AUM Faculty & Staff
Directory
Jason Shifferd
Senior Lecturer | College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences
Jason Shifferd is a senior lecturer of English who teaches composition and literature. He also tutors writing at the Learning Center. He earned his Bachelor of Arts in English in 2009 and his Master of Liberal Arts in 2014, both from AUM. His thesis, available online and at the AUM library, is entitled The Case for Humor in the Classroom: An Annotated Bibliography, which served as the basis for his 2025 HHMI seminar “Crayons in College? Using Play to Reinforce Learning Goals.” He has published literary essays for Critical Insights, including “Humor in the Autobiographical Writings of Maya Angelou: Maya Meets Mr. Julian” (2016) and “Maxine Peake’s Female Hamlet: A Survey of Responses” (2019). As a graduate research assistant in 2013, he contributed to the article “Who Lives Where: A Comprehensive Population Taxonomy of Cities, Suburbs, Exurbs, and Rural Areas in the United States” (2016) for The Geographical Bulletin. In 2019, he co-led a presentation at CCCC in Pittsburgh entitled “Performing TfT at the Composition Program Level,” and in 2023, he did a live reading of his creative writing at ACETA in Clanton. He writes fantasy and science fiction and intends to publish within the next few years.
Emma Si
Lecturer | College of Sciences
Ph.D. (2011) Analytical/Environmental Chemistry, McGill University, Montreal, Canada
M.S. (2003) Chemistry, Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario
B.A. (2001) Chemistry, Shandong Normal University, China
Dr. Emma Si is an Assistant Professor in the AUM Department of Chemistry. Her research interests include (i) understanding the photochemistry of inorganic mercury with selected organic molecules; (ii) developing analytical methods for chemical speciation of toxic metals in aquatic environment; and (iii) developing novel remediation techniques for air and water pollution. She is actively involved in mentoring undergraduate research students at AUM and their results have been presented at various international and national conferences.
Kate Simmons
Professor | College of Education
Dr. Kate D. Simmons is a Professor of Special Education where she specializes in instructional strategies that enhance academic and behavioral outcomes for students with exceptionalities. With over five years of experience in public education, she has authored 19 peer-reviewed articles, two book chapters, and delivered over 71 presentations at various professional conferences while at AUM. Dr. Simmons has secured multiple grants, including for AUM’s Virtual Avatar Laboratory (VAL), has held chairs in the Special Education Programs Caucus (SSEPC) for over 11 years, and served on 66 committees inside and oustide of the university.
Faculty’s Expertise: Behavior Management, Curriculum Design, Virtual Worlds, Direct Instruction
Holly Singleton
Human Resources Generalist I
Katie Slade
Audiologist | College of Nursing and Health Sciences
Lacey Sloan
Professor | College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences
Dr. Lacey Sloan is a wanderer who received her BSW from the University of Mississippi and her MSSW and Ph.D. in social work from The University of Texas at Austin. Her three intertwining areas of scholarship are sexual rights and gender-based violence; social work education and practice in Islamic contexts; and, environmental justice. Her early practice and scholarship focused on sexual rights, with a specific focus on sexual violence, sex work and sex workers, violence against LGBT people, sexual violence and oppression against people with disabilities, and sexual violence and oppression against other marginalized populations. Her decades working in the anti-sexual violence movement at the local, state and national level included work in rape crisis centers, serving on the Texas Association Against Sexual Assault and National Coalition Against Sexual Assault boards of directors, and serving as the scientific lead for the Department of Justice funded Violence Against Women Act Measuring Effectiveness Initiative. Since 2001, she facilitated the development and/or initial accreditation of three MSW programs (University of Southern Maine, College of Staten Island, Zayed University [United Arab Emirates]), three BSW programs (College of Staten Island; five universities Somalia; Qatar University), and, two diploma and certificate programs in social work (six universities in Somalia; Juba University in South Sudan).
