The faculty in the Department of Communications Media provides students with a variety of resources. Following is a list of faculty members within the Department of Communications Media who are approved to teach courses at the doctoral level.
Luis Almeida, Ph.D. in Instructional Systems
Pennsylvania State University
Dr. Almeida has presented extensively at academic conferences in the areas of systemic change, one-to-one computing, gaming and user-design. He has served as an elected board member at the Systemic Change division at AECT for two years and is currently in his first year as the elected communications officer at the MIM (Minorities in Media) division at AECT. He is also the appointed conference evaluator for PETE&C. He has served for two years as an invited judge for the Southwestern PA Scholastic Art Awards Exhibition and one year at the IU1 Regional Computer Fair. He has been a consulting editor for ETR&D for three years. He has helped the Journal of Education Computing Research (JECR) in the capacity of consulting editor for two years. He has published articles in the prestigious British Journal of Education Technology, Tech Trends, and DIGRA (forthcoming). Dr. Almeida's research interests include computers in the classroom, game-based learning, global advertising, and user design. His teaching interests include technology teacher training, culture and cyberspace, computers as a learning tool, instructional systems design, multimedia design, creativity theory, and research methods.
Mary Beth Leidman, Ed.D. in Organizational Communication
Vanderbilt University
Dr. Leidman has been an active broadcast media producer and on-air interviewer throughout her career. Her activities include hosting radio shows on WGAY-FM and WGMS-FM in the Washington, D.C., market for ten years and being heard locally on WRID, Homer City, and WCCS, Indiana. She has received two A.I.R Awards in the Pittsburgh market, was a three-time A.I.R. award finalist in Washington, D.C., and received the Pennsylvania Association of Broadcasters Award for Best Public Service Announcement. She has hosted a regular program on WIUP-TV for more than fifteen years and has produced television shows for regional PBS television stations and other Western Pennsylvania media outlets. Other media activities include working as educational consultant for the nationally syndicated Gina D's Kids Club from 2003-2008. She has more than three dozen publications and presentations which concentrate on communications and society, children's media, and media criticism.
James Lenze, Ph.D. in Instructional Systems
Pennsylvania State University
Dr. Lenze has more than two dozen publications or presentations focusing on virtual worlds, instructional technology, distance education, communications media, and synthetic writing. After earning his Ph.D. at the age of twenty-six, Dr. Lenze held tenure line positions at Lawrence Technological University, the University of Michigan-Dearborn, and IUP. He earned the rank of full professor in 2009. He co-developed the proposal for the CMIT degree with Dr. Mark Piwinsky and served with him as one of the initial co-coordinators of the program. He was appointed as the dean's associate for the School of Graduate Studies and Research at IUP and served between 2008 and 2009. Over his career he has assisted in the creation of associate, bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees, several with extensive online components. He is currently the director of VERGE (Virtual Environments Research Group in Education) and works with doctoral students in that group to promote efficient, effective, and ethical research practices within 3D worlds.
Nurhaya Muchtar, Ph.D. in Communication and Information
University of Tennessee
After working for nearly seven years as a media training consultant, development aid specialist, and broadcast journalist in Indonesia and Washington, D.C., Dr. Muchtar completed her master’s degree in Communication and Development at Ohio University. Dr. Muchtar is an editor of ASIRPA, a new journal for scholars from Southeast Asia that publishes articles with themes related to that area. Her research interests are international and intercultural communication, journalism studies, and media development in developing countries.
Mark Piwinsky, Ph.D. in Political Science
Ohio State University
From his background as IUP’s chief information technology officer, Dr. Piwinsky brings extensive experience in technology planning, implementation, training, and financing. Success of this approach is evidenced by IUP’s recognition as one of the twenty-five “Most Wired” campuses in the nation and its cost-effective implementation of academic and administrative support systems. He participated in the development and coordination of the Advancing the Development of Educators in Pennsylvania to Teach with Technology grant, the NEDIC/CIMS emergency management systems grants, and the Preparing Teachers to Teach Using Technology grant, for which he was a co-recipient of the IUP Sponsored Programs Award for Outstanding Achievement in Curriculum and Instruction. As an academic administrator, he served as vice provost for Administration and Technology at IUP and director of Analysis and Planning at Ohio State University. As a political scientist and academic administrator, his work also addresses the impact of communications on the political process, public policy and public opinion, and on research methods. Dr. Piwinsky is currently chair of the Department of Communications Media.
Zachary Stiegler, Ph.D. in Communication Studies
University of Iowa
Dr. Stiegler's primary research interests are radio history, communication law and policy, theoretical notions of community, publics and localism, and media activism. Bringing these interests together, he studies community media, especially low power and pirate radio. Another ongoing research interest is the critical study of popular culture, especially popular music. His teaching interests include courses in media history, broadcasting, communication law and policy, cultural theory, and alternative media. He has been involved in college radio in various capacities since 1999 and is currently the faculty advisor for IUP's student-operated radio station, WIUP-FM.
Jay Start, Ph.D. in Educational Communication and Technology
University of Pittsburgh
Dr. Start has done more than two dozen video publications including biographies, organizational profiles, product training videos, community action, and social issues. He has more than a dozen publications or presentations focusing on media production and media operations management. He served as station manager for WIUP-TV for twenty years, which provided him firsthand experience in media operations and productions.
B. Gail Wilson, Ed.D. in Administrative and Policy Studies in Higher Education
University of Pittsburgh
Dr. Wilson has been involved in broadcasting for more than twenty-five years and served as general manager of WIUP-FM from 1986 to 2004. Several of her publications and presentations have explored college radio programming, financing, and management. Additionally she has researched other areas of broadcasting including television news programming and broadcast management. She has also conducted research on career portfolio development for communications students. Dr. Wilson received the Radio/Television News Directors Excellence in Journalism Education Fellowship, the National Association of Television Programming Executives Faculty Fellowship, and was invited to attend the International Radio and Television Society and National Academy of Television Arts and Science Faculty Seminars. She was recognized as National Member of the Year and National Advisor of the Year by the National Broadcasting Society. Among her areas of teaching expertise are broadcast newswriting, presentation making, and portfolio development. Dr. Wilson is currently the CMIT doctoral program coordinator.
