EMU welcomes six new full-time faculty members to the ranks for the 2025-26 academic year.
Anushika Athauda, assistant professor of engineering
Athauda is excited to bring over eight years of dynamic undergraduate teaching experience in physics and engineering to EMU. Before joining EMU, she served on the faculty at Virginia Military Institute, Washington and Lee University, University of Rochester, and James Madison University. Athauda is passionate about student-centered learning and brings a strong background in curriculum development, hands-on instruction, and undergraduate mentorship. Her research interests lie in exploring the structure-property relationships of materials. She holds a BS in engineering physics from University of Colombo, Sri Lanka, and a PhD in physics from University of Virginia.
Cherelle Johnson, instructor of business and leadership
Johnson joins the faculty with over a decade of experience in leadership development, organizational strategy, and higher education instruction. An adjunct instructor in EMU’s Business and Leadership program since 2019, she is currently pursuing a PhD in organizational leadership at Regent University, building on her MS in education and BBA in marketing from James Madison University. Johnson is also a certified HR professional (SHRM-CP), executive coach, and founder of Dream City LLC and IronDresses Inc., where she has trained leaders across the U.S. and internationally. Her teaching and research focus on leadership development, group behavior, and women’s empowerment, particularly in ecclesial and organizational contexts.
Yeimarie Lopez, assistant professor of social work
Lopez received a bachelor of social work from Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU), a master of social work from the University of Michigan, and a doctorate in education from VCU. For the majority of her social work career, she worked alongside immigrant and refugee families throughout Virginia. Her interest in social justice, higher education, and quality assurance also led her to work in accreditation, policy, and compliance. As a first-generation college graduate, Lopez is an advocate of accessible and equitable education as a way to create a more just society.
Elizabeth Miller-Derstine, assistant professor of visual and communication arts
Miller-Derstine (director/producer) is an award-winning documentary filmmaker drawn to stories centering joy as resilience. She holds an MFA in documentary film from Wake Forest University. She approaches all her work with a deep commitment to ethical storytelling and an awareness of the extractive history of the documentary field. Her most recent short documentary Once Upon the Wetland (2025) has received Oscar qualification in the Short Documentary category. Her other notable work includes Bloom (2024), which has been acquired for educational distribution by Good Docs, and won Best Documentary at the Longleaf Film Festival, and Welcome to the Dollhouse (2020), which won Best Director at both the Atlanta DocuFest and Hoosier Films Festival.
Ann Schaeffer, associate professor of nursing
Following undergraduate and graduate degrees in psychology, Schaeffer was a second-degree BSN student at UVA, and then became a certified nurse-midwife in 2000 via Frontier Nursing University (FNU), to which she returned for her doctorate (DNP) in 2017. Schaeffer is a certified nurse-educator and recently added certification as a psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioner through Radford University (2025). Schaeffer has practiced nursing in Virginia for 27 years, has attended over 1,000 births, and has provided health care in a wide variety of practice settings. She previously taught nursing at EMU for eight years, and then from 2020-2025 worked remotely as faculty in FNU’s DNP program, where she taught and mentored doctoral students in health care quality improvement. Prevention of burnout and attrition from health care professions is one of her priorities as an educator and mentor, which she believes begins upstream in the undergraduate classroom.
Bryce Van Vleet, assistant professor of psychology
Van Vleet earned a PhD from North Dakota State University in developmental science in 2025. He is a member of the Gerontological Society of America and specializes in adult development, rurality, and qualitative methodology. Prior to his doctoral work, Van Vleet earned a bachelor of arts degree in psychology from Seattle Pacific University, a faith-based liberal arts university, and a master of science from North Dakota State. A recent convert to Anabaptism, Van Vleet looks for ways to incorporate faith into his scholarship and teaching. He encourages scholars from all walks of faith to bring their full selves into their work. His current research projects investigate queer well-being in rural America, advocate for empathy toward vaccine hesitancy in adulthood, and model how rural parents impart coping skills to their children.
EMU will mark the beginning of the academic year at Opening Convocation, held at 10 a.m. on Monday, Aug. 25, in Lehman Auditorium.
Iam so happy to learn of the progress being made at my Alma mater on all fronts.
Prof Samir Abuznaid, Class 1980
Currently professor of management at Hebron University Graduate programs.
Although I’ve not met the newly-appointed EMU faculty members, in reading their resumes I’m impressed with the professional expertise each appointee brings to their respective discipline, and with the variety of ways in which their experiences and commitments connect with Anabaptist theology.