Faculty & Staff

Art & Design Program Head
FA 417
kattus@nku.edu
(859) 572-5641

Degrees

• M.F.A., University of Texas at Austin, 2001, Photography
• B.A,. University of California Santa Cruz 1993, Biology

Retention Specialist
FA 330
vanloverec1@nku.edu
(859) 572-1521

Degrees

• B.F.A., in Photography and Electronic Media,
  University of Cincinnati, 2002

• M.A., Art Education with Teacher Certification in Art,
  University of Cincinnati, 2004

Advisor for Arts 
FA 333
rodriguezs7@nku.edu
(859) 572-5648

Degrees

• B.F.A., Wright State University, 2014
• M.F.A., Miami University, 2017

Sarah Rodriguez (b.1992) is a multimedia artist and art educator based in Cincinnati, OH. Her work investigates human connectedness to nature, place, and objects, sharing stories of intimate and everyday moments while reflecting their ephemerality through cut paper. Rodriguez received her M.F.A from Miami University in 2017 and B.F.A from Wright State University in 2014. Most recently, she has served as the Director of Education at Kennedy Heights Arts Center. Additionally, Rodriguez was the Dayton Art Institute’s William and Dorthy Yeck Fellow 2014 and is currently a recipient of The ArtsWave Black & Brown Program: Truth & Innovation Grant. She has completed residencies at The Chautauqua Institute's School of Art in Chautauqua, NY (2014), the Contemporary Arts Center in Cincinnati, OH (2019-2020) and ArtWorks' V2 Gallery (2023-2024). Her most recent group exhibitions include: After (work) Hours, Contemporary Arts Center (OH 2024); Flowers for Here, Third Space Gallery, Cincinnati, OH (2022); Emerge, The Art Garage (OH 2021); Out of the Darkness, Pyramid Hill Sculpture Park and Museum OH (2021). Solo exhibitions include: Hiestand Gallery, Miami University (2017); 1305 Gallery (2018); Wright State Alumni Gallery (2019), Art Building Gallery, Miami University (2023).

Programs and Production Assistant
FA 205
deatona3@nku.edu
(859) 572-6362

Shop Technician / Project Coordinator
Sculpture / Ceramics
CS 104
huberb1@nku.edu
(859) 572-6941

Degrees:

• BFA Northern Kentucky University

Director of Galleries and Outreach 
FA 327
widemanp@nku.edu
(859) 572-5148

Associate Professor
Art History
FA 417
kattus@nku.edu
(859) 572-5641

Degrees

• M.F.A., University of Texas at Austin, 2001, Photography
• B.A,. University of California Santa Cruz 1993, Biology

Associate Professor
Photography
FA 406B
banksr2@nku.edu
(859) 572-5910

Degrees

• M.F.A.,Texas Woman’s University, Photography
  

• B.A., Bellarmine University, Photography, Painting, and Digital Media
  

Website

www.rachaelbanksphoto.com

Associate Professor
Visual Communication Design
FA 300
carpenterm3@nku.edu
(859) 572-5848

Associate Professor
Spatial Arts - Ceramics
CS 103
leej24@nku.edu
(859) 572-5425

JeeEun Lee, born and raised in South Korea, has been an exhibiting artist for twenty years. She received her B.F.A. & M.F.A. in Sculpture at Ewha Womans University, Seoul, Korea and moved to the U.S in 2010, where she earned a second M.F.A degree (2013) at Syracuse University, New York.

Lee has exhibited solo exhibitions in the U.S., Korea, and Japan as well as numerous group exhibitions. Her work focuses on elements of nature, exploring how nature influences her sense of self and making a wide range of relationships between nature imagery/symbols and human experiences such as memory, movement, time and encounters with life and death. “These elements have provided protection, strength, and sustenance throughout our evolution and existence, and a magical connection to nature,” Lee says.

While clay is her primary medium, her work includes large-scale installations with mixed media, sculpture, public art, and functional objects.

jeeeunlee.com

Associate Professor
Drawing/Painting
FA 303
leonem1@nku.edu
(859) 572-6012

Degrees

• MFA Arizona State University 2003, Drawing and Painting
• BFA Art Center College of Design, Pasadena CA, 1996, Illustration
  

Website

http://www.marcleone.com

Drawing Lecture Videos

Technique

Full Professor
Visual Communication Design
FA 302
mader@nku.edu
(859) 572-5670

Degrees

• MFA University of Washington, 1996, Graphic Design
• BFA Northern Kentucky University, 1993, Graphic Design

Jeff Martell
martellj1@nku.edu

Jeff Martell has been teaching Animation and Motion Studies since 2014. He received his B.F.A. inFilm & Television from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. During his time at NYU's Maurice KanbarInstitute of Film and Television, he was fortunate enough to receive instruction from some of thehighest caliber talents in the industry including Oscar winning animator and lauded motion picturehistorian John Canemaker. He later earned his M.F.A in Digital Production Arts from ClemsonUniversity's School of Computing, where he focused on tech art and computer graphics for linearand realtime media production. His short films and screenplays have been recognized domesticallyand abroad, and his paintings have been exhibited in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and in various galleriesand universities in South Carolina. He brings real-world production experience to the classroom andhis fine arts training accompanies his technical knowledge in teaching all phases of production forLive Action and Animation.

Ceramics/Sculpture
CS 103
maierj2@nku.edu
(859) 572-7622

Degrees

• M.F.A. University of Missouri – Columbia, Ceramics and Sculpture.
• B.F.A. Bowling Green State University of Ohio, Creative Writing and Glass Art.

Joshua Maier has served at NKU for more than three years as an instructor in Spatial Arts, predominantly in the area of Ceramics. Josh received his BFA from Bowling Green State University of Ohio, where he studied Creative Writing and Glass Art. After graduating, he spent nearly ten years working in hot glass shops around the country, developing his craft until health concerns pushed him into a new medium, clay. In Kansas City, he built a small business of art in his own Grim Whimsy Creation Studio, developing new works while also employed as a ceramic studio technician at a local college. The experience inspired him to commit to his art and also an educator.

In 2016 Josh received his MFA from the University of Missouri – Columbia with a focus in Ceramics and Sculpture. Josh describes his sculptural works and interests in ceramic mediums with mixed media details as an exploration of unifying multiple materials (feathers, hair, steel, wood, glass) to craft the look of a developing fiction. The work of his hands and meticulous craftsmanship results in vibrantly colored, tactile, and truly wild works that draw the viewer in to explore, to wonder, and to experience an urge to reach out and touch things they feel they shouldn’t. An abundance of his work and the work of his students can be viewed at www.joshuamaier.com.

Schiff Professor of Art
Associate Professor
New Media, Animation
FA 312B
mccombsr1@nku.edu
(859) 572-5562

Degrees

• M.F.A. Carnegie Mellon University, 2002,
  Trans-disciplinary Studio Art Program
• B.F.A. Washington University, St. Louis, 1997, Sculpture
  

Website

http://bradmcco.net

Full Professor
Painting
FA 419
muentek@nku.edu
(859) 572-5450

Degrees

• M.F.A. University of Cincinnati, 1999, Painting
• B.F.A. University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 1994, Painting

Visiting Teaching Professor
Printmaking & Screen Printing
FA 102A
plowmane@nku.edu
(859) 572-6116

Randel Plowman received his M.F.A. in printmaking from University of Wisconsin-Madison and his B.F.A. from Northern Kentucky University. He has exhibited in solo and juried exhibitions throughout the United States; in addition, his work appears in many public and private collections in North America and abroad, his work has been cited in numerous publications, including The New York Times and USA Today; been featured in The Paris Review, How Design magazine, Artist Magazine and Somerset Studio. He is the author of two books, Masters: Collage, and The Collage Workbook: How To Get Started And Stay Inspired, voted Best Art Instruction Book of 2012 by the Library Journal.

Website: www.randelplowman.com

Visiting Teaching Professor
Drawing & Foundations
FA 332A
roebuckj1@nku.edu

Josie Love Roebuck (b. 1995) is an interdisciplinary artist from Rising Fawn, Georgia. Roebuck received her M.F.A from the University of Cincinnati (2021). She received her B.F.A with an emphasis in drawing and painting, from the University of Georgia (2019).  Roebuck’s process addresses the contemporary complexity of identifying as biracial through symbolizing pain and triumph, exclusion, and acceptance. The act of Roebuck sewing together portraits has allowed her canvas to become her paper and her needle to become her pen, in order for Roebuck to draw upon the past and present to convey a story of her experiences and her family’s experiences. She has exhibited her work internationally at Denny Dimin (HK) forthcoming and Kunstheille Krems Art Museum (AUT) forthcoming, and nationally: Phillips Auction House (NY), Charlie James Gallery (LA), Kavi Gupta Gallery (IL), Expo Chicago (IL), Akron Art Museum (OH), Ann Arbor Art Center (MI), New Harmony Gallery of Contemporary Art partnered with University of Southern Indiana (IN), Denny Dimin Gallery (NY), Roy G Biv (OH), Christie's at Rockefeller Plaza in collaboration with 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair (NY), NADA House (NY), LatchKey Gallery (NY), Contemporary Arts Center (OH) Portrait Society Gallery (WI), Dutoit Gallery (OH), Untitled Art Fair with Denny Dimin Gallery (NY/online), Yeiser Art Center Gallery (KY), Site: Brooklyn Gallery (NYC), BSB Gallery (NJ/online), Tabula Rosa (OH), Lupin Gallery (GA), Strohl Art Center (NY), and Fowler-Kellogg Gallery (NY).​

Website: www.josielroebuck.net

Associate Professor
Visual Communication Design
FA 301
schellhash@nku.edu
(859) 572-7740

Degrees

• M.Des., 2007, University of Cincinnati, DAAP,
• B.A., 2002, Northern Kentucky University, Graphic Design
• B.S.B.A., 1996, Management, Xavier University

Assistant Professor
Spatial Arts - Sculpture
CS 120
sczerbanig1@nku.edu

Gary Sczerbaniewicz was born in Upstate NY, received his BFA in Sculpture from Alfred University and his MFA in Sculpture & Installation from the University at Buffalo in 2013. Gary Sczerbaniewicz is a 2016 NYFA Fellow in Architecture/ Environmental Structures / Design from the New York Foundation for the Arts. He has exhibited both nationally and internationally and has completed artist residencies at Yaddo (2017), the Constance Saltonstall Foundation for the Arts (2016), and Sculpture Space (2013).

Sczerbaniewicz recently served as Visiting Assistant Professor of Sculpture at the University of Notre Dame from 2017-2020. In 2022 Gary was recipient of a Foundation for Contemporary Arts Emergency Grant for his exhibition Folie a’ Deux at Ely Center of Contemporary Art in New Haven, CT, and attended the Sanford Underground Research Facility in Lead, SD as SURF Artist in Residence.

www.garysczerbaniewicz.net

Visiting Teaching Professor
Foundations
FA 300A
sebastianj4@nku.edu
(859) 572-6946

Julia Sebastian is a Cincinnati-based artist who received an MFA from the University of Cincinnati, DAAP and a BA from Transylvania University in Lexington, KY. In 2015, Sebastian held a residency at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity in Alberta, Canada. Sebastian’s studio work of predominantly drawing with a mixture of sculpture and installation has been shown nationally and abroad. Sebastian has taught at the University of Cincinnati and Antioch College, and is currently a Professor of Visual Arts in Foundations at Northern Kentucky University.

Assistant Teaching Professor
Visual Communication Design
FA 304
tittelm1@nku.edu
(859) 572-6659

Michael Tittel is an educator, a veteran creative leader and a practitioner of both design and photography. Michael earned a BFA in Photography from Ohio University in 1992. After being a commercial photographer and touring musician, a career change into art direction, design and advertising coincided with the advent of digital marketing and the internet. A 21 year journey across every facet of creative advertising, design and marketing led him to the building of the global ad agency gyro. A ten year run as Executive Creative Director saw him working with numerous Fortune 500 business brands where he helped tell global creative stories. As a creative leader he led teams, worked with the famed HyperIsland School in Sweden and helped develop a global creative culture for the agency. His experience in creating strategic ideas, and campaigns for B2B brands has shaped a lot of his design philosophy. His creative ideas and design have won accolades and awards in AdAge, B2 Awards, Drum, Effie, Graphis, Addys, Print and the Webby Awards. As a photographer his work has appeared in Leica Magazine, Fotofocus, Ain’t Bad and aCurator.

Teaching Professor
Art Education
FA 330
vanloverec1@nku.edu
(859) 572-1521

Degrees

• B.F.A., in Photography and Electronic Media,
  University of Cincinnati, 2002

• M.A., Art Education with Teacher Certification in Art,
  University of Cincinnati, 2004