Liberal Arts Faculty

Kevin Risner

Title ESL Coordinator
Department Liberal Arts
Phone 216.421.7000

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Courses  Writing + Inquiry I: Basic Composition + Contemporary Ideas | Writing + Inquiry II: Research + Intellectual Traditions | Writing + Inquiry III: Narrative Forms

Degree MA, English (ESL) from The University of Toledo; Certification in the Teaching of Writing from The University of Toledo; BA, English from Baldwin-Wallace College

Kevin A. Risner lived and taught English in Turkey for two years, then lived and taught in Toledo for two years while he received his M.A. in English (ESL). Since then, he has taught writing, narrative theory, and philosophy at John Carroll University, Cuyahoga Community College, and here at CIA. He is presently ESL Coordinator at CIA.

His first poetry chapbook, My Ear is a Sieve (Bottlecap Press, 2017), was published last October.

Courses  Writing + Inquiry I: Basic Composition + Contemporary Ideas | Writing + Inquiry II: Research + Intellectual Traditions

Amber Stitt

Title Adjunct Faculty
Department Liberal Arts
Phone 513-349-9063

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Courses  Art + Design History I: Ancient-18th Century | Art + Design History II: 18th Century-1945

Degree PhD

My undergraduate degree at Miami University of Oxford comprised a studio painting and drawing focus, with emphasis upon children's book illustration and socio-cultural studies of childhood, with minors in English and Psychology. I graduated summa cum laude and attended Case Western Reserve University for both my Master's Degree and PhD, where my interest in art therapy turned into an interest in the social and pedagogical history of children's rights, and the sociological perception of childhood as a construct, in American art. After graduate school, I explored an internship in the Distance Learning Department of the Cleveland Museum of Art's Education Program, and authored many DL lectures currently offered in the department, including lectures on the CMA's collection of Old and New Testament subject matter, an exploration of francophone African art, a tribute to the Monuments Men, and famous images of canine companions. My career in higher education, which is probably my biggest passion, began at the Cleveland Institute of Art, where I've taught foundation and Modern art history courses to both native and multilingual students. My goal is to obtain full time employment at an art school or university art history department focusing on American art of the 19th and 20th centuries, and women's and child studies. My current publishing project is the 630-page manuscript of my dissertation, an essay on Robert Henri's Portrait of Willie Gee and American race relations at the turn of the twentieth century, and a focused look at pedagogical reform in postbellum American paintings. At the Cleveland Institute of Art, I have taught foundation surveys and modern art, as well as served as liaison between the Art History Department and ESL Department.

Courses  Digital Color | Putting Artists in the Classroom: Intro to Teaching Art

Degree MFA in Creative Nonfiction, University of Arizona
PhD Candidate in Creative Nonfiction Ohio University

Sarah Minor is a nonfiction writer and designer specializing in visual essays. Her recent work can be found in places like Creative Nonfiction, Territory, and The Atlantic. Minor is the video editor at TriQuarterly Review and runs the Visual Essays series at Essay Daily.

Courses  Art + Design History III: 1945-Present

Courses  Art + Design History I: Ancient-18th Century | Art + Design History II: 18th Century-1945