NLU professors are here for a reason. They believe in our historic mission: to serve the community by providing a superior education for career-focused college students and working adults. They are authors, researchers, Fulbright scholars, business professionals, world travelers and renowned experts. But above all, they are here for you, to be your teacher, mentor, guide and support as you earn your degree and open the next chapter of your career and your life.
NLU faculty are a dynamic group who not only teach but also conduct research and serve the university and its communities. Below are a few of the outstanding professors who have chosen to research and teach at NLU.
For additional information about our faculty and their work, please visit:
Faculty Awards and Achievements
Camille Blachowicz (NCE, Reading and Language)
- Co-author of many books on reading, including Reading Diagnosis: An Instructional Approach, Teaching Vocabulary in All Classrooms, Reading Comprehension: Strategies for Independent Learners, Reading Street, Fluency Development: From Research to Practice, and the chapter on vocabulary research for the third Handbook of Reading Research
Arlene Borthwick (NCE, Technology in Education)
- Accomplished scholar in the field of technology-enabled teaching and learning in the classroom, including using Palm handheld computers to teach math skills to third-graders
Bill Boyle (CAS, ABS)
- Author of Getting Connected and Starting to Finish, definitive texts on adult learning employed by various adult degree-completion programs at 13 institutions in the U.S.
Tim Collins (NCE, Secondary Education)
- Fulbright Scholar to Taiwan for 2006-07; to work with Teacher Professional Development Center of the Ministry of Education
Diane German (NCE, Special Education)
- Recognized authority on diagnosing and treating language and learning disabilities through word retention methods
Catherine Honig (CMB, Industrial/Organizational Psychology)
- Delivered a presentation (along with Jean Mandernach, Grand Canyon University, and Sherri Restauri Carson, University of Alabama-Huntsville, entitled MERLOT Psychology Collection: An Exploration of Exceptional Online Learning Resources for 2012 at the Sloan-C/MERLOT Fifth International Symposium on Annual Emerging Technologies for Online Learning. Their presentation was nominated for a Sloan-C Effective Practices Award. Honig, who serves as editor of the MERLOT Psychology Editorial Board was asked to serve as track chair for the 2013 conference.
Art Hyde (NCE, Secondary Education)
- Co-author (with Marilyn Bizar) of Methods that Matter: Six Structures for Best Practice Classrooms and Best Practice, Third Edition: Today's Standards for Teaching and Learning in America's Schools
Christina Nolan (CAS, School Counseling)
- Honored by the Illinois School Counselor Association (ISCA) as School Counselor Educator of the Year, 2012
Elinor Olin (CAS)
- President of board of directors for Music in the Loft, Chicago-based organization supporting career development among aspiring composers and musicians
Patrick Roberts (NCE, Educational Foundations and Inquiry)
- Fulbright Scholar, Lecture/Research Award, University of Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, 2010
- U.S. Speaker and Specialist Grant, U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of International Information Programs, July, 2011
- Research Fellow, Smithsonian Institute, 2012
Costas Spirou (CAS, Political Science)
- Recognized author and expert on the role of culture and sports in community economic development and co-author of It's Hardly Sportin': Stadiums, Neighborhoods, and the New Chicago
Teri Talan (NCE, Early Childhood Education)
- Nationally recognized expert of early childhood education administration and an advocate for increased public funding for pre-K programs
- Expert witness to Illinois State Board of Education on early childhood issues
