Professor, English
Coordinator, Speech and Foreign Languages
Master’s, English
Doctorate, Cultural Studies, and Nineteenth and Twentieth Century American Literature in a Multiethnic Context

Ballot Information

Student Support and Impact

Communications 101: Writing and Introduction to Research:

• Designed lessons, games and activities to cultivate student voice and empowerment through engaging storytelling and narratives
• Assisted students with essays beyond office hours
• Three students recognized for distinguished narratives in Non-Fiction/ Personal Essay category in Illinois Skyway Writers’ Competition
  • 2010 Second Place Winner: Marianne Coneset: “Lean on Me”
  • 2021 Second Place Winner: Karolina Bachleda-Blaszczak: “The Hungriest Years of My Life”
  • 2025 Second Place Winner: Hannah Osthoff: “Nothing But a Mess”
• Created twelve YouTube videos explaining logic behind MLA Citation and Usage of Sources
• COM 102: Research Source Based Writing course: Adjusted research topic per year to engage students and respond to current day issues. Incorporated Library’s One Book One College for some years
• Selected Research Topics starting with the most recent:
  • Love, Obsession, and Extreme Sacrifice: specifically designed to capture student attention in the age of Generative AI: Junichiro Tanizaki’s A Portrait of Shunkin (novella) and Banana Yoshimoto’s Kitchen (novella)
  • Dystopian Realities and Loss of Human Freedom: George Orwell’s 1984: The Graphic Novel and Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451
  • Issues in Disability and Human Loneliness: Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (novel: One Book, One College) and The Elephant Man (film)
  • Issues in Human Loneliness: Kristin Radke’s Seek You: A Journey Through American Loneliness (graphic non-fiction: One Book, One College)
  • Isaac Asimov’s I, Robot (Short story collection: One Book, One College) and Westworld (show)
• Issues of Climate Crisis and American Refugees of Climate Crisis: All We Can Save: Truth, Courage and Solutions for the Climate Crisis (Essay collection: One Book, One College) and Lowland Kids (Documentary of young American refugees of climate crisis)
• Pandemic Crisis: Contagion (film) and WebEx series of dialogues play situated during the pandemic by Jenny Lamb, former MVCC instructor
• Researching Lives of House of Wisdom Scholars: Part of Doris Duke Charitable Foundation funded MOSAICS program
  • Collaborated with Chris Matusek: Chris Matusek’s art students created posters based on the creative and research writing projects from COM 102. (Two year project)
• Investigating Themes in Lives of Artists: Biography, Writings and Paintings of Frida Kahlo
• Investigating Themes in Lives of Artists: Biography, Writings and Paintings of Vincent van Gogh
• Investigating the Image of the Disabled in Film
• Literature Courses: American Literature, African American Literature, Women in Literature, Non-Western Literature
• Selected a wide range of many different pieces of American, multiethnic and international literature for twenty years
  • One former student has been reading close to two to three Japanese fiction books per month after taking Non-Western Literature fifteen years ago
  • Former students have returned to continue discussing literature they are reading.
• Rearranged Non-Western and African American Literature classes to expose students to the arts and music of performing artists from the United States and one Muslim majority country as part of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation funded MOSAICS project
• Performing Artists whom students met and interacted with:
  • The Reminders: United States: Performing artists Aja Black and Samir led an interactive lecture and explained the continued connections between African and African American cultures and the significance of call and response.
  • Innov Gnawa: music group from Morrocco: Musicans and artists led students through dance and the playing of music using Morrocan musical instruments.
  • Amirah Sackett: United States: The performing artist rapped and answered questions about her creative process. One older Muslim student expressed her pride in this “Muslim woman who has embraced Hip Hop culture.”
  • Omar Offendum: United States: lectured on the creative poetry writing process along with performing some of his poetry.
  • Members of Niyaz gave lectures on the creative process and encouraged students’ own creativity. Students shared their personal experiences with their own creative and artistic writing processes as well as other forms of creative outlets.
  • Students attended G. Willow Wison’s lecture on her very own Marvel comics
• Recommended two students, who had the chance to visit Washington DC and talk about their experiences with MOSAICS program with other students from different colleges and universities in similar Building Bridges programs
• Supported Students Transitioning to Four Year Colleges: For twenty years, wrote detailed recommendation letters personally tailored to represent each student’s talents and achievements
• Read and provided feedback on student personal statements for college entrance applications
• Students have shared that they were granted acceptance, significant scholarships and employment
• Teaching Awards
• Master Teacher Award, 2021
• Master Teacher Nominee, several nominations
• Professor of the Year Nominee, many nominations over the years
• Professor of the Year, One of the Three Finalists, 2025
• Professor of the Year Nominee, a few years ago, nominated by eight students and one colleague (one of the most uplifting and also humbling experiences of my life)

College Service

• Served on fifteen hiring committees including several from my Communications department, Humanities, and Instructional Manager positions; Automotive, Managing Theater Director, Art, and an administrative position.
• Faculty Mentor to three new colleagues
• Assessment Committee Chair for American Literature I and II (From 2015/2016 to 2023)
• Assessment Committee Chair for Introduction to Poetry (2024 to present)
• Founder of and Contributor to Moraine Reads Project aimed to promote reading among MVCC students, staff, faculty, and administrators. It began during the pandemic in 2020.
• Ninety Moraine Reads videos were contributed by faculty, staff and students for roughly two and a half years.
• Faculty Member: MOAICS: Muslim Voices in America, funded by Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and APAP Association of Performing Arts Presenters
  • With great appreciation to Tommy Hensel, who led the MOSAIC project and supported my efforts throughout the duration of this project.
• Spring and Fall Fest: Created the House of Wisdom Students and Faculty Dress Up as Scholars from the Muslim Golden Age: Costumes designed and made by Amanda Hanston
• House of Wisdom Library Lectures
• “The Alchemist Chemist: The Unnecessary Divide in the Life of Jabbir Ibn Hayyan”
• “Measuring, Mapping and Observing the World: House of Wisdom Scientists”
• “A Biologist from Long Ago: The Accomplishments and Works of Al-Jahiz, a Ninth Century Polymath”
• “Avicenna: The Often Forgotten Philosopher”
• “The Role of the House of Wisdom: Translating, Preserving and Creating New Knowledge
• Library Panelist: “Bringing Mystical Sufi Music to Modern Audiences”
• Black History Month Presenter and Facilitator

With deep appreciation for Tianna Richards (Manager, Multicultural Student Affairs) who has invited me to present and or facilitate student presentations during Black History Month.

• Presenter – “The Journey: From Roots to Renaissance”
• Presenter – “Uncover: African Americans in Labor”
• Presenter – “The Movements: A Celebration of African Americans in the Arts”
• Facilitator – “Uncover 1919: A Discussion of Eve Ewing’s 1919”
• Facilitator (of student presentations) – “Monologues from African-American History” 
• Presenter – “Juneteenth: A Celebration of Freedom”
• Facilitator – “Live Museum and Monologues Project: A Black History Month Event”
• Presenter – “Black Excellence in Literature: A Black History Month Event”

Library Panelist

I wish to thank Troy Swanson and Tish Hayes for inviting me to be part of the panel discussions.

Selected List of presentations:

• “Stitched & Staged: Faculty Members Share their Favorite Versions of Frankenstein”
• “I, Robot, Frankenstein, and the 2019-2020 One Book, One College”
• “American Individualism: Disciplinary Perspectives Drawn from Kristen Radtke’s Seek You”
• “Radically Unchanged: Reading Eve Ewing’s 1919”
• “Poetry as the Voice of Experience: A Discussion of Eve Ewing’s 1919”
•  “The Hero’s Journey & the Power of Myth”

Collaboration with Colleagues at MVCC

• With Mike Renehan, recommended Books to add to the Arabic library collection
• At the invitation of Mike Renehan, presented during International Education Week “Student Research: The Quest to Make Sense of Different Cultures’ Responses to the Pandemic”
• “NonWestern Authors” for International Education Week
• With Chris Matusek , Communications and Art Paired Learning MOSAICS Activity (two year activity)

Worked with Lisa Couch for one year and encouraged my students to submit articles and creative work to Velocity

Learning College Day Presenter.

I have been presenting for twenty years. Below is a selected list of presentations:

• Film and Discussion of International and or Multiethnic Movies: Parasite, Orphanage, US, Le Grande Voyage, District 9, Colors of Paradise, and Children of Men
• Indian Movie Recommendations
• Representations of disability in film with a film viewing of Forrest Gump.
• Critiquing the Image of the Physically Disabled in Movies
• Dramatic Reading of Powerful Speeches: Frederick Douglass “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July” and John Brown’s Last Speech: Dramatic readings performed by participants
• Dramatic Reading of Important Literature: Selections from Toni Morrison’s Beloved (Dramatic reading performed by participants)
• African American Book Recommendations: Octavia Butler’s Kindred
• Frederick Douglass Succeeding (my own performance)
• End of the Day Gratitude Medition (several sessions for many years)
• Using Metaphor to Enhance Student Learning
• Selected stories from Sherwood Anderson’s Winesburg, Ohio (my own performance)
• Al Balkhi, early psychologist
• Learning to Crochet and other crochet sessions
• Tatreez
• The Arabic Alphabet
• Arabic Poetry
• NFO Presenter, various presentations on issues in Disability Studies, Arabic culture and engaging class activities
• Literary Competition Judge at Moraine Valley
• 20 years of encouraging students to submit to the writing contest
• 20 years of judging contest entries
• Former Member of Honor’s Committee, Taught two Honor’s Learning Community Classes
• Former Anime Club Advisor (two to three years)
• Former Member of Faculty Development Committee (Two years)

College and Community Service

• Faculty Interviewer for MOSAICS: Interviewed many students and communitymembers after various MOSAICS program events. Interviews were filmed and they served to document student and community engagement with MOSAICS program events.
• MOSAICS Oral Interpretation Project: Led, organized and trained students in performing a variety of poetry and prose. Audiences from the college and community.
• Presented about MOSAICS project at Community Colleges for International Development: “Collaborative Global Education: Building Bridges of Understanding Between Muslim and Other Communities”
• Professional Development and Award: National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Institute, Montgomery College & Howard University: “Concepts of Black Diaspora in the United States: Identity and Connections among African, Afro-Caribbean, and African American Communities.” Stipend provided by National Endowment for the Humanities
  • Used knowledge and experience gained to enhance African American and Non-Western Literature courses and to prepare the presentation for “The Movements: A Celebration of African Americans in the Arts”

Community Service

• Pre-recorded presentation on “Teaching Counternarratives at Moraine Valley Community College: Authenticating Practices.” This presentation was displayed at the 2024 CCID Conference (Community Colleges for International Development).
• Midwest Popular Culture Association Conference: Teaching Ideas for Popular Culture Studies. “Teaching Naguib Mahfouz’s Midaq Alley through the Novel and Film Versions”
• Midwest Popular Culture Association Conference: “Poisonous Plants, Mysterious Wallpapers and Mind Control: Silvia-Moreno Garcia’s Mexican Gothicand its American Literary Influences.”    
• Midwest Popular Culture Association Conference, “Reclaiming the Images of Enslavement and the Body in Pain: David Walker, Damon Smyth and Marissa Louise’s Graphic Novel, The Life of Frederick Douglass: A Graphic Narrative of a Slave’s Journey from Bondage to Freedom.” 
• Midwest Popular Culture Association Conference, “The Subaltern Speaks: Roberta Fernandez’s ”
• Westmont Public Library Presenter on Islamic Golden Age scholars
  • Presented to community women interested in history of astronomy and science
• Two Visits to Washington DC: MOSAICS: Muslim Voices in America: Building Bridges of Understanding between Muslim and non-Muslim communities
  • In dialogue with faculty and staff from other colleges participating in Building Bridges programs across the nation
• Participated in MOSAICS: Muslim Voices in America Community Night at MVCC.
• Virtual Presentation at Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville (SIUE) to English Education Students in ENG Seminar: Giving an Account of the Body: How to Teach Race, Class and Gender
  • “Female Entrapment in Contemporary Mexican-Canadian writer Silvia-Moreno Garcia’s Mexican Gothic”