#future redbird

Meet Lance Lippert

Years he’s worked at Illinois State: 16 years

Specializes in: Organizational communication, leadership communication, and training and health communication. 

Classes he teaches: Organizational Communication (COM 329), Health Communication, and Communication Training and Development (COM 435), which is a graduate class.  

What do you hope students get out of taking a class with you?

I hope they gain a sense of perspective about themselves and what communication means to them and their lives. Some knowledge and some ability of how to apply it. A useful theory that they can see in a relevant way and what they do and want to be. I think I challenge them to be subject matter experts, and then to be translation specialists. To learn about what they can and how they can translate it into their lives. We talk theory, but then they have to be able to apply it.

Fun fact about yourself?

I’m from Kansas and grew up on a farm. It has been a long journey to come from where I grew up to where I am now. Mentally, physically, spiritually, intellectually. It’s also a figurative place for how much I’ve grown and how much more I’ve continued to grow. I also like looking at sunsets.

Favorite Movie?

I think a good documentary is always useful. There are so many out there that are just so powerful and provocative. The Last Samurai is one I like watching. It’s a journey, there’s growth and realization. There’s an appreciation for a way other than what you know. There’s self-forgiveness, and the cinematography is powerful. And it’s also a movie about friendship between two people that are so different, which gives me a little hope. I also love westerns. I love old Clint Eastwood movies.

Favorite activity that happens on campus?

I enjoy all of the speakers that come in and the opportunities we have for learning outside of the classroom as well. I also love a good sporting event. I love going to volleyball, baseball, football and basketball games and experiencing community through those interactions. But on a lower level, my favorite activity on campus is having a cup of coffee with students.

Meet Michael Gizzi

Years he’s work at Illinois State: 9 years. He also taught at Mesa State College for 13 years.

Specializes in: His primary research that he’s been working on for the past decade is on the 4th amendment to the US Constitution, which is the search and seizure laws. He also does work on wrongful conviction, traffic stops, and vehicle searches. (He also just came out with a book 5 months ago!)

What classes he teaches:  Criminal Procedure and Evidence (CJS 305), Criminal Law (CJS 208), Criminal Court Systems (CJS 210). He occasionally teaches a summer class on correction (CJS 200), a graduate class on management, and graduate class on law and society.

What do you hope students get out of taking a class with you?

Of course there is content I want them to learn, but I want them to be able to critically evaluate issues and content. I want them to learn critical thinking. If I’m teaching criminal procedure, I want them to understand varies approaches to looking at the law as it relates to police and citizen searches and seizes. I want them to understand that the perspective that the police have is not necessarily the perspective that a citizen might have.

Fun fact about yourself?

I’m an amateur photographer. I spend a lot of time doing photography and I have a hobby of taking high-resolution photographs of artwork at museums like the art institute. Another fun fact about me is that I advise ISU Hillel, which is ISU’s Jewish Student Union.

Favorite Movie?

I could watch the John Hughes’ movies from the 80s over and over again like Farris Bueller, however, I love Star Trek. I’ve always loved Star Trek. Give me a Star Trek Next Generation movie other than The Nemesis and I’m happy.

Favorite activity that happens on campus?

I love going to Redbird basketball games. I’m a season ticket holder. I love it when the students come and when they show up in large numbers; it’s so much fun. I’ve been attending Redbird games since I first arrived here at ISU, and I’ve been a season ticket holder for 8 years. 

 Meet Erin Durban-Albrecht

Years they've worked at Illinois State: 1.2 years

Specializes in: LGBTQI Studies, Women and Gender Studies, Cultural Anthropology, and affiliated with Latin American and Latino studies.

Classes they teach:  Gender, Sex and Power (WGS 120), Intro to LGBTQ Studies (WGS 292), Queer and Transgender Theory (WGS 392), and Anthropology of Sex, Gender and Sexuality (ANT 270).

What do you hope students get out of taking a class with you?

“I want my students to think differently about the everyday things that they take for granted.”

Fun fact about yourself?

“I have met at least five of the Nobel Peace Prize Laureates when I was a mentor for Peace Jam. I particularly enjoyed meeting Archbishop Desmond Tutu because of his enthusiasm for working with young people who want to make the world a better place.”

Favorite Movie?     

“I love speculative fiction, especially dystopian films that make me really think about the world as it is and how it could be. Popular movies in that genre right now are The Hunger Games, the Divergent trilogy, and Mad Max: Fury Road. I heard that they are making  film version of Octavia Butler’s Lilith’s Brood trilogy, which I am looking forward to because Butler creatively imagines race, gender, sexuality, and species otherwise.”

Favorite activity that happens on campus?

“Seeing The Gamma Phi Circus is my favorite activity at ISU. I love seeing my students perform! It is fun when students bring their unicycles to class.”

Meet Sarah Smelser

Years worked at Illinois State: 14 Years

Specializes in: Printmaking

“Printmaking is an established medium that’s changed over centuries. When you make a print, you transfer ink from one surface onto a paper. Some people know about printmaking from their high school art classes and what they first experience is linoleum cut, where the artist cuts an image in a block of linoleum and then prints it.”

Classes she teaches: Intaglio (Art 245, Art 345)

*Intaglio is the process where an artist makes a print from marks in a sheet of copper.*

What do you hope students get out of taking a class with you?

“Well, first I hope they have fun, and I hope they further the quality of their imagery. I also hope that they practice talking and thinking about their artwork, and explore all of the interesting and unusual qualities of printmaking.”

Fun fact about yourself?

“When I was 3 years old, I got my picture put in a newspaper because I was at a zoo, and a monkey pulled my hair, and there was a reporter who took a picture of the monkey and me holding hands.”

Favorite Movie?

“My favorite movie is The Kid. It’s a silent film starring Charlie Chaplin. I saw it with my parents when I was a kid, and I have rediscovered it with my own children.”

Favorite activity that happens on campus?

“Going to the College of Fine Arts homecoming tent with my family.”

- us at Watterson Dining Commons and Linkins Center.

Did You Know?

Watterson Dining Commons has (among many, many other things) unlimited nachos AND today is National Tortilla Chip Day.

Happy Presidents Day, Future Redbirds!

We want YOU to dance like this join the Redbird Family!