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Christine M. Pacini

Professor, McAuley School of Nursing, College of Health Professions 

Pacini served as the Dean of the College of Health Professions and McAuley School of Nursing from 2010-2017. Prior to that she served as director of Professional Development, Research, and Innovation for Nursing at the University of Pennsylvania Health System in Philadelphia and has worked in a similar capacity at the University of Michigan Health System, Indiana University Health System, and Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit. She began her academic career at Mercy College of Detroit as an instructor in 1979. Pacini progressed to the role of tenured associate professor and received her Ph.D. in Nursing and Neuroscience from the University of Michigan; her M.S.N. from Wayne State University in Detroit; B.S.N. from Mercy College of Detroit; and B.A. from University of Detroit. Upon completing her Ph.D., she returned to University of Detroit Mercy and progressed from a tenured faculty position to that of Associate Dean. Prior to becoming a nurse, Pacini was a certified secondary teacher of history and political science. She has consulted and presented in the areas of educational redesign, clinical advancement, accreditation, and shared governance. Her publications address issues and practice in the areas of professional development, leadership development, educational redesign, clinical transformation, and the utilization and application of conceptual models as frameworks for practice and curricular redesign. She holds leadership positions for the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education and the American Association of Colleges of Nursing and serves on several professional and hospital boards.

pacinicm@udmercy.edu

Diego A. Padilla

Assistant Professor of Management, teaches management and ethics courses in the College of Business Administration. Padilla holds degrees from Universidad Católica San Pablo, Instituto Pastorale Redemptor
Hominis, Pontificia Universita Lateranense, Libera Universita Maria Santissima Assunta and Pontificia Universita Santo
Tomasso d’Aquino – Angelicum, Universidad de Navarra. Padilla earned a PhD from ESE Business School, Universidad de
Navarra. He joined the University in 2022.

Andrew M. Papa

Associate Professor of Theatre, Chair of the Performing Arts Department and University Honors Program Affiliate Faculty, teaches Fundamentals of Acting, Fundamentals of Human Expression, Introduction to the Arts, Voice & Movement and Voice Acting, among other courses. Papa earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Broadcast & Cinematic Arts at Central Michigan University, a Master of Fine Arts in Theatre at Wayne State University and holds a Certificate in Advanced Theatre Training from The Moscow Art Theatre School in Moscow, Russia. Papa is also a Fitzmaurice Voicework® certified teacher and has studied at the Stratford Festival in Ontario and The Second City Training Center in Chicago, Illinois. In addition to teaching, Papa regularly works as a director and actor with the Detroit Mercy Theatre Company (DMTC). He remains active professionally in the theatre and voice over industries. Papa has performed as an actor with the Jewish Ensemble Theatre, the Williamston Theatre and the Matrix Theatre Company, among several others. He also works as a dialect/text/speech coach, having worked at the Tipping Point Theatre and Wayne State University’s Hilberry Theatre and Bonstelle Theatre, as well as individually with professional clients. His research and other scholarly publications have appeared in the Voice and Speech Review and Methods: A Journal of Acting Pedagogy. Papa joined Detroit Mercy in 2015 and became department chair in 2022.

papaam@udmercy.edu

Mary H. Parise

Clinical Associate Professor, Division of Graduate Education, teaches first-year dental students and residents, covering requirements for progress notes. Advanced record keeping and legal requirement lectures are presented to the AEGD residents along with seminars on Dental Management of the Compromised Patient. She is a presenter in continuing education courses on cased based learning of care of patients living with HIV. Dr. Parise is currently a fellow in the ADEA Leadership Institute with graduation planned March 2016. In addition, Dr. Parise supervises and manages after hour emergency call system covered by the residents. Dr. Parise practices as a general dentist one day a week in the faculty practice clinic. She earned her D.D.S. from the University of Michigan and completed a General Practice Residency at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Allen Park, Michigan. Prior to dental school, Dr. Parise received her B.S.N. (Bachelor of Science in Nursing) from Mercy College of Detroit and worked for the Visiting Nurse Association in the Detroit Central office.

parisema@udmercy.edu

Deborah Paruch

Professor of Law, received her B.A. in Psychology, an M.B.A., and a J.D. (summa cum laude), from the University of Detroit. She teaches Applied Legal Theory and Analysis, Evidence, Children and the Law, and a Seminar in Family Law. She has authored several articles and presented nationally on topics concerning family law, children and the law, evidence and legal writing. She is a past Chairperson of the Board of Directors of South Oakland Shelter, a Michigan non-profit organization devoted to serving homeless individuals and families. She is a past member of the Board of Directors of Spero Housing Group (a subsidiary of South Oakland Shelter), currently volunteers as a wish coordinator for Make a Wish Michigan, and also serves on the Program Committee and the Finance Committee for the Shelter Association of Washtenaw County. She joined the University in 2000.

paruchd@udmercy.edu

Stephen Pasqualina

Assistant Professor of English, teaches Transnational Modernisms, Study of Fiction, Study of Film and special topics courses in literature. Pasqualina holds a doctorate from the University of Southern California and was a postdoctoral scholar at the University of Nevada, Reno, where he taught courses in American Studies and Science, Technology and Society in the Modern World. Pasqualina is currently working on a book project titled Mechanical Failure: Modernism, Technology, and the Mediation of History. This work examines modernist visualizations of the historical and spatial structures of U.S. empire. His work related to this project has appeared or is forthcoming in Modernism/modernity, MELUS, J19, The Journal of American Culture and The Mark Twain Annual, among other venues. Pasqualina joined the University in 2022.

pasquasg@udmercy.edu

Ashish G. Patel

Clinical Assistant Professor, Division of Clinical Dentistry, Clinic Lead, teaches cariology, Essentials of Clinical Dentistry and Introduction to Operative Dentistry as well as restorative dentistry to third and fourth year dental students. He is also the director of the Accelerated Dental Program. His interests focus on clinical teaching and restorative dentistry. Dr. Patel holds a B.D.S. from Rajiv Gandhi University, a Master of Science degree from Indiana University and a D.D.S. degree from the University of Detroit. He joined University of Detroit Mercy in 2012.

patelag1@udmercy.edu

Mark J. Paulik

paulikmj@udmercy.edu

paurazsb@udmercy.edu

Helena Perez

Clinical Associate Professor, Division of Clinical Dentistry, Oral Surgery

perezhm@udmercy.edu

Evan A. Peterson

Lecturer II in Business Law and Arnold Jarboe Chair of Business Administration, teaches business law and social responsibility. Dr. Peterson obtained his BS, BA, and MBA from the University of Detroit Mercy, his JD from the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law, and his PhD from Walden University. He serves as director of undergraduate business programs, director of the Center for Practice & Research in Management & Ethics (PRIME Center), and co-director of the University Honors Program. He has published over 20 peer-reviewed articles related to the intersection between law, ethics, and business strategy. Peterson has served as legal counsel to the International Association of Jesuit Business Schools, the International Honor Society in Decision Sciences and Information Systems (Alpha Iota Delta), and the Business Leadership Network of Michigan (MIBLN). He is also currently the editor-in-chief of the Atlantic Law Journal. Prior to joining Detroit Mercy full-time in 2014, Peterson worked as a licensed attorney, representing business clients throughout Michigan. He joined the University full-time in 2014.

petersea@udmercy.edu

Dennis S. Phillips

Clinical Associate Professor, Division of Clinical Dentistry, is a clinical prosthodontist. He also provides screenings for new patients. He has received a number of awards from the dental students. Dr. Phillips graduated from the University of Minnesota with a B.S. and D.D.S. He joined the University in 1974.

phillids@udmercy.edu

Allegra F. Pitera

Professor and Director, Digital Media Studies, teaches both architecture and digital media courses and is the coordinator of the first-year Architecture Studios. She brings to the University active research, teaching and service in design, art, and technology; fostering student engagement and academic exploration through experimental short videos and a heuristic mode of teaching. Her pedagogy is rooted in teaching students to learn to think by challenging them to solve problems and engage critically through multi-faceted conceptual angles and energetic project processes. In the spirit of student-centered projects, both Media and Architecture students are engaged in doing what they love as a vehicle for reaching their fullest professional potential. Pitera is director of the inter-disciplinary Digital Media Studies (DMS) program. DMS is rooted in theory, design, and technology. DMS students create digital media projects (print, video, web) often with a broad outreach focus. Student work has be highlighted in various local venues. Pitera has won awards for her experimental short videos and has a solid architecture, design, and art foundation with a Master of Fine Arts from the Cranbrook Academy of Art, a Bachelor of Fine Art from the University of Kansas as well as a professional Architecture degree from the California College of Arts in San Francisco. She has lectured, taught, and/or reviewed projects locally and around the country. She joined the University in 2001.

piteraaj@udmercy.edu

Daniel W. Pitera

Dean and Professor of Architecture. Dan Pitera, FAIA is a political and social activist masquerading as an architect. Before being appointed dean of the Detroit Mercy School of Architecture in August 2019, he was the executive director for 20 years at the Detroit Collaborative Design Center (DCDC), which just received the National AIA’s 2017 Whitney M. Young Jr. Award and was included in the 2017 Curry Stone Design Award’s Social Design Circle. Pitera co-led the Civic Engagement process for the Detroit Works Project Long Term Planning in 2010. On January 9, 2013, the Long Term Planning team released its decision-making framework titled: Detroit Future City. DCDC’s engagement process was included in the Smithsonian’s Cooper Hewitt Design Museum’s exhibition: By The People and the DCDC’s Roaming Table has been added to the Smithsonian Institute’s permanent collection.

Pitera was a 2004-2005 Loeb Fellow at Harvard University and was inducted into the College of Fellows of the American Institute of Architects in 2010, an honor bestow to only 3 percent of all American architects. Under his direction since 2000, the Design Center won the 2011 and 2002 Dedalo Minosse International Prize, Italy and was included in the US Pavilion of the 2008 and 2012 Venice Biennale for Architecture. The Center was awarded the 2011 SEED Award and the 2009 Rudy Bruner Award for Urban Design Excellence for the St. Joseph Rebuild Center in New Orleans. The Design Center has also been the recipient of the NCARB Prize in 2002 and 2009 and was included in the international exhibit/conference ArchiLab in 2001 and 2004 in Orleans, France. Pitera is regularly a resource member for Mayor’s Institute for City Design (MICD) and the National League of Cities (NLC). He has co-authored the book, Syncopating the Urban Landscape: More People, More Programs, More Geographies and co-edited the book, Activist Architecture: The Philosophy and Practice of the Community Design Center.  He lectured and taught globally. He likes “fallout shelter” yellow…

piteradw@udmercy.edu

Kirstie A. Plantenberg

Professor of Mechanical Engineering. Her areas of expertise include tribology, dynamics, vibrations, controls and engineering graphics. Her research interests lie in tribology, specifically the effects of vibrations on friction. She holds a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Wayne State University. Before joining Detroit Mercy, she taught for several years at Wayne State University and two years at Minnesota State University, Mankato. She also has worked at General Motors Corporation Inland Division, and was involved in testing the safety and strength of new seat designs and designed new testing fixtures. She joined the University in 2000.

plantenk@udmercy.edu

Francisco Plaza Villegas

Clinical Assistant Professor, Division of Integrated Biomedical Sciences

plazavfj@udmercy.edu

Maris Polanco

Biology Department Lab Manager and Adjunct Professor, received a B.S. in Human Biology from Michigan State University and a M.S. in Pharmacology from University of Michigan. Much of her research at these institutions focused on cancer biology, but she has since been published in neuroscience through Wayne State University and pollution ecology through Science Gallery, the National Academy of Science, the Smithsonian Early Enrichment Center, and Michigan State University. Polanco’s current goals center around promoting public science literacy, both through teaching Detroit Mercy’s introductory biology labs BIO1210 and BIO1230, and through her internationally-recognized science communication artwork, event series, and webinars. Currently she is working with Dr. Eva Nyutu (Assistant Professor of Biology) to expand a Course Based Undergraduate Research Experience (CURE) version of the introductory biology labs.

polanmc@udmercy.edu

John Porcerelli

Professor of Psychology and Director of the Detroit Mercy Psychology Clinic, teaches graduate and undergraduate courses and supervises psychotherapy and doctoral dissertations. Porcerelli held the rank of professor and served as director of Behavioral Medicine (1996-2016) in the residency program in the Department of Family Medicine and Public Health Sciences at the Wayne State University School of Medicine.  He is board certified in clinical psychology and clinical health psychology, American Board of Professional Psychology and is a graduate of the Michigan Psychoanalytic Institute. He is a fellow of the American Psychological Association, Society for Personality Assessment, American Academy of Clinical Psychology, American Academy of Health Psychology and the Michigan Psychological Association. He joined the University in 2016.

porcerjh@udmercy.edu

Nancy Poznick

Clinical Assistant Professor, Division of Clinical Essentials and Simulation

poznicna@udmercy.edu

Kathy Putman

Assistant Professor, McAuley School of Nursing, has experience in community clinical management in Saginaw Michigan and Memphis Tennessee. She worked to development dedicated education units (DEU) between University of Tennessee in Memphis and Methodist University Hospital. She has an extensive background in critical care and emergency room nursing before pursuing community health nursing and the focus on preventative health care.

She has participated in medical trips to several areas in Haiti and Romania. Dr. Putman is a member of Sigma Theta Tau National Honor Society as well as a member of The Association of Community Health Nursing Educators (ACHNE) and other national nursing organizations. Her focus includes working with victims of human trafficking and other vulnerable population, integrating the clinical and the class room, holistic care and epidemiology.

putmanka@udmercy.edu 

Gail M. Presbey

Professor of Philosophy and Director of the Carney Latin American Solidarity Archive, teaches courses related to social and political philosophy including peace and social justice ethics and African philosophy and culture. Presbey's interests are in cross-cultural and feminist explorations in philosophy and the philosophy of non-violence. She is the author of The Life and Thought of H. Odera Oruka: Pursuing Justice in Africa in Bloomsbury Studies in World Philosophy series (London: Bloomsbury Publishers, 2023).She has edited an introductory philosophy text, The Philosophical Quest: A Cross Cultural Reader (1995, 2000), was the first editor of Thought and Practice in African Philosophy (2002) and was editor of Philosophical Perspectives on the 'War on Terrorism' (2007). Presbey has authored many journal articles and book chapters. She holds a Bachelor of Arts from University of Detroit and a Master of Arts and a doctorate in Philosophy from Fordham University. She also earned a Master of Arts in History from Wayne State University. She is an affiliate faculty for the University of Detroit Mercy's Department of History and the Women’s and Gender Studies Program. From 1998-2000, Presbey held a two-year J. William Fulbright Senior Scholar position at the University of Nairobi, Kenya, during which she researched sage philosophy. In 2005, she had a six-month research Fulbright grant, hosted by the World Peace Center at MIT, Pune, India, where she studied Gandhian nonviolence. Currently, she is president of the Peace History Society. Presbey received Detroit Mercy's Faculty Achievement Award in 2003 and the Mission Leadership Award in 2006. In 2018, she She received the Purple Ribbon Award for Peace from Pax Christi Michigan. She joined the University in 2000.

presbegm@udmercy.edu

Tom Provost

Assistant Professor of Architecture, is an architect and educator based in Detroit. Provost founded transdisciplinary studio water.etc in 2017, collaborating on prototypes, furniture, installations, rehabilitations and conceptual projects. He mentors the next generation of socially-conscious designers and has exhibited and published work on material culture, environmental justice and the Detroit River.

provoste@udmercy.edu

Michael Pyatenko

Clinical Assistant Professor, serves as a Clinical Leader to dental and dental hygiene students. His responsibilities include the management of a team of faculty and staff with a dedicated goal of directing and managing a group of students towards the development of practice ready competent dentists and dental hygienists. He earned a Doctor of Dental Surgery from University of Detroit. He proudly serves as a Forensic Investigator for the Livingston County Sheriff's Department. Prof. Pyatenko joined the university in 2015. 

pyatenmw@udmercy.edu