#futureredbird

Meet Jason Reblando

Years he’s worked at Illinois State: 4 years

Specializes in: Photography

Classes he teaches: He teaches Black and White (ART 235), Digital (ART 236), and Digital and Color (ART 335). Some special topics that he’s taught include documentary, portrait, and alternative processes and lighting (ART 333). 

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

“I hope that at the very least, that my students can enjoy the courses and learn about making good photographs. This goes for both intro photography students and those taking advanced topics where they can learn to express themselves in creative ways. I want them to learn the medium on a conceptual level, as well as a technical level. I teach such a wide variety of classes to students from every skill level. I want my students to learn how to be visually literate and to think critically, along with learning how photographs function in the world.”

Fun fact about yourself?

“I lived in the Philippines for 5 months on a Fulbright scholarship. I also met my wife on a train in Boston.”

Favorite Movie?

It varies between Annie Hall and Raising Arizona. I’ve always loved Woody Allen and his New York roots, and I’m a New Yorker. And I like Raising Arizona because it’s very bizarre with dry comedy, as well as quirky and offbeat.

Favorite activity that happens on campus?

The art opening absolutely! I love seeing the work that the University Galleries brings in, and I love seeing student work in every space from the galleries to even the hallways. It’s very inspiring and shows their high level of dedication and craft.

We are so glad that you #FutureRedbirds  get to hear the stories and perspectives of our #RedbirdFaculty, and it does mean a a lot to us. College is a place where you get to see things in a new light, along with being able to experiment with different technology!

Meet Alexis Wolstein

Years she’s worked at Illinois State: 4 1/2 years

Specialized in: Library instruction, which means teaching research skills and talking about informational literacy with incoming freshmen. She’s also the subject specialist for women’s and gender studies and family and consumer sciences.

Classes she teaches: “I teach classes for professors in my departments. I don’t teach a class that meets regularly, but I get to teach library sessions for all sorts of different classes, such as in women and genders studies, family and consumer sciences, and also in COMM 110 and English 101. 

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

I think that feeling like you can find the answer to your own question is every empowering. I hope students leave the classes that I teach or when they meet with me feeling more empowered to ask questions and to seek out the answers for themselves.

Fun fact about yourself?

I went to high school in the border town of El Paso, Texas and the end of my street was in New Mexico, so both places just felt like one.

Favorite Movie?

Probably Heathers. I’m a diehard Winona Ryder fan, and her character in Heathers and Beetlejuice really spoke to me as a teenager. But I think with Heathers, while it does take place in high school, it deals with a lot of the issues that we all have to face with having to be polite and being around  people on a day-to-day basis.

Favorite activities that happens on campus?

I am so proud that we have open hours at the LGBT/Queer Studies and Services Institute now. I think it’s so important to have a safe space on campus where we can have students meet and have awesome events like QUEERtalks. The ISU Pride sponsored Annual Drag Show is usually the highlight of my year. It’s so much fun and I love seeing my students performing.

I also really love the Festival of India on campus each year. The food is amazing and I love seeing the costume parade from all the different Indian communities represented.

Meet Rosanne Marshack

Years she’s worked at Illinois State: 9 years

Specializes in: Computer programming for artists and augmented reality gaming.

Classes she teaches: Computer programming for digital creative (ATK 302), Intro to the music industry (MUS 175), and a graduate seminar in arts tech (AKT 460). 

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

“I hope they get confidence in realizing that they can solve problems, and that get energized to try to learn more. My slogan this year is “Learn all the things.” I hope they learn that there is no right or wrong answer. There’s always a huge spectrum and scale of what could be right and what could be wrong.”

Fun fact about yourself?

“I’m in a touring punk rock band named Poster Children that was started in the 80s. I’m also a martial artist. I’m currently learning capoeira, and enjoy bringing it to ISU.”

(Photo credit goes to Tarik Dozier 2016)

Favorite Movie?

“It’s definitely a toss up between Apocalypse Now/Hearts of darkness, and Lawrence of Arabia I love Lawrence of Arabia because the character has this unstoppable energy. My favorite quote from the movie is from the main characters. In the scene he’s hurting himself by putting out a flame, and his friend asks, “How did you do that? Doesn’t it hurt?” as another asks, “What’s the trick?” He goes “The trick is not minding that it hurts.””

Favorite activity that happens on campus?

“Our capoeira classes.”

Meet Lea Cline

Years she’s worked at Illinois State: 5 years

Specialized in: Ancient Roman art and archeology

Classes she teaches: Survey of Art I (ART 155), which is a gen-ed and for majors that’s offered in the Fall and Spring, Greek Art and Architecture (ART 240),and Roman Art and Architecture (ART 241). She also teaches upper division seminar classes on special topics. This year the topic is on Pompeii.

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

“Of course I want them to remember all the art that I teach them, but I also realize that that’s asking a lot of people, especially if they’re not a major in art history. For me, the bigger idea is that people understand the history of human kind and the things people have made, such as the buildings they’ve built for themselves and the art that they have made for worship. There are big questions about who we are and how we relate to the historical tradition, and you can learn a lot by looking back. I want them to appreciate the world around them, and understand that the art around them has a history to it.”  

Fun fact about yourself?

“I’m really politically active. I’m actually an election official for the city of Bloomington. I’m also on a commission, the historical preservation commission in Bloomington. I’m really active in city government the best I can be.”

Favorite Movie?

“I love Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. It’s probably the reason why I became an archeologist, but my favorite movie is The Big Lebowski.”

Favorite activity that happens on campus?

“I really love the Cultural Fest that happens in the summer, where they have representatives from all the different RSO from the different cultural groups. I think that’s really fun, because you get to learn from all the different communities on campus that you usually don’t see in your day-to-day experience.”

Meet Thomas Gerschick

Years he’s worked at Illinois State: 24 years

Specializes in: The intersection of gender and the body, and specifically the masculinity of men with physical disabilities.

Classes he teaches: A wide range including Sociological Inquiry (SOC 206),  Research Methods (SOC 271), Senior Experience (SOC 300), Sociology of Gender (SOC 341), and Sociology of the Body (SOC 342). He’s also teaching a new course in the spring, which is Sociology of Disability.

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

An appreciation for what it means to think sociologically first and foremost including the kinds of skills that sociologists bring to analysis and the insights that come from it. I also hope that they come away with a very sound understanding of whatever the subject matter is of the course. So if we’re talking about the sociology of the body, that they understand the various ways in which the body operates in social life.

Fun fact about yourself?

My preferred mode of transportation is anything with 2 wheels. Bicycle or motorcycle.

Favorite Movie?

I would probably say Chasing Amy, because it is a cautionary tale of white male masculinity or rather the fragility of white male masculinity.

Favorite activity that happens on campus?

The various kinds of opportunities to hear guest speakers on a wide range of topics.

 Meet Sara Harris

Years she’s worked at Illinois State: Currently 4 years.

She originally started teaching 16 years ago as a graduate student here at Illinois State. She also taught at Bradley University, and was a visiting professor at Illinois College. She returned to Illinois State after adopting a child in 2012, where she could teach locally.

Specialized in: Early intervention and early childhood, while also having a background in social emotional disorders in children and adolescents.

Classes she teaches: Lifespan development (PSY 213), Child development, Research methods (PSY 331.11), Behavior modifications, and so many more. She also teaches different senior seminars.

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

“Regardless of their major or background, I want my students to be able to apply what they learn from my classes, either to their own lives or in the professions that they choose.”

Fun fact about yourself?

“I worked as a radio DJ when I was an undergrad. I loved the job and it was a lot of fun, but one not many people would guess.”

Favorite Movie?

“What Dreams May Come. It’s weird, it had Robin Williams and Cuba Gooding Jr., and it’s just a movie that I am really drawn to.”

Fun activity that happens on campus?

“I enjoy sporting events. For the last couple of years, I’ve been nominated to throw out the first pitch at Men’s Baseball and Women’s Softball. It’s nice to support our athletes and to then be recognized for teaching excellence in that way.”

 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.”