Category: News

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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