Welcome to New Faculty and Administrators
West Chester University of Pennsylvania – Fall 2011
West Chester University’s newest faculty and administrators have provided many of the
following brief biographies and autobiographies to introduce themselves to the campus
community. Other bios here reflect CV highlights.
FACULTY
Mahmoud Amer – Languages and Cultures
Mahmoud Amer comes to West Chester University as an assistant professor in the
Department of Languages and Cultures. Prior to WCU, Dr. Amer was a faculty member at
Clarion University, where he taught in two departments: the Department of English and the
Department of Modern Languages. Dr. Amer has an MA in applied linguistics from the
University of Toledo and earned his PhD from Indiana University of Pennsylvania. While Dr.
Amer has a wide range of interdisciplinary interests, he has recently been examining the use of
mobile technology in foreign/second language learning. His dissertation examined the use of
mobile technology in assisting second language learners with learning idiomatic expressions
and collocations. As an Adobe Certified Flash Lite Developer, Dr. Amer has authored a wide
range of award-winning desktop and mobile software solutions to enhance students’ learning.
Léon Arredondo – Anthropology and Sociology
Léon Arredondo is an assistant professor in the Department of Anthropology and
Sociology. He earned his BA in anthropology from Montclair State University and his master’s
degree and PhD in anthropology from the City University of New York. His dissertation is
entitled Liberalism, Working-Class Formation and Historical Memory: Dockworkers in a
Colombian Frontier. Before coming to West Chester University, he was the associate dean for
off-campus academic programs and an assistant professor of anthropology at Felician College,
New Jersey. This past spring and summer, he was a Fulbright Scholar teaching and conducting
research at the University of Costa Rica. His Fulbright research topic was Labor and Popular
Politics in the Periphery: Puntarenas during the First Half of the Twentieth Century. Dr.
Arredondo has been a visiting assistant professor of anthropology at Colby College, Maine, and
was a high school teacher and site coordinator for the New York City Department of Education.
As an adjunct lecturer, he has taught at Fordham University-Rose Hill, Hunter College (CUNY),
John Jay College (CUNY), Kean University (Union, N.J.), and Lehman College (CUNY). He is the
author of several publications and presentations in his field.
Josh Auld – Biology
I grew up in western Pennsylvania. In 1999 I started college at Duquesne University. In
2003 I graduated with my BS in biology and started graduate school at the University of
Pittsburgh. In 2008 I received my PhD in ecology and evolutionary biology; my dissertation
research was on the role of natural predators in the expression of the mating system in a
A.3
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hermaphroditic freshwater snail. These snails can either self-fertilize (i.e., they are male and
female at the same time) or they can pair with another snail; I was interested in how the
presence of a predator affected this decision. After finishing at the University of Pittsburgh, I
was a post-doc at the Centre d’Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive, in Montpellier, France.
There I worked on two different projects, both of which focused on the senescence of male and
female reproductive traits. Using two long-term datasets collected from natural populations, I
explored the role of males in the breeding success of a small, short-lived songbird (blue tits) and
large, long-lived bird (mute swans). I also ran a large experiment measuring male and female
reproductive function throughout the lifespan of the same species of snail that I used during my
dissertation.
After a quick year in Montpellier, I moved back to the U.S. in 2009 and started a second
post-doc at the National Evolutionary Synthesis Center, in Durham, N.C. This center is a
collaborative research endeavor funded by the National Science Foundation and administered
by Duke University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and North Carolina State
University. There I worked to compile a large dataset on plant reproductive traits to test
hypotheses about the relationship between dispersal and reproductive traits. Collectively, my
research interests are in the evolutionary ecology of reproductive traits; I study this at both a
broad (inter-specific) and narrow (intra-population) level.
Howell Bosbyshell – Geology and Astronomy
I graduated from West Chester University in 1992 and completed my PhD from Bryn
Mawr College in 2001. My research is concerned with the micro- through macro-tectonic
history of the Central Appalachians with an emphasis on developing geochronologic techniques
in metamorphic rock using the mineral monazite. That is to say, I use information from very
small objects to help understand very large-scale processes. I’ve published geologic maps of
five topographic quadrangles in southeastern Pennsylvania and contributed to the Lithotectonic
Map of the Appalachian Orogen, published by the Geological Survey of Canada.
My wife and I share our home with five cats and (by the time you are reading this) a
Maltese. I study the Sanskrit language and Yoga-Vedanta and Buddhist philosophy, and I’m
currently trying to learn Hindi. I love surfing (although I don’t do it nearly enough!) and hiking.
Lisa Calvano – Management
Lisa Calvano comes to WCU from Franklin & Marshall College, where she was an
assistant professor of organization studies in the Department of Business, Organizations and
Society. Previously, she taught in the Human Resource Management Department at Temple
University during and after she earned her PhD in business administration there. Lisa also holds
an MBA from Temple University, an MSc in housing policy from the London School of
Economics, and a BS in history/politics from Drexel University. Her primary research interests
are the social and environmental impact of business activities on local communities and
business ethics education, but she recently became interested in a new area—the impact of
eldercare responsibilities on employment. Prior to entering academia, Lisa worked as a
nonprofit manager in Philadelphia in the field of community development. In her free time, she
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enjoys traveling, doing yoga, riding her bicycle, and trying new restaurants. She is also a coowner of Philly Fair Trade Roasters, a small coffee-roasting business in Philadelphia.
Wan-Yi Chen – Graduate Social Work
Wan-Yi Chen is an associate professor in the Department of Graduate Social Work. She
earned her PhD from Columbia University in 2004 and her MSW from the University of
Pennsylvania in 1996. Dr. Chen focuses on social-work research related to children and
adolescents. Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add
Health), her work has documented the long-term effect of childhood neglect and personal
victimization on individual developmental outcomes. Dr. Chen also evaluates various
innovative child welfare service-delivery models and service outcomes and investigates
different organizational factors associated with social-work research grant success.
Dr. Chen's teaching interests include macro social-work practice, social policy, research
methods, and human behavior in organizational and community life. Dr. Chen also served on
the editorial board of the Journal of Youth and Adolescence and the Journal of Development &
Social Transformation. Selected publications and conference presentations follow:
Chen, W-Y. & Corvo, K. (in press). Community violence. In R. J. Levesque (Ed.),
Encyclopedia of Adolescence. New York, NY: Springer.
Chen, W-Y., Propp, J., deLara, E. & Corvo, K. (2011). Child neglect and its association with
subsequent juvenile drug and alcohol offense. The Child & Adolescent Social Work
Journal.
Chen, W-Y. (2010). Exposure to community violence and adolescents’ internalizing
behaviors among African American and Asian American adolescents. Journal of Youth
and Adolescence, 39(4), 403-413.
Chen, W-Y. , Propp, J., & Lee, Y. (July, 2010). Connection between Adolescent’s
Exposure to Community Violence and Future Civic Engagement Behaviors. Oral paper
presentation at the 2010 National Add Health Users Conference, NIH, Bethesda, MD.
Randall Cream – English
Randall Cream is an assistant professor in the Department of English. He earned his PhD
in English from the University of Connecticut, where he specialized in early modern philosophy
and literature, composition and rhetoric, and technologies of learning. His dissertation is
entitled A Stoic Practice of Sentiment: Eighteenth-Century Moral Theory and the Subjectivation
of Habit. Before coming to WCU, he served as a metadata manager and digital humanities
specialist for the Digital Humanities Observatory of the Royal Irish Academy, Dublin. Earlier, at
the University of South Carolina, he was the associate director for technology and writing in the
university’s first-year English program and was the associate director of the university’s Center
for Digital Humanities. Also at the University of South Carolina, he was a post-doctoral research
fellow in digital humanities. Among his other experience, he took part in a collaborative hybrid
online distance-education program in composition with Manchester Community College
(Connecticut), the University of Connecticut, and Murray State University (Kentucky). His work
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has included serving as a project director and researcher for several substantial grants, and he
is a frequent presenter in his field.
Ashlie Delshad – Political Science
Greetings, all! I am very excited to be joining the WCU academic community. I chose
WCU because I want to be a teacher as well as a scholar. Substantively, my research and
teaching interests are very much intertwined. At WCU, I will be teaching courses in public
policy, environmental policy, and research methods. Providing a quality learning environment
for the students at WCU is extremely important to me. As an undergraduate at a small liberal
arts college, I benefited greatly from engaging classroom discussions, challenging analytical
reading and writing, and abundant feedback from my professors. I intend to use all of these
educational tools to foster the intellectual development of my students.
Broadly speaking, my research interests are in public policy and public opinion on
environmental and energy issues. My prior research has focused especially on the relationship
among the media, the president, and Congress, as well as the mitigating role exogenous factors
such as economic conditions and national crises play in influencing these institutional actors. I
have examined these phenomena in the context of biofuels; in the future I would like to expand
the analysis to include other energy and environmental issues. I also welcome the opportunity
to engage in interdisciplinary research because I believe that to overcome environmental policy
dilemmas, scientists and social scientists must collaborate.
Other interesting tidbits: I am a Texan by birth, I love to cook and bake, my vehicle is a
Huffy, and I am currently training to run my first half marathon.
Karen Dickinson – Counselor Education
Karen Dickinson is joining the Counselor Education Department as an assistant
professor. Karen started her career teaching in elementary and special education classrooms
and has been an elementary school counselor for the past 20 years. She received her BA in
psychology and her Elementary and Special Education Certificates at Rutgers University;
her MEd counseling degree is from West Chester. Since attaining her doctorate from the
University of Delaware, she has been an adjunct instructor in the Counseling Departments at
Eastern University and West Chester University.
Originally from New Jersey, Karen and her husband, a masonry project engineer, and
two children have lived in Pennsylvania for 24 years. Her son is a professional musician playing
with a reggae and a funk band, and her daughter is a teacher, finishing her MEd at West
Chester. Karen enjoys singing and baking and is looking forward to continuing her research in
bullying and working with counseling students.
Eric Dodson-Robinson – English
Eric Dodson-Robinson is an assistant professor in the Department of English. His
teaching and research interests include the reception of classical literature, the European
dramatic tradition, and cross-cultural encounters in the ancient world. He is currently
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completing a book about representations of agency and identity in revenge tragedy and film.
Dr. Dodson-Robinson designed and taught two classes focused on this subject as a lecturer at
the University of Texas at Austin, where he was active in supervising undergraduate research
internships. He has a growing list of reviews, article-length publications, and invited lectures on
the European dramatic tradition, among which was the invited session “Political Myth and
Politicized Irony in Senecan Drama and Titus Andronicus” for the Shakespeare and Renaissance
Ethics Graduate Symposium at Yale University. Dr. Dodson-Robinson's next book-length project
will analyze revenge ghosts from Greek tragedy into contemporary film. His PhD in
comparative literature is from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; he earned a
master’s degree in English at Texas State University, and in the classics at the University of
Michigan at Ann Arbor.
Jennifer Gibbs – Criminal Justice
While working as a victim advocate with the Domestic Violence Investigative Unit of the
Niagara Falls (New York) Police Department, Jennifer earned a master’s degree in criminal
justice administration from Niagara University. Shortly thereafter, she moved to Maryland,
where she completed a certificate program in university teaching and learning, as well as her
doctoral dissertation focusing on the influence of police and state legitimacy on terrorist
attacks targeting police in 82 countries.
Jennifer’s research interests include terrorism, policing, violence against women, and
the scholarship of teaching and learning, and her research has been published in journals such
as Crime, Law and Social Change; Police Practice and Research: An International Journal; and
Violence Against Women. Notably, her research “A Structural Analysis of Homicides of
Baltimore Police Officers,” presented at the 2009 annual meeting of the Academy of Criminal
Justice Sciences, won the 2010 William L. Simon/Anderson Publishing Outstanding Student
Paper Award.
She also has had the privilege of facilitating students’ understanding of criminology and
criminal justice, teaching courses including criminological aspects of terrorism, theories of
crime and deviance, research methods, and statistics. Studying student learning of statistics,
Jennifer is preparing a manuscript presenting the results of her research comparing the
differences between distributing answer keys versus individualized instructor feedback on
assignments (spoiler alert: there are no significant differences in student learning between
these two methods).
Jennifer and her husband, Adam Foltz, are thrilled to be in West Chester, where they
currently reside with their charismatic cat, “The Colonel.”
Timothy Golden – Philosophy
Timothy Golden is an associate professor in the Department of Philosophy. He earned
his BS in criminal justice from West Chester University, JD from Texas Southern University, MA
in philosophy from West Chester University, and PhD in philosophy from the University of
Memphis. Dr. Golden’s dissertation is entitled Subjectivity, Onto-Theology, and the Alchemy of
Transcendence, and his areas of specialization include 19th and 20th century continental
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philosophy and critical race theory. Dr. Golden has taught as an adjunct professor at West
Chester University and Alvernia College and has been a paralegal instructor at the American
Center for Technical Arts and Sciences. His legal experience includes, for example, the Criminal
Justice Act Panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit and other trial and
appellate experience. Among his publications and presentations, he was a panelist for the April
2011 session “Frederick Douglass, Slavery and the Existential Self” at the American
Philosophical Association Central Meeting.
Belinda Haikes – Art
Belinda Haikes is an assistant professor in the Department of Art. She earned her BFA
from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, her MFA at the Pennsylvania Academy of the
Fine Arts, and her PhD in media, art, and text from Virginia Commonwealth University. Her
areas of specialization include media arts, drawing, technology and visual culture, media
theory, printmaking, book arts, and stop-motion animation. Dr. Haikes brings a wide range of
professional experience, including, for example, serving as a visiting assistant professor in
digital design at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, a member of the visual arts
faculty at the Governor’s School for Visual and Performing Arts at Christopher Newport
University (Richmond, Virginia), the administrator director of Solvent Space Gallery (Richmond),
an art teacher at Christopher Columbus Charter School (Philadelphia), a lead art instructor for
Philadelphia’s Mural Arts Summer program, and an artist in resident at the Fleischer Art
Memorial (Philadelphia). Dr. Haikes has numerous publications, presentations, and exhibits to
her credit.
Gloria Maité Hernández – Languages and Cultures
I obtained my bachelor’s degree in fine arts (BFA), with a major in theater, at the
Instituto Superior de Arte of Habana, Cuba, where I then began teaching, a profession that I
continued at the Universidad de La Habana. In 2002 I published my first theater book, La noche
de San Juan y dos monólogos, inspired by my research on Spanish mystics. That same year, I
was invited to be a writer in residence and visiting scholar at the creative writing program of
Brown University. While in Rhode Island, I also taught Spanish at a small, diversity-affirmative
high school.
I began my doctorate in Spanish at Emory University in 2005. Along with my specialty in
early modern Spanish literature, I undertook studies in religion and studied the Sanskrit
language at the American Institute of Indian Studies, in Pune, Maharashtra. My doctoral
dissertation, Presence, Absence and Divine Vision, compares the Spanish sixteenth-century text
and commentary of the Cántico espiritual by San Juan de la Cruz with the Sanskrit text Rāsa Līlā
(The dance of divine love). While at Emory I taught language courses, as well as an advanced
undergraduate seminar, “Spanish Mysticism: Absence, Memory and Desire.”
I was a 2010-2011 American dissertation fellow of the American Association of
University Women. My next projects are a translation of Rāsa Līlā from Sanskrit into Spanish
and a study on exile and mysticism based on works of selected authors from Alandalús and
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early modern Iberia. I have published in scholarly journals in the United States, Spain, and
India.
Christy Hicks – Special Education
Christy Hicks completed her PhD in special education at the University of North Carolina
at Charlotte. She is a certified special education teacher in the state of North Carolina, where
she worked in the public school system with students with disabilities in middle school and high
school. Dr. Hicks worked as a research associate at UNC Charlotte on an IES-funded project
investigating literacy for students with severe disabilities. Her research interests include
literacy and language skills for students with moderate intellectual disability, and she has
publications in Teacher Education and Special Education and the Journal of Applied Behavior
Analysis. Away from work, Dr. Hicks works on home-improvement projects, volunteers,
watches sports, and spends time with her family.
Daniel Ilaria – Mathematics
After graduating from Drew University with a math major, I pursued a teaching
certificate and degree at Rutgers University. One year later I returned to Rutgers to begin
pursuit of a PhD in math education and a master’s in math. Most of my graduate work was
part-time while I worked full-time in several school districts in New Jersey as both a high school
and middle school teacher and supervisor of mathematics. My dissertation research examined
teacher questioning that promoted mathematical conversation. During that time and through
my work in schools, I became involved with Texas Instruments as an instructor. By delivering
professional development to teachers, I have combined my interests of teacher questioning,
classroom discourse, and technology into determining ways to improve mathematics
instruction. Because of my involvement with Texas Instruments, I regularly present sessions at
regional and national conferences for TI and NCTM.
Travis Ingersoll – Undergraduate Social Work
Professor Ingersoll is a social worker and a sexual-health educator. His research
publications include cross-cultural studies regarding the fear of intimacy, gender roles, suicidal
ideation, and implementation of clinical interventions to residents of elderly communities. His
current research projects include the role of male involvement in domestic-violence agencies
and collaborative cross-cultural projects focusing on investigating connections between body
image, eating disorders, fear of intimacy, and sexual anxiety among U.S. and Chinese college
students.
As a sexuality educator, Travis has given lectures and facilitated interactive workshops in
person and via distance-learning technologies both domestically and internationally on a
variety of topics. Examples include sexual orientation, intimate relationship violence, media’s
role in the promotion of sexual violence among men, trans-realities and the gender spectrum,
how to utilize the Fear of Intimacy Scale in clinical settings, clinical social work skills, training
Chinese social workers to meet China's growing sexual health and counseling needs, and
producing sexuality scholarship in a multitasking world.
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Sojung Kim – Communicative Disorders
My name is Sojung Kim, PhD, CCC-SLP, a new assistant professor in the Department of
Communicative Disorders at West Chester University. In 2002 I completed my Master of Art in
speech language pathology at Ohio University. I worked as an early intervention provider for
the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene for four years, where I supervised
speech language pathologists and managed a caseload of 20 to 30 infants and toddlers per
year. In 2006 I started working on my PhD degree engaging in research endeavors as part of
the Infant Child Research Programs in the Department of Speech and Hearing Science at
Arizona State University. After completion of my PhD in summer 2010, I continued my own
research, supervised graduate clinicians, and taught undergraduate and graduate classes as a
postdoctoral fellow at Arizona State University.
My research thus far has looked at the role of caregiver verbal responsivity in
intervention with young children with language delay. I have also examined the early
intervention providers’ different teaching techniques at home versus center (e.g., coaching and
modeling). My dissertation explored the relationship between the developmental trajectories
of very young children’s vocabulary learning and their emergent literacy skills and examined the
role of parental influences on the relationship. Goals of my future research include continued
study of early intervention, caregiver responsivity in intervention, children’s emergent literacy
skills and their predictors, and analytic research methodology.
Curry Malott – Professional and Secondary Education
Curry Stephenson Malott is assistant professor of educational foundations in the
Department of Professional and Secondary Education. With John Elmore (WCU) and Bradley
Porfilio (Lewis University), Dr. Malott is co-founder of Critical Theories in the Twenty-First
Century: A Conference of Transformative Pedagogies at West Chester University. Dr. Malott has
authored, co-authored, and co-edited eight books and numerous book chapters and peerreviewed journal articles. His most recent books include Teaching Joe L. Kincheloe (Peter Lang,
2011), edited with Rochelle Brock and Leila Villaverde; Critical Pedagogy in the Twenty-First
Century: A New Generation of Scholars (Information Age, 2011), edited with Bradley Porfilio;
and Critical Pedagogy and Cognition: An Introduction to a Postformal Educational Psychology
(Springer, 2011). Focusing on critical studies from an interdisciplinary perspective, Dr. Malott’s
scholarship is always situated in a global, social movement context. In addition to authoring
and editing books and essays, Dr. Malott runs a series for Information Age Publishing, Critical
Constructions: Studies on Education and Society, which includes five books by leading scholars
in the field.
Originally from southern Ohio and raised in Corvallis Oregon, Dr. Malott did his
undergraduate work in both Oregon and Ohio but completed both of his graduate degrees in
southern New Mexico at New Mexico State University. In 1998 he completed a master’s degree
in sociology, and in 2004 a PhD in curriculum and instruction. After completing his PhD, Dr.
Malott began working at Brooklyn College/CUNY and then took a position at D’Youville College,
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in Buffalo, New York. After nearly five years in Buffalo, Dr. Malott returned to New York City to
work at Queens College/CUNY for a year before coming to WCU.
Gregory Martin – Music Education
M. Gregory Martin (Greg) received a Bachelor of Music Education degree from Eastern
Kentucky University, a Master of Musical Arts degree from James Madison University, and a
Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Texas at Austin. He is currently an
assistant professor of music education/associate director of bands at West Chester University.
Prior to this appointment, Dr. Martin completed a six-year tenure as the director of athletic
bands and assistant director of bands at Florida International University, in Miami, Florida. His
past teaching experience includes four years as the assistant director for the Longhorn Band
and lecturer in the School of Music at the University of Texas at Austin, 14 years in the Florida
and Virginia public school systems, and two years as a teaching assistant at James Madison
University, in Harrisonburg, Virginia.
In addition to his public school and collegiate teaching duties, Greg has also served as an
instructor and visual coordinator for several world-caliber drum and bugle corps. He has
extensive experience as an adjudicator and clinician in the United States and Puerto Rico and is
the visual drill designer for several high school and college bands around the country (including
the University of Michigan and the University of Texas at Austin). Greg is a member of the
College Band Director’s National Association, National Band Association, College Music Society,
Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, Kappa Kappa Psi, and Tau Beta Sigma. He will serve as faculty sponsor
for the local chapters of the latter two fraternities. His partner of 17 years is Russ Spaid, a
motion graphic designer who lives and works in New York City.
Donald McCown – Health
In the past decade, Don has made a lot of transitions. In 2002, he made an exit from the
business world after a 28-year career as a creative executive in the advertising industry. He
earned master’s degrees in applied meditation studies (Won Institute of Graduate Studies) and
social work (Bryn Mawr College) and completed the most advanced trainings in MindfulnessBased Stress Reduction (MBSR) at UMASS Medical School’s Center for Mindfulness. He is
completing a PhD in social science through the Taos Institute and Tilburg University, with a
dissertation on ethics in the mindfulness-based interventions.
He has been director of mindfulness at Work Programs at Thomas Jefferson University’s
Mindfulness Institute and a lecturer in their School of Health Professions while maintaining a
practice in mindfulness-based psychotherapy. He is primary author of Teaching Mindfulness: A
Practical Guide for Clinicians and Educators (Springer, 2010), and of the forthcoming New World
Mindfulness: From the Founding Fathers, Emerson, and Thoreau to Your Personal Practice,
(Healing Arts Press) and Ethical Dimensions of Mindfulness in Clinical Practice (Jessica Kingsley).
Don lives in a twin house full of books and records (yes, vinyl!) in Bryn Mawr with his
wife of 35 years, Gail. They have a 28-year-old daughter, Lizzie. Both Gail and Lizzie work in the
Lower Merion Public Library system. Besides collecting books and music, Don’s interests
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include hiking, vegetarian cooking, animal rescue (3 cats, 1 dog, 1 opening!), and occasionally
slowing down at “the backup plan,” a log cabin in New York’s Southern Tier.
Thomas Miller – Economics and Finance
Thomas Miller is an assistant professor in the Department of Economics and Finance.
He earned his BS in business administration and MBA with a finance concentration from
Villanova University. His PhD in finance is from the Pennsylvania State University Smeal College
of Business. Dr. Miller’s research interests include corporate finance, dividend and payout
policy, financial markets, mergers and acquisitions, investments, and derivatives. His articles
have been published in the Journal of Trading and in the series Advances in Quantitative
Analysis of Finance and Accounting.
Joseph Navitsky – English
Joseph Navitsky joins the West Chester University English Department after earning his
PhD in literature from Boston University in 2007 and teaching at the University of Southern
Mississippi until May 2011. He has also spent time in Philadelphia (where he earned his
undergraduate degree from Saint Joseph’s University); London; Baltimore; Washington, D.C.;
and Columbus, Ohio. His research examines religious conflict and the rise of professional
writing in early modern England, and he is currently completing a book manuscript on the topic.
He has earned fellowships from the Folger Shakespeare Library and the University of TexasAustin English Department. Joseph teaches Shakespeare, drama, British literary history, and
composition.
William Nessly – English
William Nessly is an assistant professor in the Department of English. He earned his BA
at Swarthmore College, an MA in English at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and his
doctorate in English at the University of Pennsylvania. His primary interests are Asian American
literature, colonial and postcolonial literature and theory, transnational approaches to
American literature, and the novel. His dissertation is titled Rewriting the Rising Sun: Narrative
Authority and Japanese Imperialism in Asian American Literature. Prior to joining the faculty at
WCU, Dr. Nessly taught courses at the University of Pennsylvania and Swarthmore College. He
also taught high school in New Orleans with Teach For America and in Japan with the JET
Program.
Bradley Olesen – Music Education
Bradley Olesen is an assistant professor in the Department of Music Education. He
earned his BA in piano performance and MM in performance-choral conducting from Texas
Tech University. His PhD in music education, with a choral conducting cognate, is from the
University of Miami Frost School of Music. Before coming to West Chester University, Dr.
Olesen was an assistant professor of music education in the Louisiana State University College
of Music and Dramatic Arts. Among the several presentations and articles to his credit, Dr.
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Olesen’s doctoral dissertation, The Impact of Musical Background, Choral Conducting Training
and Music Teaching Style on the Choral Warm-up Philosophy and Practices of Successful High
School Choral Directors, was selected for presentation at the 2010 International Society for
Music Education World Conference, Beijing, China. Included in his many research interests are
synesthesia among students with absolute pitch, service-learning and its impact upon college
freshman, and advocacy in music education. Brad also just discovered the joy of fly-fishing.
Eric Owens – Counselor Education
Eric W. Owens attended the University of Pittsburgh, where he earned his BA in
communications and political science. He later earned his MA from Indiana University of
Pennsylvania in student affairs in higher education and continued his studies in community and
school counseling at Duquesne University, in Pittsburgh. He recently earned his PhD in
counselor education and supervision from Duquesne University. He served as an adjunct
faculty member at both the University of Pittsburgh and Duquesne University, where he taught
undergraduate honors seminars and graduate-level courses in both school counseling and
addictions counseling.
Owens is a Nationally Certified Counselor and an Approved Clinical Supervisor and is
certified as a Secondary School Counselor by the Pennsylvania Department of Education. He
has presented both regionally and nationally on issues related to trauma, post-traumatic stress
disorder, and solution-focused approaches to trauma treatment. His most recent scholarly
activity has focused on training future counselors to approach their work from a positivist,
solution-focused approach. He has also published book chapters on issues related to campus
and workplace violence and multicultural issues in the counseling field. He has worked as a
counselor in collegiate and secondary school settings, most recently as the director of
counseling services at a private high school in Pittsburgh.
When not teaching or researching, Owens is likely spending time with his wife and fiveyear-old son. An avid sports fan and participant, he is likely to be feverishly debating the
virtues of the Pittsburgh Penguins to anyone within earshot.
David Pedersen – Economics and Finance
David Pedersen is an assistant professor in the Economics and Finance Department. He
holds a BS from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and is currently
completing his doctorate at Drexel University. At Drexel, he taught undergraduate and MBA
courses in corporate finance and investments and received the 2010 LeBow College of Business
Outstanding PhD Student Instructor Award. His research interests surround corporate
governance and include ownership structures, mergers and acquisitions, and boards of
directors. He has published in the Journal of Empirical Legal Studies.
Meghan Peirce – Communication Studies
Dr. L. Meghan Peirce is an assistant professor of new and social media in the
Department of Communication Studies. Her research focuses on entertainment-education for
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social change, participatory new and social media, communication for development and public
health, and International media studies. Meghan’s work has been presented at over 35
conferences around the world, including in Botswana, Singapore, Portugal, Sweden, and
Germany. Her research has recently been published in the Journal of Media and
Communication Studies and the Journal of Television and New Media, and she serves on the
editorial board of the Journal of AIDS and HIV Research. She was also awarded a grant from the
American Cancer Society in 2010 to improve communication between physicians and patients
in the rural Appalachian region through new media.
Meghan received her BA from York College of Pennsylvania in 2006, her MA from West
Chester University in 2008, and a PhD from Ohio University’s School of Media Arts & Studies in
2011. Her dissertation, Botswana’s Makgabaneng: An Audience Reception Study of an
Edutainment Soap Drama, serves as a holistic analysis of a serial radio soap drama that
addresses critical HIV/AIDS awareness messages and behavior change issues in Botswana,
where she worked as an intern during the summer of 2009. She returned in 2010 to conduct
fieldwork to better understand the kinds of meanings and relationships audiences derive in real
life from edutainment content.
She will be teaching Introduction to Social Media and Introduction to Public Speaking in
the fall.
Patricia Powell – Applied Music
Patricia Powell is an assistant professor of piano and piano pedagogy in the Department
of Applied Music. She also serves as the Applied Division assistant chair for the keyboard area.
Her Bachelor of Music in piano performance is from the University of Florida. Her MA in music
honours is from Oxford University, England, and her MM in piano performance is from the
University of Southern California. Dr. Powell earned her Doctor of Musical Arts in piano at the
Catholic University of America. She has performed in many recitals and concerts, including a
number at West Chester University. In addition, she is the author of several publications and
presentations and is involved in numerous WCU, regional, and national service activities related
to her discipline.
James Pruitt – Chemistry
Having been born in Los Angeles, I initially did not want to stray too far from home. I
chose UCLA for my PhD degree and worked on nucleophilic additions to iminium salts to form
alkaloids. While at UCLA, I married a fellow graduate student in biochemistry, who likes to
travel. I then went to the University of Rochester on a NIH postdoctoral fellowship, working on
ring closure reactions to synthesize macrocyclic antibiotics. We moved to Delaware and I
started my pharmaceutical career with DuPont. I worked on several successful projects
including antihypertensives, leading to the marketing of Cozaar®, and Factor Xa anticoagulants,
leading to Eliquis®, which is finishing Phase III clinical trials. I have also worked with two small,
local biotechnology companies, Incyte and Cytokine PharmaSciences.
I started my academic career five years ago at Delaware Technical and Community
College, teaching freshman and organic chemistry. During my tenure there, I have tried to
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demonstrate to my students the rigors of bench chemistry along with the excitement of making
therapies to alleviate suffering. I plan to continue my research in the synthesis of antiinflammatory drugs while at WCU. In my spare time, I am working on my Certificate in
Ornamental Horticulture at Longwood Gardens and traveling the world with my wife, enjoying
other cultures and working on photography.
Melissa Reed – Kinesiology
Dr. Melissa A. Reed is an assistant professor in the Department of Kinesiology. She
earned her BS in exercise physiology from East Stroudsburg University. She then completed her
MA in exercise science from East Carolina University, in Greenville, North Carolina. She also
completed her PhD in bioenergetics and exercise science from East Carolina University. Dr.
Reed’s dissertation work focused on the reversal of Type 2 diabetes following bariatric surgery,
and her primary areas of research interest are obesity and metabolic disorders.
Before coming to West Chester University, Dr. Reed taught at Pitt Community College
(Greenville, N.C.) and East Carolina University. She is certified as a Clinical Exercise Specialist by
the American College of Sports Medicine and is a member of the American College of Sports
Medicine and the American Physiological Society. Dr. Reed has published in journals such as
the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, Obesity Surgery, and the American
Journal of Physiology. She enjoys spending time with her husband and two boys and
swimming, biking, and running.
Xiaojun Ruan – Computer Science
Xiaojun Ruan received his PhD degree from the Department of Computer Science and
Software Engineering, Samuel Ginn College of Engineering, at Auburn University, 2011. He
received his BS degree in computer science and technology from Shandong University, Jinan,
China, in 2005. His research interests mainly focus on energy-efficient storage systems, parallel
and distributed systems, computer security, and solid state drives. He is going to work for the
Computer Science Department as an assistant professor.
Elizabeth Ruchti – Philosophy
Elizabeth Simon Ruchti studies performances of normative masculinity in everyday life
by drawing on gender and queer theories, Hegelian and Foucauldian dialectics, performance
studies, and film studies. She earned her MA in performance studies from NYU and her PhD in
interdisciplinary arts from Ohio University. Dr. Ruchti has taught women’s studies and the
performing and visual arts at a variety of institutions and, over the last four years, has taught
theatre, women’s and gender studies, queer theory, transgender theory, and philosophy and
film here at West Chester University. Dr. Ruchti has published and presented papers on queer
theory, theatre, film, masculinity studies, Plato’s philosophy of the Forms, and Mormon culture
and theology. In her current project, she compares the 1969 and 2010 adaptations of the novel
True Grit to make sense of John Wayne’s impact on American masculinity.
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Aaron Rundus – Psychology
I received my doctorate in animal behavior in January of 2007 with an emphasis on the
role of psychobiological processes in communicative behavior. Following my graduate studies I
was a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where I examined the
evolution of complex multimodal signaling in spiders of the genus Schizocosa. After the
completion of my postdoctoral work, I spent two years in Rwanda studying the behavioral
ecology and signaling behavior of a small population of chimpanzees. After returning from the
field, I served as a visiting assistant professor in the Psychology Department at Bucknell
University.
My research broadly investigates the role of sensory processes in the function and
evolution of communicative behavior. Specifically, I am interested in multimodal signaling,
communicative signals that incorporate two or more components from different modalities.
For example, when people talk to one another they often do so multi-modally with sounds and
visual gestures. My research seeks to understand how this type of multimodality evolved and
currently functions as opposed to the use of unimodal signals. To address these questions I use
several model species including rattlesnakes and ground squirrels, wolf spiders, and
chimpanzees.
Matthew Shea – Management
Matthew Shea is a research fellow in the Willis Research Network, where he investigates
the financial materiality of sustainability as it concerns environmental, social, and governance
(ESG) factors. This effort follows the publication of The Global State of Sustainable Insurance by
the Insurance Working Group of the United Nations’ Environmental Program’s (UNEP) Finance
Initiative, where Matthew Shea served as the lead researcher. His other research interests
include social entrepreneurship and not-for-profit management. He has published in the
Journal of Social Entrepreneurship and presented his research at the Academy of Management
and the Babson College Entrepreneurship Research Conference. In 2010, Matthew Shea
received the Turnaround Management Association Scholarship for research about the for-profit
conversions of not-for-profit entities.
Matthew Shea is earning his doctorate from Temple University. He received his MBA
and MHA from the University of Pittsburgh and his BA in economics from Connecticut College.
He worked for twelve years at a not-for-profit, assisted-living community in West Chester.
Chui Kian (Esther) Smidt – Languages and Cultures
As a product of English as a Second Language (ESL) in Malaysia, I have had the good
fortune to pursue this passion in Malaysia, England, and the United States. As a result, I am
keenly aware of the international nature of ESL. Now that I am a TESOL (Teaching English to
Speakers of Other Languages) professional in the United States, this awareness has been
demonstrated in my research interest in immigrant identity and more recently in computerassisted language learning. My latest research studies focus on (1) digital language labs and (2)
technology integration in classroom-based, hybrid, and online environments. I am looking
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forward to both furthering my research agenda and discovering common interests with my
colleagues and conducting collaborative research.
I have always believed that teaching and research share a reciprocal relationship. For
me, I conduct research because I teach. I enjoy getting to know students from a variety of
backgrounds and observing how the diverse backgrounds of these students enrich their
learning in the classroom. Here at WCU, I am especially looking forward to sharing my love for
TESOL with all teacher candidates, as represented by the new LAN 382 course (Teaching English
Language Learners PK-12) being offered.
I know that I am in for an exciting year ahead.
Larry Smiglewski – Theatre and Dance
Larry Smiglewski, a New Jersey native, holds a BA in theatre from Marymount
Manhattan College, an MS in elementary education from Mercy College, and an MFA in
directing from the University of Houston. Larry worked on the Tony Award-winning revival of
Stephen Sondheim's Company through the SDCF Program and has worked on the national tour
of White Christmas and directed and stage managed throughout the country. For the past
three summers Larry has worked as the production stage manager of the Forestburgh
Playhouse, a professional theatre in the Catskills, where he has also directed productions of I
Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change and Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story. He held the title of
artistic director of Jersey Productions, where some of his directing credits included Dreamgirls,
West Side Story, The Fantasticks, and Ragtime, which won a 2006 Cincinnati Entertainment
Award.
Prior to joining the WCU family, Larry was an assistant professor of theatre at Sam
Houston State University, in Huntsville, Texas, where he taught play directing, acting, and stage
management courses, and directed productions of Thoroughly Modern Millie, Nine, Dog Sees
God, and Doubt. As a member of the 2002 New York City Teaching Fellows Program, Larry
worked as a 5th grade teacher at P.S. 89 in the Bronx and was highlighted as one of the Top New
Teachers of the Year by then First Lady Laura Bush. Larry is a proud member of Actors Equity
Association.
Kate Stewart – Art
Kate Stewart is a visual artist and an assistant professor in the Department of Art. Her
work focuses on traditional practices in a variety of media including painting, installation, and
collage. She earned her BA in painting and art history from Dickinson College and her MFA
from the University of Pennsylvania. Since 2006, Professor Stewart has been an adjunct
instructor at West Chester University, where she has taught drawing and painting from
foundations to capstone. She also brings teaching experience as an adjunct and visiting
instructor at Dickinson College and the University of Pennsylvania. Her work has been
exhibited nationally and internationally in solo and group exhibitions; she has recently had work
shown in New York, Philadelphia, Atlanta, and London.
Stewart is an artist member of the Philadelphia artist collective Vox Populi, and her work
was part of an alternative art exhibition at TATE Modern in London in 2010 called No Soul For
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Sale: A Festival of Independents. She was a finalist for the PEW grant for artists in 2008,
received a Fleisher Challenge exhibition in 2005, and participated in artist residencies at
Vermont Studio Center in 2002 and 40th Street Artist in Residence in Philadelphia in 2006. Her
work has been featured in the publication New American Paintings in 2003 and 2008. She has
been a visiting artist, lecturer, and juror at many universities in the region. In addition to being
represented by Vox Populi Gallery, Stewart is also represented by Pageant Soloveev Gallery, in
Philadelphia.
Jane Tucker – Criminal Justice
Jane Tucker is an assistant professor in the Department of Criminal Justice. She earned
her undergraduate degree in secondary education from Valley Forge Christian College and her
MS in criminal justice from West Chester University. This fall she will complete her PhD in
criminal justice from Temple University, for which her dissertation is entitled Police Willingness
to Use Stress Intervention Services: Barriers to Service and Perceived Organizational Support.
Among her teaching experience, she has taught as an adjunct professor at Kutztown and
Temple Universities. She also brings experience as a police officer at Cheyney University, patrol
officer at Philadelphia University, and police officer with the Lower Merion Township Police
Department, for which she was a field training officer and platoon investigator. She is the
author of several publications and presentations. Among her honors, she has twice been
awarded a Lower Merion Township Police Department Certificate of Merit.
Larry Udell – Philosophy
Larry Udell joins the faculty of the West Chester University Department of Philosophy
after serving the department as an adjunct instructor since 1999. He brings additional teaching
experience from Youngstown State University, Butler County Community College, Kent State
University, and Walsh College. His BA, MA, and PhD in philosophy are from the Ohio State
University. Among his areas of specialization are social and political philosophy, with an
emphasis on the philosophy of economics; applied ethics, with an emphasis on business ethics;
the philosophy of the social sciences; and the philosophy of law. His numerous professional
presentations and publications include the book Ten Philosophies that Shook the World: An
Economical Introduction to Philosophy (Kendall/Hunt, 2009). Dr. Udell is the current vice
president of the Pennsylvania Intrastate Association of Philosophy and Religious Studies. His
current research focuses on the importance of full employment in a just society.
Chun-Chen (Liz) Wang – Marketing
Liz Wang joins the Department of Marketing in August of 2011 as an associate
professor. Prior to entering academia, she worked in the marketing industry for several years.
She earned her PhD in marketing from the University of Texas at Arlington and her MBA from
Baruch College, City University of New York. Her dissertation is entitled The Role of
Atmospherics in E-tailing. Her research focuses on Internet marketing, retailing, and service.
She has a number of publications and presentations to her credit. Her article published in the
Journal of Marketing received the Emerald Award for one of the top 50 business articles in
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2007. Previously, she taught undergraduate and graduate marketing courses at two
universities in Texas for seven years. In her free time she enjoys traveling, camping, and
spending time with her family.
Melissa Whidden – Kinesiology
Dr. Melissa Whidden joins the Department of Kinesiology in August 2011 as an assistant
professor following her postdoctoral training in the Department of Pharmacology and
Therapeutics at the University of Florida. She will be teaching Exercise Physiology and Lifetime
Fitness Concepts in the exercise science discipline. Dr. Whidden attended the University at
Buffalo, the State University of New York, and earned a BS in exercise science and MS in applied
physiology. She received her PhD in exercise physiology from the University of Florida. While
at the University of Florida, she received a National Institutes of Health T32 pre-doctoral
fellowship and a National Institute on Aging T32 post-doctoral fellowship. Her main research
interests include the role of oxidative stress with age and muscle atrophy. While she has
recently studied both the vascular and central nervous systems, her true passion remains with
muscle research.
Dr. Whidden has contributed to 20 journal publications and has published in the Journal
of Applied Physiology, CHEST, and the Journal of Hypertension, among other professional
journals. Her teaching background involves both undergraduate- and graduate-level courses in
exercise physiology and physical education. She is a member of the American College of Sports
Medicine and the American Physiological Society. In her free time, Dr. Whidden enjoys
spending time outdoors with her husband, son, and extended family.
ADMINISTRATORS
Rui Li – Executive Director for Distance Education
Dr. Rui Li has a PhD in curriculum and instruction with a concentration in instructional
technology from the University of Texas at Austin. Prior to assuming her position at West
Chester University, she served as the director of instructional technology at Saint Anselm
College, in Manchester, N.H. Her group supported the college’s distance-education initiatives
and promoted the effective use and integration of technology into the curriculum. She is an
accomplished scholar in the field of distance education and instructional technology. She has
published regularly in peer-reviewed journals and has presented at multiple national and
international conferences. She is also active in teaching and has taught a number of face-toface and online courses, both nationally and internationally. Dr. Li is ready to bring new and
innovative approaches for increasing West Chester University’s competitiveness in the distanceeducation market.
Kenneth Witmer – Dean, College of Education
Kenneth Witmer has joined West Chester University as dean of the College of
Education. Dr. Witmer comes to WCU from Frostburg State University, Maryland. He brings
extensive experience and success in academic leadership roles, including serving as a
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department chair, associate dean, interim dean, and dean. Dr. Witmer began his education
career as a physics and physical science teacher at Middletown High School in Frederick County,
Maryland. He went on to create a science program and teach at a residential school for
emotionally challenged young people in Virginia. After completing his doctorate, Dr. Witmer
taught educational research and statistics, E & M physics, and human growth and development
at the University of Maryland College Park, and later at Frostburg State University, where after
13 years as a faculty member, he began his tenure as a student-oriented, education
administrator. Among Dr. Witmer’s strengths are his strong grasp of issues facing education
and his vision for the College of Education, including urban education, grants, and distance
education. He received his MA in educational sociology and PhD in education policy, planning,
and administration from the University of Maryland.
David Wright – Assistant Vice President for International Programs
Dr. David Wright completed his BA in speech communication and German at the
University of Northern Colorado (1986) and his MA in German studies and foreign language
pedagogy at the University of Arizona (1992) and has studied in Berlin, Cologne, and
Regensburg. He received his PhD from the University of Arizona (1997), where he specialized in
second-language acquisition and teaching. His research interests lie in the areas of
international education, as well as second-language learning and cross-cultural training. He has
lectured and published widely on those topics. Between 1998 and 2003 he served as the
director of business German in the Department of Germanic Studies at the University of Texas
at Austin. David spent the 2001/2002 academic year as a guest professor for applied linguistics
at the top-ranked European school of business, in Reutlingen, Germany. Between 2003 and
2011, he directed the Office of Study Abroad and Student Exchange at the University of
Arizona. In July 2011, David joined West Chester University to serve as assistant vice president
for international programs. In his free time he enjoys learning about new cultures and
languages, listening to world music, hiking, cycling, and exploring outdoor activities in SE
Pennsylvania.