Professors Lauren Aronson and Yulanda Curtis have been selected for the University of Illinois System OpEd Project/Public Voices Fellowship. The program is part of a national initiative to help faculty amplify their expertise in ways that can contribute to public conversations about pressing issues.
The 20 faculty members in the 2025-26 cohort will attend four sessions during the 2025-26 academic year and will be paired with a journalism mentor who provides one-on-one editing and coaching. Fellows will publish two or more op-ed pieces during the program.
Congratulations to all of the faculty who were selected for this year’s program:
Chicago
- Veerasathpurush Allareddy, professor and department head of orthodontics, College of Dentistry
- Daylan Dufelmeier, director, Office of Community Engagement and Neighborhood Health Partnerships
- Giamila Fantuzzi, professor and associate head, department of kinesiology and nutrition, College of Applied Health Sciences
- Jeni Hebert-Beirne, professor, Division of Community Health Sciences, School of Public Health
Springfield
- Akash Belsare, assistant professor, department of English and modern languages
Urbana-Champaign
- Luvell Anderson, professor, department of philosophy, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
- Lauren Aronson, clinical professor, director of Immigration Law Clinic, College of Law
- Jose Atiles, assistant professor, department of sociology, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
- Maria Bonn, associate professor and director, master of science in library and information science, School of Information Sciences
- Yulanda Curtis, clinical professor, College of Law
- Verena Erlenbusch-Anderson, associate professor, department of philosophy, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
- Rachel Hoopsick, assistant professor, department of health and kinesiology, College of Applied Health Sciences
- Kathryn Huff, associate professor, department of nuclear, plasma, and radiological engineering, and director of advanced reactors and fuel cycles group, The Grainger College of Engineering
- Fatima Husain, professor, department of speech and hearing science, and associate dean, College of Applied Health Sciences
- Martin Persson, assistant professor, department of accountancy, Gies College of Business
- Mary Phillips, associate professor, department of African American studies, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
- Koustuv Saha, assistant professor, department of computer science, Siebel School of Computing and Data Science
- Bobby Smith II, associate professor, department of African American studies, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
- Haileleol Tibebu, assistant professor, School of Information Sciences
- Travis Wagner, assistant professor, School of Information Sciences