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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 sbecker@niu.edu N/A WH 115
John Bentley Japanese Professor and Chair jbentley1@niu.edu 815-753-1259 WH 111
Dennis Brain German Associate Professor dbrain@niu.edu 815-753-6445 WH 308
Jessamine Cooke-Plagwitz German and FL Tech Associate Professor and Director of Undergraduate Studies jpcooke@niu.edu 815-753-6448 WH 118
Mandy Faretta-Stutenberg Spanish Linguistics Associate Professor and Director of Basic Language Program mfs@niu.edu 815-753-8396 WH 117
Frances Jaeger Spanish Associate Professor fjaeger@niu.edu N/A WH 311
Joanna Kot Russian Professor jkot@niu.edu N/A WH 312
Karen Lichtman Spanish Linguistics and Educator Licensure Adjunct Professor klichtman@niu.edu 815-753-6443 WH 114
Linda Saborío Spanish Associate Professor and Assistant Chair lsaborio@niu.edu 815-753-6441 WH 120
Matthew Smith French Associate Professor msmith6@niu.edu 815-753-6462 WH 314
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 Assistant 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
Lucinda Alwa Classics lalwa@niu.edu 815-753-6464 WH 309
Rahmi Aoyama Indonesian rhartati1@niu.edu 815-753-6450 WH 316
Emilio Aviles-Casquet Spanish eaviles@niu.edu N/A WH 313
Lady Cohen Spanish lcohen2@niu.edu N/A WH 309
Rhodalyne Gallo-Crail Tagalog rgallocrail@niu.edu 815-753-6457 WH 309
Taylor Hartman ASL thartman3@niu.edu N/A WH 325
Sam Inthaly Lao sinthaly@niu.edu N/A N/A
Kathy Kuschman Educator Licensure Assistant Coordinator kkuschman@niu.edu 815-753-6449 WH 112
Kheang Leang Khmer kleang1@niu.edu 815-753-6458 WH 310
Candace Medina Spanish cmedina@niu.edu 815-753-6464 WH 316
Dawn Rogodzinski-Lisa Spanish drogi@niu.edu 815-753-6918 WH 301
Lanhui Zhang Ryder Chinese lryder@niu.edu 815-753-6458 WH 310
Misato Sekita Japanese msekita@niu.edu N/A WH 123
Emily Teising French eteising@niu.edu N/A WH 317
Dawn Westhoff ASL dwesthoff1@niu.edu N/A WH 340

Teaching and Graduate Assistants

Name Area Title Email Office
Reza Fahlevi Indonesian Fulbright Teaching Assistant rfahlevi@niu.edu  ZH 620/622
Candy Barrientos Jiménez Spanish Translation and Tutoring Graduate Assistant cbarrientosjimenez@niu.edu N/A
Fortunata Msilu Swahili Teaching Assistant fmsilu1@niu.edu DU 137
Maw Maw Tun Burmese Teaching Assistant mtun@niu.edu  ZH 620/622

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 
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