Category: News

Seven members of Stetson University’s faculty have recently earned tenure and/or promotion. The new status for these faculty members will be effective August 2014, with the start of the 2014-15 academic year.

“The heart of the academic enterprise is led by Stetson’s outstanding faculty,” said Provost Elizabeth Paul, who made the announcement. “Stetson’s learning community is enriched by teacher-scholar faculty who inspire a love of lifelong learning in our students at the same time they are vibrant lifelong learners themselves. The seven faculty whom the University is recognizing exemplify this distinctive commitment. We celebrate their accomplishments, inspiration and impact.”

Jason Bent – Promotion to Associate Professor of Law Professor Bent joined the College of Law in 2011 and teaches in the areas of employment law and civil procedures.  His scholarly interests include systemic theories of employment discrimination, workplace safety regulation, and law and economics.  His recent articles have been selected for publication in the Ohio State Law Journal, the Denver University Law Review, the Tennessee Law Review and the Michigan Journal of Law Reform.  Bent graduated magna cum laude from the University of Michigan Law School, where he served as notes editor of the Michigan Law Review and was a member of the Order of the Coif. Following law school, he served as judicial clerk to Judge Cornelia Kennedy of the U. S. Court of Appeals for the 6^th Circuit and Judge Joan B. Gottschall of the U. S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. In private practice he became a principal and shareholder of Smith & Bent P. C., where he practiced employment law and environmental litigation.

Ramee Indralingam – Promotion to Professor of Chemistry Dr. Indralingam holds a Ph.D. in analytical chemistry from the University of Florida and has a B.S. in chemistry from the University of Colombo, Sri Lanka. Her research interests include innovative experiential learning of chemical principles and analysis of exotic spices for their flavor compounds. Her teaching includes General Chemistry I and II, Analytical Chemistry and Instrumental Analysis. Indralingam has published extensively in the Journal of Chemical Education and Chemical Educator.

Daniel Plante – Promotion to Professor of Mathematics and Computer Science Professor Plante holds a Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Notre Dame, and M.E. in Computer Science from North Carolina State University and a B.S. in Physics from Marlboro College. He enjoys teaching and working with students on research projects that cover the broader areas of web application development, software engineering, mobile application development, artificial intelligence, computational science and security. Plante also enjoys crossing disciplinary boundaries and collaborating with students and faculty in mathematics, business, economics and other fields which require a computational approach. He believes students learn best by actively performing tasks associated with the material covered in class rather than passively listening during a lecture. His classes tend to require students to directly engage during class by working through problems, designs and development of software.

Mark Powell – Awarded tenure and promotion to Associate Professor of English Mark Powell, M.F.A., an author, has received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Breadloaf Writers’ Conference, the Collegeville Center for Ecumenical Research and the Vaclav Havel fellowship in playwriting to the Prague Seminar. Powell has won a Fulbright Scholarship Award for 2014-15, allowing him to teach at Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra in the country of Slovakia. He has served as a craft class instructor at the Breadloaf and on the faculty of the Appalachian Writers’ Conference. For the past three years he has taught a fiction workshop at Lawtey Correctional Institution, a level II prison in Raiford, FL. His fiction, essays and reviews have appeared in a number of journals, including Still, Ellipsis, Rivendell, the New Delta Review, Appalachian Heritage, American Polymath, the South Carolina Review and Yemassee.  He was the featured artist in the winter 2012 issue of Appalachian Heritage, in which two excerpts from The Dark Corner, as well as a critical appraisal of his previous work appears. Powell holds an M.A.R. from Yale Divinity School, an M.F.A. from the University of South Carolina and a B.A. from The Citadel.

Ciara Torres-Spelliscy – Promotion to Associate Professor of Law Professor Torres-Spelliscy teaches courses in Election Law, Corporate Governance, and Constitutional Law. Prior to joining Stetson’s faculty, she was counsel in the Democracy Program of the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law where she provided guidance on the issues of money in politics and the judiciary to state and federal lawmakers. She researches and speaks publicly on campaign finance law as well as judicial selection. In 2013, Torres-Spelliscy was named as a member of the Lawyers of Color’s “50 Under 50” list of minority law professors making an impact in legal education. She is a member of the Board of Directors of the National Institute on Money in State Politics and a Brennan Center Fellow.  She holds a J.D. from Columbia School of Law and an A.B. from Harvard University.

Thomas Vogel – Awarded tenure and promotion to Associate Professor of Mathematics and Computer Science Dr. Vogel holds a Ph.D. in mathematics; M.S. in applied mathematics, and B.S. in mathematics from the University of Central Florida. He also holds a B.S. in physics from UCF. His research interests include differential equations, mathematical physics and dynamical systems. Vogel currently teaches Calculus I and II, Partial Differential Equations, Great Ideas in Mathematics, and Ordinary Differential Equations. In May 2011 he received the First Year Student Advocate Award for his support of first year students at Stetson University. Vogel’s latest publication, “Establishing the Onset, and Parameter and Spatial Domains of Chaos in a Smooth Quadratic Autonomous System Using Sil’nikov Criteria and Competitive Mode Analysis” was published in Discontinuity, Nonlinearity, and Complexity.

Matt Wilson – Awarded tenure and promoted to Associate Professor of Sport Business Dr. Wilson holds an Ed.D. from the University of Georgia and has worked in higher education since 1998. His research area focuses on issues in intercollegiate athletics. His work has been presented at several international conferences, published in professional journals as well as documented in media outlets including Time Magazine, USA Today, and Inside Higher Education. Wilson has several years of practical sport management work experience in intercollegiate athletics, the 1996 Summer Olympic Games and Augusta National Golf Club. He teaches Introduction to Sport Business and Social and Ethical Issues in Sport.

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With an historic record-setting undergraduate enrollment at more than 1,000 first-time college students, and almost 100 transfer students, Stetson University begins the 2015-16 academic year welcoming a total of 21 tenure-track and visiting full-time professors, in all four colleges and schools, the duPont-Ball Library and the University Writing Center.

College of Arts and Sciences:

“We have recruited a group of nine extraordinary teacher-scholars to join the Stetson community this year,” explained Karen Ryan, Ph.D., dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. “They will help us advance the mission of the College, supporting interdisciplinary programs and engaging our students in experiential learning and undergraduate research. I’m very happy to welcome them to the College and to the University.”

These faculty members in Arts and Sciences include Robert Askew, Ph.D., assistant professor of Psychology; Dengke Chen, assistant professor of Digital Arts; Christopher de Bodisco, Ph.D., assistant professor of Economics; Joyce Mundy, Ed.D., assistant professor of Education; Michele Camden, visiting assistant professor of Psychology; Brown Teacher-Scholar in Counselor Education Lamerial Jacobson, Ph.D.; Lynn Kee, Ph.D., visiting assistant professor of Biology; Thomas Vogel, Ph.D., visiting assistant professor of Physics; and Ken Thorson, Ph.D., visiting professor of Integrative Health Science.

“All of these professors are of the highest caliber and their backgrounds will offer a great deal of enrichment to Stetson students,” Ryan said. 

School of Music:

The School of Music is adding two new professors to its classrooms as well as a full-time visiting professor.

“In naming Jared Rawlings, Ph.D., as assistant professor and director of the Music Education program, Stetson is making a deep commitment to the training of young music educators who will have a powerful impact on music education in the state of Florida and throughout the nation,” said Thomas Masse, D.M.A., dean of the Stetson University School of Music. “The appointment of Peter Smucker as assistant professor of Music Theory, continues our commitment to a rigorous undergraduate academic music curriculum.” Additionally, Tammara Phillips, D.M., will be joining the faculty full-time as visiting lecturer in Music.

School of Business Administration: 

The Stetson School of Business Administration welcomes two new tenure-track faculty members and two visiting assistant professors this year.

“Professor of Leadership Ram Subramanian will enhance Stetson’s executive M.B.A. program and will support case research being conducted by many of our faculty members,” explained B. Madhu Rao, Ph.D., associate dean of Undergraduate Programs in Business and professor of Decision Sciences. “Assistant Professor of Family Enterprise and Entrepreneurship Isabel Botero, Ph.D., will add to the strength of our signature programs in family enterprise and the Family Enterprise Center.”

William Sause, Ph.D., and Serina Haddad, Ph.D., are slated to serve as visiting assistant professors of Decision and Information Sciences in the School of Business Administration.

College of Law: 

Stetson University’s College of Law will welcome three visiting professors this fall: Carliss Chatman, J.D.; Michael Oeser, J.D., LL.M.; and Gail Richmond, J.D.

“I am thrilled to welcome new faculty members to enrich the academic experience for our students at the College of Law,” said Dean of the College of Law Christopher Pietruszkiewicz, J.D., LL.M., and professor of Law. “In the next academic year, visiting faculty members from a wide range of backgrounds will be joining us as we continue to provide a curriculum that prepares our students for their professional careers.”

duPont-Ball Library:

New to Stetson’s du-Pont Ball Library this year will be Grace Kaletski, assistant professor, Learning and Information Literacy Librarian.

“Professor Kaletski has a passion for incorporating emerging technologies, active learning and information literacy to her instruction sessions,” said Susan Ryan, dean of the Library and Learning Technologies. “She is a great fit for our mission and vision. With her skill set she should make some significant contributions to teaching and learning, collaboration and innovation.”

University Writing Center: 

Taking the helm as Director of Stetson’s Writing Center and Assistant Director of the Writing Program at Stetson University is Leigh Ann Dunning. “Leigh Ann’s experience, expertise, and education make her the best choice for the leadership of the Writing Center,” said Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs John Pearson, Ph.D., professor of English. “She has very strong interpersonal skills, a strong liberal arts background with a solid understanding of professional education, and she is deeply committed to student learning.”

By Trish Wieland

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Nine members of Stetson University’s faculty have recently earned tenure and/or promotion. The new status for these faculty will be effective August 2016 with the start of the 2016-2017 academic year.

“It is an honor and a pleasure to celebrate the accomplishments of these teacher-scholars,” said Provost Elizabeth Paul, who made the announcement. “I am grateful to our teacher-scholar faculty for inspiring our students’ love of lifelong learning.  Please join me in celebrating their important achievements.”

Shahram Amiri – Promoted to Professor of Decision and Information Sciences

Shahram Amiri, Ph.D., is professor and chair of the Department of Decision and Information Sciences at Stetson University’s School of Business Administration. He is a faculty member with Salzburg Seminars in Salzburg Austria http://www.salzburgseminar.org .

As a CIO and a senior executive for over 25 years, he has provided leadership and direction for large IT organizations at four different institutions of higher learning: Norfolk State University, Christopher Newport University, Williams College, and Stetson University. In each case, he posted a track record of successful, cost-effective and productive IT innovation and implementation.

Because of his strong commitment to serving the community and state, he founded and served as President and Chief Executive Officer of the Institute for the Study of Digital Inclusion (ISDI); a (501c3) Nonprofit Organization. ISDI’s mission is to promote the use of effective and affordable technology and enhance individual lives. Over 1000 students (2003-2011) from underserved communities in the state of Florida graduated from the Institute (The Make-It-Take-It After School Program) where they learned internet literacy and built and received their own computers.

Amiri has taught at Stetson University since 2003. His research includes the impact of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) on E-commerce, E-health, E-learning, E-government, socio-economics and Gross Domestic Product. His writing has been published in many academic and scientific journals including: International Journal of Applied Science and Technology, AI &Society, IBM Journal of Research and Development and International Journal of Business, Humanities and Technology, China-USA Business Review, and Business Review Cambridge.

Jason R. Bent – Tenured as Associate Professor of Law

Associate Professor Bent joined Stetson Law in 2011 and teaches in the areas of employment law and civil procedure. Professor Bent’s scholarly interests include systemic theories of employment discrimination, workplace safety regulation, and law and economics. His recent articles have been selected for publication in the Connecticut Law Review, the Ohio State Law Journal, the Buffalo Law Review, the Denver University Law Review, the Tennessee Law Review and the Michigan Journal of Law Reform.  Prior to joining the faculty at Stetson, Professor Bent was a Shughart Fellow and visiting assistant professor at the Penn State University Dickinson School of Law.

Professor Bent graduated magna cum laude from the University of Michigan Law School, where he served as a notes editor of the Michigan Law Review and was a member of the Order of the Coif. Professor Bent earned his bachelor’s degree in economics, with honors, from Grinnell College. Following law school, Professor Bent served as a judicial clerk to Judge Cornelia Kennedy of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit and Judge Joan B. Gottschall of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.  Following his clerkships, Professor Bent practiced in the Labor and Employment and Appellate Practice Groups with Foley & Lardner LLP.  He later became a principal and shareholder of Smith & Bent P.C., where he practiced employment law and environmental litigation.  While in private practice, Professor Bent represented clients in International Chamber of Commerce arbitration proceedings, advocated for clients in systemic employment discrimination cases involving the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and assisted clients in interactions and negotiations with state environmental and human rights agencies.

Christopher Colwell – Tenured as Associate Professor of Education

Dr. Chris Colwell, Ed.D., is the chair of the Education Department at Stetson University. He joined Stetson University’s Department of Education in 2011. He is the author of the book Impact: How Assistant Principals Can Be High Performing Leaders published by Rowman & Littlefield in March, 2015. He serves as the Primary Investigator (PI) for the Florida Department of Education Centers of Excellence in Education grant awarded to Stetson University in 2014. Prior to joining the faculty at Stetson, Colwell served as a school principal at the elementary, middle, and high school levels. He was named the Florida Principal of the Year in 1996. He also served as an Assistant and Deputy Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction for the Volusia County School Board. He is the past president of the Florida Association of Instructional Leaders. Colwell’s current research focuses on educational leadership at all levels of the K-12 sector. He holds Ed.D. and Ed.S. degrees in Educational Leadership from The University of Central Florida and a M.Ed. and B.A. degree from Stetson University.

Christopher Ferguson – Promoted to Professor of Psychology

Chris Ferguson, Ph.D., is an internationally renowned expert on media effects, having published numerous articles related to video game violence, gender in media, body dissatisfaction and advertising effects, many of these coauthored with Stetson students. He is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association and received the APA’s Media Psychology and Technology Division’s Early Career Scientist award. Ferguson also published short fiction which can be found on his website at ChristopherJFerguson.com, as well as a mystery novel set in Renaissance Florence, titled, Suicide Kings. He lives near Orlando with his wife Diana and son Roman. Ferguson holds his Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Central Florida, a M.S. in developmental psychology from Florida International University, and his B.A. in psychology from Stetson University.

David Hill – Promoted to Professor of Political Science

David Hill, Ph.D., is the chair of the Department of Political Science. His teaching and research interests are in the areas of American political institutions and voting behavior. He has a published a dozen peer reviewed journal articles and is the author of the book American Voter Turnout: An Institutional Approach, which explores the impact of governmental and electoral institutional arrangements on turnout in American elections. He received his Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Stetson University and his Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Florida.

Timothy Peter – Tenured as Professor of Music

Timothy Peter, D.M.A., is director of Choral Activities at Stetson University. Having joined the faculty of the Stetson University School of Music in the fall of 2012, Peter conducts the Stetson Concert Choir, which is the university’s touring SATB ensemble, comprised of select upper-class singers. In addition, he conducts the Stetson Men and teaches choral conducting and choral repertoire courses. He is the artistic director of the annual Stetson Christmas Candlelight Concerts and coordinates campus choral events and tours. He is involved in the National Collegiate Choral Organization and the American Choral Directors Association, having held positions as the divisional chair for repertoire and standards for college and universities and the state and divisional chair for men’s choirs. He is a native of Minnesota, received his undergraduate degree from Luther College and completed his doctorate of musical arts degree at the University of Arizona. Before coming to Stetson University, he was professor of music at Luther College and served as the head of the music department. He has been a high school choral director and church musician in Minnesota, Iowa and Arizona.

Tara Schuwerk – Tenured and Promoted to Associate Professor of Communication and Media Studies

Tara Schuwerk, Ph.D., has developed/taught at least 12 different courses at Stetson including, Are We What We Eat? Food, Health, & Controversy, Intercultural Communication, Organizational Communication, Food and Nutrition in the Media, Health Communication, and Qualitative Theory and Methodology, as well as Senior Research. Schuwerk’s research focuses on the intersections of communication, culture, health and identity using qualitative research methods. Her projects have a focus on food within those intersections, such as hunger-relief, media representations of food and nutrition and public discourse of food issues. Schuwerk earned her interdisciplinary Ph.D. in Human Communication from the Hugh Downs School of Human Communication at Arizona State University.

Rajni Shankar-Brown – Tenured as Associate Professor of Education

Rajni Shankar-Brown, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor, Director of Education Graduate Programs, Co-Coordinator of the Master’s in Educating for Social Justice Program, member of the Nina B. Hollis Institute for Educational Reform and the Jessie Ball duPont Chair of Social Justice Education in the Department of Education at Stetson University. She teaches both undergraduate and graduate education courses. She is the Founder and Director of the Poverty and Homelessness Conference (PHC) and the Co-PI for the Volusia Center for Excellence in Education. She also serves as the faculty advisor for Stetson’s Student Homeless Coalition, the American Civil Liberties Union and the Nontraditional Student Organization. Shankar-Brown is an internationally recognized scholar in the areas of social justice education, poverty and homelessness, diversity and inclusion and transformative literacy and arts integration. She is a regularly sought after expert on Capitol Hill and by international/national organizations dedicated to inclusive educational excellence and working towards the elimination of poverty and homelessness. She is committed to advancing equity and inclusion through culturally responsive curriculum and instructional practices in K-12 schools and in higher education, as well as within community organizations serving youth and in carceral spaces. Shankar-Brown is widely published, including in top tier education journals and she has presented around the globe. She is a member of numerous university committees including Stetson’s Faculty Senate and Values Day Planning Committee, as well as the president of Stetson’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors. She also serves on several editorial and advisory boards and is actively involved with professional organizations at the international, national, state and local levels. Most recently, she has been nominated to serve on the Board of The National Coalition for the Homeless and elected as the chair of the Equity and Social Justice SIG for the International Society for Information Technology and Teacher Education. She is consistently recognized for her innovative leadership and longstanding commitment to service. She holds a Bachelor of Arts from George Mason University and a Master of Arts and a Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Through her research, scholarship and service, Shankar-Brown is deeply committed to advancing social justice through community and civic engagement. In addition to being a passionate teacher-scholar, she is a dedicated mother, multi-media artist, and social activist.

Ciara Torres-Spelliscy – Tenured as Associate Professor of Law

Associate Professor Ciara Torres-Spelliscy teaches courses in Election Law, Corporate Governance, Business Entities, and Constitutional Law. Prior to joining Stetson’s faculty, Torres-Spelliscy was counsel in the Democracy Program of the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law where she provided guidance on the issues of money in politics and the judiciary to state and federal lawmakers. She was an associate at Arnold & Porter LLP and a staffer for Senator Richard Durbin.

Professor Torres-Spelliscy has testified before Congress, and state and local legislative bodies as an expert on campaign finance reform. She has also helped draft legislation and Supreme Court briefs.  She is the editor of the 2010 edition of the Brennan Center’s campaign finance treatise, “Writing Reform: A Guide to Drafting State and Local Campaign Finance Laws.”

She researches and speaks publicly on campaign finance law as well as judicial selection. She has spoken at symposia at 22 universities around the nation. She presented at the 2013 and the 2015 Annual Conventions of the Association of American Law Schools (AALS) and at the 2014 Annual Convention of the American Constitution Society, and the 2011 and the 2014 Annual Conventions of the Council on Governmental Ethics Laws (COGEL).

As well as publishing in law reviews, such as the NYU Law Review, the University of San Francisco Law Review, the Duke Journal of Constitutional Law & Public Policy, and the Montana Law Review,  Professor Torres-Spelliscy has been published in the New York Times, New York Law Journal, Slate, L.A. Times, U.S. News and World Report, Boston Review, Roll Call, Business Week, Forbes, The Atlantic, USA Today, Business Ethics Magazine, San Francisco Chronicle, The Hill, Huffington Post, The Root.com, Judicature, The Nation, Salon.com, Tampa Bay Times, The Progressive, CNN.com, Medium, and the ABA Judges Journal. She has also been quoted by the media in The Economist, The New York Times, Mother Jones, Newsweek on Air, SCOTUS Blog, Politico, Slate, The National Journal, USA Today, L.A. Times, Boston Globe, NBC.com, WMNF, Sirius Radio, National Public Radio, Fox, Voice America, CSPAN, DNA TV, and NY1.

In 2014, Stetson University College of Law awarded Professor Torres-Spelliscy the Dickerson-Brown award for Excellence in Faculty Scholarship. In 2013, Professor Torres-Spelliscy was named as a member of the Lawyers of Color’s “50 Under 50” list of minority law professors making an impact in legal education. In 2012, Professor Torres-Spelliscy was named as a Top Wonk by the website TopWonks.org.

Professor Torres-Spelliscy is a Brennan Center Fellow, a member of the Scholars Strategy Network, a member of the Board of Directors of the Mertz Gilmore Foundation, a member of the Board of Directors of the National Institute on Money in State Politics which was awarded the 2015 MacArthur Award for Creative and Effective Institutions.

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Eleven members of Stetson University’s faculty have earned tenure and/or promotion. The new status for these faculty will be effective August 2017 with the start of the 2017-2018 academic year.

“I am extraordinarily proud of the accomplishments of these newly-promoted and tenured faculty,” said Provost Noel Painter.  “Their unwavering commitment to teaching excellence, dedication to advancing the work of their discipline through scholarship and creative activity, and their leadership at the university are excellent examples of Stetson’s mission in action — a wonderful education, a transformational experience, values-oriented learning, and preparation to lead lives of significance.”

Wendy Anderson – Tenured as Professor of Environmental Science and Studies

Wendy Anderson, Ph.D., joined the Stetson faculty as a Professor and Chair of Environmental Science and Studies in 2014 after serving for 16 years at another institution as a faculty member, department chair and campus sustainability director.  She teaches Introduction to Environmental Science, Sustainability Studies, Water and Society, and supervises numerous students in undergraduate research.  Dr. Anderson earned her B.S. and M.S. in Biology from Baylor University and her Ph.D. in Biology from Vanderbilt University, where she developed specialties in plant ecology and ecosystem ecology.  She studies various physical and biological movements of materials across ecosystem boundaries, particularly land-water interfaces.  Since 1995, she has focused her research questions on the marine impacts on terrestrial soils, plants, and animals on islands, working in systems from the Gulf of California, Mexico, to the San Juan Islands of Washington state, and more recently on spoil islands in the Indian River Lagoon in Florida.  In all of these places, she includes teams of student researchers who pursue their own related projects. These studies have led to numerous presentations and publications in Ecology, Ecology Letters, Oikos, Oecologia, Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics, Journal of Biogeography, and more. She also co-edited a book published by Oxford University Press in 2011, Seabird Islands: Ecology, Invasion and Restoration. In addition to her specific field research interests, her other scholarly interests include climate change, sustainability management in business, and nature writing.  When she is not teaching, writing, in the field, or working with students, she bicycles, kayaks, and spends time with her daughter and German Shorthair Pointer.

Jon Carrick – Tenured and Promoted to Associate Professor of Management

Jon Carrick, Ph.D., received his B.B.A and B.S. from Stetson University, Master of International Business from the University of Florida, and Ph.D. from the University of Glasgow. He has published and presented numerous papers on the early financial and operational strategies of globally competitive small to medium size enterprises (SMEs).  In addition, he has been an editorial board member for the Journal of Applied Business and Economics. He has a passion for international travel, and for the purposes of school, work, and pleasure has been to 68 countries.

Valrie Chambers – Tenured as Associate Professor of Accounting

Valrie Chambers, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Accounting at Stetson University.  Prior to receiving a Ph.D. from the University of Houston, concentrating in taxation in 2000, she had over a decade of public accounting experience as owner/partner-in-charge of a CPA firm in Houston that had a concentration in accounting issues for small business owners.  Dr. Chambers has published articles in such journals as Journal of Accountancy, Journal of Legal Tax Research, Tax Notes and Tax Adviser, and made presentations to the IRS Research Conference, American Accounting Association and the Florida Institute of CPAs. Her work was cited in Goeller v. United States (–Fed.Cl. –, 2013 WL 1143321 (Fed.Cl.), 111 A.F.T.R.2d 2013-1255, 2013-1 USTC P 50,238). She has also done extensive volunteer work for the American Institute of CPAs and the IRS’ Volunteer Income Tax Assistance in Corpus Christi, Texas, program. In 2012, she received the Texas Society of CPAs Outstanding Accounting Educator Award for middle-sized Texas universities.

Jason Evans – Tenured and Promoted to Associate Professor of Environmental Science and Studies

Jason Evans, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Environmental Science and Studies and a faculty affiliate within the Institute of Water and Environmental Resilience at Stetson University. His teaching and research interests include spatial modeling using geographic information systems (GIS), socio-ecological impacts of accelerating sea-level rise, and adaptive management of aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems in this time of global climate change. He has published over two dozen peer-reviewed articles and technical reports over the course of his academic career. He co-authored a 2016 article about sea-level rise impacts in the United States, published in the highly prestigious journal Nature Climate Change, received international media attention, including a live interview on the nationally broadcast radio show “Science Friday.” Primarily through funding and collaborations with the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration’s Sea Grant College Program, Evans is actively engaged with the sea-level rise adaptation planning processes for numerous coastal communities in the southeastern United States. Some of these communities include Satellite Beach, Monroe County, and Village of Islamorada, FL; Tybee Island and St. Marys, GA; Nags Head and Hyde County, NC; and Beaufort, SC. Evans is Co-Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Environmental Management and was the 2016 recipient of Stetson’s Hand Award for Distinguished Faculty Achievement in Research, Creative, and Professional Activity. He holds his B.A. in Philosophy from New College of Florida and his M.S. and Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Ecology from the University of Florida.

Alan Green – Tenured and Promoted to Associate Professor of Economics

Alan Green, Ph.D., is the Chair of the Economics Department at Stetson University.  A research economist and teacher, his work focuses on international development, trade and poverty. His academic research on economic development has recently been published in the Journal of Development Studies and the Journal of Institutional Economics. As a teacher, Green focuses on engaging students with an interactive approach that encourages critical thinking. He conducts research on effective pedagogy and has recent publications in The Journal of Economic Education and the International Review of Economics Education.  Dr. Green currently has three working papers with Stetson students on persistence in STEM education, stages of economic growth and the impact of ideology on votes for redistribution.  He is continuing pedagogical research on the effectiveness of team-based learning and how simulations both in and out of class can promote higher level learning.  Dr. Green is committed to effective education in the classroom as well as practical applications of economics for effective policies in our communities.  He has written op-ed articles on health care markets and fiscal policy in recent months for The Tampa Bay Times.  In coming years, he plans to conduct research on energy markets and microcredit with colleagues in the economics department.

Kayta Kudryavtseva – Tenured and Promoted to Associate Professor of Art History

Katya Kudryavtseva, Ph.D., specializes in art of the twentieth century with a focus on the intersecting trajectories of art history, politics, art institutions and business and their role in the development of the canon of modern and contemporary art. Her book,“The Metamorphoses of Kazimir Malevich’s Black Square,” (NLO, Moscow, 2017), analyzes the artistic practice of a major figure of modernism, Russian painter Kazimir Malevich, through transformations of his seminal painting, the Black Square (from the easel painting to a revolutionary emblem, to a signature, and, finally, to a commodity). The book provides detailed analysis of both the artist’s changing attitudes towards politics, revolution and authority, and the way Suprematism was reinvested with different meanings and adapted to ideological purposes first by the artist himself, his students, and subsequently by scholars, collectors, dealers and art institutions. Kudryavtseva holds a Bachelor of Arts from the Russian State University for the Humanities, and a Ph.D. in Art History from the University of Southern California.

Dejan Magoc – Tenured and Promoted to Associate Professor of Health Sciences

Dejan Magoc, Ph.D., joined Stetson in 2014 and teaches in the Department of Health Sciences. While at Stetson, he developed and taught a variety of courses, including Theories and Methods of Health Behavior Change, Introduction to Public Health, Research Methods in the Health Sciences, Senior Research Proposal/Project, and Cross-Cultural Aspects of Health Behavior. In his teaching, Dr. Magoc applies Team-Based Learning — an application-oriented teaching method that involves individual and group work and enhances active learning in classroom and helps students develop lifelong learning skills. In addition, he promotes the use of MindTap — a digital learning solution that helps transform students into critical thinkers. Dr. Magoc is a developer of a faculty-led study abroad program that takes place in Serbia during the summer months with a goal to provide students with an inspirational learning environment that is very often described as “life-changing.”

In his research, Dr. Magoc focuses on physical activity and promotion of healthy behaviors. Of particular interest to him is determining the most important constructs from behavioral theories and applying them in helping individuals change their behaviors toward a healthier lifestyle. His approach uses an interdisciplinary framework that has a potential to benefit many fields including psychology, sociology, kinesiology, health promotion, and nursing and rehabilitation. Dr. Magoc has built and maintained a strong relationship with the YMCA of DeLand and Halifax Health as well as K-12 schools, which allowed him to use his disciplinary practice to engage Stetson students in collaborative, community-based experiences that allow them to gain new knowledge and abilities as well as draw strong connections between the university and the community while working on and promoting health behavior projects.

Dr. Magoc is a native of Serbia where he received his undergraduate degree from the University of Novi Sad – Faculty of Sport and Physical Education. He received his Master of Science in Kinesiology and his Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Health Sciences from the University of Texas at El Paso. Before coming to Stetson University, he was an assistant professor in the Department of Health Studies at Eastern Illinois University.

Greg Sapp – Promoted to Professor of Religious Studies

Greg Sapp, Ph.D., is Hal S. Marchman Chair of Civic and Social Responsibility and teaches in the Department of Religious Studies. He is interested in the history of Christian thought, philosophical theology, and religion and culture. He has recently co-authored the book, “Understanding Sport as a Religious Phenomenon: An Introduction.” He is series co-editor of SpringerBriefs in Religion and Sport. As Marchman Chair, he directs the Certificate of Community Engagement and serves as the faculty advisor to the Bonner Program. Each summer, he co-facilitates the civil rights travel experience with Stetson’s College of Law. He completed his undergraduate degree in Religion at Stetson, his Master of Divinity at Princeton Theological Seminary, and his Ph.D. at the University of Virginia.

Leander Seah – Tenured and Promoted to Associate Professor of History

Leander Seah, Ph.D.,  is the founding director of the Asian Studies Program at Stetson University. He holds a Ph.D. in History from the University of Pennsylvania, an M.A. in History from the National University of Singapore, and a B.A. with Honours in History from the National University of Singapore. Since joining Stetson in 2011, he has taught courses on East Asia, Southeast Asia, and world history, and has also received two First Year Student Advocate Awards. As an ethnic Chinese native of Singapore, he is particularly interested in the issue of ethnic Chinese identity, which is the subject of a current book project, “Conceptualizing Chinese Identity: China, the Nanyang, and Trans-Regionalism.” This monograph is related to his broader research interests, which include China-Southeast Asia connections, modern China, East Asian relations, migration and diasporas, modern Japan, trans-regionalism and transnationalism, and world and global history. He has published various peer-reviewed journal articles, and has presented his work at conferences in the U.S., Singapore, mainland China, Hong Kong, and Macau. His scholarly accolades include 18 fellowships, research grants, and awards from the Association for Asian Studies, the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, the Center for Chinese Studies in Taiwan, the National Library Board of Singapore, the National University of Singapore, the University of Pennsylvania, and Stetson University.

Debra Touchton – Promoted to Professor of Education

Debra J. Touchton, Ph.D., is the Program Director for the Ed. Leadership Graduate Program in the Department of Education. She joined Stetson in 2000 and was the first faculty in residence at the Stetson Center in Celebration. Working in education for forty-plus years, Dr. Touchton has educational and administrative experiences at the school, district, regional, and state levels. Her research interests are in the areas of leadership and organizational development, women in leadership, and the effects of poverty on teaching and learning. She earned a Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Studies with a concentration in Organizational Development from the University of South Florida. She teaches graduate courses in communication, leadership, and systems planning.

She has been active in her state professional association, the Florida Association of Professors of Ed. Leadership (FAPEL) for 17 years, and served as president-elect, president and past-president, and continues to be an active member. During her time with FAPEL, she facilitated change in the state organization, participated in developing the vision and mission, and strategic planning. Dr. Touchton is also an active member of American Association of University Women (AAUW), and American Educational Research Association (AERA).

Dr. Touchton’s passion is teaching and leadership development/advocacy for women and girls. She states, “I believe quality education is the true equalizer and levels the playing field for all, and that is why I have dedicated my life work to it.”

Nathan Wolek – Promoted to Professor of Digital Arts

Nathan Wolek, Ph.D.,  is an audio artist and researcher whose work encompasses advanced signal processing techniques, multimedia performance, and electronic music history. Wolek completed his Ph.D. in Music Technology at Northwestern University, and is currently an Associate Professor of Digital Arts and Chair of the Creative Arts Department at Stetson. He is a contributor to Jamoma, an open-source software platform for interactive performance systems. His music features rapid edits, gradually changing textures, and environmental recordings of personal significance. Wolek has performed as a laptop instrumentalist and presented his creative work across the United States, in addition to engagements in Germany, Norway, Canada and Brazil. His research has been featured at the ICMC, SEAMUS, CMS, ATMI and SMPC conferences. In 2012, Wolek helped organize the first ever Symposium for Laptop Ensembles and Orchestras (SLEO) at Louisiana State University. The same year, Wolek was named a Fulbright Scholar to Norway and worked primarily at the Bergen Center for Electronic Arts on significant enhancements and extensions to Jamoma.

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Nine members of Stetson University’s faculty have recently earned tenure and/or promotion. The new status for these faculty will be effective August 2018 with the start of the 2018-19 academic year.

“I am extraordinarily proud of the accomplishments of these newly-promoted and tenured faculty,” said Provost Noel Painter, Ph.D. “Their unwavering commitment to teaching excellence, dedication to advancing the work of their discipline through scholarship and creative activity, and their leadership at the university are excellent examples of Stetson’s mission in action – a wonderful education, a transformational experience, values-oriented learning and preparation to lead lives of significance.”

The nine faculty members are:

Jason R. Bent, Promoted to Professor, College of Law

Bent graduated magna cum laude from the University of Michigan Law School and earned his bachelor’s degree in economics, with honors, from Grinnell College. Bent focuses his work on employment law, employment discrimination law and civil procedure.  He co-authors a leading treatise on the use of statistics in employment cases, “The Statistics of Discrimination:  Using Statistical Evidence in Discrimination Cases.” He is also a co-author of “An Illustrated Guide to Civil Procedure.”  Prior to joining the faculty at Stetson, Bent was a Shughart Fellow and Visiting Assistant Professor of Law at the Penn State University Dickinson School of Law.

Giovanni Fernandez, Tenured and promoted to Associate Professor

Fernandez, Ph.D., came to Stetson University in 2012 from Florida International University in Miami, where he was born and raised. He was drawn to Stetson University because of the university’s tradition, reputation and faculty-to-student ratio. His love of finance began at a young age, as his father taught finance for 36 years and is also a financial advisor, both areas in which Fernandez has chosen to follow. Fernandez now leads our Financial Planning Finance Concentration and our Graduate Programs.

Deborah Goldring, Tenured and promoted to Associate Professor

Goldring, Ph.D., is an associate professor of marketing in the School of Business Administration. She joined Stetson University in 2012 and teaches courses in digital marketing, brand communications and principles of marketing. Goldring’s research interests include strategic marketing management, content marketing, social media management and corporate branding. Her work has been published in the Journal of Marketing Analytics, Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Marketing Intelligence and Planning, and Journal of Relationship Marketing. She serves as a reviewer for the Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice, and is a judge for the America Marketing Association Collegiate Case Competition.

Douglas Phillips, Tenured and promoted to Associate Professor

Phillips, D.M.A., is Director of Bands at Stetson University where he serves as music director and conductor of the Stetson University Symphonic Band, oversees all aspects of the university’s comprehensive band program, serves as an academic advisor, and teaches courses in music education, wind band literature and instrumental conducting. Prior to his appointment at Stetson, Phillips served as Associate Director of Bands and Assistant Professor of Music at Western Illinois University, Associate Director of Bands at The University of Virginia and taught public school in the state of Florida. Phillips holds degrees from the University of Miami Frost School of Music (Doctor of Musical Arts, Instrumental Conducting), Western Michigan University (Master of Music, Instrumental Conducting) and Stetson University (Bachelor of Music Education).

Maria Rickling, Tenured and promoted to Associate Professor

Rickling, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor Accounting in the School of Business Administration.  She teaches intermediate and managerial accounting at the undergraduate level and financial accounting at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. An active scholar, she has published several works, and has several works in progress pertaining to various aspects of corporate governance and financial reporting. She is a member of the American Accounting Association, The National Scholars Honor Society and the Golden Key International Honor Society.

Julia Schmitt, Promoted to Professor

Schmitt received her B.A. from Stetson and her Ph.D. in theatre from Bowling Green State University.  After a stint at Lon Morris College in Texas, she accepted an assistant professorship at Stetson in 2004, where she continues to teach theatre and direct theatre productions; in 2010 she was promoted to associate professor.  She teaches a wide range of courses in stagecraft and theatre history.  In addition to directing plays both on and off campus, her research interests include Feminist studies, Renaissance and Jacobean dramatic literature and theatre pedagogy.

Paul Sibbald, Tenured and promoted to Associate Professor

Sibbald, Associate Professor of Chemistry, graduated from Alma College with a B.S. in chemistry and a B.A. in medieval and crusades history, and holds a Ph.D. in organic chemistry with an emphasis on reaction development from the University of Washington.  After a post-doctoral fellowship at the Center for Drug Design at the University of Minnesota, he joined the Stetson faculty in 2011. His teaching is focused on Organic Chemistry and his recent scholarship has expanded his previous work on organic chemistry and synthesis, emphasizing reaction development and mechanistic study, with an interest in computational research strategies.

Ram Subramanian, Tenured as Full Professor

Subramanian, Ph.D., is Professor of Leadership in the School of Business Administration.  He teaches the undergraduate capstone strategic management course as well as various management courses in the graduate program. His research interest is in the broad area of organization-external environment interface and his work has been published in journals such as Journal of Management, Journal of Business Research, Management International Review, and Corporate Governance. He has expertise in the case method and served as a Fulbright Specialist Scholar in The Netherlands and India.

Ciara Torres-Spelliscy, Promoted to Professor, College of Law

Torres-Spelliscy graduated from Columbia School of Law and earned her bachelor’s degree from Harvard University.  Torres-Spelliscy teaches in the areas of Election Law, Corporate Governance, Business Entities and Constitutional Law.  She has testified before Congress, and state and local legislative bodies as an expert of campaign reform.  She is the author of the book, “Corporate Citizen? An Argument for the Separation of Corporation and State.”  In 2013, Torres-Spelliscy was named a member of the Lawyers of Color’s “50 Under 50” list of minority law professors making an impact in legal education.

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Sixteen members of Stetson University’s faculty have recently earned tenure and/or promotion. The new status for these faculty will be effective August 2019 with the start of the 2019-20 academic year.

“I am extraordinarily proud of the accomplishments of these newly-promoted and tenured faculty,” said Provost Noel Painter. “Their unwavering commitment to teaching excellence, dedication to advancing the work of their discipline through scholarship and creative activity, and their leadership at the University are excellent examples of Stetson’s mission in action – a wonderful education, a transformational experience, values-oriented learning, and preparation to lead lives of significance.”

The faculty earning tenure and/or promotion include:

• Christopher Bell, Ph.D.: Tenured, Promoted to Associate Professor
Bell joined the Stetson faculty in 2013 and teaches courses in Asian religious traditions, such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Daoism, Confucianism, and Shinto. His research interests concern Tibetan demonology, as well as the worship of gods and spirits across Asia, and he frequently conducts fieldwork in Tibet, China, and India.

• Pamela Cappas-Toro, Ph.D.: Tenured, Promoted to Associate Professor
Cappas-Toro teaches Spanish language, Latin American and Caribbean literatures and cultures, and Latino/a studies. Her passion for social justice, community engagement scholarship and commitment to undergraduate education guide her efforts as the co-founder and co-director of the Community Education Project, a liberal arts higher education in prison initiative based in Florida since 2015.

• Roslyn Crowder, Ph.D.: Tenured, Promoted to Associate Professor
Crowder joined the Stetson faculty in 2013 and currently serves as the Molecular Biology Program Coordinator. She is a molecular cancer biologist with interest in cell death pathways, and her undergraduate research program examines anticancer properties of plant compounds.

• Mayhill Fowler, Ph.D.: Tenured, Promoted to Associate Professor
Fowler is Associate Professor in the Department of History and has served as director of SPREES, Stetson’s Program in Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies, since 2017. She has presented and published widely on theater, film, and the relationship between arts and politics in Ukraine, and she is thrilled to be a Fulbright Research Scholar in Ukraine for the 2019-2020 academic year.

• Krista Franco, M.F.A: Tenured, Promoted to Associate Professor
Franco joined the faculty in 2013, and acts as Resident Designer and Production Manager for Stetson’s Second Stage Theatre, mentoring students in leadership roles and production related practice.  

• Melinda Hall, Ph.D.: Tenured, Promoted to Associate Professor
Hall is an Associate Professor of Philosophy, and specializes in bioethics, Continental philosophy, and the philosophy of disability. She is the co-director of the Community Education Project, Stetson’s higher education in prison program. She also coordinates the blog BIOPOLITICAL PHILOSOPHY with Shelley Tremain.

 • Matthew Hurst, Ph.D.: Tenured, Promoted to Associate Professor
Hurst came to Stetson in 2012, and has taught investments, real estate and corporate financial management. His research focuses on classical Finance questions applied to specific asset classes, such as real estate and municipal bonds. Additionally, he investigates the unintended consequences of financial regulation and its impact on corporate governance.

• Nicole Mottier, Ph.D.: Tenured, Promoted to Associate Professor
An Associate Professor of History, Mottier offers many courses on Latin America and is developing courses on capitalism and food history. Her previous research on twentieth-century Mexico analyzed the history of microfinance and her current book project historicizes drug cartels.

• Mary Ellen Oslick, Ph.D.: Tenured, Promoted to Associate Professor
Oslick is an Associate Professor of literacy and reading in the Department of Education, and teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in reading methods, children’s literature, and critical literacy practices throughout the content areas. Her research areas of interest include: social justice and critical literacy applications; multicultural children’s literature; and reading and writing instruction with diverse learners.

• Jelena Petrovic, Ph.D.: Tenured, Promoted to Associate Professor
Petrovic is an Associate Professor of communication and media studies and one of the founders and co-directors of Community Education Project, a higher education in prison program in Tomoka Correctional Institution. She came to Stetson in 2013 and is currently teaching courses in intercultural communication, media studies, immigration and criminalization.

• Joshua Rust,  Ph.D.: Promoted to Professor
Rust is chair of the philosophy department, and publications in his area of specialty of social ontology include “Institutional Identity” in The Journal of Social Ontology (forthcoming) and “Traditional Action and Traditional Authority” in Max Weber Studies (2019). He is presently exploring the limits of Max Weber’s suggestion that our institutions are usefully compared to machines or instruments that help us solve cooperation and coordination problems (with varying degrees of effectiveness).

• Stacey-Rae Simcox, J.D.: Tenured, Promoted to Professor, College of Law
Simcox is a Professor of Law and Director of Stetson’s Veterans’ Law Institute and Veterans’ Advocacy Clinic. She teaches in the areas of veterans’ benefits law, administrative law, trusts and estates, and legal skills. Professor Simcox helped establish a unique medical-legal partnership between Stetson University College of Law and the University of South Florida’s Morsani College of Medicine which allows medical students and faculty to collaborate with law students and faculty for the benefit of disabled veterans.

• Sven Smith, J.D., Ph.D.: Tenured, Promoted to Associate Professor
Smith is an Associate Professor in the department of Sociology and Anthropology. He graduated from Stetson and joined Stetson University’s faculty originally as an adjunct in 2003. Smith has taught courses, colloquia, and tutorials for several different programs at Stetson. His most developed lines of research involves Weberian study of judge, professional behavior and the intersection of law and social learning theory.

• Page Thanasiu, Ph.D.: Tenured, Promoted to Associate Professor
Thanasiu joined the Stetson’s Counselor Education faculty as a Visiting Assistant Professor in 2008. Since then, she has been a program coordinator and, most recently, the director of Stetson’s Play Therapy Certificate program. Page teaches and advises Stetson graduate students within the Clinical Mental Health Counseling and the Marriage, Couple, and Family Counseling programs.

• Joseph Woodside, D.B.A: Tenured, Promoted to Associate Professor
Woodside is an Associate Professor of Business Systems and Analytics in the School of Business Administration.  He teaches undergraduate, graduate, and executive courses on business analytics, health analytics and informatics, business analysis, information systems technology, and data visualization. 

• John York, Ph.D.: Promoted to Professor
York joined the Department of Chemistry at Stetson in 2007 and has since pursued an active research agenda in computational bioinorganic and organometallic chemistry. While his area of expertise is inorganic chemistry, he also teaches courses ranging from introductory general chemistry and first-year seminar to advanced topics like organic structure analysis and biological inorganic chemistry.        

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Seven members of Stetson’s faculty recently earned tenure and/or promotion. The new status for these faculty will be effective August 2022 with the start of the 2022-2023 academic year.

“The tenure and promotion of these faculty demonstrate Stetson’s continued commitment to accomplished scholars, amazing teachers and innovative librarians whose work with students epitomizes the student-centric approach to learning that we promise to our students,” said Provost Noel Painter, PhD. “Our newest professors and associate professors represent Stetson’s mission in action — a wonderful education; transformation through experiential learning; and an expanding awareness of the value for gaining knowledge beyond what might be comfortable and convenient, with the purpose of making a difference in this world.”

Christopher deBodisco, PhD, Economics: Promoted to Associate Professor

An environmental economist whose focus is water allocation issues in Florida and globally, deBodisco holds a doctorate in Economics from Vanderbilt University and a bachelor’s degree from New College of the University of South Florida. After earning his doctorate, deBodisco conducted applied research on agricultural and public water demand at the Institute of Food and Agricultural Science at the University of Florida. More recently, he conducted a range of environmental policy analyses, such as the protection of Florida’s source waters and optimal policies to mitigate damage from sea level rise for Florida’s coastal communities, as an economic consultant in Orlando. His secondary interest is economic development, also with both local and global applications.

Michael Eskenazi, PhD, Psychology: Promoted to Associate Professor

Eskenazi is the department’s specialist in cognitive psychology, which focuses on the mental processes of attention, language, memory and perception. His specific area of research is in the process by which people identify and learn words during reading. Eskenazi completed his doctoral degree in experimental psychology at Kent State University. As an undergraduate, he was educated in the liberal arts tradition while majoring in psychology and Spanish. He enjoys working closely with students in his reading and eye-tracking lab and mentoring senior research projects. That research is conducted in the Reading Eye-Tracking and Individual Differences Lab (REAiD Lab).

Holley Lynch, PhD, Physics: Promoted to Associate Professor

Lynch studies the physics of tissue migration. Her research involves both “wet” work with cells and computational work to automate data analysis and compare experimental data with physical models. Lynch not only has an extensive background in physics, but also has experience in a lab researching biological cells. She received her doctorate in physics from Vanderbilt University and worked as a postdoctoral researcher in bioengineering at the University of Pittsburgh. Her master’s and bachelor’s degrees are from Vanderbilt and Earlham College, respectively.

Melissa Parks, PhD, Teacher Education: Promoted to Associate Professor

Previously, Parks was a National Board Certified elementary school teacher practicing in both Florida and Massachusetts. In addition to her teaching, she is an area director for the Florida Association of Science Teachers. She also has served on the Outstanding Science Trade Books Panel of the National Science Teaching Association and currently is serving on the Preschool-Elementary Science Teaching Panel of the National Science Teaching Association. She completed her undergraduate work with dual majors in elementary education and liberal studies at Westfield State University, and she earned her Master of Education degree from the University of Central Florida. Parks holds a doctorate in curriculum and instruction with a specialization in science education from Florida Atlantic University. 

Steven Smallpage, PhD, Political Science: Promoted to Associate Professor

Broadly speaking, Smallpage’s expertise is in how people (especially Americans) think about politics. In this way, his main areas of concern are both political psychology and political philosophy. He has been published extensively in the field of American political psychology. His current book project examines the historical, philosophical and empirical aspects of conspiracy thinking in the American mass public. Smallpage received his doctorate in political science from Michigan State University, and his master’s and bachelor’s degrees, respectively, from The University of Toronto and American University. 

Jennifer Corbin, MLS, Library: Promoted to Associate Professor

Also the director of Public Services, Corbin leads the duPont-Ball Library’s public-facing services, including information literacy instruction, reference services, circulation, course reserves, interlibrary loan and stacks management. She also contributes to the library website and manages the library’s Research Guides while teaching information literacy and library instruction workshops for students in all disciplines and class levels. In addition, she works closely with the library’s dean and associate dean on administrative issues and planning. Corbin received her master’s degree from Indiana University and her bachelor’s degree from Purdue University.

Randall Croom, PhD, Management: Promoted to Associate Professor

After completing undergraduate and graduate work at the Sybil C. Mobley School of Business and Industry at Florida A&M University, Croom worked in worked in private industry in product management for a life sciences company and in distribution management for a Fortune 100 retailer. Following his arrival at Stetson, his primary research interests have included investigating how individual differences, especially personality, influence human performance. Secondarily, Croom is interested in performance management, personal development, career management, personnel selection, compensation and a wide variety of other areas of management research. The recipient of the KPMG PhD Project Promising Young Educator Award, Croom is passionate about innovation in instruction and helping students connect theory to practice.

Twelve members of Stetson University’s faculty have recently earned tenure and/or promotion. The new status for these faculty will be effective August 2020 with the start of the 2020-21 academic year.

“I am extraordinarily proud of the accomplishments of these newly-promoted and tenured faculty,” said Provost Noel Painter, PhD. “Their unwavering commitment to teaching excellence, dedication to advancing the work of their discipline through scholarship and creative activity, and their leadership at the University are excellent examples of Stetson’s mission in action – a wonderful education, a transformational experience, values-oriented learning, and preparation to lead lives of significance.”

Jesus Alfonzo: Promoted to Professor

Jesus Alfonzo, DMA, is a founding member of the EL SISTEMA, the Venezuelan National System of Youth Orchestras. He received a Diploma and Post-Graduate Diploma from the Juilliard School of Music and Master of Music and doctorate in Musical Arts degrees from Michigan State University. Dr. Alfonzo joined the Stetson faculty in 2001 and has since taught viola, chamber music, music history, string pedagogy, instrumental technique, and first-year seminar of Caribbean music. Additionally, he conducts the Stetson Viola Consort and leads the Stetson Viola Clinic. Dr. Alfonzo has recorded CDs, appeared with orchestras, performed recitals and chamber music concerts in Europe, South America and the United States.

 His publications about the history of EL SISTEMA include two books: Soggetto Cavato I (2015), Soggetto Cavato II (2018), and a Catalog of Viola Music by Latin American Composer (2018). In addition to his region, national and international teaching duties, and performance schedule, Dr. Alfonzo maintains a private studio of distinguished students in Florida.

Christine Cerniglia: Promoted to Associate Professor

Chrissy Cerniglia, JD, is the Director of Clinical and Experiential Education at Stetson College of Law.  She teaches Professional Responsibility, Client Interview and Counseling, and Disaster Law.  

Professor Cerniglia created the Disaster Research Project after hurricanes Irma and Michael impacted Florida, which engaged Stetson students to assist pro bono attorneys with disaster-related research projects. She also helped to create new experiential policies at Stetson College of Law and course opportunities that include: The Disaster Law Primer and Disaster Law Externship, and an overview course this summer entitled COVID-19 and the Impact upon the Civil Legal System. Professor Cerniglia works closely with community partners to engage in relevant legal work to address policies shaping Florida that impact vulnerable communities. She helped secure a grant from the American Bar Endowment that allows students to engage in voter restitution of rights work in Florida and work with a community partner to conduct outreach efforts related to Florida’s Amendment 4. Prior to Stetson, she was the Coordinator of Skills and Experiential Learning at Loyola University New Orleans College of Law where she helped establish skills practice tracks and also broadened externship opportunities through community engagement.  She holds active licenses in both Louisiana and Florida. 

Rachel Core: Tenured, Promoted to Associate Professor

Rachel Core, PhD, earned a BA in Asian Studies from Carleton College, MSc in Development Studies at the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), and MA and PhD in Sociology from The Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Core’s research focuses on how institutional change affects health outcomes in Asia. She is currently completing a book on tuberculosis control in Shanghai. In addition to the Sociology and Anthropology programs, Dr. Core’s courses contribute to the Asian Studies, Public Health and Global Development programs at Stetson University.

Joshua Eckroth: Tenured, Promoted to Associate Professor

Joshua Eckroth, PhD, earned a BS in Computer Science and BA in Mathematics from Humboldt State University and a PhD in Artificial Intelligence (AI) from The Ohio State University. He joined Stetson University in 2014 and has specialized in cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, and big data analytics. Dr. Eckroth also helps build AI software for an enterprise software company as a consultant, and serves as Editor-in-Chief of AITopics.org, a research portal sponsored by the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence. His research focuses on finding novel ways to use AI to solve diverse challenges, from course advising to cybersecurity education to robotics.

Asal Johnson: Tenured, Promoted to Associate Professor

Asal Johnson, PhD, has academic training and expertise in two fields that not only complement each other, but historically emerged together to prevent and control infectious diseases: urban planning and public health. She received her bachelor’s degree in theoretical economics from Azad University, followed by a master’s degree in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Tehran. She earned her PhD in Urban and Regional Planning from Florida State University in 2010. She found it necessary to go back to school to obtain formal training and credentials in public health where she received her MPH in epidemiology in 2013 from Georgia Southern University.  Her scholarship examines variations in cancer outcomes in relation to the distribution of spatial and geographical advantages and disadvantages where the results of her investigations have been published in high impact-factor journals. She is invested in high quality and rigorous undergraduate public health education by constant engagement in teaching, research, and service in public health. Some of the topics she has taught at Stetson University include epidemiology, global health, planning for healthy cities and statistics.

Danielle Lindner: Tenured, Promoted to Associate Professor

Danielle Lindner, PhD, earned a BA in Psychology from Nazareth College and an MS and PhD in Clinical Psychology from the University of Central Florida. She joined the faculty at Stetson in August 2014 after completing her predoctoral internship at James A. Haley Veteran’s Hospital. Dr. Lindner teaches a range of courses, including Abnormal Psychology and Clinical & Counseling Psychology, a junior seminar titled, “The Science of Body Image,” and core courses in the psychology major. Dr. Lindner studies body image and was the lead developer of the Self-Objectification Beliefs and Behaviors Scale. She is also a Psychology Resident at Student Counseling Services, where she provides psychotherapy to Stetson graduate students.

John Lychner: Tenured

John Lychner, PhD, is Associate Professor and Director of Music Education in the School of Music and is an active clinician and conductor. Prior to coming to Stetson in 2017, Lychner was Professor of Music in the School of Music at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo for 22 years. As a public school teacher, Lychner taught band, choir, and general music in St. Louis, Missouri, and Tallahassee. He earned BME and MA degrees from Truman State University, studied at the University of Nottingham (England) as a Rotary International Foundation Scholar, and earned a PhD in Music Education from the Florida State University. Lychner has served in a variety of leadership roles with the National Association for Music Education, including President of the Michigan Music Educators Association. His work has been published in a variety of journals, including the Journal of Research in Music Education and the International Journal of Music Education: Research, as well as in eight volumes of the prestigious series Teaching Music Through Performance in Band.

Anne E. Mullins: Tenured, Promoted to Professor

Anne E. Mullins, JD, is a Professor of Law and teaches legal analysis, research, and writing. Professor Mullins is passionate about teaching and has been recognized several times for teaching excellence. Her scholarship examines persuasion in judicial opinions through a cognitive theoretical framework. She also publishes on innovative legal writing pedagogy and legal research. She is co-author of the upcoming edition of the textbook Florida Legal Research.

Professor Mullins is a national leader in legal writing, actively serving all three major legal writing professional organizations. She is currently the president of the Board of Directors of the Association of Legal Writing Directors (ALWD), a member of the Legal Writing Institute’s Discipline-Building Working Group, and a former member of the Executive Committee for the AALS Section on Legal Writing, Reasoning, and Research.

Professor Mullins received her J.D., with honors, from the University of Chicago Law School, where she served on the University of Chicago Law Review. She earned her AB from Dartmouth College.

Ben Tanner: Tenured, Promoted to Associate Professor

Ben Tanner, PhD, received a BS in Anthropology from Florida State University, an MS in Quaternary and Climate Studies from the University of Maine, and a PhD in Geology from the University of Tennessee. He joined the Stetson faculty in 2016 after leaving the Geology Program at Western Carolina University as a tenured, Associate Professor. He uses wetland deposits and the tools of geochemistry to study records of climate and environmental change. At Stetson, Ben teaches introductory courses in environmental science and geology as well as advanced courses in wetland systems and geomorphology.

Jessica West: Tenured, Promoted to Associate Professor

Jessica West, PhD, earned a BS in Accounting, a BA in English Literature and an MS in Finance from Florida State University. Dr. West worked for Deloitte and Touche as an auditor upon her graduation with her accounting degree. She joined the Department of Finance at Stetson in 2014 after completing her PhD in Finance from Florida State University. Dr. West’s research focuses on corporate finance, executive compensation, investment and accounting. Dr. West’s research involves three distinct lines of research activity: Corporate finance related to executive compensation and firm performance; investment related to stock price anomalies such as cash flow valuation, IPO and stock splits; and corporate governance related to financial reporting quality.

Petros Xanthopoulos: Tenured, Promoted to Associate Professor

Petros Xanthopoulos, PhD, earned his Diploma of Engineering from the Technical University of Crete in Electronics and Computer Engineering.  He earned his MSc and PhD in Industrial and Systems Engineering from University of Florida. Dr. Xanthopoulos’ research focuses on analytics, machine learning, and operations research with an emphasis on development of data analysis methods for data under uncertainty. He has authored one monogram, edited three books, and authored more than thirty peer reviewed journal articles.  He has taught courses in Statistics, Managerial Decision Analytics, and Machine Learning for Business Decisions in both undergrad and MBA programs. He serves as associate editor for the journals, Optimization Letters (Springer) and Energy Systems (Springer).  He has been a member of the Institute for Operations Research and Management Science (INFORMS) since 2007.

Daniil Zavlunov: Tenured, Promoted to Associate Professor

Daniil Zavlunov (PhD, Princeton University) is a musicologist specializing in nineteenth-century opera, with a particular emphasis on the Russian and Italian traditions. His research has appeared in The Journal of Musicology, Music Theory Online, Proceedings of the British Academy, Russian Literature and elsewhere. An authority on the music and world of Mikhail Glinka (the “father of Russian music”), at present Dr. Zavlunov is writing a cultural history of opera in Russia during the reign of Nicholas I (1825-1855), which draws heavily on new archival sources. Dr. Zavlunov teaches a wide variety of courses in the School of Music, the Department of Creative Arts and the Program in Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies. Before arriving at Stetson in 2014, he held a series of visiting appointments – teaching music history and theory – at Princeton University, Dartmouth, Skidmore and Haverford Colleges.

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Nine members of Stetson’s faculty recently have earned tenure and/or promotion. The new status for these faculty will be effective August 2021 with the start of the 2021-2022 academic year.

“The accomplishments of these newly promoted and tenured faculty represent our continued growth as an institution and supporter of greater learning across all of the disciplines in which we engage,” said Provost Noel Painter, PhD. “Our faculty have an unwavering commitment to teaching excellence, dedication to advancing the work of their discipline through scholarship and creative activity, and leadership broadly in and around the university. Our newest professors and associate professors represent Stetson’s mission in action — a wonderful education, transformation through experiential learning; and an expanding awareness of the value for gaining knowledge beyond what might be comfortable and convenient, with the purpose of making a difference in this world.”

Andrew Appleby, PhD: Promoted to Associate Professor

Appleby focuses his teaching and scholarship on tax and business law. He has published in prominent law journals, and has particular expertise in state and local taxation, sports taxation, and applied tax policy. He has been featured in The New York Times and Bloomberg TV, discussing significant tax law developments. He practiced tax law at leading law firms for nearly a decade, including most recently as special counsel in the tax group at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP’s New York office. He was also a partner in the tax group at Eversheds Sutherland (US) LLP’s New York office, and an associate in the corporate group at Alston & Bird LLP’s Atlanta office. Also, Appleby taught advanced legal methods as a member of the New York Law School adjunct faculty. He holds a BS from Florida State University, an MBA from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, a Juris Doctor degree from Wake Forest University School of Law and an LL.M. from Georgetown University Law Center.

Robert Askew, PhD: Tenured, Promoted to Associate Professor

Askew joined the Psychology Department faculty in 2015 and regularly teaches courses in behavioral statistics, psychometrics and epidemiology of mental health. Before earning his doctorate in psychology, he completed a Master of Public Health at the University of Texas and studied quality of life of cancer survivors at the MD Anderson Cancer Center. He then completed a doctorate in psychology at the University of Washington and a postdoctoral fellowship at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, where he was appointed chief postdoctoral fellow for the Department of Medical Social Sciences. Askew’s research aims to improve the measurement of outcomes employed in psychological and medical studies. He has developed and validated many novel outcome measures used in clinical trials, observational research and clinical care settings, including measures of mobility, depression, self-efficacy, pain intensity, pain interference, and neuropathic pain. His work has appeared in multiple flagship journals in psychology and medicine. Additionally, since joining Stetson his research has grown into new directions of the social and psychological sciences, which he attributes to the curiosity and dogged determination of Stetson students.

Carol Azab, PhD: Tenured, Promoted to Associate Professor

Azab earned a BSc and MSc in Business Administration from Alexandria University in Egypt, where she started her academic career right after completing her undergraduate. She wanted to pursue her doctorate from the country that did “best in marketing” and earned her PhD in marketing from Southern Illinois University. Azab joined the Stetson School of Business Administration family in 2016. Azab’s research focuses on service failure and recovery, particularly the interaction between frontline employees and customers. Her second main research area is international marketing. Having a passion for travel, speaking four languages and having led Stetson Scotland Study Abroad for three years, Azab integrates her experiences in research and the classroom. She has a passion for research and won the Sharon Beatty Best Services Dissertation Proposal Award, plus has published in top marketing journals, including Journal of Services Marketing, Journal of Business Research, Journal of Global Marketing and others. As such, marketing research and global marketing are among her main courses taught at Stetson. 

Dengke Chen, MFA: Tenured, Promoted to Associate Professor

Chen received MFA in new media from Pennsylvania State University and a BA in animation from China Central Academy of Fine Arts. His practice concentrates on 3D animation, video games, film, illustration and comic art. His artwork has been exhibited at national and international venues, including the Alexandria Museum of Art and the North Charleston City Gallery in the United States, the Art Konsult in India, the Oi Futuro Flamengo in Brazil and the Tanganyika National Library in Tanzania. He teaches a range of digital arts fundamental and capstone courses, including 3D modeling and animation, hand-drawn animation, video game development, visual effects and film production.

Jesse Fox, PhD: Tenured, Promoted to Associate Professor

Fox received a BA in psychology from Cedarville University, an MA in counseling psychology from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and a doctorate in counselor education from the University of Central Florida. He taught pastoral counseling for seven years at Loyola University Maryland and joined the faculty of Stetson in the Department of Counselor Education in 2017. His scholarship focuses on the healthiness of spirituality, psychometrics and critical issues in counseling. In 2019, Fox published his first book, “Bringing Religion and Spirituality into Therapy,” and is working on a second book, “Spirituality and Avoiding Difficult Emotions.” He currently serves as the chair of the Religious and Spiritual Competencies Task Force of the Association for Spiritual, Ethical and Religious Values in Counseling and was elected in 2021 to serve as president. In addition to full-time academia, Fox serves as executive director of the Episcopal Counseling Center in DeLand, which has provided low-cost mental health counseling services to the community for nearly 40 years.

Grace Kaletski-Maisel, MS, MA: Tenured, Promoted to Associate Professor

In addition to teaching, Kaletski-Maisel is the Learning & Information Literacy librarian at the duPont-Ball Library. She earned a BA in English and political science from Birmingham-Southern College, an MA in women’s studies from the University of Alabama, and an MS in library & information studies from Florida State University before joining the faculty at Stetson in 2015. She coordinates the library’s information literacy instruction program, offering course-related workshops, online tutorials and research guides, and research consultations. Through her teaching, she facilitates learning opportunities to guide students through the reflective discovery of information, the understanding of how information is produced and valued, and the ethical use of information in the creation of new knowledge. As Research & External Scholarships adviser, she coordinates outreach and support for students who compete for distinguished scholarships and fellowships. Her own research examines the trajectories through which students develop information literacy competencies. 

Matthew Roberts, MFA: Promoted to Professor

Roberts is a new media artist and photographer. He received an MFA in photography from the University of Illinois at Chicago and joined the Stetson faculty in 2003. His work has been exhibited internationally and nationally, including shows in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Italy, Mexico, Portugal, Scotland, Taiwan, and nationally in New York, San Francisco, Miami and Chicago. He is a recipient of the Transitio Award by the International Transitio_MX Festival in Mexico City, and his work has been featured in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Miami Herald and TVE Brazil. He is an avid collaborator, and such work with both students and faculty has been exhibited widely, including notable shows at ISEA: International Symposium on Electronic Art, ELO: Electronic Literature Organization, O, Miami Poetry Festival and xCoAx: Conference on Computation, Communication, Aesthetics.

Rajni Shankar-Brown, PhD: Promoted to Professor

Shankar-Brown is the Jessie Ball duPont Endowed Chair of Social Justice Education at Stetson, where she has received the Hand Award for Distinguished Faculty Achievement and the McEniry Award for Excellence in Teaching. Also, she is an executive board member of the National Coalition for the Homeless; co-chair of equity and social justice for the International Society for Teacher Education and Information Technology; and founder and co-director of Acts of Kindness and Justice (AOK-J), the Poverty and Homelessness Conference (PHC) and the Hatters University Scholars mentoring program. Her doctorate in curriculum and instruction is from the University of North Carolina Charlotte, with specializations in urban education and literacy, concentrating on homelessness and racial equity. She has presented and facilitated professional learning workshops worldwide. She has been published in leading education journals, as well as several books, including two edited books, “Bending the Arc Towards Justice: Equity-Focused Practices for Educational Leaders” and “Re-Envisioning Education: Affirming Diversity and Advancing Social Justice,” and recently published a collection of poetry, “Tuluminous.” Other honors include being selected as a Faculty-Scholar-in-Residence by the National Humanities Center and as the Florida PDK International Educator of the Year, plus receiving the Engaged Scholarship Faculty Award by the Florida Campus Compact.

Peter Smucker, PhD: Tenured, Promoted to Associate Professor

Smucker holds degrees from the University of Chicago (doctorate), the University of Minnesota (MA) and Valparaiso University (BME). Prior to his appointment at Stetson, he held visiting and lecturer positions in music theory at the University of Notre Dame, the University of Chicago, Valparaiso University and the University of Minnesota. Smucker’s research interests cover diverse topics, such as post-tonal music in the U.S., ludomusicology, music theory pedagogy; intersections of society, music and multimedia; works by American composer Elliott Carter; and transformational theory. His current research projects include an invited contribution to the forthcoming Oxford Handbook on Video Game Music and Sounds, and a book project on currencies, values and economies of sounds in video games.

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