AUM Faculty & Staff
Directory
Matthew Killmeier
Department Chair; Associate Professor | College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences
Matthew A. Killmeier (Ph.D. University of Iowa) is an associate professor and chair of the Department of Communication and Theatre. His research focuses on theatre of the imagination: radio and audio drama. Recent work has considered conspiracy-investigative horror podcasts (i.e., The Black Tapes), 1930s-40s horror radio dramas, and World War II morale dramas. He teaches Media and Culture, Opinion Writing, Horror Film, and Intercultural Communication. Off the clock he likes to read, watch films, cook, shop at thrift stores, hike, and woodwork.
Eunyoung Kim
Associate Professor | College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences
Dr. Eunyoung Kim is an Associate Professor in the Department of Communication and Theatre at Auburn University at Montgomery. She specializes in public relations and sport communication, with research focusing on public relations, sport fandom, and social media engagement. Dr. Kim teaches courses in public relations, sport communication, and media research methods, and she advises the AUM chapter of the Public Relations Council of Alabama (PRCA-AUM).
Robert Klevay
Associate Professor | College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences
I received a BA in English and Classics from Hillsdale College in Hillsdale, MI. I received my MA and PHD from the University of Delaware in Newark, DE. My PHD dissertation was on Henry David Thoreau’s satirical treatment of classical literature (Greek and Roman writers) throughout his works. I personally really enjoy the writing of 19th century American writers like Emerson, Thoreau, Hawthorne, Melville and Louisa May Alcott, and that’s why I chose a dissertation during this time period, knowing that it would mean teaching writers like this down the line. I’m also partial to Roman writers like Virgil, Horace, and Ovid.
I’ve taught several sections of English Composition II (most recently on Writing About Film, formerly on Travel and Tourism), Survey of the Literature of the Western World I and II (now World Literature I and II), Business Writing, and upper level courses on Transcendentalism and Travel, Thoreau’s Legacy, Greek and Roman Myth, Roman Literature, Thoreau’s Walden, Women and American Romanticism, Mythology and Folklore, Fantastic Voyages and Self-Discovery, Shakespeare in America, and most recently Rome and the English Renaissance since joining AUM in 2009. I’ve also taught several different variations of both American literature surveys. I’ve published work on Thoreau, Hawthorne, Melville, William Dean Howells, Edith Wharton, and Southern writer Barry Hannah. I recently published a short introduction to Mark Twain’s classical reading in The Mark Twain Journal and a short article on Thoreau scholarship and the Anthropocene for The Anthropocene: Approaches and Contexts for the Literature and the Humanities edited by my colleague, Seth Reno. I’ve also introduced several films (especially silent ones) for AUM’s CLASS Film Series.
Dr. Pia Knigge
Assistant Professor | College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences
Pia Knigge completed her undergraduate studies and Master’s Degree in Political Science with concentrations in comparative politics and political behavior at the University of Bamberg in Germany. Before she moved to the United States to pursue a doctoral degree in political science at the University of Kentucky, she interned with the German parliament (Bundestag) and the Commission of the European Communities (now European Union), and worked at a research institute affiliated with the University of Mannheim dedicated to the analysis of European public opinion polls (Eurobarometer). Her research and teaching interests are located at the intersection of political science and psychology focusing on public opinion, political behavior, political extremism, civic engagement, and the study of race and ethnicity.
Keith Krawczynski
Professor | College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences
Keith Krawczynski is Distinguished Research Professor of History and Distinguished Teaching Professor of History. He is a native Texan, born and raised in San Antonio. He has earned three degrees in history from the University of Texas at San Antonio (B. A.), Baylor University (M. A.), and the University of South Carolina (Ph. D.). Before coming to AUM in 2000, “Dr. K” taught at the University of South Carolina at Aiken, the University of Dallas, and North Lake College (Irving, Tx). His areas of specialty include Colonial America, the American Revolution, African American History, American Labor History, and Alabama History. He has written numerous articles and several books on these historical topics. Currently, he is writing books on the history of polio in Alabama, Accidental Death in Colonial America, Alabama recipients of the Carnegie Hero Medal, the Dale Penthouse Restaurant fire of 1967, and the history of Camp Sheridan, a World War I training base stationed just outside of Montgomery. When not teaching and writing, he enjoys spending time with his wife and three children, banging his drums to heavy metal music, working out at the gym, reading science fiction, bowling, and cooking.
Michael Krek
Assistant Professor | College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences
Professor Krek teaches Theatre Design and Technology at AUM. He also serves as Theatre AUM’s Technical Director. Professor Krek received his BA in Communication and Theatre from AUM, and his Master of Fine Arts degree in Theatre from the University of Florida. His research is primarily centered on “sustainability” and how a sustainable approach to theatre design and construction can elevate artistic creativity. Professor Krek has over 30 years of professional theatre experience in a diverse number of fields ranging from design and construction to performance and direction. He is currently the Region IV Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival Vice Chair for Design, Technology, and Management.
“The job of the artist is to remind people what they have chosen to forget”
Arthur Miller
Kyeongwon Kwon
Assistant Professor | College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences
Kyeongwon Kwon is an Assistant Professor of Strategic Communication specializing in advertising. Her teaching and research focus on sustainability advertising, corporate social responsibility advertising, and social media marketing. She has taught a variety of undergraduate courses in advertising, marketing communication, and mass communication at AUM and Florida State University, where she earned both her master’s and Ph.D. degrees.
Dr. Kwon’s research has been published in leading peer-reviewed journals, including the International Journal of Advertising, Journal of Media Psychology, and Corporate Communications: An International Journal, among others. Through her teaching and research, she strives to provide insights that prepare students for careers in the communication and advertising industries while helping the field adopt pro-environmental and socially responsible advertising strategies.
Brett Lehman
Associate Professor | College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences
Dr. Brett Lehman graduated with a doctorate in Sociology from Louisiana State University in 2014. He studies various social issues in education such as bullying, other forms of aggression in schools, and the college student experience. At AUM he has taught courses on Sociology of Education, Criminology, Social Movements, Social Stratification, Statistics, Research Methods, and Senior Capstone while also contributing to other programs such as Criminal Justice, the Honors Program, the Bachelors of Interdisciplinary Studies, and the Masters of Liberal Arts.
Amy Lee Marie Locklear
Distinguished Senior Lecturer | College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences
Dr. Amy Lee Locklear is a Distinguished Senior Lecturer and Honors Faculty in the Department of English and Philosophy. She specializes in digital writing and rhetoric, composition pedagogy, and learning sciences. Her research interests include teaching rhetoric in the composition classroom, cognitive science and education, digital writing spaces and rhetorical practices, and research writing. She has published a number of works related to the intersections of cognitive science and critical thinking and learning, especially in terms of writing pedagogy. In addition to her teaching and research pursuits, Dr. Locklear is a fan of science fiction, cats, and dragons.
She teaches first year writing courses, Advanced Writing, and first-year Seminars for the Honors Program (The Hero’s Journey Into Thinking – Honors 1757).
Dr. Locklear earned her BA in English Literature from the College of William & Mary in Virginia. From there she moved around the country as an Air Force spouse, ending up in Alabama in 2000. She earned her MA in English from Auburn University, specializing in rhetoric and literature, and her PhD from Old Dominion University in Digital Rhetoric and Composition. Her dissertation, “Concept Maps as Sites of Rhetorical Invention: Teaching the Creative Act of Synthesis as a Cognitive Process,” is based on interdisciplinary research on the brain, active learning, and writing pedagogy.
Kendra Love
Lecturer | College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences
Kendra Love is a strategic communicator and veteran journalist with more than 20 years of experience in newspapers, magazines, corporate communications, and political strategy. She began her journalism career at 16, advancing from reporter to newspaper publisher, and has worked in both daily and weekly papers, as well as in magazine design and feature writing.
Kendra holds a bachelor’s degree in print journalism and a master’s in strategic communication from Troy University and is pursuing her Ph.D. in strategic media at Liberty University. She most recently served as director of communications and marketing for the Greater Nashville Apartment Association and the Tennessee Apartment Association. She spent nearly three years in political communications, contributing to major legislative battles and playing a key role in the Supreme Court case Allen v. Milligan, which upheld Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.
Her work has earned multiple Alabama Press Association awards, recognition as Troy University’s Print Journalism Alumna of the Year (2022), and honors including Communicator of the Year by the Alabama Association of Conservation Districts. At AUM, she teaches journalism and communication, advises AUMLive, and was named Outstanding Advisor of the Year in 2025.
Yolanda Machado-Escudero
BSW Program Director, Assistant Professor of Social Work
Yolanda Machado-Escudero
BSW Program Director, Assistant Professor of Social Work | College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences
Dr. Yolanda Machado is an Assistant Professor of Social Work at the Department of Sociology, Anthropology, & Social Work. She is a newcomer to AUM, Montgomery, and Alabama. Her classroom pedagogy, research scholarship, and service are informed by the intersections of race, ethnicity, gender, ability, and class among Latinx and other transnational migrant communities of color in the U.S. and abroad. Her research interests include historic trauma, resilience and resistance in oppressed groups, systemic inequality and other barriers to access health care, self-sufficiency and inclusion of people with disabilities in social settings, social work education in Latin America, and environmental injustice and climate grief in vulnerable contexts. She has worked in direct practice, management positions, and as a social work instructor in rural and urban settings in Puerto Rico, Virginia, Georgia, and Florida. Dr. Machado has a teenage son living with autism. Their pastimes include walking in nature, reading, gardening, and cooking Puerto Rican tasty meals.
