Faculty Status Report 2025–2026
New Faculty
Henry P. Becton College of Nursing and Allied Health
Omotara Adewale, lecturer, nursing, and director, Family Nurse Practitioner Track (Metro) — BS, College of Staten Island, The City University of New York; BSN, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey; MPH, Walden University; MSN, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey; DNP, Wilmington University
Danielle Henricksen, lecturer, nursing (Metro) — BSN, Ramapo College of New Jersey; MSN, Fairleigh Dickinson University
Maryellen Phillips, lecturer, nursing (Metro) — AAS, Felician College; BSN, MS, New Jersey City University; MBA, Montclair State University; MSN, DNP, Fairleigh Dickinson University
Lekha Sreekumar, clinical assistant professor, nursing, and director, Women’s Health Nurse Practitioner Track (Flor) — BSN, Christian Medical College, Vellore, India; MS, DNP, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
Maxwell Becton College of Liberal Arts and Education
Tiffany Bergin, lecturer, criminal justice (Flor) — BA, Princeton University; MPhil, PhD, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom
Kathryn Thier, assistant professor, communication (Flor) — BA, Brown University; MA, Columbia University; PhD, University of Maryland
Gregory H. Olsen College of Engineering and Science
Hyungjoo (Jay) Choi, assistant professor, civil engineering and civil engineering technology (Metro) — BS, Chosun University, South Korea; MS, University of Alabama in Huntsville; MS, Iowa State University; PhD, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
Anna Debska-Chwaja, lecturer, chemistry (Metro) — MS, Institute of Petroleum, Gas and Geology, Romania; MS, Postgraduate Studies, Warsaw University of Technology, Poland; PhD, Silesian University of Technology, Poland
Christopher Karch, lecturer, biology (Flor) — BS, Fairfield University; MS, State University of New York at Albany; MS, Seton Hall University; PhD, University of Connecticut
Paulina Konarzewska, lecturer, biology (Flor) — BS, College of Staten Island, The City University of New York; MA, Hunter College, The City University of New York; MPhil, PhD, The Graduate Center, The City University of New York; Postdoctorate, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
Rachana Nair, lecturer, biology (Metro) — BS, University of Madras, India; MPhil, Bharathidasan University, India; MS, PhD, Periyar University, India
College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences
Amanda Amo, clinical assistant professor, occupational therapy, and fieldwork coordinator, Occupational Therapy Doctorate Program (Flor) — BA, New York University; MOT, OTD, Bay Path University
Alice Chang, associate professor, pharmaceutical science (Flor) — BPharm, National Taiwan University, Taiwan; PhD, University of California, Los Angeles
Hyunah Cho, professor, pharmaceutical science, and executive director, health innovation and strategy (Flor) — BPharm, MS, Sookmyung Women’s University, South Korea; PhD, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Jessica Fakeh, clinical assistant professor, physician assistant studies (Flor) — BA, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey; MS, Seton Hall University; DSc, Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences
Emma Kaplan, assistant professor, occupational therapy (Flor) — BA, West Chester University; MS, Kean University; OTD, Salus University
Janis Leinfuss, assistant professor, occupational therapy, and doctoral capstone coordinator, Occupational Therapy Doctorate Program (Flor) — BS, Quinnipiac University; MS, Bloomsburg University; OTD, Gannon University
AnnMarie Murphy, assistant professor, occupational therapy (Flor) — BA, Ramapo College of New Jersey; MS, American International College; OTD, Temple University
Bernard Showers, lecturer, social work (Flor) — BSW, Saint Francis University; MSW, Shippensburg University; DSW, University of Kentucky
Theresa Westgard, associate professor, occupational therapy (Flor) — BS, Colby-Sawyer College; MOT, Duquesne University; PhD, University of Gothenburg, Sweden
College of Psychology and Counseling
Lauren Lipner, assistant professor, clinical psychology (Metro) — BS, Pennsylvania State University; MA, PhD, Adelphi University
Sarah Schaaf, clinical assistant professor, clinical forensic psychology (Metro) — BS, MS, Maastricht University, Netherlands; PhD, Fairleigh Dickinson University
Silberman College of Business
Arnold Okpani, assistant professor, global health and human services (Van) — MB BS, Ebonyi State University, Nigeria; MSc, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, England; PhD, The University of British Columbia, Canada
Promotions
Maxwell Becton College of Liberal Arts and Education
To Professor
Kara Alaimo, communication (Metro)
To Associate Professor
Marina Saad, criminal justice (Metro)
Gregory H. Olsen College of Engineering and Science
To Professor
Alevoor Rao, computer engineering and computer science (Metro)
College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences
To Professor
Otito Iwuchukwu, pharmaceutical sciences (Flor)
To Associate Professor
Eunsun Kwon, social work (Flor)
College of Psychology and Counseling
To Professor
Linda Raffaele Mendez, psychology (Metro)
Silberman College of Business
To Professor
Deirdre Collier, accounting (Flor)
To Associate Professor
Matthew Hawzen, sports management (Flor)
Tenure
(Effective fall 2026)
Maxwell Becton College of Liberal Arts and Education
Kara Alaimo, communication (Metro)
Marina Saad, criminal justice (Metro)
Gregory H. Olsen College of Engineering and Science
Wenyun Dai, computer science (Metro)
Ihab Darwish, computer science/mathematics (Flor)
Elise Morton, biological sciences (Flor)
College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences
Eunsun Kwon, social work (Flor)
College of Psychology and Counseling
Rachel Petts Santer, clinical psychology (Metro)
Alwin Wagener, counselor education (Flor)
Silberman College of Business
Matthew Hawzen, sports management (Flor)
Lu Wang, finance/economics (Van)
Sabbaticals
Maxwell Becton College of Liberal Arts and Education
Patricia Bazán, Spanish (Flor), fall semester
James Gifford, humanities (Van), academic year
Luz Huertas, history (Flor), fall semester
Antonio Velásquez, Spanish (Metro), spring semester
Gregory H. Olsen College of Engineering and Science
Yaoqing Liu, cybersecurity and information assurance (Metro), spring semester
Alfredo Tan, electrical engineering (Metro), fall semester
Silberman College of Business
Constance Bygrave, administrative science (Van), spring semester
Isabella Krysa, management (Van), spring semester
Li Qin, information systems (Metro), fall semester
Hannah Rozen, accounting (Flor), spring semester
Xiaohui Yang, finance (Metro), spring semester