STAFF AND ADVISORS

Bette L. Bottoms, Dean

Vice Provost for Undergraduate Affairs and Dean of the Honors College. Professor Bottoms has been at UIC 1992, after receiving her Ph.D. in social psychology from the State University of New York at Buffalo. Her research on child abuse, children's eyewitness testimony, and the influence of factors such as racial and anti-gay bias on jurors' perceptions of child victims and of juvenile offenders has been funded by the National Institute on Mental Health and published numerous times in scholarly journals. She has co-edited five books and serves on the editorial boards of Law and Human Behavior; Psychology, Public Policy, and Law; and Child Maltreatment. For more information on Professor Bottoms' research interests, please visit her website through the Psychology Department or review her curriculum vitae.

Professor Bottoms has received an unprecedented number of awards for outstanding teaching and mentoring, including the UIC Honors College Fellow of the Year Award, Flames Alumni Award for Teaching Excellence, Silver Circle Award, the Teaching Recognition Program Award (twice), the Teaching Excellence Award, and national awards including the American Psychology-Law Society Award for Outstanding Teaching and Mentoring and the APA Society for the Teaching of Psychology Robert S. Daniel Award.

Professor Bottoms has served UIC through membership on the UIC 2010 Strategic Thinking Committee and the campus Promotion and Tenure committee, and through prior appointments as Director of Undergraduate Studies in the Department of Psychology and Associate Dean in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Nationally, she served as President of the APA’s Society for Child and Family Policy and Practice and of the APA Section on Child Maltreatment.

Hui-Ching Chang, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs

As a Fulbright Scholar to Ukraine (2010-2011), Prof. Chang is also Chair Professor of the College of Journalism at Xiamen University, China, 2009-2012. She was also visiting scholar to Hong Kong Baptist University (2007); National Taiwan University (2003-2004); and President of the Association for Chinese Communication Studies of the National Communication Association (1995-1996). She continues to serve as curriculum advisor to several universities in Taiwan and China. Dr. Chang earned her LL.B. from National Taiwan University, and her M.A. and Ph.D. in Speech Communication from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She has been a faculty member in the Department of Communication since 1994, and an Honors College Faculty Fellow since 2002. In the Department, she has served as Director of Undergraduate Studies since 2007, and as Director of Graduate Studies from 1996 to 2001. She is also a trained mediator for UIC's Dispute Resolution Service.

Her research focuses on interpersonal and intercultural communication, especially on Chinese language patterns and more recently on Taiwanese national identity as constituted through discursive practices. She has received several grants and top paper awards for her research and has been an invited keynote speaker at numerous international conferences. In addition to her many articles published in scholarly journals, her most recent book, Clever, Creative, Modest: The Chinese Language Practice (2010), is published by Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press. She is currently working on her second book analyzing names used by Taiwan for China, with the support of a Scholar's Grant from Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation for International Scholarly Exchange (2011).

Sara Hall, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs

Professor Hall has been a faculty member in the Department of Germanic Studies since 2000, where she has served as Director of Undergraduate Studies and Director of Graduate Studies and has mentored numerous students' honors projects, senior and graduate theses, Writing in the Disciplines projects and internships. In 2003-2004 she received UIC's Council for Excellence in Teaching and Learning Teaching Recognition Program Award. She co-founded and now chairs the inter-college undergraduate minor in Moving Image Arts and is an organizer of the Visual Culture Working Group affiliated with the UIC Institute for the Humanities. A former member of the LAS Educational Policy Committee, she is currently serving on the LAS Executive Committee, the Executive Committee of the School of Literatures, Cultural Studies and Linguistics, and the Faculty Board of the Institute for the Humanities

Dr. Hall earned her PhD in German Literature and Culture from the University of California Berkeley and has studied in Heidelberg, Jena and Berlin. Her research focuses on modern German literature and film history, with a special interest in silent film and contemporary global film markets. Her publications on film, modernity, gender and economics have appeared in German Quarterly, German Studies Review, The Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, and Modernism/Modernity, as well as in a variety of scholarly anthologies. Her book on the mobilization of film culture in the project to democratize police work in Germany after World War I is forthcoming, and she is also working on a study of the function of memory and trauma in Hollywood remakes of German movies. Dr. Hall's research has taken her to conferences in locations ranging from Bloomington, Indiana to Jerusalem, but close to home she especially enjoys speaking to diverse audiences at Chicago's unparalleled cultural centers and cinemas such as Facets Multimedia, the Gene Siskel Film Center and Cinema Chicago. She very pleased to have the opportunity to meet and exchange ideas with Faculty Fellows and the students working on Capstone Projects in the Honors College.

Photo credit: Roberta Dupuis-Devlin

Stacie Williams, Associate Dean

Dean Williams has been working in the Honors College since 1992 after completing her degree in education.  She went on to complete her Master’s degree in teaching of mathematics in 1995.  She works with students throughout their entire time in the Honors College, beginning with admission, serving as an academic advisor, and coordinating the graduation convocation.  Dean Williams also works on planning Honors College courses, and maintaining student records.

Ekaterina Pirozhenko, Post-Doctoral Fellow in Teaching and Mentoring

Ekaterina Pirozhenko is a Post-Doctoral Fellow in teaching and mentoring in the Honors College.  She has received a Ph.D. in Germanic Studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago.  She graduated from the Saint-Petersburg State University, Russia, in 2004 and earned Master's degree in German at the University of Northern Iowa.  Currently, Dr. Pirozhenko is teaching Core courses and Freshmen seminars in the Honors College, advising Capstone projects, and promoting the Germanic Studies program.  Her research interests include contemporary women writers, minority writers, German-Russian-Jewish writes, gender and women studies, and globalization.

Lisa Domkowski, Director of Advancement

Lisa has enjoyed working at non-profit organizations since graduating in 1993 from DePaul University, where she studied in the Honors Program and earned her B.A. in Religious Studies. Most recently she was at North Park University in Chicago. During her eight years at North Park she served as the campaign director, director of development, and director of development services. In 2002, she completed her Master of Management from North Park's Axelson Center for Nonprofit Management. When she  is not raising money for higher education, she can usually be found with her husband, Larry, chasing after their seven-year-old son, Matthew.

Gerardo (Jerry) Jimenez, Director of Resources Management and Planning

Jerry oversees the operations of the Office of the Vice Provost of Undergraduate Affairs and the Honors College. He manages the fiscal and human resources activities for both units. Jerry has a bachelor's degree in marketing and management, and earned his Masters in Business Administration in 2009 from the Liautaud Graduate School of Business at UIC. Jerry has worked at UIC for 5 years, most recently as the Assistant to the Head in the Department of English and, prior to that, as the Operations Manager within the College of Business.

Brian Ward, Assistant Director for Admissions

Brian is responsible for the admission and recruitment functions of the Honors College.  He also handles student records, serves as an academic advisor, and instructs the freshmen first-year experience course, Honors 101. 

Brian has spent many years in the University of Illinois system.  He received his B.S. in advertising from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and his M.Ed in educational policy from UIC.  Brian has worked at UIC for 6 years, first in the Office of Admissions and Records and currently in the Honors College.  When he is not telling prospective students about the extraordinary benefits of the Honors College, Brian can be found searching the nation for a new roller coaster to conquer.

Christina Ruiz , Assistant to the Vice Provost and Dean of the Honors College

Christina is both an alumna of UIC with a Bachelor’s in Psychology and a current graduate student in the College of Education. She is working towards an M.Ed. in Educational Studies.

Beginning November 2008, Christina began working at the University as Assistant to the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Affairs and Dean of the Honors College. She teaches Freshman seminars, assists with various programs, and coordinates the dean’s calendar.

Sarah Gardiner, Academic Advisor and Program Specialist

Sarah joined the Honors College staff in the Fall of 2010, after advising in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences for 4 years.  She received her M.A. in Student Affairs Administration from Ball State University and her B.S in Family and Consumer Sciences Education from Eastern Illinois University.  In addition to advising students one-on-one, she coordinates First-Year Student Programs for the Honors College including Freshman Orientation, Honors 101, and Freshman Advising.  She also advises several student organizations and represents the Honors College Advising team on the Undergraduate Advising Resource Center Committee.  Out of all that she does, helping students meet their academic and personal goals gives her the most satisfaction.  When not at work, her husband, Channing, cat, Nicky, and dog, Burnie, keep her entertained.

Jill Huynh, Academic Advisor and Program Specialist

Jill advises students, teaches Honors 101, and handles communication efforts for the Honors College.  She is also the liaison for The Ampersand, a student newsletter.

Before becoming a part of the HC staff this year, Jill worked in undergraduate admissions.  She studied Psychology (B.S.) and Sociology (B.A.) at the University of Washington and recently earned her Ed.M. in Higher Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.  Jill loves to travel and is delighted to find herself in Chicago with UIC's Honors College.

Eliza Ycas, Academic Advisor and Program Specialist

Eliza joined the Honors College in the Fall of 2010.  Prior to moving to Chicago in May 2010, she lived in the Washington, D.C. area and worked in the Department of Nursing at Georgetown University.  She received her Master’s in Higher Education Administration from George Washington University and her B.A. in Anthropology from McGill University.  Eliza works with the Associate Deans for Academic Affairs regarding the Honors College course schedule, the Capstone requirement, and the Faculty Fellows program.  In addition, she advises students, administers the Honors College scholarships, and develops the Alumni Mentoring Program.

Fiona O'Connor, Resource Director

Fiona is an alumna of UIC with a Bachelors in English and has been working at the Honors College since September 2010.  Prior to joining the HC staff, the majority of Fiona's work experience was in corporate law and private equity. Fiona's main duties are overseeing the day-to-day operations within the Honors College and managing the student workers.  Working with the students has been the highlight of her job, thus far.  When not working, Fiona spends her time with her nine-year-old daughter and five-year-old son.