Dr. Adam Brustkern is currently an Assistant Professor of Chemistry. His specialty is analytical chemistry and forensic science. Brustkern has most recently moved from St. Louis but is originally from Evansdale. He graduated from Washington University in St. Louis with his Ph.D. When Brustkern was thirteen years old he caught a fish that weighed more than he did.

Professor Steven Chappell is an Instructor of Communication Studies. He’s been an instructor of journalism for twenty years. He was born in Alabama and spent the bulk of his life there. He graduated from the University of Alabama at Birmingham with an undergraduate degree in Journalism and a Master’s degree in Public Administration.  Chappell prides himself on being a self-proclaimed “grammar Nazi.”

Professor Scott Chenault is an Instructor of Criminal Justice. He moved to Indianola from Omaha, Nebraska. Chenault received his Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in Criminal Justice from Central Missouri State University. Currently, he is completing his Ph.D. through the University of Nebraska. He worked four years as a beer man for Rosenblatt Stadium in Omaha, Nebraska.

Professor Shane Cox is an Assistant Professor of Accounting. This semester he is teaching individual income taxes and two sections of accounting principles. Cox has always lived in Des Moines excluding four years when he lived in San Diego, Calif., while enlisted in the Navy. He graduated from Simpson with his B.A. and then went on to earn his M.B.A. from Drake University. Cox also plays guitar and enjoys art.

Professor Sonja Crain is a Visiting Instructor of Psychology; however Crain isn’t unfamiliar to Simpson College. She taught at Simpson from 1988 to 2000 and has been teaching psychology once again here since January. She moved to Indianola from Chicago in 1988 and hasn’t left. Crain graduated from Northern Illinois University with a Master’s degree. She also has coursework done towards her Ph.D.

Dr. Scott Gehler is a Visiting Assistant Professor of Biology and is interested in neuroscience and cancer research. Gehler graduated with his undergraduate from Cornell College and received his Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota. He also did Postdoctoral research at the University of Wisconsin. One of Gehler’s many passions, other than biology and being outdoors. are cars.

Liz Glodek is now the new Director for the Evening, Weekend, Graduate Programs for the Indianola campus. She moved here from New York, where she lived for thirteen years. She spent twelve of those years living in Manhattan. Glodek is originally from Ringsted, which is in the northwest part of Iowa. She received her B.A. in English from the University of Northern Iowa and then went on to receive her M.F.A. in Creative Writing at Sarah Laurence College.

Dr. Lauren LaFauci is an Assistant Professor of English, but her subfield is Environmental Humanities. She moved here from a little town in the San Francisco Bay area. She graduated from the University of Michigan with her Ph.D. LaFauci also enjoys practicing yoga, cooking, hiking, bird and wildlife watching, and getting involved with environmental activism.