New Faculty at UW Tacoma in 2022-23

Nara Almeida, Assistant Teaching Professor

School of Engineering & Technology

Eng.D. in civil engineering, Lamar University
Pronouns: she/her

Nara Almeida received a bachelor's degree in architecture and urban planning, and a master of engineering and MBA in civil construction from the University of Pernambuco in Brazil, and a doctor of engineering from Lamar University in Texas.

In Brazil, she worked as a professional architect for eight years, designing and managing residential, commercial and institutional projects. She focused on sustainability, and has a certification as a LEED Green Associate.

Her research interests include pervious pavements, which are permeable materials that can help reduce flooding and mitigate stormwater run-off. She recently contributed to research on lattice structures in additive manufacturing (3D printing is a common additive manufacturing technique). Almeida also conducts research on adaptive reuse of buildings, tool automation and managerial decision-making.

Teaching 2022-23

TCE307 Construction engineering
TCE337 Construction materials

Gordon Barnes, Assistant Professor

Social & Historical Studies, School of Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences

Ph.D. in history, City University of New York

Gordon Barnes's doctoral research examined elite racial and political ideologies in the British Empire during the transitions from slave labor to waged labor, specifically in Jamaica and Mauritius. His more recent research centers on Maroon communities in Jamaica and their role as both freedom fighters from, and later, adjuncts to the British imperial state.

His broader teaching and research interests center on histories of diaspora in the Americas, subaltern political formations, social struggle and revolution, and histories of racial ideology.

Barnes's appointment begins in Dec. 2022.

Teaching, 2022-23

THIST 201 US History since 1877
TLAX 238 Latinos in the US
THIST 251 The Global 20th Century
TLAX 333 US Latinos History

Asia Bishop, Assistant Professor

School of Social Work & Criminal Justice

Ph.D. in Social Welfare, University of Washington
Pronouns: she/her

Asia Bishop holds a B.A. in sociology from Western Washington University, and an M.S.W. and Ph.D. from the UW in Seattle. Her research focuses on marginalized youth and the inequities they experience, including how environmental and systemic factors shape health disparities. She takes an integrated, intersectional approach to ensure system responses and service approaches informed by her work are relevant to youth’s needs and lived experiences.

Asia’s research is informed by personal and professional experience, including 10 years working with youth, communities, and systems in programming, practice and research contexts. A significant portion of this work has centered on the juvenile legal system. Asia enjoys teaching research methods and mentoring students, where she maintains a focus on critical perspectives, participatory approaches and applied research skills. She spends her free time reading, playing board games and adventuring in the mountains.

Teaching, 2022-23

TSOCWF 390 Introduction to Social Welfare Research
TSOCW 503 Human Behavior in the Social Environment
TSOCWF/TCRIM 427 Disproportionality Across Systems

Jarrod Call

School of Social Work & Criminal Justice

Ph.D. in social work, University of Denver
Pronouns: he/him/they/them

As a queer scholar, Call's work centers on equity, diversity and social justice, and seeks to support LGBT people in living meaningful and exciting lives. Specifically, Call researches how sexuality and gender interact with an emphasis on transgender and nonbinary healthcare access.

Initially headed for medical school, Call changed his trajectory to social work with the desire to give back to his community. After completing his M.S.W. program, he worked as a hospital emergency room crisis worker and a substance abuse counselor, focusing on residential care for high risk men with extensive histories of homelessness and incarceration.

Teaching 2022-23

TSOCWF 405 Field Seminar
TSOCWF 406 Field Seminar
TSOCW 505 Introduction to Social Welfare Research

Tawanda Chivese, Assistant Professor

Science & Mathematics, School of Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences

Ph.D. in medicine, University of Cape Town
Pronouns: he/him

Dr Tawanda Chivese is a clinical epidemiologist with interests in diabetes and its effects on women of childbearing age and their offspring in low- to medium-income countries.

He holds a master's in clinical epidemiology from Stellenbosch University and a Ph.D. in medicine from the University of Cape Town in South Africa.

Prior to his appointment at UW Tacoma, he was an assistant professor at the College of Medicine at Qatar University. He held an appointment as an honorary researcher at the SAMRC/Wits Developmental Pathways for Health Research Unit, Department of Pediatrics at the University of the Witwatersrand, and was a senior lecturer in the Department of Global Health at Stellenbosch University. He served on the board of the Public Health Association of South Africa. 

Teaching 2022-23

TBIOMD201 Introduction to public health

Gordon Craig, Assistant Teaching Professor

Milgard School of Business

Master of Business Administration, University of Phoenix
Certified Public Accountant
Pronouns: he/him

Gordon Craig comes to UW Tacoma after a Federal career with the U.S. Army Audit Agency — the Army’s internal audit organization. His last assignment was as an audit manager in the Joint Base Lewis McChord Field Office. Previous assignments include Army Audit in field offices at Fort Belvoir, Alexandria, Va., and Seoul, South Korea. He participated in audits of the Army Corps of Engineers’ Civil Works Program financial statements and led numerous operational audits of Army business processes involving contracting, construction, facilities management, medical readiness, military pay, and logistics. He provided audit support to several fraud investigations by Army law enforcement.

Gordon served in the U.S. Navy Reserve with construction units (Seabees) from 1996 through 2004.  His military awards include the Navy Achievement Medal and the Naval Reserve Meritorious Service Medal.

Craig has taught auditing forensic accounting courses at UW Tacoma since January 2020. He has also taught auditing for Pacific Lutheran University and Saint Martin’s University.

In addition to his CPA status, Craig is also a certified fraud examiner, certified information systems auditor, certified internal auditor and is certified in financial forensics.

Teaching 2022-23

TACCT 230 Managerial Accounting
TACCT 561 Advanced Auditing

Julia Dancis, Assistant Professor

Social, Behavioral & Human Sciences, School of Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences

Ph.D. in applied psychology, Portland State University
Pronouns: she/her

Julia Dancis specializes in qualitative research at the intersection of developmental and community psychology. Threaded through her scholarship and activism is the question, what is possible in liberatory educational contexts?

Her dissertation research examined how college students come to see themselves as knowledge builders and change agents within antiracism coursework. Relying on sociohistorical, strengths-based, and critical paradigms, Dr. Dancis partners with students, educators, and community members to collaboratively build knowledge in pursuit of social transformation.

Teaching 2022-23

TPSYCH101 Introduction to psychology
TPSYCH319 Community-engaged child development
TPSYCH209 Fundamentals of psychological research

Sara Eccleston, Assistant Professor

Social, Behavioral & Human Sciences, School of Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences

Ph.D. in community psychology, Vanderbilt University
Pronouns: she/her/hers

Sara Eccleston (Puyallup Tribe of Indians) studies the intersections of race, religion and community.

She received a Ph.D. and a master of science in community research and action from Vanderbilt University, and a bachelor of arts in sociology and political science from George Fox University.

Her research is focused on working with community partners to foster antiracist social change. Current projects include a book on the Episcopal Movement for Racial Justice, and creating a handbook for activists based on her Becoming a Catalyst curriculum.

Teaching 2022-23

TPSYCH220 Lifespan development
TPSYCH306 Community psychology, research and action
TPSYCH320 Race, class and gender contexts of child development

Nasir Haghighi, Assistant Professor

Milgard School of Business

Ph.D. in marketing, Washington State University
Pronouns: he/him

Nasir Haghighi earned an undergraduate degree and MBA from the Sharif University of Technology in Tehran, Iran.

His primary research area includes digital marketing and electronic word-of-mouth with a focus on the perceived helpfulness of online reviews.

Teaching 2022-23

TBUS320 Introduction to marketing management
TMKTG490 Digital marketing

Dawn Hardison-Stevens, Education

School of Education

Ph.D. in leadership and change, Antioch University

A first-generation college student, Dawn’s grandmothers and grandfathers carried stories from locations of the Omushkeg Cree, Ojibway, Cowlitz, and Steilacoom peoples, as well as northern Scandinavian nations. Like many Indigenous people, her relations extend across many Native communities.

Dawn comes to UW Tacoma from the Seattle campus where she was a teaching associate in the College of Education, as well as program manager for the Native Education Certificate Program. She has taught and worked with Western Washington University, Portland State University, Antioch University Seattle, and Shelton School District. Her areas of expertise center commitment, development and acceleration of inclusive programs and views that prepare learners to live, learn and strive to better understand their connections to self, family, community, culture, history and worldviews.

Dawn has extensive PK-12 and higher education teaching experience with a history of motivating collaborative sharing of Native knowledges. Her trajectory honors American Indian studies, leadership and change, teaching and learning that identifies we are educators from birth to death and beyond. She summarizes her leadership journey with her finding that an academic system needs Indigenous peoples as much as Indigenous peoples need an inclusive education system.

Vern Harner, Assistant Professor

School of Social Work & Criminal Justice

Ph.D. in social welfare, University of Washington
Pronoun: they

Vern Harner is a community-embedded activist, organizer and scholar. Their work aims to amplify ongoing efforts within trans and multiply-marginalized communities.

Harner employs both quantitative and qualitative methods in research focusing on intracommunity support, engagement with social and health services, and quality of life of trans communities. They hope to contribute to a strengths-based narrative in social work scholarship around trans experiences that centers community strengths, survival and thriving.

Harner is an affiliate faculty at the Harborview Injury and Prevention Research Center and is communications coordinator for the LGBTQ Caucus of Faculty and Students in Social Work.

Teaching 2022-23

TSOCWF300 Historical approaches to social welfare
TSOCWF404 Cultural diversity and social justice

Eliza Heery, Assistant Professor

Science & Mathematics, School of Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences

Ph.D. in biology, University of Washington
Pronouns: she/her/ella

Eliza Heery is an urban marine ecologist studying the effects of urbanization on benthic, or seafloor, ecosystems.

After completing her Ph.D. in 2017, Heery served as a post-doc fellow at the National University of Singapore for two years. She then joined the Marine Global Earth Observatory (MarineGEO), directed by the Smithsonian Institution’s Tennebaum Marine Observatories Network, where she initiative long-term monitoring programs on kelp and eelgrass beds in the Salish Sea and assisted in integrating UW’s Friday Harbor Laboratories into MarineGEO as a new network partner.

Heery’s work in urban marine ecology has covered a range of topics – from urban-related distribution patterns of giant Pacific octopus, reef-building corals, and kelps, to equitable access of marine ecosystem services in urban areas.

Heery is looking forward to working with community members and tribal interests in the Tacoma area as a new UW Tacoma faculty member. Her appointment begins in December 2022.

Teaching, 2022-23

TBIOL 120 Intro to Biology I
TBIOL 340 Ecology and Its Applications
TBIOL 434 Conservation Biology in Practice
TESC 495 Research Experience

Mohammed Jasim, Assistant Professor

School of Engineering & Technology

Ph.D. in electrical engineering, University of South Florida

Mohammed Jasim joins the electrical and computer engineering programs at the School of Engineering & Technology. Prior to that, he was an assistant professor at the University of Mount Union in Ohio, and Valparaiso University in Indiana.

His doctoral research focused on wireless communication systems. He earned his master's degree from Brunel University London in the United Kingdom and his bachelor's degree at Applied Science University in Amman, Jordan.

His research interests include networking, communications, and parallel computing.

Teaching 2022-23

TCES203 Programming practicum
TEE453 Digital signal processing

Sana Khalil, Assistant Professor

Politics, Philosophy & Public Affairs, School of Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences

Ph.D. in economics, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Pronouns: she/her

Sana Khalil obtained her Ph.D. in economics as a U.S. Fulbright scholar, and a master of arts in economics, at the UMass Amherst. She received a master of science in applied economics from Hunan University in China.

Khalil's research engages industry and community partners, combining experimental and quasi-experimental techniques with qualitative analysis. Her research interests revolve around labor economics, gender and development economics, and applied econometrics, with a special focus on inter-group inequalities and discrimination.

Khalil is currently working on a project that investigates the long-term labor market effects of public childhood nutrition intervention programs in China. She is a lead economist on a project funded by the Pakistani National Research Program that is examining disparities in accessing clean piped water in Karachi and households' willingness to pay for improved piped water services.

Teaching 2022-23

TPHIL251 Data and discourse
TECON370 Economics and social mobility
TECON480 Seminar in economic analysis

Nancy Kuhuski, Assistant Teaching Professor

School of Social Work & Criminal Justice

Master of Social Work, University of Washington Tacoma
Pronouns: she/her

Nancy Kuhuski received her B.A. in sociology and social service, and a certificate in international service, from Seattle Pacific University. She completed her master of social work at UW Tacoma in 2018.

She has spent her 24-year career as a practicing social worker serving in both the public and private non-profit worlds, advocating and working with families in crisis, with eleven of those years in program management and supervision.

Kuhuski co-founded Soul Care Consulting NW to help advance the mission of equipping and empowering those working in the helping professions to thrive in their chosen fields for the long term.

Teaching 2022-23

TSOCWF301 Professionalism in social welfare practice
TSOCWF415 Practicum

Jonah Li, Assistant Professor

Social, Behavioral & Human Sciences, School of Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences

Ph.D. in counseling psychology, Indiana University Bloomington
Pronouns: he/him

Jonah Li received his undergraduate training in his home town at Hong Kong Shue Yan University, and an M.A. in counseling psychology from the University of Denver. In 2022, he completed his doctoral degree in Counseling Psychology from Indiana University Bloomington.

As part of his doctoral training, he interned for a year as a counseling psychologist at the UW Counseling Center on the Seattle campus.

Li's scholarly work seeks to promote resilient and optimal psychological experiences among diverse and minority groups multiculturally. Away from campus, he visits local coffee shops, spends time with his family and his cat, and enjoys water views and sports such as paddle boarding.

Teaching 2022-23

TPSYCH 210 Abnormal psychology
TPSYCH 312 Mental illness across cultures
TPSYCH 409 Group counseling and dynamics

Yixuan Pan, Assistant Professor

Culture, Arts & Communication, School of Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences

M.F.A. in glass, Temple University
Pronouns: she/her

In addition to her MFA from Temple, Yixuan Pan has a B.A. in studio art from George Fox University and a B.A. in art and design from the Central South University of Forestry and Technology in Changsha, Hunan, China.

She provided the following statement:

I believe language forms a community, and it’s the community that keeps art alive.

I grew up speaking Mandarin Chinese. Reflecting on my fraught experiences with communication and expression — the difficulty of getting a simple point across — I’ve decided to keep being confused about language. My lack of knowledge has become the creative fuel that pushes me to seek a sense of belonging in the alien world. By dislocating language from its context and form, my work questions the linguistic structures people learn and unlearn. My practice merges sculpture, video, and performance. I employ various approaches to imagine an alternative space for cultural hierarchy, the comfort of identity, power dynamics, and transparency.

Through this anti-disciplinary approach, I reimagine the influence of Western hegemony on global visual culture.

After being in Philadelphia for seven years, I moved to Tacoma for this position, with a human partner, and two feline companions.

Teaching 2022-23

TARTS230 Issues in the arts
TARTS266 The artist as visionary and dreamer
TARTS280 3-dimensional art and contemporary approaches to sculpture
TARTS395 Community-based arts practice 

S. Joseph Shin, Assistant Professor

Milgard School of Business

Ph.D. in strategy and entrepreneurship, UW Foster School of Business
Pronouns: he/him

S. Joseph Shin focuses his research on the nexus of strategy and entrepreneurship. His research aims to enhance scholarly knowledge about the increase in high-growth nascent ventures in technology-based industries known as unicorn ventures. A unicorn venture is a private firm valued at more than one billion dollars. Using an extensive and novel longitudinal dataset and robust identification strategy, Shin attempts to better understand the antecedents and consequences of ventures' high growth and fast-paced scaling.

Before joining the Milgard School, Shin was a serial international entrepreneur, strategy consultant, and researcher. He co-founded a technology venture firm in Seoul, Korea, then expanded into the U.S. market, starting from San Francisco. He formerly was a research analyst at BCG and visiting researcher at Haas School of Business, University of California Berkeley.

Teaching 2022-23

TBUS400 Business policy and strategic management
TMGMT474 Entrepreneurship: idea development

Megan Toothaker, Assistant Teaching Professor

School of Social Work & Criminal Justice

Master of Social Work in clinical social work, Walla Walla University
Pronouns: she/her/hers

Megan Toothaker completed a Master of Social Work, with an emphasis on clinical social work, at Walla Walla University. She has more than eight years of experience working in the social services field providing direct client services to individuals living with HIV, managing social workers, supervising practicum students, and supporting field faculty and instructors.

Her areas of focus are clinical social work, HIV case management and anti-stigma work.

Teaching 2022-23

TSOCWF101 Introduction to social work
TSOCWF301 Professionalism in social welfare practices
TSOCWF414 Introduction to field

Michael Turek, Lecturer

Milgard School of Business

Master of business administration, University of Washington Tacoma
Master of science in business analytics, University of Washington Tacoma

Michael Turek earned his MBA in 2019 and MSBA in 2020 from UW Tacoma. He worked as a business analyst and program manager for 10 years in private industry, developing data models and analysis for B2B sales, nonprofit operations and healthcare.

His areas of focus include business intelligence, predictive analytics, and quantitative analysis.

Teaching 2022-23

TBANLT411 Data management
TBUS500 Quantitative methods in business
TBANLT 592/593 Digital transformation lab