Miriam L. Wallace is Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences at the University of Illinois-Springfield, and Professor of English. She is a graduate of Swarthmore College (BA) and the University of California, Santa Cruz (MA/PhD) in Literature. As a proud liberal arts graduate, she advocates for the value and impact of academic study, art making and performance, public presentations, and study abroad—noting their impact on self-confidence, intellectual curiosity, and personal and professional growth.

Lan Dong is the Louise Hartman Schewe and Karl Schewe Professor in Liberal Arts and Sciences. She was a College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Faculty Fellow in 2015, working on faculty development initiatives, faculty and staff handbooks, student petitions, and international student advising.

Dr. Jennifer Martin is an associate professor in the School of Education at the University of Illinois at Springfield. Prior to working in higher education, Dr. Martin worked in public education for 17 years, 15 of those as the department chair of English at an urban alternative high school for students labeled at-risk for school failure in metropolitan Detroit.

Dr. Richard Gilman-Opalsky’s teaching and research focus on the history of political philosophy, Continental and contemporary social theory, Marxism, capitalism, autonomist politics, postmodern philosophy, critical theory, global social movements, and feminist philosophy.

Dr. Gilman-Opalsky earned his Ph.D. in Political Science at The New School for Social Research (2006). His M.A. (The New School for Social Research) and B.A. (Hofstra University) are in Philosophy.

"The classroom remains the most radical space of possibility in the academy…Urging all of us to open our minds and hearts so that we can know beyond the boundaries of what is acceptable, so that we can think and rethink, so that we can create new visions…." --bell hooks, Teaching to Transgress

Dr. Kristi N. Barnwell received her Ph.D. from the University of Texas, Austin in History in 2011. She has published works on the creation of the United Arab Emirates, British imperialism and American-Jordanian relations.