Dr. Elaine Wright,
Assistant Professor of Social Work
Dr. Elaine Wright joined the Social Work Program at Avila University in the fall of 2008. She has a variety of social work experiences with services for youth, as well as experience teaching and providing lectures in schools of social work in the USA and abroad.
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Jason Harris,
Director of Theatre Design and Technology; Associate Professor of Theatre
Jason has an M.F.A. from UMKC and a B.S. in Secondary Education from Kansas State.
Before joining the Avila faculty, Jason made stops around Kansas City at the Kansas City
Repertory Theatre, Theatre in the Park, Quality Hill Playhouse, and the Coterie Theatre.
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Stanley Banks,
English Artist of Residence and Assistant Professor English
Stanley Banks, assistant professor and artist-in-residence at Avila University, uses creative writing to give students the first-hand knowledge of a real world practitioner.
Banks, a member of Avila’s faculty since 1998, said he chose to be an educator because he wanted to change the world for the better.
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Andrea Olitsky, Esq.,
Assistant Professor of Political Science
Andrea began her diverse law career in the family law arena. She progressed to in-house corporate counsel for a multi-specialized physician group, negotiating contracts between doctors and hospitals, doctors and insurance companies, and overseeing all functions of the organization.
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Shirlene Hess,
Director of Graduate Psychology
Shirlene is interested in the relationship between eating disorders and other psychological issues, including cognitive and social development. She is active in the community and has facilitated several mindfulness programs for selected organizations.
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Dr. Nancy Cervetti,
Professor of English
Dr. Nancy Cervetti, professor of English joined the Avila faculty in 1993 after receiving her Ph.D. from the University of Iowa. She specializes in British literature and feminist theory and teaches courses that include: women and literature, Darwin and literature, images and realities of women, and introduction to literary criticism. She most recently received the Distinguished Scholar Award from Avila University.
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Dr. Jeffrey Myers,
Professor and Chair of History
Dr. Myers, a preeminent Holocaust scholar and historian of German history, was called to study the Holocaust after hearing a survivor bear witness. His response has come via teaching and scholarship to preserve the memory of and advocate for victims of this dark time in history.
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Dr. Carol Coburn,
Professor of Religious Studies and Women's Studies
Dr. Carol Coburn received her Ph.D. from the University of Kansas in 1988 where she worked as a Research Assistant and Teaching Assistant in the History Department and as teaching faculty in the Women’s Studies Department. Coming to Avila University in 1989, she has taught courses in education, history, psychology, religious studies and women’s studies.
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Dr. Amity Bryson,
Associate Professor and Chair of Music
Dr. Bryson won the Professor of the year, 2009. She most recently took the Music students on a choir tour through Italy. Amity holds a D.M.A. in vocal performance from UMKC. She has performed with the local opera company, Opera Kadopera. She is past-President for the K.C. Metro National
Association of Teachers of Singing and Repertoire Standards Chair for Women’s Choirs for the American Choral Directors Association.
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Dr. Amy Bucher,
Associate Professor of Psychology &
Director of Undergraduate Psychology
Dr. Bucher is an Assistant Professor of Psychology and the Director of Undergraduate Psychology. Dr. Bucher is a licensed psychologist and maintains a small private practice of psychology and works with individuals and couples.
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Dr. Tony Michel,
Assistant Professor and Chair of English
Dr. Michel received his Ph.D. in American Studies with a specialization in rhetoric and composition from Michigan State University. He is happy to return to Kansas City after teaching for four years in California State University, Fresno. He teaches courses in American literature, composition and rhetoric.
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Dr. Sherry Lamb Schirmer,
Professor of History
Dr. Sherry Lamb Schirmer began teaching at the college level in 1977, and, in 1994, she
joined the full-time faculty at Avila, where one of her joys is being able to teach the whole gamut of United States history from the American Revolution to Viet Nam, from women’s history to the history of sports.
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Dr. Ken Parsons,
Assistant Professor of Philosophy;
Chair of Religious Studies & Philosophy
Dr. Parsons teaches a variety of courses in the areas of Ethics, Political Philosophy, and the History of Philosophy. His research in Political Philosophy and Contemporary European Philosophy orients around issues of violence and power, globalization, and social justice.
Dr. Maria Hunt,
Professor and Chair of Psychology
Dr. Hunt is Chair of Psychology Department where she also teaches, advises and mentors both graduate and undergraduate students. Her specialties include positive psychology, intuition, and mindful wellbeing.
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Dr. David Wissmann,
Professor of Sociology and Chair of Law and Justice Studies
Wissmann, Professor of Sociology and Chair of Law and Justice Studies, spends his time balancing his career and family. Teaching statistics and research methods at Avila, and completing research in organ transplantation donation behavior, has earned Wissmann many accolades.
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Dr. Mary Hynes,
Associate Professor of
Religious Studies
Dr. Mary Hynes began her teaching career as a teaching assistant and adjunct faculty member at St. Louis University. Her first full-time faculty assignment was at the State University of Florida in Miami (FIU). She came to Avila in 1992. She is an Associate Professor of Religious Studies.
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Dr. Stephen Sirridge,
Professor of Psychology
Dr. Sirridge is a Professor of Psychology and a Licensed Psychologist. He has been a teacher and psychotherapist for thirty years. He is currently the President of the Kansas City Association of Psychoanalytic Psychology (KCAPP) which is the local chapter of Divison 39 Psychoanalysis of APA.
Dr. Regina Staves,
Assistant Professor of Psychology
Dr. Staves is an Assistant Professor of Psychology and is also the Director of Graduate Psychology. She active in our community as an advocate to prevent child abuse and neglect and also to support restorative justice. Dr. Staves currently serves as chair on the board of the Missouri Children's Trust Fund, which is Missouri 's foundation for child abuse prevention.
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Robert Foulk,
Assistant Professor and Director of Performance Studies
Robert Foulk, assistant professor and Director of Performance Studies , takes students studying the art of theatre on an epic journey off the page of the one retold in the scripts they study. Foulk believes in the organic nature of theatre by learning with students and studying tirelessly to improve his craft so that he may pass on that knowledge.
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Lindee Petersen Wilson,
Assistant Professor and Chair of Social Work
Avila University’s Lindee Petersen Wilson teaches students to learn more about themselves, the world they are living in, and to always have a deeper sense of knowledge and compassion about important and complex social work issues such as environmental, economic and social justice.
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Dr. Marcia Pasqualini,
Associate Professor of Psychology
When Dr. Marcia Pasqualini sat in her wooden desk at Center High School as a student, she knew that one day she was going to leave the comforts of Kansas City and live abroad. During her junior year at Tulane University in New Orleans, Pasqualini got her first opportunity to travel the world, and she hasn’t stopped since.
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