Gleich Honors College

Karla Armbruster is the co-editor of two collections of criticism: "The Bioregional Imagination: Literature, Ecology, and Place" and "Beyond Nature Writing: Expanding the Boundaries of Ecocriticism." She is also executive secretary of the Association for the Study of Literature and Environment, having held several other leadership positions within that organization in the past.

Most recently, she has become very interested in animal studies and is working on a book on literary and popular representations of dogs. This project combines personal narrative, literary and cultural analysis, and scientific information on canine behavior and genetics in order to examine the ways we position dogs on the border between culture and nature. In the process, it explores how our representations of dogs inform not only our relationships with real dogs but also our engagement with the wildness of the natural world. For a taste of this project, read a talk Armbruster gave on “Dogs, Dirt, and Public Space” at a gathering sponsored by the Animals and Society Institute at Duke University in 2009.

Armbruster's interests are also reflected in her courses; for example, her Perspectives course on Werewolves, Seal Wives, Grizzly Men and Other Metamorphoses (now offered as Human-Animal Transformations) won the 2011 Distinguished New Course Award from the Humane Society of the United States and the Animals and Society Institute.

Ryan Groeneman holds a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville and a Doctor of Philosophy in Chemistry from the University of Missouri.

Research in the Groeneman group focuses on the chemistry of the organic state in terms of both photoreactivity and thermal extension within these molecular solids. The photoreaction we investigate is based upon the solid-state [2 + 2] cycloaddition reaction. They utilize this light induced reaction with the goal of synthesizing unique molecules that contain cyclobutane rings. Within the area of thermal expansion, Groeneman researches the ability to control the direction and magnitude of the tensors of expansion by varying the type and strength of non-covalent interactions that sustains these solids. In a similar manner, he also investigates the role of motion capable and incapable components play on the overall thermal expansion within these molecular crystals.

Gad Guterman holds double majors, with a BA in both Theatre and Economics from Cornell University in 1996; an MA in Educational Theatre from New York University in 2000; and earned a PhD in Theatre at The Graduate Center, City University of New York in 2011. 

Guterman joined the faculty of the Sargent Conservatory of Theatre Arts at Webster University in 2011. He is the author of "Performance, Identity and Immigration Law: A Theatre of Undocumentedness (Palgrave Macmillan, 2014)." The book considers how contemporary U.S. theatre has presented so-called undocumented immigrants and, more broadly, how legal labels participate in processes of identity. Guterman's essays, focused generally on connections between theatre and law, have appeared in Theatre Survey, Theatre Journal, the Journal of American Drama and Theatre, and in the collection, American Multicultural Identity (Salem Press, 2014).

Most recently, he contributed an article and a translation to Theatre and Cartographies of Power: Repositioning the Latina/o Americas (Southern Illinois University Press, 2018). From 2004 to 2011, he served as the Education Director for the Vineyard Theatre in New York City, an Off-Broadway company dedicated to producing new plays and musicals. He is the author of a play for young actors published by Eldridge Plays, My Uncle Shakespeare, and has directed productions for Missoula Children's Theatre, Boston Children's Theatre, and the John Harms Performing Arts Center, among others. Recent credits include The Little Prince (director, Webster University, 2019), Greek Myths: Heroes and Monsters (director, Imaginary Theatre Company, 2019), the Romeo and Juliet Green Show (director, Shakespeare Festival St. Louis, 2018), and the Briefs Theatre Festival (dramaturg, 2014–2017).

Kyu Park, born in Korea, is a transnational film director, producer and cinematographer. He makes fictional narrative, as well as experimental and documentary films that focus on ethics and morality in social context. His works have been screened at several international film festivals and exhibitions, including the Cannes Film Festival Short Film Corner in France; the Montecatini Film & Video Festival in Italy; the Bucheon International Film Festival in South Korea; and the Syracuse International Film Festival in the United States. A short film, "Drama," directed by Tian Guan, in which he worked as a cinematographer, has won Best Live Action Short in the 30th Warsaw Film Fest, 2014, and Best Short Fiction in the Los Angeles Film Festival, 2015. It also screened at Slamdance, Palm Springs and elsewhere.

Education
MFA in Film, May 2015, Syracuse University, New York
BFA in Film, February 2010, Yong In University, Gyounggi-do, South Korea
Certification of Screenwriting, December 2004, Korea Screenwriters Association, Seoul, South Korea

Emily Thompson earned a BA in history and in French from Duke University in 1991. She completed her doctoral work at the University of Pennsylvania, receiving a PhD in French literature in 1996. She teaches courses in French language, Francophone literatures and cultures, and global studies. She also teaches a Global Cornerstone Seminar for the Gleich Honors College on place-based learning and civic engagement. She serves as a member of the Women, Gender and Sexuality Academic Committee and Executive Council. Professor Thompson’s research interests focus on sixteenth-century French literature, specifically the evolution of the nouvelle and the history of the book. She won the William T. Kemper Award for Excellence in Teaching and the Emerson Excellence in Teaching Award in 2016.

Bruce Umbaugh is Professor and Chair of the Philosophy Department. He became a philosopher to understand things deeply and in ways that allow action to make the world better. His research has addressed relativism and rationality; the ethical implications of technology design; and privacy, free expression, and identity in online environments. His book on the thought of George Berkeley defends idealism in light of all the latest scientific knowledge. Most recently, he has been exploring how ethics of care may be fundamental to all the best practices for helping students to learn.

Umbaugh has been a full-time faculty member at Webster since 1994. He has been recognized with the inaugural Learning Happens Everywhere award as well the William T. Kemper Award for Excellence in Teaching. He has taught Cornerstone and Keystone seminars, as well as introductory courses in philosophy and courses such as Theory of Knowledge, Philosophy of Science, Philosophy of Mind, Philosophy and Technology, and Global Information Ethics. He currently serves as Director of Webster's Global Citizenship Program and as Past President of the international Association for General and Liberal Studies.

Umbaugh earned an AB in Philosophy degree from the Honors Tutorial College of Ohio University, and an MA and PhD in philosophy from the University of Maryland.