Here is a roundup of faculty and staff at Alvernia who have made a difference inside and outside of the classroom.
Faculty Spotlight
Caroline Fitzpatrick, Ph.D.
Professor of Communication
Ten years ago, Dr. Caroline Fitzpatrick, professor of communication, realized that her students were not purchasing textbooks for her classes due to financial barriers. She combined her publishing and teaching expertise with her passion for helping students to write an open educational research (OER) textbook. OERs are learning materials that are intentionally created to be free and accessible resources for students.
“I truly believe that this is an important thing for faculty, universities and colleges to consider encouraging more OER adoptions, whether in the form of short or long textbooks, handouts, worksheets or anything that might help ease some of the financial burden,” said Fitzpatrick.
In Fitzpatrick’s OER text “Writing the Disciplines,” each chapter features a different types of documents written in various professions. Examples include best practices for news writing, medical research reports from the perspective of a health care professional, how to write a narrative, writing legal and criminal reports and more. Examples and templates for each professional document are also included in each chapter.
“The book will come out in the summer and has eight chapters and 18 contributors to start, with each chapter written by 2-3 professionals in the field and then pee reviewed by experts in the field,” said Fitzpatrick. “I wanted to make sure there was the highest quality information in the textbook and there were several layers of review, which you don’t typically get in the textbook industry.”
Plans to collaborate with other industry professionals, faculty members and students to publish additional chapters, and update the textbook according to industry trends and standards are in the works.
According to Fitzpatrick, there is a stigma in the publishing industry surrounding OERs. She further explained that OER textbooks remain atypical in higher education but are gaining popularity. OER contributors must have sufficient expertise for the publication to be considered valuable. Fitzpatrick, who is a first-generation college student herself, also understands the financial burden that textbooks can have.
“There are a number of interesting studies that came out in recent years... A 2016 study by Una Daly showed that since the 1970s, textbook prices have increased by 800%, a rate higher than increases in medical services or the housing market,” said Fitzpatrick. “There are also several college studies, such as from Butte Community College in 2016 and Florida Virtual Campus in 209, that show that about two out of three students are not purchasing their textbooks. I have a lot of students who have received assistance for textbooks through the Presidential Hope Fund in my classes and because I teach writing, I see students across all majors. I feel that this type of project is not only fulfilling professionally, but personally as well.”
The OER is Fitzpatrick’s attempt to reduce some of the financial burden associated with studesnts’ overall college expenses and she plans to expand this effort in future projects. She believes the publishing industry and OERs can coexist, but that changes to the publishing industry are warranted. Her goal is to gradually transition a majority of her courses at Alvernia to feature high quality and peer reviewed OER materials such as stand-alone textbooks that are free or alongside traditionally published resources that are low in cost.
Textbook accessibility is only one of many drivers of Fitzpatrick’s OER project, and her passion for helping students extends that even further. Throughout her tenure, she has mentored over 100 students in academic presentations and publications. It has also been her priority to make student experiential learning an integral part of the OER project. Two students assisted Fitzpatrick in editing the layout and design of the textbook chapters. They also contributed to writing one chapter on an additional OER resources across disciplines.
“Dr. Fitzpatrick was and still is a mentor for me,” said Sherrin Smith, sophomore communication major. “She was very helpful in guiding us through her vision for the textbook and making sure we both understood our roles in that project... She divided the project into different parts and labeled them as ‘sprints.’ During those sprints, we had a week or two to get the task done so we can continue moving through the project at a good pace. I try to apply this method to my own personal projects, so I am not in a rush to finish them.”
Faculty members typically find their niche in the higher education industry and Fitzpatrick says that hers is assisting students with academic publications and conference presentations. She values the efforts that go into a worthwhile collaboration between faculty and students. Smith and Blake Ruthcosky, sophomore English and political science major, assisted Fitzpatrick with layout, design and basic copyediting of some chapters.
“I was shocked at first about this assignment being offered to me as a first-year student, but I was also excited about it,” said Smith. “As a communication major, I am bound to come across writing in my future career. So, by having the experience to help co-write a chapter in a textbook, I got to practice my skills as an editor and writer.”
Scott Ballantyne, MPA, Ed.D., PRSBA
Associate Professor of Business
Ballantyne was elected Chair of the Boating Advisory Board of the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission on Feb. 6, 2023.
Allison Blair Snyder
Communication Instructor and Admissions Advisor, Graduate and Adult Education
Blair Snyder was accepted as a presenter at the Association for the Study of Women and Mythology’s international conference The Waters of Life: Exploring Water Mythos, Divinity, Beings & Ecology in May. Her presentation is titled “Witnessing an indigenous pedagogy for healing the sacred waters: The interconnectedness of mother earth, a mother’s womb, and the future of our planet” and discusses indigenous philosophy and water ecology as a framework for creating a healing matrix focused on the waters of Mother Earth and the waters of a mother’s womb, through the inextricable interrelationship between their well-being for the future of humanity.
Caroline Fitzpatrick, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Communication
Fitzpatrick and Dr. Ryan Lange co-presented a panel discussion on Communication Pedagogy in a Post-Pandemic World: Open Educational Resources (OERs) and Title III Grant Projects at the Annual Pennsylvania Communication Association Conference from September 30-October 1, 2022. Fitzpatrick also presented a paper on Publishing OERs As Tools for Social Justice & Equity in Higher Education at the Annual Mid-Atlantic Popular and American Culture Association Conference from in November 2022.
Diane Kraft, M.S., RDN, LDN
Biology Instructor
Kraft co-authored two scholarly articles in 2023: “The relationship between diet, exercise, and inflammation in college students: A cross-sectional study” in Nutrition and Health and “Response to ‘Cocoa and chocolate are sources of vitamin D2’” in Food Chem.
Lindsay Kraus, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Biology
Kraus published her research titled “Targeting Epigenetic Regulation of Cardiomyocytes through Development for Therapeutic Cardiac Regeneration after Heart Failure” in the International Journal of Molecular Sciences. Kraus earned her Ph.D. in the summer of 2022 working in biomedical sciences and has continued her research here at Alvernia. She worked with biochemistry major Brianna Beavens to publish “The Current Therapeutic Role of Chromatin Remodeling for the Prognosis and Treatment of Heart Failure” in MDPI’s biomedicines journal in February.
Ryan Lange, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Communication
Lange presented at the 82nd annual Pennsylvania Communication Association conference in October on his work on the Title III grant he earned to revitalize his first-year writing enhanced course. He presented and served as a session chair at the 73rd Annual International Communication Association conference in Toronto, Canada. Lange will also present at the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication’s annual meeting in Washington, D.C., in August. He co-wrote a chapter in Dr. Caroline Fitzpatrick’s upcoming peer-reviewed textbook, “Writing the Disciplines: An OER Textbook,” with Dr. Jodi Radosh. He is writing another peer-reviewed chapter for the De Gruyter Handbook of Media Entertainment and Communication, “New Media Habits and Entertainment,” which is the subject of his presentations at ICA and AEJMC. Lange has begun co-authoring a chapter for the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Communication, “Spatial Presence and Realistic Interaction in Video Games,” with his colleague Dr. Cheryl Bracken.
Joseph Mahoney, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Director of the John R. Post School of Engineering
Mahoney presented two posters with his co-principal investigators and a undergraduate researchers frp, Alvernia & Penn State at the joint meeting of the American Society of Biomechanics and the North American Congress of Biomechanics in Ottawa, Canada in August 2022. They studied the impact that jogging with a stroller has on body movements, on the ground, and on muscle activity as they may contribute to an increased risk of injury to the stroller pusher. Work on this study will continue through the summer of 2023.
Raymond H. Melcher, Jr. ‘78
Instructor of Business
Mahoney presented two posters with his co-principal investigators and a undergraduate researchers from Alvernia and Penn State at the joint meeting of the American Society of Biomechanics and the North American Congress of Biomechanics in Ottawa, Canada, in August 2022. They studied the impact that jogging with a stroller has on body movements, the ground force and muscle activity as they may contribute to an increased risk of injury to the stroller pusher. Work on this study has continued through the Summer of 2023.
Jennifer Michalik, MM
Assistant Professor of Music
Jessica C. Warchal-King, MFA
Fine & Performing Arts Instructor
Michalik collaborated with the Reading Choral Society to bring a Hispanic concert to downtown Reading. Alvernia Dance Company & JCWK Dance Lab, both led by Warchal-King, along with community engagement organization & Alvernia partner, Barrio Alegría; guest artist Federico Diaz and his orchestra from New York City; and tenor soloist Bryan Hoyos will perform at the concert entitled, The Misa Criolla. This project was inspired by Alvernia’s return to downtown Reading where the founders of Alvernia University, the beloved Bernardine Franciscan Sisters started it all. It also reflects the opportunity and desire to connect artistically with Reading communities and churches. The Misa Criolla debuted on March 19, 2023 at St. Margaret Roman Catholic Church.
Jayme L. Ober, OTD, OTR/L, MSCS, CNMI
Assistant Professor of Occupational Therapy
Ober’s proposal entitled “The Dynamic Use of the Kawa Model” was accepted for presentation at the AOTA (American Occupational Therapy Association) 2023 Annual Conference & Expo. This scholarly presentation contributes to the professional knowledge base and supports the innovative profession of occupational therapy.
Thomas G. Porrazzo, LAT, ATC, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Healthcare Science, Chair of Allied Health & Human Services, Director of Sports Medicine
Karen Thacker, Ph.D., RN, CNE
Associate Professor of Nursing
Dolores Bertoti, MS, PT, DPT
Assistant Professor of Physical Therapy
Porrazzo, Thacker & Bertoti, presented their research entitled “Development and Implementation of a New Curriculum: Vision to Outcomes” at the International Teaching Learning Cooperative Lilly Conference in January 2023 in San Diego, Ca. Their presentation described the visionary process, intentional design, evolution, and outcomes of a new Health Care Science curriculum. It discussed the internal realities of a small, private university including supporting unique subgroups of students with a variety of needs and goals. In order to meet such variant needs, faculty from various disciplines collaborated to design a curriculum that was student goal-centered and met needs ranging from career paths in non- clinical healthcare advocacy and administration to pre-professional prerequisite requirements for graduate school in allied health professions. Driving forces to create a multi-pathway curriculum included student retention, curricular flexibility, interdisciplinary collaboration, and employer needs. Ten years later, positive post-graduation outcomes include satisfactory employment analysis, improved Health Sciences College retention and graduation rates, and successful graduate education program enrollment
Jodi Radosh, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Communication, Neag Professor of Teaching Excellence and Innovation
Radosh utilized her television reporting experience to write Broadcast News: Inside the Digital Newsroom, her second textbook for Routledge Press that comes out this June. This book is a follow-up to her first textbook, Shoot, Edit, Share: A Practical Approach to Video Production for Mass Media, Marketing, Advertising, and Public Relations, by Routledge Press. The Broadcast News Toolkit focuses on the writing, shooting, and production of broadcast news across multimedia platforms in a user-friendly, non-technical, easy-to-read, visually engaging way. QR codes are featured throughout to access short video examples that complement the content. Both books are co-authored with Dr. Kirsten Johnson, a former producer at WGAL-TV, who is a professor at Elizabethtown College. In addition, Radosh gave a presentation on media literacy entitled “Changing Media in a Changing World” at the Highlands Retirement Community. She also presented on jobs in the communication and digital media fields at Wyomissing High School Career Day in the fall of 2022.
Rodney S. Ridley Sr., Ph.D., RTTP
Dean of the College of STEAM, Vice President of Research, Economic Development and Innovation & Chief Operating Officer of the O'Pake Institute for Economic Development & Entrepreneurship
Ridley represented the O’Pake Institute’s technology transfer office (TTO) as a panelist at the Association of University Tech Managers (AUTM) annual meeting and conference. The panel, Reimagining The TTO: From Technology Transfer to Knowledge Transfer, discussed the evolution of the technology transfer profession and how tech transfer can meet the industry’s growing expectations in the future. It also explored how continued mission growth and increased federal expectations arising from the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022 will shape the future of academic tech transfer. Caitlin Long, Ph.D. student and graduate assistant of research and innovation at the O’Pake Institute, was also in attendance as one of three U.S. AUTM Fellows along with Robert Philpot, engineering major and O’Pake Fellow of Engineering.
Bongrae Seok, Ph. D.
Associate Professor of Philosophy
(Editor’s note: Dr. Seok’s section features his work from this edition of the magazine and the previous magazine edition.)
Seok’s primary research interests lie in cognitive and comparative philosophy of mind and moral psychology, moral neuroscience, neuroethics, and neuroaesthetics. He has published a chapter “Moral Psychology of Emotion in Korean Neo-Confucianism and Its Philosophical Debates on the Affective Nature of the Mind” in (Emotions in Korean Philosophy and Religion, Confucian, Comparative, and Contemporary Perspectives, Palgrave), a journal article (“Moral Psychology of the Confucian Heart-Mind and Interpretations of Ceyinzhixin” in Dao, a Journal of Comparative Philosophy. Volume 21), a review article (“Review of Nichols’s The Routledge International Handbook of Morality, Cognition, and Emotion in China” in Journal of Chinese Religions, Volume 50, Number 2) and an APA blog titled “The Mencian Creature: A Distinctive Moral Psychology.” He gave presentations at the APA Eastern Division Meeting (2023): “Confucian Moral Psychology and Moral Sentimentalism,” “Moral Psychology of Embodied Affect and Jeong/Qing (Emotional Attachment) in Korean Culture,” and “Moral Psychology of Mind-Cultivation in Korean Neo-Confucian Philosophy.”
He gave presentations at the APA Eastern Division Meeting (2023): “Confucian Moral Psychology and Moral Sentimentalism,” “Moral Psychology of Embodied Affect and Jeong/Qing (Emotional Attachment) in Korean Culture,” “Moral Psychology of Mind-Cultivation in Korean Neo-Confucian Philosophy.” He also gave the following presentations: “Understanding Korean Neo-Confucianism from the Perspective of Moral Development” NAKPA (North America, Korean Philosophy Association) Conference, (University Nebraska Omaha & Creighton University, Nebraska, November 2022), “Cross-Linguistic Communication among Different Cultures of Shame” at the Cross-Linguistic Disagreement Conference (Kanazawa/Ishikawa, Japan, July 2022), “Zhuangzian Wandering and Epistemological Boredom” at the International Conference of the ISCP, East China Normal University (Shanghai, China, June 2022), “AI, Robotics, and Buddhism” at the Foundations and Applications of AI: Interdisciplinary Perspectives, Department of Philosophy, Beijing University (Beijing, China, April 2022), and “Affecting Presence and the Openness of Embodied Sensitivity” at the Fifteenth Annual Geo-Aesthetics Conference (Towson University, Baltimore, March 2022). At the Central APA conference (2022), he presented “Moral Psychology of the Mencian Creature: How is it different from the Kantian, the Humean, and the Rawlsian creatures?” as well as “Philosophy and Moral Psychology of Shame: Korean Words of Shame in Comparison to Japanese Words of Shame,” and “Religious Experience of Mindfulness and Metaphysics of Corporeal Consciousness,” for the Society for the Phenomenology of Religious Experience. At the Eastern APA conference (2022), “Two Approaches to Emotions in Early Chinese Philosophy and Western Psychology,” “The Simseol Debate: The Debate of the Moral Mind and the End of Moral Metaphysics,” and “Philosophy of Mind and Moral Psychology in Korean Neo-Confucianism.” He is actively serving many academic associations including NAKPA (North American Korean Philosophy Association) and organizing conference sessions as program chair of Korean philosophy for the Eastern Division of APA (American Philosophical Association).
Tracy Scheirer, Ph.D, RN, CMSRN, CNE
Associate Professor of Nursing
Scheirer was the keynote speaker at the national meeting of the Academy of Medical-Surgical Nurses in October 2022. She has national certification in medical surgical nursing (CMSRN) and presented on vaccinology and current issues in vaccination. This is associated with my work as Chairperson of the Berks Immunization Coalition. Scheirer also started her two-year term as Chair of the Pennsylvania League for Nursing, a constituent of the National League for Nursing (NLN).
Janae Sholtz, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Philosophy, Coordinator of Women's and Gender Studies
Sholtz recently published a chapter entitled “Post-Covid Communities: A Schizoanalysis of Immanent Engagements” in Deleuze, Guattari and Schizoanalysis of the Global Pandemic: Revolutionary Praxis and Neoliberal Crisis wtih Bloomsbury Press. I also published a chapter entitled "Creative Resistance: Aesthetics and the Uses and Abuses of Affect in a Time of Global Terror," in Deleuze, Guattari, and Terror with Edinburgh University Press. Sholtz was invited to lead a week-long graduate seminar with the Deleuze and Guattari Studies Conference on "Space, Control, Resistance" in Belgrade, Serbia over the summer 2023 and also keynote the conference. She will also be a Plenary Speaker at the North Texas Philosophical Association, in Dallas, TX in April 2023 and was a keynote speaker for an International Webinar on the theme: Truth in Action: Karmayoga and Satyagraha: New Dimensions in Gandhian Pragmatics sponsored by the Mahatma Gandhi Center for Conflict Resolution and Peace Studies in fall 2022. Her presentation was entitled “A Comparative Analysis of Gandhi’s Satyagraha and Deleuze’s Revolutionary Love as Forms of Praxis.” Sholtz will be hosting a conference in May 2023 in conjunction with her research group- on Deleuze and Cosmology entitled Cosmology Between Philosophy and Science: Deleuze, Guattari, and the Rest of Us, funded by the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), housed at Laurentian University, and developed in partnership with Alvernia University, Université de Sherbrooke and SNOLAB (the particle physics laboratory in Sudbury Canada).
Spencer S. Stober, Ed.D.
Professor of Biology & Leadership Studies
Stober wrote a case study entitled “No pets, Yes to Companion Animals” in Ethical Leadership and Decision Making in Education: Applying Theoretical Perspectives to Complex Dilemmas by Drs. Joan Poliner Shapiro and Jacqueline A. Stefkovich, Routledge, 5th edition 2022, pp. 74-77. He was an invited speaker on “The Climate Crisis and Environmental Ethics” for the GLOBE North American Regional Meeting at Berks Nature, Reading, PA, in November 2022.” The GLOBE Program is a worldwide science and education program. Stober presented “Nature-Centered Leadership: Nature’s Wisdom and Lessons for Humanity” at the 24th International Leadership Association (ILA) conference in Washington, D.C., in October, 2022 and to the 18th International Conference on Environmental, Cultural, Economic, & Social Sustainability, January 26-28, 2022. He was also a Plenary Speaker on the topic of “The Meme-Gene Analogy and the Study of Organizations” at the 22nd International Conference on Knowledge, Culture, and Change in Organizations in January 2022.
Nathan Thomas, Ph.D.
Professor of Theatre
Thomas wrote the chapter, “Meyerhold, the Musician,” included in the recently published “The Routledge Companion to Vsevolod Meyerhold.” In the spring of 2022, he produced and directed the world premiere production of “James of Nazareth” by Lisa Dellagiarino Feriend with Alvernia Theatre students. In Dec. 2022, Thomas also presented three sessions of “Acting Shakespeare” to high school students at the annual Pennsylvania Thespian Conference hosted at North Penn High School. In Jan 2023, he also presented two sessions – “Meyerhold and How to use Music in Directing Plays” and “Meyerhold and Chekhov: Musicality in Playwriting” – at the Region 2 KCACTF Theatre Festival in West Chester.
Jessica C. Warchal-King, MFA
Fine & Performing Arts Instructor
Warchal-King presented her work at the Reading Theater Project’s eighth annual 5-Minute Fringe Festival: Shadows, a live theater production featuring new work by 10 playwrights and performers from around the region. She collaborated with composer Stephen Grieco on the piece titled “Seeking,” inspired by celestial bodies and their relationship to our earthly bodies. “Seeking” was also included in a full multimedia performance in Francis Hall Theatre on Sunday, April 23.
Donna Yarri, Ph.D.
Professor Emerita
Spencer S. Stober, Ed.D.
Professor of Biology & Leadership Studies
Yarri and Stober co-presented “Frankenstein as a cautionary tale for modern genetic technologies” at the national Association for Practical and Professional Ethics in February 2022 and published an article titled “God and Genetics” in The Routledge Companion to Christian Ethics, edited by D. Stephen Long and Rebekah L. Miles, Routledge, 2023, pp. 33-46.
Robin Zappin, PT, Ed.D.
Assistant Professor of Physical Therapy, DPT Program Director
Gregory Chown, OTD, BHSc (OT), BA, CPAM
Associate Professor of Occupational Therapy
Pamela Unger, PT, CWS
Assistant Professor of Physical Therapy
James M. O’Donohue, PT, DPT, OCS, ATC, FAFS
Assistant Professor of Physical Therapy
Julie Axelrod, DPT
Assistant Professor of Physical Therapy
Zappin, Chown, Unger, O’Donohue and Axelrod traveled to Belmopan, Belize, with 25 physical therapy and occupational therapy students. They served patients in a nine-day interdisciplinary, intercollegiate clinical study abroad experience across five local community organizations in partnership with Misericordia University’s speech-language pathology program and Bellarmine University’s physical therapy program.
