Honors Program

Faculty

Karen Trimble Alliaume

1999 Ph.D., Duke University
1994 Graduate Certificate, Duke University
1987 B.A., Loyola College- Baltimore

Karen Trimble Alliaume received her doctorate in theology and ethics from Duke University in 1999, where she pursued feminist and other liberation theologies of the United States and the developing world; systematic and constructive Christian theology; Catholic moral theology and Christian ethics; and interdisciplinary work in literature, feminist theory, and women's studies.

Her book co-authored with Dr. Maryellen Davis Collett,听 Reimagining the Boundaries of Religion and Popular Culture: Implicit Theology, Secular Spirituality, and Speculative Fiction, is currently under contract with the Cultural Studies division of Lexington Books (an imprint of Rowman and Littlefield). This project reimagines the charged boundaries of religion and popular culture from two complementary and convergent disciplinary directions, implicit theology (Trimble Alliaume) and secular spirituality (Collett), productively integrating insights gleaned from these oft-siloed approaches.听 Speculative fictions prompt emotionally charged experiences among readers and viewers, as they navigate presumed polarities of religion and popular culture, further complicated by overlapping oppositions such as faith and reason or self and other. In an era shaped by increasing levels of religious non-affiliation and social polarization, our work explores ideas and practices that empower practitioners to meet universal, yet deeply personal, human needs and yearnings by engaging with popular culture.

Her essay “(Theology of the) Body Language: Christopher West as Harlequin 2.0,” was published in Sex, Gender, and Christianity, edited by Priscilla Pope-Levison and John R. Levison (Eugene, Oregon: Cascade Books, 2012), while another essay, “Disturbingly Catholic: Thinking the Inordinate Body” was published in Susan M. St. Ville and Ellen Armour, eds., Bodily Citations: Religion and Judith Butler (New York:Columbia University Press, 2006).

At Lewis, she has taught numerous courses including Women and Religion, Religion and Literature: Science Fiction, and听 Marriage, Relationships and Sexuality in Christian Tradition.

Honors Program Class:
THEO 10000 - Search for Faith

DR. JENNIFER TELLO BUNTIN

Associate Professor, Department of Sociology
Director, Honors Program; Director, Latin America & Latina/o Studies听
Email: buntinje@lewisu.edu

2010 Ph.D., University of Chicago
2001 M.A. University of Chicago
1996 B.A., University of Oklahoma

Jennifer Tello Buntin is an Associate Professor of Sociology and Director of the Latin American and Latina/o Studies program at 木瓜影院. She also directs the University’s Honors Program. Her research and teaching interests focus on the Latine experience in the U.S., international migration, social inequality and the intersectionality of race, class and gender. Before starting her position at 木瓜影院, she was a visiting assistant professor at the Julian Samora Research Institute at Michigan State University and held teaching positions at North Central College and the University of Illinois-Chicago. She received her Ph.D. from the Department of Sociology at the University of Chicago in 2010.

Dr. Adrianne Honnold

Ethnomusicology, Saxophone
Assistant Professor of Music
Email: ahonnold@lewisu.edu

PhD., Ethnomusicology/Popular Music Studies, University of Birmingham
M.M., Saxophone Performance, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
B.M.E., Bachelor of Music Education, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

"The player who left the greatest impression with me was the saxophonist Adrianne Honnold whose sound was so warm and nostalgic in "Il vecchio castello" ("The Old Castle") that I began to question why the instrument isn't standard in a typical orchestra!"

Dr. Adrianne Honnold has performed as a saxophonist throughout the United States and Europe including at Royal Albert Hall, the Berlin Philharmonie and the Salle Pleyel in Paris. She is currently Assistant Professor of Music at Lewis University in Romeoville, Illinois where she teaches popular music history and appreciation courses as well as applied saxophone. She received both her Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where she was a student of Debra Richtmeyer and Chip McNeill, and she completed the PhD in Ethnomusicology/Popular Music Studies at the University of Birmingham in the UK in 2021. Her research engages with methods from critical organology, ethnography, and autoethnography to explore the contributions of musical instruments to the soundscape of American popular music. Dr. Honnold has performed with the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, the Lyric Opera of Kansas City, the Kansas City Symphony Orchestra, the Illinois Symphony Orchestra, the USAF Band of Mid-America, USAF Heritage of America Band, Sessions Big Band, the St. Louis Jazz Orchestra, and the NATO Jazz Orchestra. An avid chamber musician, she was a founding member and co-Artistic Director of Chamber Project St. Louis and the alto saxophonist with the Missouri Saxophone Quartet from 2007-2015. Dr. Honnold is an Artist-Endorser for the Conn-Selmer Corporation and is proud to perform on Selmer Paris and Yanagisawa saxophones exclusively.

Honors Program Class:
MUSC 11550 - Sex, Race, and Power in Pop Music

Dr. Pramod Mishra

Professor
Email: mishrapr@lewisu.edu听

Ph.D., English, Duke University,
M.A., English, Northern Illinois University
B.A., English, Bhagalpur University

Dr. Pramod Mishra, Professor, joined the Department in the fall of 2010. Dr. Mishra came from Augustana College, Rock Island, IL, where he had taught since the fall of 2002 and had been recommended for tenure and promotion by the Faculty Welfare committee, the Dean and the President.听 Dr. Mishra earned his Ph.D. from Duke University in English with an emphasis on Postcolonial literature and theory and his M.A. in English from Northern Illinois University.听 He teaches courses in the First-Year Writing sequence, in the general education literature curriculum, Non-Western and Postcolonial majors' courses, and American and British literature when needed. He is also available to teach literary theory and courses in Third-World film. He has published articles on international and postcolonial issues in Ariel: A Journal of International English Literature and CR: The New Centennial Review. He has presented papers and given presentations at the MLA and other places both in the US and overseas both for the academic community and the general public.听 Since 2009, he has written a regular column on literature, culture, and society under Crossroads for The Kathmandu Post.听 He is at work on two book-length manuscripts鈥攈is memoirs of growing up in India and Nepal and a collection of essays on the southern plains of Nepal called Madhes.

Honors Program Class:
ENGL11100 - College Writing One

Dr. Elizabeth Sartell

Assistant Professor
Email: esartell@lewisu.edu

2021 Ph.D., University of Chicago Divinity School (Islamic Studies)
2013 M.A., University of Chicago Divinity School
2008 B.S., University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana

Dr. Elizabeth Sartell is an Associate Professor in the Department of Theology, specializing in the area of Islamic Studies and comparative Abrahamic traditions.听 Her current research centers on medieval Islamic and Jewish theories on the origins of the universe and on the crossovers of philosophy and mysticism within these varied approaches. In particular, she focuses on the intricate mystical theory of Ibn al-士Arab墨 (d. 1240 CE) about the role of the Arabic alphabet and God’s speech in the creation of the universe.听 Her project seeks to place Ibn al-士Arab墨 thought within the larger mystical discourse between medieval Muslim and Jewish texts, highlighting the relevance of underrepresented texts and voices to studies of dominant cultures.听 Her other projects focus on inclusive pedagogy and culturally responsive teaching practices. Dr. Sartell has published articles, presented talks, and led workshops in the fields of Islamic medical ethics; science, magic, and religion in the Islamicate world; Islamic mysticism and mystical philosophy; Islamic and Jewish lettrism; and inclusive pedagogy in the humanities and in the study of religion.

At Lewis, Dr. Sartell teaches Search for Faith, World Religions, Introduction to Islam, Islam in America, and other courses that engage with religious studies, comparative studies, origin stories, Islamic studies and/or Jewish studies.

Honors Program Class:
THEO 28400 - Introduction to Islam