Faculty Focus

Giuliana Campanelli Andreopoulos is a professor of economics in the Department of Economics, Finance and Global Business in the Cotsakos College of Business. Previously, she was an associate professor of economics at the University of Bologna and the University of Catania in Italy. Her main research is in the fields of history of economic thought, economic development, international trade and economics of education.

What do you find most meaningful through your teaching?
The most meaningful part of my teaching is when students, sometimes after several years, thank me not only for the knowledge that they acquired in my courses, but also for the passion for learning that I was able to transmit and which will stay with them forever.

How does your work contribute to student success?
Through my teaching, I contribute to enhancing the knowledge and skills of my students. As an advisor, I’ve provided direction to their professional lives. By doing research with students, I help them publish in journals. As director of experiential learning in the College of Business for more than 10 years, I’ve helped many students obtain  internships and jobs, including positions at prestigious firms such as Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, and Goldman Sachs. 

Maria Kromidas, an associate professor of anthropology in the University’s College of Humanities and Social Sciences, joined William Paterson University in 2011. Born and raised in New York City’s borough of Queens, one of the most diverse areas in the world, Professor Kromidas’ scholarship is inspired by the children in its public schools, where she attended, taught, sends her child, and has conducted extensive ethnographic research. Her work explores how race, schooling, and our very idea of human being can be rethought through the standpoint of childhood and children’s everyday lives.

What do you find most meaningful through your teaching?
Firmly believing that you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink, I see my mission in the classroom as making students thirsty for critical perspectives. I want them to make sense of the injustices around them and to imagine ways to be otherwise.

How does your work contribute to student success?
In the classroom, my central research themes - race, schooling, and childhood - become the foundation for my dialogical explorations with students.  Dialogue or inquiry requires students’ active learning rather than passively accepting knowledge I bestow upon them. Realizing that our community depends on their diverse backgrounds and perspectives, students became engaged and invested in the learning process.

Emmanuel S. Onaivi is a professor of biology in the University’s College of Science and Health, a Fulbright scholar, and guest scientist at the National Institute on Drug Abuse, part of the National Institutes of Health.  His research interests include the molecular biology of drug abuse and his research led to the discovery of functional neuronal type 2 cannabinoid receptors in the mammalian brain that was funded by National Institute of Health. He, his collaborator, and the University filed for a global patent based on his research, which would mark the first patent for the Institution. 

What do you find most meaningful through your research or creative expression?
My teaching philosophy and strategy are based on my active and strong research background with an up-to-date understanding of current advances in neuroscience.  This allows me to bring innovative knowledge and progress in the subjects that I teach to the classroom.

How does your work contribute to student success?
My teaching is based on a research program that has earned national and international recognition for many students. Many of our pre-professional students in biology are interested in biomedical-oriented professions including medicine, pharmacy, and biotechnology. I developed the pharmacology course which has helped contribute to improved professional school admissions for our students. My students and I were selected by the Council on Undergraduate Research, a national organization, as the singular New Jersey representative to present our research before the U.S. Congress in Washington, D.C. to showcase undergraduate research. A number of my former students are now doctors, pharmacists and others who have earned their doctoral degrees.