Five Columbia faculty members were granted tenure this year, and six were promoted to the rank of full professor. 

The awards were granted on schedule this year after a five-month delay last year left faculty who had applied for tenure and promotion in limbo, as the Chronicle previously reported. 

“It is important to acknowledge that achieving tenure is a significant career milestone and an intensive and rigorous process over six years,” Senior Vice President and Provost Marcella David said in an email announcing the newly tenured faculty last month.

Tenure-track faculty had been spared earlier this year when the college announced that 23 full-time faculty members would be laid off at the end of spring semester. Those who lost their jobs included tenured associate and full professors and teaching track faculty, as the Chronicle previously reported. 

The process for tenure and promotion requires input from external reviewers, department colleagues, school directors, the dean of Faculty Affairs and the All-College Tenure Committee. Candidates also prepare extensive dossiers that outline the work they’ve done for the college and their wider scholarship in their disciplines. 

From creating video games and films to researching Ottoman architecture and reimagining dance education, the newly tenured professors represent a wide range of disciplines across the college. Their work spans scholarship, creative practice and student-centered teaching that reflects Columbia’s commitment to innovation and inclusion in the arts and media.

David Antognoli (he/him)

David Antognoli, assistant professor in the School of Design, brings a wealth of experience from the gaming industry into the classroom. Having worked with companies like Microsoft, Sega, 2K Games and Nickelodeon, Antognoli now focuses on independent game development and fostering community at Night City, a Chicago-based organization dedicated to local game creators.

“Tenure carries prestige that even the wider public beyond academia appreciates,” Antognoli said. “I’m honored to be associated with that. The tenure requirements and process at Columbia are rigorous, and receiving tenure has felt very validating, especially for someone like me working in a field outside of traditional academic domains.”

Teaching courses in game design, development, project management and game culture, Antognoli said his tenure-track role has given him the freedom to explore game design beyond the commercial industry’s limitations.

“While video games are a big and lucrative industry, they tend to be shaped by ‘safe bet’ investments that limit the creative opportunities available to commercial game developers. This is why gamers are always complaining about sequels and repeated ideas,” he said. “Being in a tenure-track role, where my duties include creative and scholarly work, has provided resources and opportunities to research, create and curate game design experiences that operate outside the limits of the commercial game industry.”

Antognoli said his time at Columbia has allowed him to build important relationships with students, faculty and community members. Through his work with Night City, a Logan Square-based organization that hosts programming around video games and interactive arts, he’s also helping reframe game developers as local artists and providing platforms for students to showcase and connect.

Missy Hernandez (she/her)

Missy Hernandez, assistant professor in the School of Film and Television, is an award-winning screenwriter and filmmaker whose work centers Latinx stories.

Her feature script “I Don’t Dream in Spanish Anymore” won the 2024 Tony Cox Screenplay Competition and was named to the Athena List for best unproduced scripts about female leadership. Hernandez’s credits include associate producer for the first season of the HBO/A24 series “Random Acts of Flyness,” writer and co-producer of the 2020 film “American Thief” and she co-wrote and produced the 2021 documentary “The Last Election and Other Love Stories.”

Hernandez described receiving tenure as a major professional milestone. “While it was overwhelming to put together and nerve-wrecking to wait as my dossier went through the many levels of review, it is wonderful to be seen, appreciated, and recognized for the artist-educator I am,” she said. 

At Columbia, Hernandez’s work in the classroom and her work as a filmmaker are deeply intertwined. She draws on her artistic and industry experience in developing and redesigning curriculum for both graduate and undergraduate programs.

“I recognize my students as future industry peers,” she said. “I hope the time they have with me helps strengthen their creative output as well as the care and attention they give to helping each other reach their creative goals.”

She teaches screenwriting, creative producing and television writing, mentoring students in crafting bold, original work.

Looking ahead, Hernandez is preparing for a sabbatical during the 2025–26 academic year, when she will focus on advancing several film projects, including moving “I Don’t Dream in Spanish Anymore” toward production.

Onur Ozturk (he/him)

An architectural historian originally from Ankara, Türkiye, Dr. Onur Ozturk is an assistant professor of art history in the School of Visual Arts whose scholarship bridges past and present. His research explores Ottoman architecture, Islamic art and Chicago’s built environment, including his recent collaboration with contemporary artist Dawit L. Petros for the Museum of Contemporary Photography.

Ozturk said he perceives his tenure as a “confirmation of our institution’s dedication to my scholarship, teaching, and service.” 

During his six years at Columbia, Ozturk has been developing along with revising new courses in order to help better meet the needs of Columbia and its students. “It was wonderful to help so many students to find their career paths, assisting them with the next step in their lives,” he said.

Ozturk finds teaching as his best excuse to be a “perpetual student” as he connects with younger generations.”I am always excited with new perspectives and questions,” he said. “Our students are my main inspiration for research and writing.”

He teaches courses such as Art of Islam, Global History of Architecture and Rethinking Museums.

Ayo Walker (she/her)

Ayo Walker, assistant professor of dance in the School of Theatre and Dance, brings a practice-based approach to the study of dance and performance.

Walker has developed three original paradigms, Entercultural Engaged Pedagogy, Caricatureography and Decolonization of the Dancing Body. She teaches courses in hip-hop/street, theatre and Postmodern and Contemporary dance.

Walker said receiving tenure means she is recognized as an “important and valued voice in my field, in particular my unique and innovative approach to curriculum development for such courses as ‘Advanced Topics in Dance.’”

In that course, Walker led a collaborative, interdisciplinary project using her original choreographic method, Caricatureography, to explore Toni Morrison’s characters through movement, blending dance, literature and performance to reimagine narrative and subtext. She described this as the ”greatest reflection of the work I do here at Columbia thus far.”

Walker said her time at Columbia has affirmed her identity as both an academic and an artistic curator. “Drafting my seven-section, 1,502-page tenure dossier, it was clear how much I had done to achieve tenure in only four years on the tenure track,” she said. “Knowing this is what I could produce in that amount of time, I know that I’m at the right institution — alongside colleagues that I am not a token amongst — to further elevate my inventive approach to teaching, mentorship and creative scholarship.”

Walker recently returned from Accra, Ghana, where she attended the International Black Theatre Summit with colleagues from the School of Theatre and Dance. She said the experience laid the groundwork for new collaborative relationships that will help sustain the school’s creative and academic growth in the years to come.

Richard Walker (he/him)

An actor, director and comedian with deep roots in Chicago’s performance scene, Richard Walker is an assistant professor of comedy writing and performance in the School of Theatre and Dance and a key faculty member in the college’s pioneering Comedy Writing and Performance program.

Walker has appeared in “Chicago Fire,” “Chicago P.D.,” and “APB,” and performed on stages like The Goodman Theatre, Alliance Theatre and The Second City. He is also a longtime member of the Improvised Shakespeare Company.

Walker views his tenure as a “mutual commitment” and not just a professional milestone. “It says: ‘I am here to contribute meaningfully to Columbia’s culture and community — and Columbia believes in supporting my contributions beyond campus,’” he said in an email to the Chronicle. 

For Columbia’s next generation of “dreamers,” Walker finds joy in passing along what he’s learned about acting, comedy and the “crazy” industry. 

He teaches improvisation, stand-up, character work and storytelling, helping students build the skills to thrive both on stage and on screen.

Looking forward, Walker is excited about expanding the school’s visibility and engagement as he starts to focus on building Columbia’s presence at the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival and the Southeastern Theatre Conference. In 2026, Columbia will host its first-ever high school improv festival which Walker said he wants to “grow it into a regional event by 2027 and go even bigger from there.”

In addition, six faculty were promoted to professor, the highest rank for faculty. Their promotions were announced in an email last week. They were:

• Kevin Cooper

professor, School of Film and Television

• Kenneth Daley

professor, School of Communication and Culture

• Greg Foster-Rice

professor, School of Visual Arts

• Susan Kerns

professor, School of Film and Television

• Robin Whatley

professor, School of Design

• Michelle Yates

professor, School of Communication and Culture

Kerns left the college this semester to work at Milwaukee Film as the executive director, where she previously served as education director from 2010 to 2013.

Seven Columbia faculty members were also recognized with 2025 Teaching Excellence Awards. The annual honors celebrate outstanding teaching, mentorship and dedication to student success across the college’s academic programs.

This year’s awardees are: 

• Victoria Can

professor, School of Design 

• Brian Shaw

professor, School of Theatre and Dance

• Jo-Nell Sieren

professor, School of Design 

• Michelle Yates

professor, School of Communication and Culture 

• Chris Flynn

professor, School of Visual Arts 

• Alphonso Peluso

professor, School of Design

• Jeff Christian

professor, School of Theatre and Dance

Copy edited by Patience Hurston