Faculty | School of Law | SIU

Peter Alexander is currently a Visiting Professor at the Southern Illinois University School of Law. Alexander has enjoyed a long career in legal education that began in 1992 at the Dickinson School of Law, which subsequently merged with The Pennsylvania State University. After leaving Penn State-Dickinson, Alexander served as the Dean of Southern Illinois University’s School of Law and the Founding Dean of the law school at the Indiana Institute of Technology.

Professor Aschemann joined the faculty after more than two decades in private practice concentrating in complex litigation and representing whistleblowers under the qui tam provisions of the Federal False Claims Act and analogous state statutes. His relator representation on behalf of the United States and various state governments addressed fraud in the areas of government healthcare programs, environmental clean-up programs, and procurement fraud, among others.

Professor Behan joined the faculty at the SIU School of Law in July of 2006. Prior to that, he was an officer in the United States Army Judge Advocate General's Corps for nearly eleven years. His final assignment was Associate Professor of Criminal Law at the Judge Advocate General's School in Charlottesville, Virginia. During his military career, he also served as a legal assistance attorney, military prosecutor, criminal defense attorney, administrative law attorney, international and operational law attorney, and legal advisor to U.S. forces in the Sinai Desert as part of the Multinational Force and Observers.

Professor Buys joined the SIU School of Law faculty in 2001, where she has served as a Professor, Director of International Law Programs, and Interim Dean. She is a Fulbright Senior Specialist and has been a Visiting Professor at both Bangor University in Wales and Nicolaus Copernicus University in Poland. She has received both the Outstanding Teacher of the Year and the Outstanding Scholar of the Year as well as other state and national awards for her work and her service.

Kelly Collinsworth joined the faculty of Southern Illinois School of Law in summer 2022. Prior to joining the faculty, Collinsworth was an Associate Dean and Director of Experiential Education at University of South Dakota Knudson School of Law.  She previously taught at Morehead State University in eastern Kentucky where she was the Legal Studies Coordinator, University Pre-Law Advisor, and Director of Education Abroad.  Her practice experience includes serving as a staff attorney at Legal Aid of the Bluegrass and Kentucky Legal Aid.  She also served as Assistant County Attorney for Bath County, Kentucky.  Professor Collinsworth earned her Bachelor of Arts from Georgetown College and her Juris Doctor from the Ohio State University.  She is licensed to practice law in Kentucky and South Dakota.

Professor Stan Cox joined SIU Law in January 2019, having previously been a tenured doctrinal professor at New England Law | Boston, and visiting professor at Creighton University School of Law. Professor Cox also has visited at Boston University School of Law, and was a Fulbright professor at Charles University in the Czech Republic. His teaching and scholarly interests are broad, including areas of administrative law, civil procedure, constitutional law, conflict of laws, criminal procedure, environmental law, land use, property, statutory interpretation, and international law topics ranging from terrorism to trade regulation to environmental treaties and climate change issues.

Professor Drennan has taught at the SIU School of Law since 2004.  He teaches federal income tax, trusts and estates, and contracts.  He has researched and written in the areas of taxation, charities and charitable giving, trusts and estates and contracts.  Prior to joining the faculty, Professor Drennan was in private practice for twenty years with a major St. Louis law firm, specializing in taxation, estate planning, trusts and estates and nonprofit organizations.

Prior to joining the faculty as an Associate Law Professor in the Fall of 2023, Professor Johnson was an adjunct member of SIU School of Law’s faculty and a senior partner at Early & Miranda, P.C.  While she mainly specialized in Illinois and Missouri workers’ compensation law and appellate advocacy, Professor Johnson also gained experience in premises liability, personal injury, products liability, as well as other areas of insurance defense over her 20 years of practice. 

Professor Douglas Lind joined the faculty in 2007. He received a B.A. from Purdue University, a J.D. from Valparaiso University, and an M.I.L.S. from The University of Michigan. Prior to coming to SIU, Professor Lind was the Head of Collections at Georgetown Law Library where he also taught Advanced Legal Research and Seminar Research Methods. His scholarship focuses on transmission history of 19^th century printed materials. He is a two-time recipient of the Joseph L. Andrews Bibliographic Award, a national award which recognizes a significant contribution to legal biographical literature.

Gregory Nies is currently an Assistant Professor of Law at the Southern Illinois University Simmons Law School.  Greg earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Grace University, Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Nebraska at Omaha, Master of Arts degree in Church and State Studies from Baylor University, Master of Science degree in Agriculture and Natural Resources from the University of Tennessee Martin, and Juris Doctor degree from the University of Connecticut School of Law.   After law school Greg served as a practicing attorney with the state of Tennessee for 17 years, including positions as a judicial clerk with the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals, an Assistant Attorney General with the Tennessee Attorney General’s Office, a Staff Attorney and Special Master for Davidson County Chancery Court, and as Staff Attorney for the Tennessee Court of Appeals Western Section.  In 2021 Greg transitioned to a full-time academic career, serving as an Assistant Professor of Agribusiness and Business law at the University of Nebraska Kearney for three years before joining the SIU Simmons Law School faculty in 2024.   

Shelly Taylor Page (Cheryl) has been a licensed attorney since 1993 and a Law Professor since 2004. She attended Howard University in Washington, D.C. (graduated cum laude) and received her Doctor of Jurisprudence from Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas.

Professor Pardieck graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College and the Indiana University School of Law, Bloomington. While in law school, he served as articles editor on the Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies, and following law school enrolled in the University of Hokkaido School of Law. He completed his doctorate degree in law at Hokkaido, where he wrote his dissertation, in Japanese, on Japanese and U.S. securities law.

Kaitlyn Poirier joined the SIU Simmons School of Law faculty in fall 2024. Prior to joining the faculty, Professor Poirier was employed as a Trial Attorney at the United States Department of Justice for over eight years. During her time at the Department of Justice, she specialized in environmental and administrative law. Professor Poirier litigated in courts across the country on behalf of many federal agencies, including the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and U.S. Forest Service. 

Professor Rosen joined the SIU School of Law faculty in 2020, having previously taught at law schools of George Washington University, Hofstra University, and others.  He was the 2015-2016 Abraham L. Kaminstein Scholar in Residence at the United States Copyright Office, and is particularly renowned for his expertise on copyright law, especially its historical development.

Sheila Simon rejoined the School of Law faculty after serving as Lieutenant Governor of Illinois from 2011 to 2015. Since returning to the school she has taught Property, Torts, Legal Writing, Advanced Real Estate Transactions, Children and the Law, Government Ethics, and a seminar on Crime Victims and Witnesses. As Lieutenant Governor she worked on many issues including education policy and secure funding for rape crisis centers.

Jennifer Spreng joined the faculty of Southern Illinois School of Law in 2022.  She has designed and taught numerous innovative doctrinal, writing, simulation, academic support, bar preparation, and integrated courses, often in experimental formats and notable for their authentic anchoring scenarios and extensive formative assessment.  Spreng regularly publishes and lectures both here and abroad about authentic learning, integrated course design, legal writing, and other law teaching and curriculum issues.

Dr. iur. Carly Toepke, J.D. joined the SIU faculty as an Assistant Professor in 2024. She started her teaching career at the University of Lucerne in Lucerne, Faculty of Law in 2014.  She was a Marie Curie DREAM Research Fellow at the University of Lucerne in Lucerne, Switzerland, and the Swiss Paraplegic Research in Nottwil, Switzerland, from 2011 to 2015. In 2016, she completed a doctoral degree at the University of Lucerne, Faculty of Law, on the right to inclusive education for children with disabilities. Dr. Toepke taught at the University of Texas School of Law from 2015 to 2024, teaching Legal Research & Writing, Professional Responsibility, and Early Bar Prep for the Texas Law LL.M. Program. She was the Assistant Director of Graduate & International Programs at Texas Law, advising and overseeing programming for international students at Texas Law and those students who wanted to study abroad.

Professor Angela Upchurch joined the law faculty at Southern Illinois University School of Law in 2014.  She is a recognized expert in law school pedagogy, children and family law, and procedural law.

Professor Vick joined the SIU School of Law faculty in 2019 as an adjunct professor. In 2021, she became a member of the Academic Success Program. Professor Vick works with 1L, 2L, and 3L students on time management strategies, analytical reading and critical thinking skills, synthesis of statutes, caselaw, common law, and legal theory, and legal policy analysis skills. She also works with recent graduates who are preparing for the bar exam.

Currently a Visiting Professor of Law at Simmons, Professor Webber teaches contracts, agency and partnerships, business organizations, and transactional skills. A retired real estate finance and development attorney, he started his career as a litigator, trying numerous jury and bench trials and prosecuting appeals on matters of substantial import. Professor Webber’s advocacy for government transparency resulted in some of Indiana’s seminal decisions regarding public records, see, e.g., Knightstown Banner, LLC v. Town of Knightstown, 838 N.E.2d 1127 (Ind. Ct. App. 2005) (case of first impression), trans. den., 860 N.E.2d 585 (Ind. 2006). His public service also includes serving as an administrative law judge.

Joanna Wells earned a B.S. degree cum laude from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and her J.D. degree magna cum laude from Southern Illinois University School of Law. In between, she worked in radio in Miami and Chicago and spent 16 years as a casework supervisor and caseworker for the Illinois Department of Public Aid.

Professor Candle Wester joined the faculty as the Director of the Law Library and Associate Professor of Law in 2024. She received her J.D. from the University of Nebraska and her M.S.L.I.S from the University of Illinois.