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Honors College Staff | University of Central Missouri
Staff
Dr. Jennifer Carson, Director
Dr. Jennifer Varriale Carson serves as the Director of The Honors College and is also a Professor of Criminal Justice and Criminology at UCM. She holds a Ph.D. and M.A. from the University of Maryland in Criminology and Criminal Justice and a B.S. in Child Psychology from the University of Minnesota, where she herself was an honors student. Dr. Carson started her research career at the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism, a former Department of Homeland Security Center of Excellence. These beginnings led her to focus her work on policy evaluation through the use of quasi-experimental and experimental methods, with a concentration on U.S. counterterrorism efforts and the use of virtual reality technology. Dr. Carson’s work can be found in a number of academic outlets including Justice Quarterly, the Journal of Research on Crime and Delinquency, Criminology and Public Policy, and the Journal of Quantitative Criminology and has been featured in Congressional Quarterly Researcher, the New Scientist, The Conversation, the LA Times, Bloomberg News, & the BBC. She has also served as the Executive Counselor for the American Society of Criminology’s Division on Terrorism and Bias Crimes and was the recipient of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences’ Bracey/Joseph New Women Scholar Award. Dr. Carson is currently the Principal Investigator on a National Institute of Justice grant exploring left-wing and environmental ideologically-motivated crime in the U.S. She will be teaching an online honors colloquium on Women and Crime in the summer of 2025.
Dr. Tom Goldstein, Assistant Director and Coordinator of Undergraduate Research
Dr. Tom Goldstein is the Assistant Director of The Honors College and the Coordinator
of Undergraduate Research. Dr. Goldstein also serves as an Associate Professor in
the Department of History. He earned his Ph.D. and M.A. in History from the University
of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and B.A.s in History and Government and Politics
from the University of Maryland. He is a graduate of the University of Maryland Honors
Program. Dr. Goldstein’s research focuses on the Communist dictatorship of East Germany,
particularly struggles over free expression amidst censorship and repression. His
first book, Writing in Red: The East German Writers Union and the Role of Intellectuals
(Camden House, 2017), explores how the regime-sponsored organization for writers both
enabled and constrained members in challenging the limits of acceptable speech. His
current project examines political rumors among the East German populace, exploring
the ways citizens utilized such “unofficial news” to make sense of events, complicate
or contradict official media narratives, as well as express discontent with the government.
Dr. Goldstein teaches courses in world history, modern Germany, 20th century Europe,
World War I, and conspiracy theories. He will be teaching an online, Honors College-only section
of History of the Modern World (HIST 1402) in Summer 2025 and HONR 1400 (Building
Foundations in Honors) in Fall 2025.
Audrey Lurten, Program Coordinator
Audrey Lurten serves as the Program Coordinator of The Honors College at the University
of Central Missouri. She earned both her M.A. and B.A. in Communication Studies from
UCM, with her undergraduate emphasis in Social Influence and Media. She also holds
a Web Media Certificate from the university. As Program Coordinator, Audrey supports
students and faculty through academic programming, event coordination, and Honors
College operations. Her academic interests include media influence, digital communication,
and student engagement in higher education. Audrey is passionate about creating inclusive
and dynamic learning environments and is committed to helping students thrive academically
and personally.
HONR 3000 Instructors
Dr. Youyi Huang
Dr. Huang holds an M.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Michigan-Dearborn and a B.Eng. in Mechanical and Dynamical Engineering from Southeast University in China. He completed his Ph.D. in Computer Science at Texas Tech University in 2024 and served as a postdoctoral research associate in the same institution following his graduation. Dr. Huang joined the Department of Computer Science and Cybersecurity at UCM in Spring 2025 as an Assistant Professor. His research interests include Quantum Information Theory and Random Matrix Theory. Dr. Huang is also a member of the American Mathematical Society. He will be teaching an honors colloquium on quantum computing in Fall 2025.
Professor Garrett Pratt
Professor Pratt holds a J.D. from the University of Missouri School of Law and a Tax LL.M. from the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law. Professor Pratt began his legal career clerking for a bankruptcy judge. Following his clerkship, Profesor Pratt practiced law at Lathrop GPM LLP, where he represented for-profit and tax-exempt organizations in a variety of complex transactions and tax controversies. Immediately prior to joining the UCM faculty, Professor Pratt was a senior attorney for the Large Business & International Division of the IRS Office of Chief Counsel, where he litigated tax shelter and other complex tax cases before the U.S. Tax Court. He currently serves as an Assistant Professor of Business Law at UCM and as an adjunct Associate Professor of Law at the University of Missouri School of Law and the University of Tennessee College of Law. Professor Pratt’s scholarship focuses on bankruptcy and tax law. He will be teaching an honors colloquium in Fall 2025 entitled, “Legislating Change.”
Dr. Jasmine Cloud
Dr. Cloud graduated with her B.A. from Truman State University, her M.A. from University of Colorado-Boulder, and her Ph.D. from the Tyler School of Art at Temple University. She currently serves as a Professor of Art History and oversees the Art History minor at UCM. Dr. Cloud’s scholarly work focuses on the art and architecture of Baroque Italy. She is the author of two essays on the urban status of the Roman Forum in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and one essay on the Byzantine spolia of San Marco in Venice. Dr. Cloud is currently finishing her first book, under contract with Routledge. She will be leading an honors colloquium with a study tour to Rome in Spring 2026 entitled, “The Center of the World: The Idea of Rome.”
Dr. Joshua Nygren
Dr. Nygren received his B.A. in History and Political Science from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, where his time in the Honors College led him to pursue a doctorate. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Kansas and has been a faculty member at UCM since 2015. Dr. Nygren currently serves as the Department Chair and an Associate Professor of History. In 2025, the University of North Carolina Press published his first book:The State of Conservation: Rural America and the Conservation-Industrial Complex since 1920. He is broadly interested in environmental, political, and agricultural history, and in the recent history of the United States. Dr. Nygren will be teaching an honors colloquium in Spring 2026 entitled, “The Course about Nothing: Life in Seinfeld’s America,” which will include an experiential component to New York City.
General Education Instructors
Dr. Angela Nonaka
An anthropologist classically trained in four-fields anthropology, Dr. Nonaka’s M.A. and B.A. degrees are in East Asian Studies. She also holds a Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of California, Los Angeles. Dr. Nonaka currently serves as the Assistant Director of the McNair Scholars Program at UCM. She lived and researched abroad for almost half a decade at two tertiary educational institutions for “disabled” students in Asia: Tsukuba College of Technology (Tsukuba, Japan) and Ratchasuda College (Salaya, Thailand). Dr. Nonaka has conducted original ethnographic fieldwork on the national sign languages and Deaf communities of Japan and Thailand. The centerpiece of her research involves first-pass ethnolinguistic description and analysis of Ban Khor Sign Language, a previously undocumented indigenous/village sign language isolate used exclusively in the rural community of Ban Khor, Thailand. Dr. Nonaka's intellectual interests also include: language diversity and language endangerment, language socialization studies, sign language linguistics, Deaf studies, Asian studies, studies, anthropology of disability, history of special education, as well as examination of language and humor. She is teaching an honor-only section of ML 1040 (American Sign Language) in Fall 2025.
Dr. Keshav Bhattarai
Dr. Bhattari earned his Ph.D. in Geography from Indiana University and a Master's in Natural Resource Management from The University of Edinburgh. Before that, he obtained an Associate of Indian Forest College degree from Indian Forest College, Dehradun, India. Dr. Bhattari also holds baccalaureate degrees in Biology, Economics, and Law from Tribhuvan University. He is a Professor of Geography in the Department of Physical Sciences at UCM, where he specializes in geospatial technology, physical geography, economic geography, and contemporary geopolitical issues. Dr. Bhattarai has published five books, numerous book chapters, and several journal articles. He has received many scholarly, research excellence, and international scholar awards, including the Gorakha Dakshin Bahu Award from the Head of State of Nepal, an award given to Nepali Civil servants for their outstanding services in their careers. Dr. Bhattari will be teaching an Honors College-only section of Our Digital Earth in Fall of 2025.
Dr. Nicole Nickens
Dr. Nickens earned a B.A. in Psychology and Child Development from Truman State University and a Ph.D. in Educational Psychology from University of Missouri-Columbia. Her research focuses on educational measurement, assessment, child development, and child psychology. Dr. Nickens joined the faculty of UCM in 1999, where she is active in the teacher education program within the College of Education. Dr. Nickens will be leading an Honors College-only general education of EDFL 2240 (Educational Psychology) in Spring 2026.
