Meet Our New 2019–2020 Faculty Members

To kick the school year off on a high note, we welcomed a new set of dedicated, diverse and knowledgeable faculty members this fall. Since then, we’ve learned what makes them such admirable additions to the Adelphi community. Read on to see for yourself.

College of Nursing and Public Health

Jacqueline Johnston, PhD ’18, Assistant Professor

After serving for 11 years as director of health services and adjunct professor, Dr. Johnston has joined the College of Nursing and Public Health faculty as assistant professor of adult health. She earned a nurse practitioner master’s degree in 2002 and a bachelor’s degree in 1999, both from Stony Brook University. Dr. Johnston, a 2019 President’s Award for Excellence recipient, “totally transformed the Health Services Center into a multidimensional ambulatory care center,” according to Adelphi President Christine M. Riordan.

Edwin-Nikko Kabigting, PhD, Assistant Professor, Foundations in Adult Nursing

Dr. Kabigting previously taught at Binghamton University at the undergraduate, graduate and doctoral levels in the areas of theoretical foundations, conceptual analysis, qualitative research, fundamentals of nursing, nursing assessment, simulation and community/public health nursing. While at Binghamton, he studied as a Parse Scholar with world-renowned nurse theorist Rosemarie Rizzo Parse, PhD. He earned bachelor’s degrees in nursing and philosophy at the university, where he also earned a master’s degree in community health nursing and a PhD in nursing in 2019 from Binghamton’s Decker School of Nursing.

Ednah Madu, PhD ’18, Assistant Professor, Graduate Studies

Dr. Madu has been an adjunct faculty member since 2014. She earned a family nurse practitioner master’s degree at SUNY Downstate Medical Center College of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences in 2006 and a bachelor’s degree at York College in 1998. She has also been a family nurse practitioner at Elmhurst Hospital Center since 2006. Her research interests include psychosocial determinants of health and cardiovascular health nursing.

Gordon F. Derner School of Psychology

Christina Marini ’11, PhD, Assistant Professor, Psychology

Dr. Marini has become assistant professor of psychology in the Gordon F. Derner School of Psychology. She received her PhD in Human Development and Family Studies from Purdue University. She did postdoctoral research at the Center for Healthy Aging at Penn State University from 2017 to 2019. Dr. Marini’s research focuses on intimate partner influences on health and well-being as couples navigate periods of stress and transition across the adult life span in order to identify pathways of healthy aging. One of her focuses is on military service as a context within which links between intimate relations and health unfold through the adult life span.

Yi (Isabelle) Ren, PhD, Visiting Assistant Professor, Management

Dr. Ren recently completed her doctorate in organizational behavior from Boston College. She holds a master’s degree in communication from the University of Maryland, College Park, and a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Beijing Foreign Studies University. She hails from Changzou in China. In her leisure moments, she enjoys dancing, hiking and trying out new restaurants and recalls getting hooked on an Indian dish—roti paratha—while growing up.

Robert B. Wilumstad School of Business

Karen Wallace, Visiting Assistant Professor, Accounting and Law

Karen Wallace will be teaching courses in taxation in the Department of Accounting and Law. In addition to being a certified public accountant, she has an MS in taxation from Fordham University, an MBA from New York University, and a BA in history from Johns Hopkins University. She comes to Adelphi from Ramapo College of New Jersey. Her hometown is Darien, Connecticut. She enjoys spending her spare time with her husband and two sons, ages 12 and 15. This summer, she and her family completed their journeys to the homes of all the U.S. presidents (except that of former President Barack Obama, who was born in Hawaii).

School of Social Work

Sara Terrana, PhD, Assistant Professor, Social Work

Dr. Terrana is a recent graduate of the University of California, Los Angeles, Luskin School of Public Affairs, Department of Social Welfare. Her research focuses on the nonprofit and voluntary sector, particularly community-based organizations, and social inequality, and she specializes in qualitative methodology. She previously taught at both UCLA and the Columbia School of Social Work. Dr. Terrana will be teaching courses in policy and human behavior at Adelphi’s Manhattan campus.

College of Education and Health Sciences, Department of Health and Sport Sciences

Eric Knee, PhD, Assistant Professor, Sport Management

Dr. Knee will be teaching in the Department of Health and Sport Sciences as an assistant professor in the sport management program. He received his PhD in Leisure Behavior from Indiana University Bloomington School of Public Health in 2019. His research interests include recreational sports management, diversity and inclusion management, and the sociology of leisure. From 2016 to taking his position at Adelphi, Dr. Knee was associate instructor and research assistant at the Indiana University Bloomington School of Public Health.

Greg Bouris, Lecturer, Sport Management

Prior to this new role, Bouris was a contributing author for the textbook Principles and Practice of Sport Management (Jones & Bartlett Learning 2009). His professional work experience includes being founder and president of Power X Communications, a communications and marketing consulting firm specializing in public relations, social media programming and promotions, and digital media strategic planning. He received his BS in Sport Management from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He is an avid cyclist and fan of professional road cycling and a former board member of the Nassau County Sports Commission.

In an upcoming article, we will introduce our new faculty members joining the College of Arts and Sciences.