Honors Faculty

Faculty Teaching Honors Courses

Honors faculty are distinguished leaders in their fields, including fellows of prestigious organizations, members of elite science and engineering academies, and recipients of national awards. They conduct meaningful research supported by major corporations and national agencies, publish in leading national and international journals, and present at global conferences—sharing their discoveries and industry expertise directly with honors scholars in the classroom.

Supported by alumni and friends of the Albert Dorman Honors College, Honors Faculty Fellows design specialized courses that explore societal issues through an interdisciplinary lens.

Honors Faculty

Louis I. Hamilton, Ph.D.
Dean, Albert Dorman Honors College
Course: HIST 329: Dante: Hell, Heaven, Florence (Spring 2024)

Emily Tancredi-Brice Agbenyega, Ph.D.
University Lecturer
Courses: ​​​​

• ​​​​​​​STS 205: Intro to Research Methods (Spring 2025)
• STS 325: Science, Technology, and Urban Transformation (Spring 2025)

Honors Faculty Fellows

Amy Hoover, Ph.D.
Department of Informatics
Matthew J. Hill ‘99H Honors Faculty Fellowship in Ethics and the Digital Future
Course: CS 485: Introduction to Generative AI 

Ashish Borgaonkar, Ph.D.
School of Applied Engineering & Technology
Dorman - Fenster Faculty Fellowship in Engineering
Courses:

• FED 101: Fundamentals of Engineering Design (Fall 2025),
• ENGR330: Applications of Microcontrollers and IoT devices (Spring 2026),
• ENGR493: Service Learning for Engineers (Spring 2026)

Charles Firestone, MA & Erin Pellegrino, MA
Hillier College of Architecture & Design
Course: ARCH 483: Public Interest Design/Build: Methods for Building Community (Spring 2026)

Elektra Kostopoulou, Ph.D.
Department of Federated History
Course: HIST 325: Migration from Southeast Europe and the Middle East to New Jersey (Spring 2025)

Jaskirat Sodhi, Ph.D.
Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering
Dorman - Fenster Faculty Fellowship in Engineering
Course: ENGR 330: Application of Microcontrollers and IoT Devices (Spring 2026)

Maria Stanko, Ph.D.
Department of Biological Sciences
Maneet Kaur and Sarabjit Singh '02H, '04 Honors Faculty Fellow in Agriculture and Climate Change
Courses: 

• BIOL 498: Biology of Sustainable Food Systems (Spring 2024)
• ​​​​​​​BIOL 498: Climate Change and Food Security (Food for a Hot Planet) (Spring 2022)

Michael J. Lee, Ph.D
Department of Informatics
Dr. Joel and Dr. Diane Bloom Honors Faculty Fellowship in STEM Leadership
Course: IS 257: Design Thinking: Addressing Structural Inequality (Fall 2025)

Miriam Ascarelli, M.A.
Department of Humanities & Social Sciences
Course: HSS 404: The Brick City, How Newark Became Newark (Spring 2025)

Current Honors Affiliated Faculty

Drew Ciccolo, Ph.D.
Humanities & Social Sciences

Jake Slovis, M.F.A.
Humanities & Social Sciences

Johanna Deane, M.F.A.
Humanities & Social Sciences

Kim Chen, M.A.
Humanities & Social Sciences

Markita Schulman, M.F.A.
Humanities & Social Sciences

Patrick Thornton, B.S.
Director of Robotics, NCE

Theresa Hunt, Ph.D.
Humanities & Social Sciences

Recent Faculty Fellows

Michel Boufadel, Ph.D.
Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering
Course: ENE 485: Water Quality in Drinking Water and Natural Systems: Assessment and Mitigation

Shawn A. Chester, Ph.D.
Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering
Course: ME 495: Mechanics of Soft Materials

Vatsal Shah, Ph.D., P.E.
Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering 
Course: CE 485: Forensic Engineering: Reverse Engineering to Restore and Improve Urban Infrastructure

Vivek A. Kumar, Ph.D.
Department of Biomedical Engineering
Course: BME 498: Engineering Better Medicines 

Objectives of Honors Courses

According to the National Collegiate Honors Council (NCHC), most Honors Courses will have the following five objectives (or some variation of them):

1. To help students develop effective written communication skills
    
2. To help students develop effective oral communication skills
    
3. To help students develop their ability to analyze and synthesize a broad range of material
    
4. To help students understand how scholars think about problems, formulate hypotheses, research those problems, and draw conclusions about them, or understand how creative artists approach the creative process and produce original work
    
5. To help students become more independent and critical thinkers, demonstrating the ability to use knowledge and logic when discussing an issue or an idea, while considering the consequences of their ideas for themselves, for others, and for society