Seventeen scholars have joined the faculty at Methodist University this fall, divided almost evenly among the University’s three Colleges.
Seventeen scholars have joined the faculty at Methodist University this fall, divided almost evenly among the University’s three Colleges.
Of the six new faculty in the College of Arts, Humanities and Sciences, the Department of English, Language, Literature and Culture welcomes three assistant professors of English: Anicca Cox (Ph.D., Michigan State), Tyler Easterbrook (Ph.D., UNC Chapel Hill) and Victoria Houser (Ph.D., Clemson). While all three are teaching freshman-level English this fall, Easterbrook is teaching Business Writing, and Houser is teaching Linguistics in for TESL Certificate Program. Ragan Glover-Rijkse (M.A., South Carolina) will teach core Applied Communication courses in the Department of Communication. In the Division of Fine and Performing Arts, Jing Zhang (Ph.D., City University of Hong Kong) joins the Department of Art as assistant professor of Graphic Design. The Division of Natural Sciences welcomes Lauren Klabonski (Ph.D., Drexel) as assistant professor of Biology. She is teaching Microbiology courses this fall.
Six new faculty also join the College of Health Sciences and Human Services, two of which are in the Doctor of Occupational Therapy Program: Charlotte Evans (OTD, Mary Baldwin) and Amy Haynes (OTD, Belmont). On the other side of the McLean Health Sciences Building, the Doctor of Physical Therapy program welcomes Methodist alumna Nicole Hodges (DPT, Montana) to its faculty. Hodges is a Certified Athletic Trainer and is involved in the local community with the Fayetteville Dream Center. She and her husband also run a ministry, Ladies of Value. Candice Phillips (MSN, UNC Pembroke) is a new assistant professor in the Professional Nursing Studies Program. Certified Paramedic Ginny Renkiewicz (Ph.D., Rush University) joins the Department of Health Care Administration as an assistant professor. She is currently studying the effects of traumatic stress on EMS personnel, and she will present some her findings at the EMS World Conference in Atlanta in October. The Department of Social Work has added MU alumna Charmagne Williams (MSW, Fordham) as an assistant professor after she served Methodist for several years as coordinator of Accessibility and Disability Services.
The College of Business, Technology and Professional Studies welcomes two new faculty to its Reeves School of Business: Mfon Akpan (MBA, Keller Graduate School of Management), assistant professor of Accounting, and Robert Gmeiner (Ph.D., Florida State), assistant professor of Financial Economics. Akpan is a five-time TEDx speaker and is finishing his doctorate at Indiana Wesleyan. Palgrave Macmillan recently published Gmeiner’s book How Trade with China Threatens Western Institutions: The Economic Roots of a Political Crisis. Two faculty also join the Department of Computer Science: Abdulrahman Hafez (D.Sc., Towson) and Masud Rana (Ph.D., University of Technology, Sydney, Australia). Hafez’s research interests focus on assistive technologies for the elderly, accessible security techniques for people with visual or cognitive declines, game-related technologies, and ubiquitous mobile healthcare, specifically wearable technology. Rana is teaching upper-level cybersecurity courses that benefit majors in both Computer Science and Digital Forensics and Cybersecurity. The Teacher Education Program’s new coordinator of Elementary Education is Jessica Redcay (Ed.D., Phoenix). She was recently named a Woman of Distinction from Delta Kappa Gamma, the International Society for Key Women Educators.