Big Ten Academic Alliance
Department Executive Officers Program
Each year, up to five department heads and chairs at Nebraska are selected as DEO Fellows and participate in the Department Executive Officers Seminar put on by the Big Ten Academic Alliance. This three-day seminar includes workshops on topics such as conflict resolution, time management, faculty development, performance reviews, and group problem solving.
Learn more about the Big Ten Academic Alliance Department Executive Officers Program.
2022-23 DEO Fellows
Don Becker
Charles E. Bessey Professor and Chair,
Department of Biochemistry
Don Becker is Charles E. Bessey Professor and Chair of the Department of Biochemistry. Becker’s National Institutes of Health supported research focuses on mechanisms of proline metabolic enzymes and how proline metabolism impacts human health and disease. The overall goal of his work is to discover redox-based mechanisms of regulation in cellular metabolism and signaling. He has over 90 peer-reviewed research articles and served as associate editor of a redox biochemistry textbook. Becker directs a Research Experiences for Undergraduates summer program in redox biology that is funded by the National Science Foundation. He recently became co-director of the UNL Molecular Mechanisms of Disease biomedical graduate training program that is funded by the NIH. Prior to UNL, Becker was an Assistant Professor at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Chemistry from Bethel College, a doctorate from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, and was an NIH-National Research Service Award Postdoctoral Fellow at UNL.
David DiLillo
Willa Cather Professor and Chair,
Department of Psychology
David DiLillo is Willa Cather Professor and Chair of the Department of Psychology. His primary research interests are in the areas of trauma and interpersonal violence, especially sexual assault and intimate partner violence. He has a particular interest in the role of alcohol use as a cause and consequence of these experiences. His work also examines interventions for the prevention of sexual assault. Work in his lab has been funded continuously for the past 20 years by grants from NIMH, NICHD, and NIAAA. Recent projects conducted by his research team have focused on the use of virtual reality to assess bystander responses to sexual risk; associations between alcohol use, sexual objectification and sexual aggression; a motivational interviewing intervention to enhance bystander responses to sexual risk; and factors that promote resilience to post-traumatic stress disorder among survivors of sexual trauma. DiLillo is also co-director of UNL's Trauma Recovery Clinic. He has twice received the UNL Excellence in Graduate Education Award for his mentoring of graduate students. He received a Bachelor of Arts in history from Rhodes College and a doctorate in clinical psychology from Oklahoma State University.
Anne Duncan
Associate Professor of Classics and Chair,
Department of Classics and Religious Studies
Anne Duncan is Associate Professor of Classics and Chair of the Department of Classics and Religious Studies. Her research focuses on ancient Greek and Roman drama and performance history. She has held a Junior Fellowship at the Center for Hellenic Studies in Washington D.C. and a Solmsen Fellowship at the Institute for Research in the Humanities at the University of Wisconsin. She teaches a wide range of courses: ancient Greek and Latin languages; translation of ancient drama, spectacle, and entertainment in ancient Rome; gender and sexuality in the ancient world; and classics and popular culture. She received her Bachelor of Arts in English literature from Swarthmore College and her Master of Arts and doctorate in classical studies from the University of Pennsylvania.
Jonathan O’Brien
U.S. Bank Distinguished Professor of Business and Chair,
Department of Management
Jonathan O’Brien is U.S. Bank Distinguished Professor of Business and Chair of the Management Department. His research focuses on the governance of strategic assets, and he has studied such topics as: strategic applications of real options theory; the implications of capital structure for firm strategy; how the institutional environment impacts managerial decisions; and behavioral influences on strategic choices. He has previously served on the faculties at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, University College Dublin, and the University of Notre Dame. He received a Bachelor of Arts in psychology from the University of New Brunswick, a Master of Science in marketing from Northwestern University, and a doctorate in strategic management from Purdue University.
Loukia K. Sarroub
Marvin C. and Jane N. Nore Professor and Chair,
Department of Teaching, Learning and Teacher Education
Loukia Sarroub is Marvin C. and Jane N. Nore Professor and Chair of the Department of Teaching, Learning and Teacher Education. She has a courtesy appointment in the Department of Anthropology and is affiliated with Women and Gender Studies; the Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families, and Schools; and the Quantitative, Qualitative, and Measurement in Education Program. Her research lies at the nexus of adolescent literacies; language and culture and sociolinguistic analyses; anthropology and education; and teacher education. Her publications range from cross-cultural studies that include fieldwork in schools and immigrant and refugee communities in the U.S. and Europe to studies about youth cultures, religion and literacy, and Middle Eastern populations that include fieldwork in Yemeni and Iraqi communities. Sarroub has been recognized for her teaching accomplishments with UNL's College Distinguished Teaching Award and Parents Recognition Award, and the National Society Scholars Distinguished Award. She is the author of the award-winning "All American Yemeni Girls: Being Muslim in a Public School" and co-author and editor of "Doing Fieldwork in at Home: The Ethnography of Education in Familiar Contexts." She serves on the editorial review boards of the Journal of Literacy Research; Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, Reading Research Quarterly; and Ethos and serves as a member of the American Education Research Association, the Literacy Research Association, and the American Anthropology Association. She received her Bachelor of Arts in linguistics at the University of Chicago and her doctorate in curriculum and education policy and social analysis at Michigan State University.