Welcome New Lewis Honors College Faculty!
Four new faculty will join Lewis Honors College teaching classes including creative writing, business-related topics, media influence, and nontraditional research methods.
Julie Boutwell-Peterson holds a Ph.D. in English and creative writing from the University of South Dakota. She has taught literature, creative writing, and composition in South Dakota, Georgia, and Alabama for a total of 10 years. A former journalist, Julie has also lived and worked in France, Slovakia, Kazakhstan, and Senegal. She is currently working on a children's fantasy novel as well as a collection of creative nonfiction essays that blend cultural critique, literary criticism, memoir, and popular science. Her recent work has appeared in “Litro” and “Rathalla Review” and is forthcoming in “Ocean State Review.” This fall, Julie will teach “Truth, Memory, and Imagination: Finding Your Voice through Creative Writing.”
Adrian Magendzo has experience as an entrepreneur, having founded several companies in the technology, manufacture, and food industries. He has worked as an independent consultant for Interamerican Development Bank, World Bank, and ITIF in the design and implementation of public policy programs to foster innovation and entrepreneurial activity in Latin America, The Gambia, and Uzbekistan. Most recently, Adrian was a professor of management and entrepreneurship at Hofstra University in NY. Prior to this role, he served as an economic attaché to the Chilean embassy in Washington, D.C., and director and professor in the Master in Innovation and Entrepreneurship program at the Universidad Adolfo Ibanez (UAI) in Santiago, Chile. He was also Executive Director of the High Impact Entrepreneurship Policy division at Innova-Corfo the Chilean government innovation and entrepreneurship promotion agency. He has an industrial engineer background from the University of Chile and holds a master’s degree in technology commercialization and innovation from the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas Austin. Adrian will teach “Business Models for Innovation” and “Technology-Based Entrepreneurship.”
Sherelle Roberts is a political science Ph.D. candidate at the University of Kentucky. Her research focuses on the political behavior of historically marginalized populations; specifically, Black women. Her scholarship highlights the ways in which Black women interact with political institutions to set policy agendas, pass legislation, and build political power. Roberts is an Emmy-winning journalist and political practitioner. She has more than a decade of combined experience in local and state government, as well as running political campaigns. Sherelle will teach “Media and Civil Society.”
Dr. Jena Seiler is an interdisciplinary artist, teacher, and researcher. She earned a Ph.D. in interdisciplinary arts and an MFA in studio art from Ohio University, and a BFA in studio art from the University of New Mexico. As an educator, Jena has taught studio art courses in drawing, video, visual narrative, and field study, and lecture courses in art appreciation, art history, writing, and honors. Her academic and artistic work focuses on the everyday and how sensing and thinking through visual and auditory media can reveal issues of power and the limits of representation. Working across a variety of media has allowed her to develop a research-based practice, collaborate with artists, and participate in galleries and other venues. Her recent film work includes creating three short experimental films: “Jane” (2020), “Becoming Annette” (2020), and “edge waves” (2022); coproducing the pilot episode of “Her Hope Haven” (2021); and creating two documentaries: “Picture Proof” (2022) and “Patchwork” (2022). This fall, Jena will teach “Creative Fielding: Expanding Research through Making.”