New Faculty Join UAFS for 2026

Written By: Rachel Putman

Twenty-eight new faculty members will join the University of Arkansas – Fort Smith for the fall semester, UAFS Provost Ray Green announced during the annual University Days all-faculty meeting Aug. 13.

“You’ve chosen a wonderful place to come work,” Green said while smiling ear-to-ear. “I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a university that leans more into its mission than UAFS. The mission here is to improve the social mobility of our students and the economic development of our region, and we absolutely do it every day.”

Green, who began his tenure at UAFS in July, said his first weeks on campus have only reinforced his excitement about joining the university.

“One of the things that I think is beautiful about this place is that there really is a community feel,” he said. “I hope that you find yourself over the next few months as thrilled as I am to be on this campus.”

When students meet UAFS’s newest faculty members this fall, they will learn from a nurse who served in Haiti after it was ravaged by historic earthquakes, an engineer who volunteers as a firefighter and first responder, and a respiratory therapist building a new academic program from the ground up who says she can build just about anything else, too.

Among their extracurricular talents, the group comprises a competitive swimmer, a bagpiper, a gardener, a fly fisherman, and an aspiring “Survivor” contestant. 

Their paths to UAFS are just as varied. They have lived, worked, and studied from Nigeria to Chicago, from the Appalachian Mountains to Rome and Copenhagen, and across the national parks from Yellowstone to the Grand Canyon. 

Some will be entering the classroom for the first time after decades in industry, while others bring fresh perspectives having just completed graduate school. Several even first came to UAFS as students and chose to return as faculty years later, making their orientation a true homecoming.

The full list of new faculty members is below.

 

College of Arts and Sciences

Dr. Rachael Abolade will serve as a visiting assistant professor of biology.
Dr. Enayah Alhshim will serve as a visiting assistant professor of biology.
Dr. Saman Bastami will serve as a visiting assistant professor of physics.
Mike de la Rosa will serve as gallery director and an assistant professor of art and design.
Dr. Natacia Faulkner will serve as an assistant professor of rhetoric and writing.
Alex Osei will serve as a visiting assistant professor of graphic design.
ChristiAnna Page will serve as a visiting instructor of criminal justice.
Abigail Kelly Riggs will serve as an instructor of geoscience.
Dr. Jordan Savage will serve as an assistant professor of rhetoric and writing.
Dr. David Schieffler will serve as an assistant professor of history.
Tom Watkins will serve as a visiting instructor of history.

College of Business and Industry

Dr. Duncan Pelly will serve as dean of the College of Business and Industry.
Dr. Silke Spiesshoefer will serve as department head of engineering.
Dr. Seyed Ghiaasiaan will serve as an assistant professor of advanced manufacturing engineering.
Daniel Murcia will serve as an instructor of welding.
Dr. Randle Overbey will serve as a visiting associate professor of electronics and electrical engineering.
Kaleb Warden will serve as an instructor of welding.

College of Health, Education and Human Sciences

Dr. Felicia Albertson will serve as a visiting instructor in the School of Education.
Kaelyn Church will serve as an instructor of nursing in the BSN program.
Audra Cooper will serve as an assistant professor of social work.
Cheryl Earls will serve as executive director of respiratory therapy.
Katie Fajardo will serve as an instructor of allied health at the Western Arkansas Technical Center.
Mandy Fluitt will serve as an instructor of nursing in the BSN program.
Drennan Lopez will serve as an instructor of dental hygiene.
Jessica Mehrbakhsh will serve as an instructor of nursing in the ADN program.
Kristin Scissom will serve as an instructor in the accelerated BSN track.
Holly Skelton will serve as simulation lab coordinator for allied health at the Western Arkansas Technical Center.
Brionna Wherry will serve as an instructor of nursing in the ADN program.