B.A., J.D., Harvard University

Eric Laity has been a member of the Law School faculty for fifteen years. In August of this year he was named associate dean of the Law School. Prior to his tenure at OCU, Laity was in private practice for twelve years with law firms in Dallas and Houston. He has chaired American Bar Association committees on international taxation. Laity grew up in the Netherlands and also lived in several metropolitan areas in the U.S. His academic interests include the international law of taxation. His leisure time interests include swimming, art and architecture, and music.

elaity@okcu.edu
405-208-5877

B.S.N., M.S.N., University of Oklahoma

Dianne Bottoms spent more than nine years teaching nursing at OSU-OKC and has been a practicing clinical nurse for 25 years. She continues to practice nursing part time at Integris Baptist Medical Center in Oklahoma City. Her special achievements include earning Critical Care Nurse Certification. Her academic interests include test construction and analysis, NCLEX-RN Exam, computer technology, and educational strategies. Her personal interests include reading, scrapbooking, gardening, and outdoor goldfish/koi ponds.

dbottoms@okcu.edu
405-208-5880

B.S., M.S., University of Oklahoma
Ph.D. University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center

Kent Buchanan performed biomedical research and taught medical immunology and medical mycology to medical students at Tulane University Health Sciences Center in New Orleans for seven years prior to his arrival in Oklahoma City. He includes among his accomplishments successful completion of Ph.D.s by two of his students who then went into postdoctoral work at Michigan State University and the University of Chicago. Buchanan has received funding from Burroughs Wellcome Fund and the National Institutes of Health. In September 2006, his experiment, funded through NASA, was included in the Space Shuttle Atlantis flight. Buchanan received teaching awards five out of his seven years at Tulane.

Born in Guthrie, Oklahoma, and raised in Okeene, Buchanan lists his interests as his wife, Lauri, who is director of women's ministries at Church of the Servant United Methodist Church, and his son, Keaton, an eight-year-old third-grader at Deer Creek Elementary School in Edmond. His other nonprofessional interests include snow skiing, hiking, swimming, and reading.

kbuchanan@okcu.edu
405-208-5038

B.M., Curtis Institute of Music
M.M., Artist Diploma, Yale University School of Music

Amy I-Lin Cheng has performed in venues ranging from Carnegie Hall to the National Recital Hall of Taiwan. She is the winner of the 2000 Heida Hermanns International Young Artist Piano Competition and toured Asia after winning first place in the Rising Young Artist Series in Taipei. Cheng was born in Changhua City, Taiwan, and was encouraged by her German-born piano professor, Rolf-Peter Wille, to pursue a musical career abroad. She moved to the U.S. at the age of fifteen and made her Boston concerto solo debut at the age of seventeen. She has been concerto soloist with the Musica Viva Moscow Chamber Orchestra , with Taiwan's Taichung Philharmonic, and with the Oklahoma Community Orchestra. Cheng is married to OCU faculty member and clarinetist Chad Burrow. They are founding members and codirectors for the Brightmusic Chamber Music Series at St. Paul's Cathedral in Oklahoma City. In addition to frequent regional performances, Cheng and Burrow have performed in Asia, Europe, and on the East and West Coasts.

acheng@okcu.edu
405-208-5630

Diploma, Grant McEwan Community College
B.F.A., York University

Heather Cornell has been artistic director of Manhattan Tap since 1986 and is an international soloist and master teacher. Her choreography credits include the Broadway comedy, The Play What I Wrote, and she served as choreographic consultant on Three Penny Opera for the Atalaya Theater Company in Seville, Spain. Cornell is at OCU this fall as part of our visiting scholars program. Originally from Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, Cornell lives in Valley Cottage, New York, when she is not touring. She lists her special interests as her kids, teaching tap as a musical form, performing, and playing percussion-balafon, diembe, and congos.

hcornell@okcu.edu
405-208-5606

B.A., University of Oklahoma

M.S., The Catholic University of America
M.A., Ph.D. Brown University

Prior to coming to Oklahoma City University, Robert Dorman was a research associate and indexer for HarpWeek, LLC; an indexer at Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group; and an adjunct faculty member at Harvard University, Brown University, the University of New Mexico, the University of Minnesota-Morris, and the University of Oklahoma. He was an Association of Research Libraries Academy fellow in residence at the University of Notre Dame libraries in spring 2006. Dorman is originally from Jones, Oklahoma.

rdorman@okcu.edu
405-208-5162

B.S., St. Cloud State University
Ph.D. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Originally from Minnesota, David Engebretson comes to Oklahoma from Illinois where he earned his Ph.D. from the University of Illinois and taught general and physical chemistry at Augustana College. Engebretson earned high marks from his students and received a teaching award in 2003 from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He lists his special interests as old technology, books, museums, and jazz music.

dengebretson@okcu.edu
405-208-5037

B.M.E. Texas Christian University
M.M. University of North Texas
Ph.D. University of Texas at Austin (Dec. 2006)

Before his arrival at Oklahoma City University, Cory Gavito served as director of the University of Texas Early Music Ensemble and musical director for the UT Opera Theater production of Monteverdi's L'incoronazione di Poppea. He has taught courses in music appreciation and music history, including a travel abroad seminar in Italian opera at the Italart Institute in Castiglion Fiorentino, Italy. Gavito served as a Hutchison Fellow at the University of Texas and a Newberry Library Research Fellow at the Newberry Library in Chicago. His performance credits as a keyboardist include Clark Terry, Smokey Montgomery, and the early music group, Musica Secreta. Gavito is originally from Dallas, Texas, His special interests include music and Italian culture, 1500-1700; jazz, R&B, soul; and improvisation.

cgavito@okcu.edu
405-208-5631

B.A. Carleton College
J.D. University of Virginia

Michael Grynberg spent several years in private practice as an attorney in Washington, D.C., including practice at Hogan & Hartson and Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale & Dorr. He also served as a clerk for the Honorable Edward R. Becker, who at the time was chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. His special achievements include membership in Order of the Coif, the honor society of the legal profession, and serving as articles editor for the Virginia Law Review. Grynberg moved to Oklahoma City from Alexandria, Virginia, and is originally from Lexington, Massachusetts. He is teaching intellectual property law, property, and trademark law at OCU this year and lists his research interests as copyright, trademark, communications, and privacy law. His leisure activities include reading, ultimate Frisbee, and travel.

mgrynberg@okcu.edu
405-208-5364

B.A. University of Oklahoma
J.D. Southern Methodist University School of Law

Thomas Guild will teach legal studies in the Meinders School of Business. His past teaching experience includes twenty-seven years at the University of Central Oklahoma. His special achievements include teaching, service, and research awards at UCO; a service award from the American Association of University Professors; and a proclamation and citation from the Oklahoma House of Representatives and the Board of Regents of Oklahoma Colleges. He was a member of the Presidential Advisory Search Committee of the Board of Regents of Oklahoma Colleges and a member of a special task force of the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education. Guild is originally from Bartlesville, and his interests include law, politics, piano, music, Hispanic culture, Spanish, weightlifting, and baseball.

tguild@okcu.edu
405-208-5532

B.B.A. University of Oklahoma
M.L.I.S., University of Oklahoma

Before joining the Dulaney-Browne Library faculty at Oklahoma City University, Elizabeth Jones taught at the University of Oklahoma's Center for English as a Second Language, focusing on various technologies such as PowerPoint, html, and TOEFL computer programs. She is a member of Beta Phi Mu (Lambda Chapter), the national honor society for librarians. Originally from Sallisaw, Oklahoma, Jones' leisure activities include reading, board games, and computer programming.

ejones@okcu.edu
405-208-5846

B.A., M.A., Ph.D. University of Oklahoma

Lois Lawler-Brown has twenty-six years teaching experience at the secondary level and was an adjunct faculty member in the modern languages department at the University of Oklahoma for seven years. In the early 1990s, she was selected by the National Endowment for the Humanities as the Teacher/Scholar for the state of Oklahoma. She is a national Board of Examiners member for the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education and have served in an advisory capacity to their Board of Directors. Lawler-Brown is a lifelong Oklahoman who graduated from Bishop McGuinness High School. She is active in Norman political and community affairs, served three terms as a city council member, currently serves on three city committees, and is chair of the Norman Economic Development Coalition, which is composed of representatives from the University of Oklahoma, the city of Norman, and the Norman Chamber of Commerce.

llbrown@okcu.edu
405-208-5374

B.F.A. Stephens College
M.F.A. University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Lance Marsh has enjoyed a nearly twenty-year career as a professional actor, primarily on stage, and spent two years teaching at the Professional Actor Training Program at the University of Arizona-Tucson before joining the OCU theater faculty. He also continues his role as artistic director of Summerset Theatre in Baraboo, Wisconson. Marsh is originally from Los Angeles, and his interests include Shakespeare, voice and speech, dialects, and Asian movement styles.

lmarsh@okcu.edu
405-208-5633

A.A., Oklahoma City Community College

Patricia Oplotnick brings more than thirty years of teaching experience to Oklahoma City University. Raised in Independence, Kansas, she first trained in Tulsa, Kansas City, Wichita, and Dallas and later expanded her training to cities throughout the U.S. and London. She is a nationally certified dance examiner for Dance Masters of America and the Area Four vice president overseeing dance events throughout the midwest. Oplotnik also is an international tap judge. She trained two-time world tap champion, Sarah Reed—a current student at OCU—and has placed students on the prestigious U.S. Tap Team. Married thirty-four years, Oplotnick has five children and six grandchildren. She is thankful that everyday of her life is filled with music and dance and wants to inspire others to love it as much as she does.

poplotnick@okcu.edu
405-208-5353

B.A., Harvard University
M.A., University of Pittsburgh
J.D., Harvard University

Michael O’Shea practiced law at Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw LLP in Chicago, then at Lathrop & Gage, L.C., in his hometown of Kansas City, Missouri. He served as a law clerk to Chief Judge Danny J. Boggs of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in 2003-04 and to Judge John R. Gibson of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit in 2001-02.

O’Shea’s academic interests include formalist theories of legal interpretation such as textualism and originalism, especially in their application to state courts; cost-benefit analysis; the law of expert testimony; and firearms law. Other interests include philosophy, English and German poetry, and revolver shooting.

moshea@okcu.edu
405-208-5215

B.S.N., Duquesne University, Pittsburgh
M.S., Southern Nazarene University

Irene Phillips brings over thirty-five years of nursing experience to Oklahoma City University and has taught nursing at Platt College in its L.P.N. to R.N. program. While practicing nursing in Oklahoma, Phillips developed an orientation manual for a telemetry nursing unit. Originally from Mercer, Pennsylvania, Phillips’ leisure activities include reading mystery stories, knitting, and sewing.

iphillips@okcu.edu
405-208-5966

B.A., Tirana University, Albania
M.A., Ph.D. Indiana University

Originally from the city of Fier in Albania, Mimoza Rista-Dema came to Oklahoma City University from Indiana University where she served as an English instructor, an Albanian lecturer, and a translator. While in Albania, she was an English lecturer and translator at the Oil and Gas Geological Institute and taught English at the high school level. She has published several articles in recent years and received a Fulbright to study at Indiana University in 1994-1995. Her academic interests include world Englishes, languages in contact, sociolinguistics, and grammar teaching.

mristadema@okcu.edu
405-208-5476

B.S., Oklahoma City University

Stacey Rogers has spent eight years as assistant director, choreographer, and instructor at a prominent 1200-student performing arts school in the western suburbs of Chicago. She has taught master classes in jazz and set choreography and has served as a judge at dance competitions across the U.S. She has performed with Suite 132, Chicago’s up and coming dance company. Many of her students have gone on to study at Oklahoma City University and have pursued careers in dance instruction. Originally from Fort Dodge, Iowa, Rogers enjoys cooking and movies. As a first-time homeowner, she is learning about gardening and landscaping.

smrogers@okcu.edu
405-208-5531

B.S., M.Ed., University of Central Oklahoma
Ph.D., University of Oklahoma

Sheila Spurgeon has taught special education at all levels in the public school system and taught kindergarten for sixteen years. She taught at and served as coordinator for the special education department at Southeastern Oklahoma State University. She taught education and served as associate dean of education at Phillips University and taught educational technology and early childhood education and served as program coordinator for both programs at Northwestern Oklahoma State University. She is the recipient of two national awards—one for an innovative program and one for best presentation at an international conference. She has received three federal grants totally approximately $5 million. Her favorite activities include water sports, aviation, writing, reading and, most of all, working with children.

sspurgeon@okcu.edu
405-208-5373