Expert Source Guide

Ohio Wesleyan University sources are available to help journalists with insights into a wide range of topics.

If you are a journalist and wish to arrange an interview with an Ohio Wesleyan expert, or if you are a faculty or staff member and wish to be added to this guide, please contact Cole Hatcher at cehatche@owu.edu.

To search this page, press Ctrl+F on desktop/laptop computers or use the "Find in Page" functionality on most smartphones. (The following list is not comprehensive but provides a good snapshot of OWU experts and topics.)

Experts

Academic Affairs

  • Karlyn Crowley – higher education; women's leadership development in higher education; liberal arts education and liberal arts colleges; humanities in higher education; diversity, equity, and inclusion work in higher education; women's and gender studies. Crowley is OWU's provost.
  • Brian Rellinger – technology, technology use in higher education, cutting edge technology, learning management systems, ERP systems, networking, staff development, leadership, drones. Rellinger is OWU's associate provost for academic support and chief information officer.

Africana, Gender, & Identity Studies

  • Dawn Chisebe – diversity, equity, and inclusion in higher education; race and medicine; reproductive justice and Black history (U.S., Caribbean, Africa). Chisebe is OWU's chief diversity officer and a faculty member in Africana, Gender, and Identity Studies.

Biological Sciences

  • Laurel Anderson – global environmental change, climate change, plant ecology, invasive plants, temperate forest ecology, collaborative science. Anderson is OWU's Morris Professor of Natural Sciences.
  • Eric Gangloff – animal physiology, animal performance, effects of climate change on animals, thermal biology. Gangloff is an assistant professor of Biological Sciences.
  • Danielle Hamill – cell biology, cell division, genetics, animal development. Hamill is a professor of Biological Sciences.
  • Shala Hankison – evolution and speciation, animal behavior with a focus on mating behaviors, Columbus Zoo liaison. Hankison is an associate professor of Biological Sciences.
  • Dustin Reichard – ornithology (birds), animal behavior and communication, evolutionary biology, endocrinology. Reichard is an associate professor of Biological Sciences.

Career Connection

  • Mindy Agin – internships, interviewing strategies, NACE (National Association of Colleges and Employers) workforce competencies, networking, navigating college to career, what students are bringing to the workforce and are seeking from employers. Agin is the assistant director for internships and externships with the OWU Career Connection.
  • Megan Ellis – integration of curricular and co-curricular programs, higher education change management, continuous improvement, career development, entrepreneurship, community and town-gown partnerships. Ellis is the executive director of the OWU Connection.
  • Leigh Mascolino – career counseling, strengths assessment, career confidence, job search. Mascolino is the director of the OWU Career Connection.

Economics & Business

Education

  • Sarah Kaka – educator preparation programs in creating effective, long-term educators in all settings; Critical Race Theory; teaching controversial ideas; social studies education. Kaka is an associate professor of Education.
  • Michele Nobel – educating at-risk and identified youth, peer tutoring, behavior analysis, and educator preparation and accreditation. Nobel is an assistant professor of Education.

English

  • Patricia DeMarco – Middle English literature; medieval law and the regulation of violence; the romance tradition and the poetry of the Ricardian court, including Chaucer and Gower; late medieval literature in England and France. DeMarco is a professor of English.
  • Sarah Graves – popular culture, particularly fantasy and science fiction; world mythology; children's, middle grade, and young adult literature; writing for the web. Graves is a lecturer in English.
  • Zackariah Long – Shakespeare, Renaissance literature and culture, vocation and the humanities, first-year curriculum. Long is a professor of English.
  • Stephanie Merkel – narratology and ludology (literature and video games); Russian translator and Russia expert; semiotics of fashion; epistolary forms and epistolary culture; great books; digital humanities: critical health humanities, especially using digital methods and tools to catalog the "anti-libraries" of women's writings lost due to maternal mortality, and public humanities, leveraging digital methods and tools to critically analyze humanities texts in pursuit of truth and positive change. Merkel is an associate professor of English.

Environment & Sustainability

  • John Krygier – mapmaking, cartography, geographic information systems (GIS), geospatial technology, participatory mapping and GIS, psychogeography, environment and society (20th century publisher's book series). Krygier is a professor of Environment and Sustainability.
  • Nathan Rowley – climate change, weather and atmospheric phenomena, glaciology, satellite imagery and UAVs (drones), human impacts on the environment, landscape change. Rowley is an associate professor of Environment and Sustainability.

Fine Arts

  • Kristina Bogdanov – ceramics (stoneware, cone 6 oxidation and reduction firings), photolithography image transfer on clay, drawing illustration. Bogdanov is a professor of Fine Arts.
  • Carol Neuman de Vegvar – art history, the interface between secular and sacred art, the preservation and destruction of artistic patrimony, and the role of art in culture and society. Neuman de Vegvar is an emerita professor of Fine Arts.
  • Jeffrey Nilan – photography, bookmaking, and 2D design. Nilan is a professor of Fine Arts.

Health & Human Kinetics

  • Andrew Busch – athletic performance, injury prevention. Busch is an associate professor of Health and Human Kinetics.
  • Christopher Fink – food insecurity and community health, food and culture, public health, health promotion and disease prevention, oral history methods. Fink is a professor of Health and Human Kinetics.
  • Jay Martin – introduction to sports management, management for sport/athletic administration, soccer, coaching, youth sports, and leadership. Martin is a professor of Health and Human Kinetics.
  • Elizabeth Nix – nutritional biochemistry, systems-thinking for food and nutrition, food processing and health. Nix is an associate professor of Nutrition.
  • Elizabeth "Liz" Starns – athletic training, sports medicine, orthopedics, functional kinesiology, and inclusive fitness practices for persons living with disability (with a higher education and administration focus). Starns is an assistant professor of Health and Human Kinetics.

History

  • Xiaoming Chen – Chinese intellectual history, the history of Asian countries and regions. Chen is a professor of History.

Journalism & Communication

  • Ashley Kennard – intercultural and intergroup communication, attitudes and persuasion, media effects, conflict communication. Kennard, Ph.D., is an assistant professor of Journalism and Communication.
  • John McGory – journalism, political communications, working and living in China, writing books, local governments, and Ohio political history. McGory is a part-time instructor and advisor of the student newspaper, The Transcript.

Mathematics & Computer Science

Performing Arts

  • Brian Granger – performance (acting, dancing, singing, stand-up comedy, African American performance); songwriting; creative writing (especially dramatic writing/playwriting); ethnicity in the arts; musical theatre. Granger is an assistant professor of Theatre.
  • Jason Hiester – conducting, vocal music. Hiester is an associate professor of Music.
  • Bradford Sadler – acting (contemporary and classical), performance, dialects for performance. Sadler is a part-time instructor of Theatre.

Perkins Observatory

Philosophy & Religion

  • Erin Flynn – post-Kantian German philosophy, free will and responsibility, the philosophy of sports. Flynn is a professor of Philosophy.
  • R. Blake Michael – Virashaiva/ Lingayata religious tradition of South India, Hinduism, global theology, religion in global perspective, Asian religions. Michael is a professor of Religion.
  • Shari Stone-Mediatore – mass incarceration, wrongful incarceration, criminal-justice reform, higher education in prison, critical race theory. Stone-Mediatore is a professor of Philosophy.

Politics & Government

  • Ji Young Choi – The rise of China and its impact on East Asia and the world, U.S.-China relations, South Korean politics and economy, North Korea's nuclear crisis. Choi is an associate professor of Politics and Government.
  • James Franklin – Political repression, political dissent, democratization, protest, Latin American Politics. Franklin is a professor of Politics and Government.
  • Brianna Mack – U.S. elections, American political behavior, political psychology, the political behavior of racial and ethnic minorities, social media, public discourse on sociopolitical phenomenon. Mack is an assistant professor of Politics and Government.
  • Franchesca Nestor – The American presidency, Congress, bureaucracy/executive branch policymaking/general public policy, women and politics, food politics and policy. Nestor is an associate professor of Politics and Government.

Psychology / Neuroscience

  • Kira Bailey – cognition and attention, media effects, brain activity. Bailey is an associate professor of Psychology and Neuroscience.
  • Krystal Cashen – LGBTQ+ families and development of identity, close relationship functioning in adolescence and emerging adulthood. Cashen is an assistant professor of Psychology.
  • Christopher Modica – psychopathology and psychological assessment (diagnosing mental disorders, and causes and treatments of mental disorders); psychotherapy and mental health counseling; eating disorders (binge eating, anorexia, bulimia) and body image; best practices in statistical analysis in social sciences; ethics of psychology (confidentiality, privileged communication, standard of care). Modica is an associate professor of Psychology.
  • Chelsea Vadnie – neurobiology of anxiety and mood disorders, circadian rhythms, stress, rodent behavior. Vadnie is an assistant professor of Psychology and Neuroscience.

Public Health

  • Christopher Fink – food insecurity and community health, food and culture, public health, health promotion and disease prevention, oral history methods. Fink is a professor of Health and Human Kinetics.
  • Arielle Hieronimus – epidemiology, public health, infectious disease. Hieronimus is a part-time faculty member in the Public Health Program.
  • Vanessa Hildebrand – human reproduction in cultural context, global health, families and kinship, social science research methods, theories on post-colonialism and development, Southeast and East Asia, cultural anthropology, medical anthropology, and providing medical care for vulnerable populations (women and infants). Hildebrand is an associate professor of Sociology-Anthropology.
  • Elizabeth Nix – nutritional biochemistry, systems-thinking for food and nutrition, food processing and health. Nix is an associate professor of Nutrition.

Sociology & Anthropology

  • Paul Dean – first-generation college students, working-class culture, class and race, globalization, educational travel, service learning. Dean is a professor of Sociology and Social Justice.
  • Vanessa Hildebrand – human reproduction in cultural context, global health, families and kinship, social science research methods, theories on post-colonialism and development, Southeast and East Asia, cultural anthropology, medical anthropology, and providing medical care for vulnerable populations (women and infants). Hildebrand is an associate professor of Sociology-Anthropology.

Student Engagement & Success

  • Doug Koyle – student integrity (conduct) and community standards; student wellness and counseling services; student behavioral intervention; student health insurance; residential life; Title IX; campus safety. Koyle is the associate dean for Student Success and deputy Title IX coordinator in the Division of Student Engagement and Success..
  • Brad Pulcini – first-generation college students, first-year students/first-year transition programs, Appalachian college students, college access, student success and retention. Pulcini is the dean of student services in the Division of Student Engagement and Success.
  • Dwayne Todd – the landscape of higher education; Title IX; student involvement on campus/residential life; student integrity (conduct) and community standards; student wellness and counseling services; campus safety; multicultural, marginalized, and first-generation college student support. Todd is the vice president of Student Engagement and Success, the dean of students, and the Title IX coordinator in the Division of Student Engagement and Success.

World Languages & Cultures

  • Andrea Colvin – 20th and 21st-century Latin American literature (particularly narrative from the Southern Cone); the representation of military dictatorships of the 1970s in Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay through literature and film; the post-dictatorship generation and memorial culture in Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay. Colvin is an associate professor of Spanish.
  • David Counselman – second language learning/acquisition, second language pronunciation learning and improvement, phonetics and phonology (particularly when related to Spanish and English vs. Spanish), accentedness (foreign or otherwise) and the perception of accentedness. Counselman is an associate professor of Spanish.
  • Mary Anne Lewis Cusato – French language; francophone cultural studies, especially francophone North Africa (Morocco, Tunisia, and Algeria); globalization's effects on the culture industry; transferable skills, from classroom to career. Cusato is a professor of French.
  • Eva Paris-Huesca – contemporary Spanish Peninsular literature and cultures, Spanish cinema directed by women, Spanish noir, and crime fiction of female authorship. Paris-Huesca is an associate professor of Spanish and director of the Film Studies Program.