Maria Jose Tenuto

John Tenuto and Maria Jose Tenuto have been sociology professors for twenty-three years. John was named the 2020 Association of Community College Trustees’ Central Regional Faculty Member Award winner, recognizing him as one of the top five community college educators in the nation. Maria Jose was named the 2019 Illinois Outstanding Adjunct Faculty of the Year by the Illinois Community College Trustee Association. John first saw Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan at the Esquire Theatre in Chicago on opening night with his late father Vincent. When John and Maria Jose were married, their wedding song was the theme to Star Trek: Voyager. The couple’s research on Star Trek has been featured in Wired magazine, USA Today, Chicago Sun-Times, and on CBS, WGN, and the BBC. They have been featured in the Netflix TV show The Toys That Made Us and the History Channel’s The Center Seat: 55 Years of Star Trek docuseries, and have been invited to speak at the Official Star Trek Convention, the St. Louis Science Center, and by the future birthplace of James T. Kirk, Riverside, Iowa, and the town of Vulcan, Alberta, Canada.