Illinois State University Honors Outstanding Teachers and Researchers

Illinois State University will honor 14 faculty members for teaching and research during the Founders Day Convocation at 2 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 18, in the Bone Student Center Brown Ballroom.

Craig Gatto of the Biological Sciences department and Sesha Kethineni of the Criminal Justice Sciences department are the 2009 Outstanding University Researchers.  The Outstanding University Research Award goes to faculty whose research has been acknowledged by their peers in the U.S. and internationally.

Margaret Nauta of the Psychology department and Rosie Hauck of the Accounting department are the 2009-10 Outstanding University Teachers.  Jennifer McDade of the School of Communication and Catherine Kaesberg of Mennonite College of Nursing are the Category 2 Outstanding University Teachers, a classification for non-tenured faculty.  The Outstanding University Teacher Award is given to faculty whose teaching accomplishments are unusually significant and meritorious among their colleagues.

Research Initiative Award recipients include Katherine Ellison, English; Erik Larson, Biological Sciences; Hedda Meadan-Kaplansky, Special Education; Christopher Mulligan, Chemistry; and Cara Rabe-Hemp, Criminal Justice Sciences. The Research Initiative Award is given to faculty members who have initiated a promising research agenda early in their academic careers.

Teaching Initiative Award recipients include Hae Jin Gam, Family and Consumer Sciences; Shamira Gelbman, Politics and Government; and Martha Horst, Music. The Teaching Initiative Award is given to faculty members who have shown considerable promise in teaching early in their careers.

Gatto came to Illinois State in 2000. He earned his bachelor's and master's degrees from Eastern Illinois University and his Ph.D. from the University of Missouri-Columbia. In 2004, he was named director of the Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Program, and in 2006 he was named head of the Cell Biology, Physiology, Developmental Biology section. 

Gatto's research centers on determining the mechanism of energy transduction by ion pumps to help determine the underlying mechanisms of several pathophysiological states, which stem from improperly functioning transport proteins, such as cystic fibrosis, Menkes disease and Wilson's disease.  His research also focuses on using modern molecular biology and protein biochemistry techniques to study the sodium pump, which is used as a pharmacological target for treatment of congestive heart failure.  Gatto's research at Illinois State has garnered more than $2.5 million and has been supported by the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation, among other granting agencies.  

Gatto is a member of the Red Cell Club, Biophysical Society, American Heart Association, American Physiological Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He has served as a reviewer for the Journal of Biological Chemistry and Journal of General Physiology and Biochemistry, among other professional publications.  Gatto has also served as a reviewer for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Science Foundation, Science Foundation Ireland, National Institutes of Health and the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation.

Kethineni came to Illinois State in 1989. She received her Ph.D. in criminal justice from Rutgers-The State University of New Jersey and her LL.M. degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Kethineni's research has focused on family violence, comparative juvenile justice, international drug policies, female criminality in India and human rights.  Her recent works include female homicide offending in India, status of children in India, victim and offender characteristics and protective orders in domestic violence cases in the U.S., youth-parent battering, evaluations of intervention programs for high-risk juvenile offenders and human rights violations.  Kethineni's work has received scholarly recognition for excellence both nationally and internationally.

Kethineni's recent research focuses on juvenile justice and human rights violations.  She recently completed an edited book, "Comparative and International Policing, Justice, and Transnational Crime," which is due to be published this month.  Her book, "Comparative Delinquency: India and the United States," has been recognized with the Distinguished Book Award by the International Division of American Society of Criminology.

In addition to her scholarship, Kethineni has received national, state and local grants from the U.S. Department of Justice, the Illinois Department of Human Services, Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority and the Illinois Attorney General's Office/Sex Offender Management Board.  She has served as an editorial board member for the Journal of Women and Criminal Justice, International Journal of Criminal Justice Sciences, Indian Journal of Criminology and the Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice and as a manuscript reviewer for many journals.  Kethineni is a member of the American Society of Criminology, Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences, Indian Society of Criminology and the Midwestern Criminal Justice Association.

Nauta joined Illinois State in 1997. She has taught a wide range of courses, with regular assignments in introductory psychology courses of up to 300 students, upper-division professional practice seminars and courses for students in the clinical-counseling psychology master's program. Nauta has mentored students through a doctoral dissertation, 15 master's theses, 19 undergraduate research apprenticeships, 18 undergraduate teaching assistantships and numerous other out-of-class projects. Many of these student projects have resulted in professional presentations and publications, providing additional learning experiences for the students and attesting to the high quality of their work.

Nauta has also served as a mentor for junior faculty in her department. Her teaching philosophy emphasizes establishing a strong instructor-student relationship, stimulating interest by relating material to students' lives and demonstrating its practical applicability, and offering diverse, developmentally appropriate and distributed learning experiences. Students' comments on course evaluations often characterize Nauta as approachable, as setting challenging but attainable standards and as helping them appreciate the value of what they are learning. Her department has rated her teaching as superlative or outstanding for the last several years.

Nauta has published articles in Teaching of Psychology and has presented at conferences held by the American Psychological Association's Society for the Teaching of Psychology division.

Hauck came to Illinois State in 2004. She has taught a variety of courses in business information systems, including the large-format, business core-course, Information Systems in Organizations, as well as smaller project-based courses in business systems analysis.  Hauck has served as an advisor to the Business Information Systems Club. 

Hauck's teaching philosophy revolves around building connections between students and the course concepts, between students and faculty and between students and the community.  To help facilitate these connections, she uses different technologies in her classes and has been recognized as a leader in the use of educational technologies to enhance student learning and communication. 

Hauck has presented on the effective use of technologies at various workshops and presentations at the college and university levels.  She has also presented and published scholarly work in the area of effective educational technology use in her discipline.  To build connections between her students, the university and the community, she engages her business systems analysis classes in real-world client projects.  In her five years at Illinois State, students in her classes have worked with over 30 different departments and organizations within and outside of the University. 

McDade joined Illinois State University in 2002. From 2005 to 2009, McDade served in a variety of roles including lecturer and advisor. Her teaching supports active learning and, to accomplish this, she integrates civic and political engagement in all courses and participates in the American Democracy Project. McDade recently joined the College of Education as assistant director of TEACHER+PLUS, a new initiative with the Chicago Teacher Education Pipeline, which was funded with over $12 million by the U.S. Department of Education through their Teacher Quality Partnership Grant Program. The project will include partners and colleagues on campus and in Chicago over the next five years.

Kaesberg graduated with a diploma in nursing in 1979, with a clinical specialty in critical care nursing. Working at the bedside was very rewarding, but Kaesberg wanted to broaden her knowledge so she began working on a baccalaureate degree in nursing at St. Louis University. Upon completion of the B.S.N., Kaesberg branched into the academic setting of nursing. She completed her master's degree in nursing and came to Illinois State in 1999 as a result of the merger between the University and Mennonite College of Nursing. During her tenure at Illinois State, her clinical concentration has been in medical-surgical nursing and helping Mennonite nursing students to achieve success on the National Council Licensure Exam.