M.F.A., Wayne State University

Lex is also a new Honors Program faculty member! He taught HON 111, Experiencing Art/Art of the Experience in the Fall 2023 semester. 

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Alan Willis, Ph.D.

Alan Willis, Ph.D.

History

Degrees:

  • B.A. & M.A., Emory University
  • Ph.D., Syracuse University

Dr. Willis has recently taught HON 302, World Cultures - Social Sciences: Globalization in Perspective

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David Wood, Ph.D.

David Wood, Ph.D.

English

Degrees:

  • B.A., Skidmore College
  • M.A., University of Alaska -- Fairbanks
  • Ph.D., Purdue University

Dr. Wood typically teaches HON 101 and HON 111. Each summer, Dr. Wood also heads the HON 495 course, Theatre Perspective - Stratford: A visit to the Stratford Festival in Canada, in which Honors students have the opportunity of viewing and analyzing six plays in five days. 

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Anna Zimmer

Anna Zimmer, Ph.D.

Languages, Literatures and International Studies

Degrees:

  • B.A., Carleton College
  • M.A. & Ph.D., Georgetown University

Dr. Zimmer frequently teaches HON 201, Origins for Western Values -- Medieval to Modern: Art & Literature after 9/11.