Majed Alharthi
Majed Alharthi is an international student from Saudi Arabia who has worked in academic institutions for more than 10 years. Prior to joining the PhD program, Majed taught communication courses at King Abdul-Aziz University in Saudi Arabia. He also previously served as both director of student affairs and director of the training department in King Fahd University. Majed's research focus on cross-cultural communication within multinational organizations. His current research aims to examine and improve the quality of internal communication within organizations that have employees from diverse cultures and backgrounds.
Nick Artman
Nick Artman is currently an instructional designer/adjunct lecturer for Penn State Erie, the Behrend College. As the lead designer for the World Campus Software Engineering Program, he collaborates with faculty members to design and develop online credit courses using a range of technology-enhanced systems to develop content for a variety of delivery modes. Additionally, Artman also teaches courses in graphic design. His research approach stems from a media ecologist perspective, focusing on the interaction between media and how it affects human behaviors, perceptions, emotions, and feelings. He conducts research to provide students with current real-world solutions to real-world problems. Artman also serves as the creative director for Erie Young Adults building the internal and external communications of the ministry into a high-functioning creative organization.
Thomas Cornwell
t.e.cornwell@iup.edu
Curriculum Vitae
Tom Cornwell has worked in the field of radiation oncology for more than 20 years as a medical dosimetrist and radiation therapist as well as an adjunct instructor at Gwynedd-Mercy College. Tom has witnessed first-hand the challenges cancer patients face accessing and understanding information about cancer care. Tom's research interests are situated in health communications, and his dissertation work is development of user-centered criteria for creating an online social network community for kids with cancer. Tom's career focus is to combine his training as a social scientist in the communications field with a focus on qualitative research and his clinical expertise in oncology in the health care industry. He aims to bring together medicine, research, patient communication, and human-centered design technologies to advance treatment and improve the lives of cancer patients.
Kimberly Flanders
Kimberly's research interests include the effects of social media on social capital, the effects of media on the portrayal of individuals with special needs, as well as a variety of topics related to pop culture. Kim has spent the last twenty years in the financial services industry in a variety of capacities. She currently works for Reliance Bank in Altoona, PA serving as the Administrator for the branch network, as well as the Bank Security Officer. Kim earned her Bachelor's Degree in Marketing as well as her MBA from Indiana University of Pennsylvania. She serves as an active member of the community, serving as the auction chair for the March of Dimes, and raising funds for the Central Cambria Education Foundation.
Brian Johnson
Brian Johnson is a faculty member in the department of academic enrichment at Bloomsburg University and is the director of the Frederick Douglass Institute for Academic Excellence. He is a founder of the Pennsylvania Association of Liaisons and Officers of Multicultural Affairs, a consortium that promotes best practices for diversity in higher education. Brian is the co-author of Reel Diversity: A Teacher's Sourcebook (2008), winner of the 2009 Phillip Chinn Book Award by the National Association for Multicultural Education. He is also author of We've Scene It All Before: Using Film Clips in Diversity Awareness Training (2009), and published his debut novel, The Room Downstairs in 2016. Johnson also serves on the ministry team at Revival Tabernacle in Watsontown, PA where he is the youth pastor. In August 2009, he authored Sintimacy: The Christian's Love Affair with Secret Sin, Revival Nation Publishing.
Rhiannon Kallis
Rhiannon Kallis is an adjunct instructor at California University of Pennsylvania in the Department of Communication, Design, and Culture and serves as a co-advisor for Cal U's chapter of the Public Relations Student Society of America. She has taught courses in public relations and speech communication, both face-to-face and online. Her dissertation explored the life cycle of relationships via Tinder. In the dissertation, she proposed a modified version of the relational stage model to include steps of escalation and de-escalation that occur when using location-based dating apps. Her teaching and research interests include new media and interpersonal relationships, particularly understanding communication in romantic relationships.
Karen Mercincavage
Karen Mercincavage is an associate technical professor of mass communications at King's College in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, where she teaches courses in print and web design, digital animation, and quantitative research methods. Her doctoral dissertation examined the effects of realistic and animated versions of an HIV/AIDS prevention message on behavioral health change among college students. Mercincavage has research interests in visual and health communication, and also continues to work as a freelance graphic designer. She also serves as an advisor for her school's clubs, including the Crown newspaper, the InHouse Design Club, and the department's national honor society, Lambda Pi Eta.
Joseph Rosendale
Joseph Rosendale is an assistant professor of Management in the IUP Eberly College of Business, where his instruction focuses on business communication and management theory.Rosendale is also co-director of the Eberly Business Honors Program in addition to serving on the college-wide Strategic Planning Council. Rosendale's communications media and instructional technology dissertation examined new trends in instructional technology and higher education, revealing hiring managers' preference for employees who secure traditional forms of post-secondary training. His research has been published in several peer-reviewed journals, including Performance Improvement Journal, the Online Journal of Communication and Media Technologies, and the American International Journal of Social Sciences. Rosendale's continuing research interests include the analysis of current issues and trends in workforce development and training programs in addition to pedagogical concerns for educators brought on by technological change.
Carrie Scanlon
Carrie Scanlon is currently vice president of brand management at Wheelhouse Creative, a full-service advertising agency with offices in Wheeling, West Virginia, and Pittsburgh. She has taught courses in public relations, persuasion, integrated marketing, and media writing at the Wheeling Jesuit University and Bethany College. Scanlon's dissertation studied the use of social media as an image repair vehicle during the Jerry Sandusky scandal at Penn State University. She has contributed to academic research on the use of social media in civil court cases, image repair in sports, as well as social media and crisis communication. Her research interests include social media, image repair, and crisis communication.
Sharon Storch
Sharon is a PhD candidate entering the dissertation phase of the program. Her research interests focus on mobile devices and their subsequent influences on professional, educational, and personal relationships. She has been actively involved in scholarly presentations and publications within these areas, and also within advertising and pop culture. The Media and Communications Studies program has been a good fit for Sharon as it expands on her professional experience while creating rich learning opportunities within the production area. She spent more than 10 years in a marketing/management career and more than 14 years as a K-12 Business, Computer, and Instructional Technology educator. Upon completion of the program, Sharon aspires to offer her well-rounded background, solid education, and enthusiasm to students at the college level as a professor.
Brandon Szuminsky
Brandon Szuminsky is currently an instructor in the Department of Communication at Waynesburg University, where he teaches journalism, social media, media research, and mass media courses. He is also the advisor to the university's award-winning student newspaper and the campus chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. In spring 2012 he won the Lucas D. Hathaway Award for Teaching Excellence at Waynesburg University. His research has focused on journalism sourcing practices and agenda building, media framing of controversial issues, and mediated hoax transmission, particularly via social media. Szuminsky is also the membership chair of the AEJMC Newspaper and Online News Division. Prior to joining academia, Szuminsky was a reporter, editor, and columnist for the Herald-Standard newspaper in Uniontown, Pennsylvania.
Ahmed Yousof
Ahmed Yousof is currently teaching at Penn State Erie, the Behrend College. As a full-time lecturer of game studies, Yousof teaches classes in advanced video game design, multimedia, and animation. Having been born and raised in Belgium, lived in the Middle East, and studied in the United States, Yousof is interested in intercultural communication and the effective use of video games in enhancing intercultural competency of people from different cultures. Yousof's research focuses on the examination and production of effective computer-mediated and mixed-reality instructional approaches to solve challenging learning problems related to intercultural communication. Through considering the necessary factors in the instructional design of video games and virtual reality, Yousof tackles how dynamic learning environments made possible by 3D games and virtual reality can contribute to better development and acquisition of intercultural communication and foreign language, respectively. Accordingly, he has developed a video game, HERO 1, that observes the required design and content aspects in console games to be used as a training tool for enhancing intercultural competency. The game concept and the research behind it received an international award for New Media and Mobile Learning in 2013 from Education Without Borders Conference in Dubai.