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World Languages and Cultures
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

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Faculty and Staff Directory

We're proud of our dedicated faculty and staff, who strive to advance an appreciation of languages and an understanding of diverse cultural perspectives from around the world. Our faculty specialize in a variety of areas and produce world-class research that advances the theory and practice of languages and literature.

Tenure-Track Faculty

Name Area Title Email Phone Office
Shannon Becker French Associate Professor and Director of Graduate Studies sbecker@niu.edu N/A WH 115
John Bentley Japanese Professor jbentley1@niu.edu 815-753-1259 WH 113
Dennis Brain German Associate Professor dbrain@niu.edu 815-753-6445 WH 308
Jessamine Cooke-Plagwitz German and Applied Linguistics Associate Professor and Assistant Department Chair jpcooke@niu.edu 815-753-6448 WH 118
Mandy Faretta-Stutenberg Spanish Linguistics Associate Professor and Director of Undergraduate Studies mfs@niu.edu 815-753-8396 WH 117
Frances Jaeger Spanish Associate Professor fjaeger@niu.edu N/A WH 311
Nancy Dominguez-Fret Spanish Linguistics and Educator Licensure Assistant Professor and Director of Educator Licensure ndominguezfret@niu.edu 815-753-6443 WH 114
Christopher Nissen French Visiting Professor Emeritus cnissen4@niu.edu  N/A WH 314
Linda Saborío Spanish Associate Professor and Chair lsaborio@niu.edu 815-753-6451 WH 111
Francisco Solares-Larrave Spanish Associate Professor fsolares@niu.edu N/A WH 311
Tharaphi Than Burmese Associate Professor tthan@niu.edu 815-753-6453 WH 122
Kanjana Thepboriruk Thai Associate Professor kanjana@niu.edu 815-753-6535 WH 116
Laura Vilardell Spanish Associate Professor lvilardell@niu.edu N/A WH 119
Stephen Vilaseca Spanish Professor svilaseca@niu.edu 815-753-6463 WH 315

Instructional Faculty

Name Area Email Phone Office
Rahmi Aoyama Indonesian rhartati1@niu.edu 815-753-6450 WH 316
Emilio Aviles-Casquet Spanish eaviles@niu.edu N/A WH 313
Karla Castellanos ASL kcastellanos1@niu.edu  N/A WH 310
Lady Cohen Spanish lcohen2@niu.edu N/A WH 313
Rhodalyne Gallo-Crail Tagalog rgallocrail@niu.edu 815-753-6457 WH 309
Kathy Kuschman Educator Licensure Assistant Coordinator kkuschman@niu.edu 815-753-6449 WH 112
Kheang Leang Khmer kleang1@niu.edu 815-753-7117 N/A
Dawn Rogodzinski-Lisa Spanish drogi@niu.edu 815-753-6918 WH 120
Dawn Westhoff ASL dwesthoff1@niu.edu N/A WH 312
Elizabeth Shultz French eshultz@niu.edu N/A WH 317

Teaching and Graduate Assistants

Name Area Title Email Office
Giorgia Fino Spanish Graduate Assistant gfino1@niu.edu  WH 123
Alejandra Garcia Spanish Graduate Assistant agarcia34@niu.edu  WH 123
Pattanachon Kokwarn Thai Fulbright Teaching Assistant z2082579@students.niu.edu  WH 301
Devi Nurhayati Indonesian Fulbright Teaching Assistant z2082507@students.niu.edu WH 301
Yaniz Rodriguez Spanish Graduate Assistant z1923614@students.niu.edu WH 123

Staff

Name Title Email Phone Office
Karen Mantz Office Manager kmantz@niu.edu 815-753-6441 WH 111
Concepcion Gliesman Coordinator, Foreign Language Residence Program cgliesma@niu.edu 815-753-6452 WH 121

Emeritus

Name Language Email
Katharina Barbe German kbarbe1@niu.edu
Louise Ciallella Spanish lciallella2@niu.edu 
Mary Lee Cozad Spanish mcozad1@niu.edu
William Harrison Spanish and Portuguese wharrison@niu.edu 
John Hartmann Thai jhartmann@niu.edu 
Patricia Henry Indonesian phenry@niu.edu 
Joanna Kot Russian jkot1@niu.edu 
Maryline Lukacher French mlukache@niu.edu 
Eloy Merino Spanish emerino1@niu.edu 
Chris Nissen Italian cnissen4@niu.edu
Grant Olson Language Learning Center and Thai golson@niu.edu 
Greg Ross Foreign Language Residence Program and French gross2@niu.edu 
Jack Weiner Spanish amalia1@rcn.com

Contact Us

World Languages and Cultures
Watson Hall 111
815-753-1501
askfl@niu.edu