University Core Directory
Saint Louis University's Undergraduate Core is overseen by a team of associate directors. These individuals, each overseeing a distinct core component area, together lead SLU's shared efforts to implement our new undergraduate core curriculum.
Core-affiliated faculty teaching primarily in the core deliver key components of the core curriculum. Additionally, our Undergraduate Core Curricular Fellows are dedicated to ensuring that SLU's core is shaped by the voices and perspectives of undergraduate students.
Core Leadership
Ellen Crowell, Ph.D.
Director of the University Undergraduate Core
ellen.crowell@slu.edu
314-977-2232
Ellen Crowell has served as Saint Louis University’s director of the University core since June 2018. A SLU faculty member since 2004, Crowell has won multiple institutional awards for her teaching and has also been recognized for her extensive service in support of undergraduate education. She directed both the undergraduate English program and the English department’s research-intensive honors program, and has served on the College of Arts and Sciences Academic Honesty, Undergraduate Curriculum, and Core Assessment committees.
University-wide, she has served on the University Honors Program Faculty Advisory Board, the Undergraduate Academic Affairs Committee, and on Academic Affairs initiatives related to supporting and advancing integrative learning and undergraduate research.
Liz Burke, Ph.D.
Assistant director of the University Undergraduate Core
liz.burke@slu.edu
314-977-7366
Liz Burke began as assistant director of the University core in July 2023. As a long-term faculty member in the ESL Program at SLU, she has extensive experience teaching undergraduate and graduate courses and was selected as a Reinert Center Innovative Teaching Fellow in 2019. Liz has also served on and chaired numerous committees and has led multiple curriculum development, revision, and assessment projects. She also coordinated the International Partnership Program with the Honors Program during her tenure in the ESL Program. Liz received her doctorate in higher education administration from SLU, and she is grateful for the opportunity to use her passion for education, research, and administration to help provide access to a world-class Jesuit education for all SLU students.
Justin Keenan
Program coordinator of the University Undergraduate Core
justin.keenan@slu.edu
314-977-4190
Justin Keenan began as the core program coordinator in May 2024. Having studied as a Billiken, he is delighted to serve now as a staff member. He earned his Master of Theological Studies from SLU in 2022, as well as his Bachelor of Science in Neuroscience from SLU in 2020. Originally from Maryland’s Eastern Shore, he is happy to adopt St. Louis as a new home city. His scholarly interests include LGBTQ+ theology and ancient church history. Casual interests include stargazing at the planetarium and collecting Hello Kitty memorabilia.
Carolyn O'Laughlin, Ph.D.
Associate director of the University Undergraduate Core: Open Seminars
School of Education
Carolyn O'Laughlin is an assistant professor of Higher Education Administration in the School of Education. Her teaching and scholarship focus on neurodivergence, belonging, and inclusive practices in higher education. Before joining the faculty, she spent over 20 years in student affairs, an experience that continues to shape how she approaches teaching, mentoring, and systems change. Carolyn is excited to work with faculty on the Core's Open Seminars (Ignite and Collaborative Inquiry), which she sees as distinctive bookends to the undergraduate experience at SLU. These courses are not about mastering content as much as they are about learning how to learn: beginning with curiosity, engaging ideas through experience and reflection, and working across difference to make meaning together. In a moment when higher education can feel rushed and transactional, Dr. O'Laughlin believes that SLU's Open Seminars offer an invitation to slow down, to see one another, ask better questions, and lean into the complexity that makes us human.
Bobby Wassel, Ph.D.
Associate director of the University Undergraduate Core: Cura Personalis and Reflection-in-Action
Director, Center for Social Action
bobby.wassel@slu.edu
314-977-2041
Bobby Wassel is serving in his third term as the AD for Cura Personalis and Reflection in Action. Dr. Wassel identifies his work with the University Core as one of the highlights of his 20+ years in higher education. Having spent all of these years working with undergraduates, he knows firsthand the impact that care for self and others, as well as learning beyond the classroom, can have on the development of college students. He is excited to continue expanding co-curricular experiences for Cura Personalis 2 and Reflection in Action, as well as exploring new ways to help prepare instructors as they design and facilitate courses and programs in these areas.
Susan Brower Toland, Ph.D.
Associate director of the University Undergraduate Core: Theological and Philosophical Foundations
Department of Philosophy
College of Arts and Sciences
susan.browertoland@slu.edu
Susan Brower-Toland has been involved in the design, development, review, and assessment of Ultimate Questions courses since the inception of the new university core curriculum. She brings to this role a conviction that questions about meaning, value, and the human condition lie at the heart not only of the Catholic Jesuit intellectual tradition but also of undergraduate education as such. She is committed to ensuring that Ultimate Questions courses continue to provide an opportunity for every SLU undergraduate to better understand their own beliefs and values in dialogue with the Catholic Jesuit tradition and to discover how philosophical and theological questions--and their own answers to them--shape their lives outside the classroom.
Nathaniel Rivers, Ph.D.
Associate director of the University Undergraduate Core: Eloquentia Perfecta
Department of Communication
College of Arts and Sciences
hillary.ash@slu.edu
Since joining SLU in 2022, Hillary Ash has served as an Assistant Professor of Communication, specializing in speaking and visual rhetoric. She has been deeply engaged with the Core through her work developing four Core courses, serving on the Ways of Thinking subcommittee, and piloting the Communication Skills Lab, which supports students’ oral and visual communication skills. As an Associate Director, she looks forward to partnering with the Reinert Center to support St. Louis and Madrid faculty and lead workshops on emerging challenges in Eloquentia Perfecta, such as the impact of AI on students’ ability to express themselves in various media.
Ali Fisunoglu, Ph.D.
Associate director of the University Undergraduate Core: Equity and Global Identities
Department of Political Science
College of Arts and Sciences
ali.fisunoglu@slu.edu
Ali Fisunoglu is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science. He
has previously served as the Social Science representative on the University Undergraduate
Core Committee (UUCC) and as a member of the Equity and Global Identities (EGI) subcommittee.
His research draws on quantitative insights to explore state capacity, political economy,
and political demography, particularly in post-conflict settings. Ali was attracted
to this role because he enjoys finding the common threads that connect different academic
fields. He looks forward to collaborating with faculty across the humanities, sciences,
and professional schools to serve as a supportive resource as they integrate EGI attributes
into their own unique curricula.
Hamish Binns
Associate director of the University Undergraduate Core: SLU-Madrid
Department of Modern Languages and ESL
Hamish Binns is starting his second term as Associate Director of the UUCC at the Madrid Campus. He began teaching at SLU-Madrid almost 30 years ago and became full-time in 2011. In addition to his work guiding the University Core on the Madrid campus, he serves as program director for ESL, Modern Languages, and Education and is also engaged in post-graduate research in Education at the University of Edinburgh. His love of holistic education and passion for task-based, student-focused learning is what initially drew him to the Core, and he hopes to continue working with the inspirational students from the Core Assessment Portfolio Pilot and collaborating with and learning from his colleagues on both sides of the Atlantic.
Core-Affiliated Faculty
Mary Maxfield, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral fellow
University Undergraduate Core and Women's and Gender Studies
mary.maxfield@slu.edu
LGBTQIA+ and feminist community formation, social justice activism, space and place, internet and technology studies
Kerry Wilson, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral fellow
African American Studies
College of Arts and Sciences
kerry.wilson@slu.edu
Kerry Wilson, Ph.D. is a native of St. Louis and a proud Saint Louis University alumnus (B.A. 2009, M.A. 2011). She received her doctorate in communication and media from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 2022. Her research focuses on the intersection of racialized and gendered discourses of Black mothers in media. Her teaching interests include African American culture, gender studies, popular culture and media, and communication.
2026-27 Undergraduate Core Curricular Fellows
Ella Osenga
Open Seminars
Ella Osenga is a senior from Nashville majoring in Biology with a Spanish minor on the pre-dental track in the Honors Program. Her interest in cross-disciplinary learning has led her to appreciate the mission of Open Seminars--the Ignite Seminar and Collaborative Inquiry areas of the Core. She has loved the Ignatian way of thinking, the emphasis on well-rounded development, and the way it prompts deep engagement with content, peers and staff alike. She is thrilled to continue to help develop this curriculum and play a role in introducing SLU students to the beauty of Jesuit values.
Ellen Nguyen
Cura Personalis and Reflection-in-Action
Ellen Nguyen is a junior from Carbondale, Illinois. She is studying Chemical Biology and Pharmacology with a possible minor in psychology. When she's not studying for exams, she likes to design graphics, watch movies and try new foods. Ellen is honored and ecstatic to be contributing to SLU as a Core Fellow again this year. As a fellow, she strives to help people explore new and unexpected passions through the Core curriculum, as she believes this is the foundation of an impactful college experience.
Sam Grilliot
Theological and Philosophical Foundations
Sam Grilliot, a senior from Kansas City, is majoring in Theological Studies and Philosophy with a minor in Foreign Service. Sam is eager to serve as an Undergraduate Core Fellow, and he is most excited about the opportunity to encourage his fellow undergraduate students to engage deeply with fundamental questions of what it means to be human by using their own gifts and skills.
Bella Gustafson
Eloquentia Perfecta
Bella Gustafson is majoring in political science and international studies at SLU-Madrid. She believes the arts are vital to both one's understanding of themselves and of others. In her role as a University Undergraduate Core Fellow, she aims to expand SLU students' opportunities for creative expression and inspire the growth of these skills through new artistic mediums.
Clarence Alexander
Equity and Global Identities
Clarence Alexander is a senior from Kansas City, studying Political Science and Economics. His passion for civic engagement and public service has shaped his involvement both on and off campus. He is excited to serve as a Core Fellow on the Equity and Global Identities subcommittee because he wishes to continue to help cultivate a space where diverse perspectives can critically engage with issues of identity, justice, and global citizenship.
Sophia Lee
Core Communications
Sophia Lee is a senior...