Administration
Cherstin M. Lyon
Honors College Director
PhD, History, University of Arizona, 2006; MA, History, University of Oregon, 1998; BA, History, University of Oregon, 1995
Cherstin M. Lyon, director of the Honors College, is originally from Oregon. She received her BA and MA in History at the University of Oregon, and her PhD in history at the University of Arizona. Before coming to SOU, she was a professor of history at California State University, San Bernardino where she worked with the office of community engagement, coordinated the master’s program in social science and globalization, coordinated the public and oral history program, and co-directed the London study abroad program. She was honored with CSUSB’s outstanding professor and outstanding faculty mentor awards. Her expertise is in Asian American history, immigration and citizenship law, and public and oral history. She has published books and articles on Asian American history, public history, and global citizenship. She has extensive experience working with community partners, and mentoring students around topics such as career options, graduate school preparation, research, internships, and study abroad experiences. Before settling on history as an academic career, she studied piano performance, environmental science and policy, and nursing. Her favorite pastimes include outdoor recreation, urban exploration, music, and international travel.
Office: Susanne Homes Hall, 114
Phone: 541.552.7081
E-Mail: lyonc1@sou.edu
Honors College Affiliated Faculty
Alison Burke
Criminology and Criminal Justice, Professor
Doctor of Philosophy, Criminology, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, 2008; Master of Criminal Justice, University of Colorado at Denver; BA, Psychology, University of New Mexico
Alison S. Burke joined the Criminology Department in 2008. She received her Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology from the University of New Mexico and spent a year studying psychology at Oxford University. Dr. Burke earned her Master’s Degree in Criminal Justice (MCJ) from the University of Colorado at Denver and her Ph.D. in Criminology from Indiana University of Pennsylvania in 2008. She worked for more than five years with juvenile delinquents in medium-security treatment facilities and group homes in Colorado and helped implement delinquency prevention programs in Pennsylvania. Her research interests include juvenile justice, women and crime, gender and juvenile justice, and pedagogy in higher education. She has published articles in Educational Review, Journal of Effective Teaching, Journal of Youth, Violence and Juvenile Justice, and guest-edited an issue of Women & Criminal Justice.
Office: Taylor 223
Phone: 541.552.8288
E-Mail: burkea@sou.edu
Prakash Chenjeri
Philosophy Chair, Professor, Co-Director – Campus Theme
Phd, MA, BA, Bangalore University; MA, University of Southern Mississippi
Prakash Chenjeri is professor of philosophy. He teaches courses in the areas of political philosophy, history of philosophy, philosophy of science, seminars in science and democracy, science and religion. He is also an affiliated faculty in the university’s Honors College. He has a PhD from Bangalore University and his research interests include the role of scientific literacy in democracy, epistemological issues at the interface of science and religion, political philosophy, and the idea of public reason and democracy. When he is not in the classroom, Prakash is involved in various community activities, including running the Friends of Philosophy group, a monthly meeting primarily for the community, and serving on the Ethics Board at Ashland Community Hospital.
Office: Central 253
Phone: 541.552.6034
E-Mail: chenjeri@sou.edu
Brook Colley
Chair & Assistant Professor of Native American Studies
PhD in Native American Studies, University of California (Davis)
Dr. Colley is the Chair and an Assistant Professor of Native American Studies at Southern Oregon University. Her teaching and research interests include Queer Indigenous Studies, Native women, Native cinema(s), federal Indian law & policy, intertribal relations & conflict, and community health & healing. Dr. Colley has a forthcoming book titled Reframing Tribal Relations in the Casino Economy that investigates intertribal conflict and coalition in the tribal casino era.
Office: Taylor Hall 18B
Phone: 541.552.6751
E-Mail: colleyb@sou.edu
Warren Hedges
University Seminar, Instructor
PhD, Duke University, 1993; BA, The College of Wooster, 1986
Warren Hedges received his PhD from Duke University in 1993, where his dissertation focused on gender and literary realism. In addition to his academic work, he also helped run his family’s telecommunications company for two decades. Dr. Hedges started at SOU in the English Department in 1996, and later helped create SOU’s major in Emerging Media and Digital Arts. He currently teaches courses about topics such as digital imagery, Virtual Reality, transmedia storytelling, and creating convincing, internally consistent alternate worlds in genres such as science fiction and fantasy.
Office: Susanne Homes Hall, 105
Phone: 541.552.6926
E-Mail: hedges@sou.edu
William Hughes
Political Science, Associate Professor
BA, MA, California State University, Chico; PhD, University of California, Davis
Professor Hughes teaches introductory political science courses, upper-division courses in American and comparative politics, and both the Research Methods course and Senior Seminar. He is also the director of the Southern Oregon Center for Social Research. Teaching/Research Area: American and Comparative Politics, Research Methods.
Office: Taylor Hall 022
Phone: 541.552.6188
E-Mail: whughes@sou.edu
Daniel Kim
Mathematics, Professor
Ph. D. 1995 Mathematics, University of Oregon; M.S. 1990 Mathematics, Indiana University; B.S. 1984 Mathematics, Sogang University
Daniel Kim specializes in probability and statistics. He has a wide set of skills, with interest in applications of statistics to other areas such as geostatistics and biology. He teaches contemporary mathematics, a variety of calculus courses including vector calculus, mathematical perspectives, complex analysis, and probability and statistics.
Office: Central 236
Phone: 541.552.6580
E-Mail: kimd@sou.edu
Terry Longshore
Terry Longshore is a percussionist whose genre-crossing work exhibits the artistry of the concert stage, the spontaneity of jazz, and the energy of a rock club. Based in Ashland, Oregon, he maintains an energetic career as an educator, performer, and composer. He serves as Professor of Music and Director of Percussion Studies at the Oregon Center for the Arts at Southern Oregon University, where he directs Left Edge Percussion and is Chair and Graduate Coordinator of the Music Program. Dr. Longshore teaches “Making Music” for the Honors College.
Office: Music Building 223
Phone: 541.552.6548
E-Mail: longshore@sou.edu
Melissa Matthewson
Melissa Matthewson holds an MFA in creative nonfiction from the Vermont College of Fine Arts and an MS in Environmental Studies from the University of Montana. She is the author of a memoir-in-essays, Tracing the Desire Line (Split/Lip Press 2019), and her second book, The Fire Trees, is forthcoming from punctum books in 2026. Her nonfiction and critical work has appeared in Guernica, AEON Psyche, Oregon Humanities, Literary Hub, Longreads, American Literary Review, River Teeth, DIAGRAM, Mid-American Review, The Rumpus, among other publications and anthologies. She has been a finalist for the Oregon Book Award and has been awarded an AWP Intro Journals award in creative nonfiction. She has also been a writer-in-residence at Dorland Mountain Arts, Sundress Academy for the Arts, PLAYA, and Art Smith. Melissa has taught at SOU and Eastern Oregon University for nine years in a variety of disciplines including English, Communication, Creative Writing, Honors, and University Seminar. She also works for the SOU Foundation and Office of Development as the Director of Communications.
Office: Plunkett Center
Phone: 541.552.8570
E-Mail: matthewm2@sou.edu
Michael Parker
Assistant Professor
MFA, University of Southern California; BA, Pamona College, EMT-1 University of California, Los Angeles
Michael Parker’s art practice shifts scale, material, and temporality while making things such as recumbent obelisks, juicey ceramic installations, steam eggs, patents, artist-run spaces, and public sculptures. Parker has taught Sculpture at California State University, Long Beach since 2011, and is a Keyholder at Human Resources Los Angeles since 2015. With solo and cooperative projects at Materials & Applications; Craft Contemporary Museum; LA County Arts Commission, Annex LA at M+B Gallery; Artists’ Loft Museum Los Angeles; Descanso Gardens; Palm Springs Art Museum; Current LA Biennial; LA Department of Cultural Affairs, The Getty; Southern Exposure; High Desert Test Sites; Pomona College Museum of Art; The Armory Center for the Arts; Machine Project; Human Resources; California State Parks at the Bowtie; Los Angeles Trade-Technical College; Cold Storage. He holds a BA from Pomona College, an EMT-1 from UCLA, an MFA from USC. Parker is a recipient of the California Community Foundation’s Emerging Artists Fellowship, Center for Cultural Innovation Artists’ Resource for Completion Grant, Public Art Residency at Heart of Los Angeles and Printed Matter Award for Artists.
Office: Art Building 113
Phone: 541.552.6388
E-Mail: parkerm4@sou.edu
Jessica Piekielek
Anthropology, Associate Professor
PhD and MA, University of Arizona; BA, Guilford College
Jessica acquired her PhD and MA from the University of Arizona, after receiving her BA from Guilford College. Jessica’s main interests and teaching curriculum include topics such as conservation, environmentalism, applied anthropology, and border and migration studies, surrounding countries like Mexico, the US, as well Latin American studies.
Office: Taylor Hall 222
Phone: 541.552.6599
E-Mail: piekielj@sou.edu
Alena Ruggerio
Communication, Media, and Cinema, Professor
PhD Indiana University, MA Ohio University, BSC Ohio University
Alena Ruggerio holds a PhD in communication and culture from Indiana University, an MA in interpersonal communication from Ohio University, and a BSC from the Honors Tutorial College at Ohio University. The editor of Media Depictions of Brides, Wives, and Mothers (Lexington Press) and the co-author of Feminism in Practice: Communication Strategies for Making Change (Waveland Books), she locates her research at the intersection of rhetoric, feminism, and religion. She teaches courses including Gender and Communication; Political Communication; Persuasion; Argumentation and Critical Thinking; Advanced Public Speaking; Assessing Media and Culture; Media Studies in Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies; Becoming a Communication Scholar; and Interpersonal Communication.
Office: Britt Hall 154
Phone: 541.552.6673
E-Mail: Alena.Ruggerio@sou.edu
Contact The Honors College
SOU Honors College
Susanne Homes Hall, Room 107
1250 Siskiyou Blvd.
Ashland, OR 97520
Phone: 541.552.6400
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