Amanda Sherrill

Professional Faculty, Assistant Professor, Staff Accompanist, Piano

• Phone: 309-794-7264
• Email: amandasherrill@augustana.edu
• Office: Bergendoff 161

Dr. Amanda Sherrill is a collaborative pianist, educator and vocal coach. Since fall of 2022 she has been assistant professor of piano and the professional faculty staff accompanist at Augustana College. There Sherrill teaches applied piano and regularly coaches and collaborates with a wide variety of music students and faculty. Before coming to Augustana, she spent eight years as adjunct faculty member at Chandler-Gilbert Community College in Chandler, Ariz., where she accompanied various music events and taught class piano, applied piano, aural perspectives and humanities courses. Sherrill has also served as staff pianist for Northern Arizona University, the Valley of the Sun chapter of NATS (National Association of Teachers of Singing) and the Sonoran Desert Chorale. In 2015 and 2016 she held the vocal coach position for the MasterWorks Festival in Lake Winona, Ind., and Cedarville, Ohio. Prior to her collegiate teaching experience she spent three years directing the choral program at Xavier College Preparatory in Phoenix, Ariz. In 2011 she led the top choir to their inaugural performance at Carnegie Hall.

Sherrill's recent engagements include work with the Quad City Symphony Orchestra as the rehearsal pianist for Two Remain, an opera by Jake Heggie, and serving as the audition pianist for Opera Quad Cities.

Sherrill holds a D.M.A. and M.M. in collaborative piano performance from Arizona State University, where she studied with Andrew Campbell, and a B.M. in both piano and clarinet performance from Stetson University.

Elizabeth Matera

Part-time Assistant Professor of Music, Clarinet

• Email: elizabethmatera@augustana.edu
• Office: Bergendoff 27

Dr. Elizabeth Matera began her musical career in the Quad City Symphony Orchestra and as a middle school band director in Maquoketa, Iowa. In 1990, she won a position in the clarinet section of the U.S. Marine Band, “The President’s Own.” She performed with the Marine Band for nearly 27 years in Washington, D.C., and throughout the United States and was very active in the organization’s educational outreach programs.

Since retiring from the U.S. Marine Corps in 2017, she has taught clarinet lessons in her home studio as well as in Pleasant Valley High School in Bettendorf, Iowa. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with her family and playing golf.
 

Sarah K. McDowell

Adjunct Assistant Professor of English

• Phone: 309-794-7848
• Email: SarahMcDowell@augustana.edu
• Office: Old Main 108

Sarah Kretz McDowell received her B.A. from Augustana in 1996 and her M.A. in English literature from the University of Wisconsin at Madison in 1998.

Her work focuses primarily on composition, but she teaches introductory literature classes as well. She has been at Augustana since 2001.

Specializations: Writing, Editing, Copy editing

Lucas Johnson

Project Manager, Communication and Marketing

• Phone: 309-794-7833
• Email: lucasjohnson@augustana.edu
• Office: Bahls CLC 201

Lucas graduated from Eastern Illinois University with a B.S. in Political Science, and since then has had a career in marketing at several companies in the Quad Cities and agencies across the U.S. He has worked as a project manager, writer, editor, SEO specialist, social manager and content creator in his nearly ten years in the marketing field.

At Augustana, Lucas is a project manager for the Office of Communication and Marketing helping to manage a fluctuating workload of over 300 projects each year in print and digital from initial intake, feasibility and timeline through tracking updates on design, estimation, vendor communications, arranging delivery and mailing, and invoicing.

Specializations: Communication and marketing

Benjamin Civiletti

Assistant Professor of Mathematics

• Email: benjaminciviletti@augustana.edu
• Office: Olin 214

Benjamin Civiletti researches applied mathematics, specifically the development and analysis of numerical methods for computational electromagnetics. Together with a research group from the University of Delaware and Penn State University, he is currently working on developing software to optimize the efficiency of thin-film solar cells.

His scholarship has been published in “The Journal for Computational and Applied Mathematics” and “Springer Nature.” In his free time, he enjoys cooking, traveling and hiking national parks with his wife, Megan

Paul Baumgardner

Assistant Professor of Political Science

• Email: paulbaumgardner@augustana.edu
• Office: Old Main 315

Although originally from Kansas, Dr. Paul Baumgardner traveled around quite a bit before arriving at Augustana. In the years before his move to the Quad Cities, Baumgardner benefitted from fellowships, scholarships, and teaching positions at Princeton University, the American Bar Foundation, Lewis University, the Rutgers Law School Institute for Law and Philosophy, the University of Buffalo Law School Baldy Center for Law & Social Policy, and Belmont University.
 
Baumgardner completed a joint Ph.D. in the Department of Politics and the Humanities Council at Princeton University in 2020. He is particularly interested in the historical interplay between law, ideology, and state development. Baumgardner’s recent research has explored the relationship between modern conservatism and the American political system, with an eye towards the institutional processes and historical contingencies that have shaped conservative campaigns to influence American laws and remake the legal profession since the 1970s. Through broad investigations of the presidency, state and federal judiciaries, law schools, and the U.S. Department of Justice, Baumgardner’s research has shown how lawyers, law professors, and social movements were mobilized within particular conservative legal campaigns and explained why some campaigns proved influential while others faded over time.
 
He is the author of "Critical Legal Studies and the Campaign for American Law Schools: A Revolution to Break the Liberal Consensus" (Palgrave Macmillan, 2021) and a coauthor of "Keywords; For Further Consideration and Particularly Relevant to Academic Life" (Princeton University Press, 2018). His scholarship also has appeared in journals such as Law & Social Inquiry, Annual Review of Law and Social Science, Presidential Studies Quarterly, and Law and History Review. 
 
Dr. Baumgardner believes in the transformative power of political science courses, not only because these courses help students make sense of past and present political phenomena, but also because they shine a light on areas where students can become politically engaged, apply their expertise, and make a difference. At Augustana, he teaches courses across the public law, American politics, and political theory subfields within the Department of Political Science.
 

Tobi Matter

Digital Content Strategist

• Phone: 309-794-7849
• Email: tobimatter@augustana.edu
• Office: Bahls CLC 208

A 2022 graduate of University of Iowa from Henry County, Ill., Tobi Matter was an intern with the University of Iowa Health Hospitals & Clinics before joining the Augustana team.

Specializations: Communication and marketing

Anthony Panicucci

Digital/Video Communication Specialist

• Phone: 309-794-7822
• Email: anthonypanicucci@augustana.edu
• Office: Bahls CLC 201

Born and raised in Geneseo, Ill., Anthony Panicucci  spent 12 years in the TV news industry working at various stations as a photographer, and has received a number of awards for his work. 

He has photographed many different events, from natural disasters like Hurricane Irene making landfall at Coney Island in New York City, to covering the Chicago Cubs winning the World Series in 2016. (GO CUBS!)

Panicucci also was the executive producer for the show “Brewed” that highlighted craft beer and featured breweries across the country.

"My passion is storytelling and I’m excited to capture the stories at Augustana College."

He lives in Geneseo with his wife Jenna, son Jack, twin girls Nora and Lily, and corgi Daphne.

Specializations: Communication and marketing

Kristen Day

Accounts Payable and Purchasing Assistant

• Phone: 309-794-7713
• Email: kristenday@augustana.edu
• Office: Sorensen Hall

Specializations: Business offices

Andrea Talentino

President of the College, Professor of Political Science

• Phone: 309-794-7606
• Email: andreatalentino@augustana.edu
• Office: Bahls Campus Leadership Center 112

Andrea Talentino on LinkedIn

Andrea Talentino is the ninth president of Augustana College.

In addition to Bold & Boundless, Augustana's strategic plan, President Talentino has set into motion a proposed campus master plan that seeks to rebalance the college’s strategic priorities and assess housing stock and classroom spaces in order to meet current and projected needs of the college.

Prior to joining Augustana, Talentino was the provost of Nazareth College in Rochester, N.Y. She also served as the dean of the College of Liberal Arts at Norwich University in Vermont. She was an associate dean at Drew University in New Jersey, held a faculty position at Tulane University, and a postdoctoral position at Princeton University.

Early in her 22-year career in higher education, she was honored twice for excellence in undergraduate teaching at Tulane University. Since then, even as she rose within the administrative ranks at the institutions she served, she has continued to teach.

"Augustana's mission and vision reflect what I most care about. To advance our mission, I've focused on creating an inclusive, holistic, challenging, integrated student experience that offers a real transformational opportunity." — President Andrea Talentino

Recent initiatives:

• Leading a college recognized for economic diversity by The New York Times and earning a fifth INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine's Higher Education Excellence in Diversity (HEED) Award. 
• Relationship-building with Augustana’s alumni network across the country, including gatherings in Illinois, California and Florida.
• Speaking at Uppsala University in Sweden in October 2023 as part of Uppsala’s Democracy in Higher Education Week — a trip shared with Provost Dr. Dianna Shandy —affirmed Augustana’s unique partnership with the institution founded in 1477. 
• Chairing the NCAA DIII Athletic Training Working Group, with a charge of identifying the factors that impact DIII intercollegiate athletics departments’ ability to hire and retain athletics training staff, and establishing recommendations to address identified factors.
• Serving on the EAB President's Advisory Council to address enrollment trends and program development and provide early feedback to shape EAB’s research focus. EAB, an educational consulting firm, serves 2,500+ organizations, schools and colleges.
• Raising $19.1 million of the $40 million Gerber Grand Challenge in Philanthropy, fueling the college's ability to award the first Augustana Possible grants to high-achieving students with demonstrated financial need. Currently nearly 340 students have been impacted by Augustana Possible. 
• Rebounding to pre-pandemic enrollment numbers and welcoming a record-breaking international cohort.
• Launching the renovation of Erickson Residence Center, thanks in part to a capital grant from the State of Illinois.
• Investing $1 million and partnering with the city of Rock Island to create six National Collegiate Athletic Association-regulation tennis courts at Lincoln Park, adjacent to campus. These courts bring premier facilities to our men’s and women’s tennis teams and will be enjoyed by the Rock Island community, especially since three courts are also lined for pickleball.
• Prioritizing attracting and retaining top talent by increasing the total compensation pool by 2.5% and increasing the college’s retirement contribution match by 1%.
• In 2023, launching the Brenda Barnes Leadership Academy, in which first-year women from Illinois take part in community-building events and mentorship experiences to help them develop into future leaders.
• Andrea Talentino named Augustana's next president
• Augustana marks President Andrea Talentino's second year of service

More than a leader

Born in Binghamton, N.Y., Andrea Talentino grew up in nearby Cortland, N.Y. She is married to Thomas Tarnow, a public interest attorney, and they have two children, Lucien and Julia. 

President Talentino's two academic research specializations are military intervention and civil conflict, and the Olympics in relation to international politics. She has published extensively, including two books: "Military Intervention After the Cold War: The Evolution of Theory and Practice" and "Sporting Boundaries, Sporting Events and Commodification."

President Talentino played tennis competitively for many years, and later worked as a coach. This and her experience as a camp counselor have impacted her leadership style and her approach to personnel development.

Specializations: President's Office