New Faculty 2021
Alexander Blewett III School of Law
DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION AND POLICY
Blake Emidy, Assistant Professor
Blake Emidy teaches courses in public management and organizational theory and behavior. His research looks at the organizational factors that contribute to employee motivation and well-being in the public sector, including the effects of budget cuts and downsizing. He also examines differences in employee perceptions of organizational justice at the intersection of gender, race, and sexual orientation. Prior to joining the University of Montana, Blake taught at Georgia College & State University. He holds a BA in Public Policy Leadership from the University of Mississippi, and MPA and PhD degrees from Georgia State University's Andrew Young School of Policy Studies.
College of the Arts and Media
SCHOOL OF THEATRE AND DANCE
Brooklyn Draper, Assistant Professor
Brooklyn Draper joins the Theatre and Dance faculty in Fall 2021. Brooklyn has had the honor to perform in the U.S., China, and the UK and to work with over 20 choreographers. Brooklyn’s choreographic work has been shown nationally and internationally. Her most recent work "Dreamdays" was selected for the American College Dance Association's screen dance gala performance. Brooklyn was co-director and founder of Salt Lake City-based dance company, Triptych Figures, from 2014-2016, where she regularly choreographed, performed, and taught workshops for the company. She also co-directed Speakers’ Corner SLC 2015-2017, to provide a space dedicated to the dialogue of the present by bringing citizens, politicians, scientists, activists, and artists together to work on solutions. Brooklyn holds an MFA in dance from the University of Utah and a Post-Graduate Degree from Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music & Dance in London, UK. Brooklyn is also a Certified Laban Movement Analyst.
College of Business
DEPARTMENT OF MANAGEMENT AND MARKETING
Peter Anzollitto
Peter is a recent Ph.D. recipient in management (proposal defense passed July 2020) with a focus in organizational behavior and human resources. He has an M.A. in higher education administration and worked in student affairs at both Ohio State and McMurry University before moving to industry. He worked for several years in the healthcare and energy industries prior to returning to pursue his Ph.D. Peter is passionate about investigating how employees’ relationships influence how they define themselves at work. His primary research interest is how different types of networks influence employee identity work, and he has done research in the areas of socialization, leadership, turnover, and groups & teams. One of Peter’s favorite aspects of his job is the ability to engage with students and he strives to use the Socratic method in all his classes.
College of Health
SCHOOL OF SOCIAL WORK
Amanda Cahill, Clinical Assistant Professor
Amanda Cahill grew up in Livingston, Montana and has lived in Missoula for 15 years. Amanda began her career in medical and hospice social work. She has been working as a Government Relations Director for nearly a decade where she has fought for policies that improve the lives and health of Montanans.
SCHOOL OF SOCIAL WORK
Co Carew, Assistant Professor
Co Carew comes to us from Salish-Kootenai College, where she developed the first and only nationally accredited social work program at a tribal college. Her doctoral research explored how one’s sense of place -through the P-people, L-land, A-ancestry, C-culture and E-experiences -can build resiliency. Dr. Carew's research, instructional and therapeutic specialty is using arts-based modalities. She is also versed in Indigenous research methodology.
SCHOOL OF SOCIAL WORK
Logan Cook, Assistant Professor
Logan graduated from Rocky Mountain College in Billings, MT with a BS in 2005, double majoring in Psychology and Sociology. He earned a Master of Social Work from University of Montana in 2008. Logan returns to the UM School of Social Work with nearly 15 years of social work experience in clinical, supervisory, administrative, and teaching roles within community behavioral health. He is dually licensed as a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) and Licensed Addiction Counselor (LAC) and has worked with diverse populations, dealing with substance use and co-occurring mental health disorders. As a clinician, Logan worked with adolescents and adults in substance use prevention and outpatient and inpatient treatment settings. He has supervised in-home therapy programs for teens with co-occurring issues, outpatient programs, and most recently oversaw the entire substance use disorder continuum of care for Western Montana Mental Health Center. Helping students and supervisees gain confidence and skills are experiences Logan considers the most rewarding, and he looks forward to bringing his passion for mentoring students to his new role at UM.
SCHOOL OF SOCIAL WORK
Jessica Liddell, Assistant Professor
School of Social Work Jessica Liddell is from Logan, Utah, and holds master’s degrees in social work and public health from Tulane University. Her experience as a social worker and researcher addresses maternal and reproductive health care. For the past few years, she has worked with Indigenous women studying reproductive health along the Gulf Coast and recently earned her doctorate from Tulane. With extensive experience working for nonprofits internationally, Liddell describes herself as an interdisciplinary scholar “with the heart of a social worker.”
SCHOOL OF PHYSICAL THERAPY AND REHABILITATION SCIENCES
Caitlin Miller Zondlo, Assistant Professor
A physical therapist for the past decade, Caitlinis excited to share her clinical expertise in the classroom and will be teaching Prevention and Wellness and Exercise Physiology. Caitlin will be continuing her research focusing on healthcare utilization and cost in common musculoskeletal conditions. She also has a special interest in addressing social disparities of health and examining variation in healthcare delivery for rural populations. Caitlin and her husband Pete are excited to explore the trails of Montana with their adventure dog Star!
DEPARTMENT OF PHARMACY PRACTICE, SKAGGS SCHOOL OF PHARMACY
Sarah Scoular
Dr. Sarah Scoular has spent the past 9.5 years as Faculty at the University of Colorado Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences. She graduated with a Doctorate of Pharmacy from the University of Colorado School of Pharmacy, completed a pharmacy practice residency at Exempla Saint Joseph Hospital in Denver, Colorado followed by a specialty residency in critical care with an emphasis in infectious diseases at University of Colorado Hospital. Dr. Scoular directs courses in Pharmacotherapy, Patient Centered-Communications and Advanced Infectious Diseases. Her clinical practice was previously with the Inpatient Adult Internal Medicine team at the University of Colorado Hospital. Her research is focused in Pharmacokinetics/Pharmacodynamics, Education, and Vaccines. Dr. Scoular served as the faculty advisor for a student-run free medical clinic that delivers primary care services to the uninsured and underserved patients of Aurora, Colorado. In addition, she has recently started and precepted a student rotation for 4th year pharmacy students to work at a clinic in the rural southern region of Guatemala. She is excited to be a Griz and hopes to continue to provide student opportunities for community outreach and patient care locally and internationally.
Colleg of Humanities and Sciences
DEPARTMENT OF GEOSCIENCES
Natalie Bursztyn, Lecturer
Natalie Bursztyn specializes in post-secondary geoscience education, in particular developing active learning curriculum and interactive models of Earth processes. She has been teaching geology in higher ed since 2005 at various institutions in North America including Community College, Private Liberal Arts, and Public Research Universities. Natalie enjoys spending time outside, knitting, watching true crime series, reading Hillerman novels, and up until the pandemic, playing roller derby.
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH, CREATIVE WRITTING PROGRAM
Chris Dombrowski, Lecturer and Assistant Director
Chris Dombrowski is the author of the memoir Body of Water (Milkweed Editions), a Bloomberg News 2016 Book of the Year and a Top Ten Indie Next Pick from the American Booksellers Association. In addition, he has published three books of poems, By Cold Water, a Poetry Foundation Bestseller, Earth Again, and Ragged Anthem, all from Wayne State University Press. His essays and poems have appeared in many publications and anthologies including Poetry, Orion, Outside, The Southern Review, The Sun, Michigan Quarterly Review, Guernica, and Gulf Coast. For the better part of two decades he has taught creative writing to a vast array of age groups, most recently as the Distinguished Kittredge Writer at the University of Montana. He lives with his family in Missoula, Montana, where he founded and co-directs the Beargrass Writing Retreat. His second book of nonfiction, tentatively titled The Nature of Wonder, is forthcoming from Milkweed Editions in 2022.
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH
Sam McPhee, Lecturer
Sam McPhee is a lecturer in the Department of English. He is a graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop and The University of Washington. He has taught literature, creative writing, cinema history, and creative writing for the ecologically aware. He lives with his wife and two daughters in the mountains of Alberton, where he is working on his first novel.
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH
Emily Ruskovic, Assistant Professor
Emily Ruskovich is an assistant professor in creative writing. Her debut novel, IDAHO, was published in 2017 and went on to win the 2019 Dublin International Literary Award, the largest award in the world given to a single novel. IDAHO has been translated into a dozen languages and has been optioned for a film. Emily has also won an O. Henry Award for Short Fiction, The Pacific Northwest Book Award, and the Idaho Book Award. Her writing has appeared in Zoetrope, One Story, The Virginia Quarterly Review, Lithub, The Guardian, the New York Times, and elsewhere. She lives with her husband and two small daughters in Alberton, Montana, in the mountains.
ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES PROGRAM
Mark Sundeen
Mark Sundeen is the author of four books of nonfiction including The Unsettlers and The Man Who Quit Money. A contributing editor to Outside magazine, his work has appeared in the New York Times Magazine, National Geographic Adventure, and many other publications. He held the Russo Chair in Creative Writing at the University of New Mexico.
DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHOLOGY
Caitlin Martin-Wagar, Assistant Professor
Dr. Martin-Wagar’s appointment is within the Clinical Psychology Doctoral Program, where her focus is on Child Clinical Psychology. She completed a Postdoctoral Associateship in the Department of Psychiatry at Yale University School of Medicine, where she conducted clinical-research within National Institute of Health-funded eating disorder and trauma clinical trials. As a clinician, she treats eating disorders in youths and adults. Caitlin earned her doctorate in Counseling Psychology at The University of Akron in 2020. Her research focuses on weight stigma and improving eating disorder treatments, especially through strengths-based interventions.
DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHOLOGY
Rachel Williamson, Assistant Professor
Dr. Rachel Williamson is an Assistant Professor in the Clinical Psychology program at University of Montana. Prior to this appointment, she was a faculty member at St. Lawrence College in Ontario, Canada. Rachel holds a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Palo Alto University. Rachel’s clinical experience is largely based in community mental health, including homeless shelters in the San Francisco Bay Area and health clinics in remote Alaskan communities. Rachel is trained in advanced statistics and has worked as a statistics consultant for several years. Her research has focused primarily on the application of existential theory and social psychological theories of meaning-making to psychological trauma.
DEPARTMENT OF APPLIED ARTS AND SCIENCES
Lauren Fern, Assistant Professor
Lauren Fern joins Missoula College as an Assistant Professor and Math Discipline lead after 18 years as a lecturer in math at the University of Montana. She assumed the role of Student Success Coordinator in Mathematics in 2019. Beyond the University of Montana, Lauren is an innovator in developing math programming at both the state and national levels to design support structures to help learners from all backgrounds succeed in college. Through her work with the Charles A. Dana Center at the University of Texas-Austin, she assists university systems and institutions across the country, including Arkansas, Missouri, Minnesota, Ohio, California, Colorado, Texas, New York, and North Carolina, in designing courses and curricula to implement equity-minded teaching and learning, for both in-person and distance education. In all her roles, Lauren demonstrates her passion for working with students who are not yet prepared for college mathematics, first generation college students, and those who come from underserved populations. While her favorite place to be (when not in the woods, on her bike, or in her garden!) is the classroom, she also enjoys advising incoming students into the appropriate math courses and developing curricula and courses, such as math corequisite classes, to meet the needs of students where they are.
MISSOULA COLLEGE
DEPARTMENT OF APPLIED ARTS AND SCIENCES
Greg Peters
Greg Peters loves teaching science at Missoula College. He shares science with students through exploration of general biology, habitats of Montana, and tools for communicating scientific findings. His background is in botany and his passion lies with wonder for all living things. Greg spends his workdays encouraging students to explore the wild lands of Montana and his free time chasing his three-year-old through those wild lands. He looks forward to continuing with his courses at Missoula College and creating new opportunities for students to develop interactive and applicable experience using science as a tool for discovery.
W.A. Franke College of Forestry and Conservation
WILDLIFE BIOLOGY PROGRAM
Erim Gómez, Assistant Professor
Dr. Erim Gómez was recently promoted from lecturer to assistant professor of Wildlife Biology in the W.A. Franke College of Forestry and Conservation. He earned his Masters and Ph.D. from Washington State University. Gómez uses social media for environmental education efforts and he has been active in diversity efforts serving as an advisor to UM's STEM diversity student organization, SACNAS.