New Faculty 2011-2012

Debra Barnett
Instructor of Nursing
M.S.N., B.S.N., Oklahoma City University
A.D.N., A.A.S., Oklahoma City Community College
E-mail: dbarnett@okcu.edu, Campus Extension: 5922

Originally from Apple Valley, California, Debra Barnett is now at home in Oklahoma City. Her Oklahoma City University teaching career began last January when she joined the faculty at Kramer School of Nursing. She has worked as a nurse at Oklahoma Heart Hospital and as an office manager and consultant in the medical field. Barnett likes to spend leisure time kayaking, reading, and traveling.

Ali Boolani
Assistant Professor of Kinesiology and Exercise Studies
Ph.D., Oklahoma State University
M.Ed., University of New Orleans
M.A., B.A., Tulane University
E-mail: aboolani@okcu.edu, Campus Extension: 5016

Ali Boolani’s field of study is applied exercise sciences and sports nutrition. He came to Oklahoma City University’s Kinesiology and Exercise Studies department from Tennessee State University, and he has worked as a research assistant at Oklahoma State University. Boolani was selected as a Research Fellow for the Tennessee Board of Regents and attended the Tennessee Board of Regents Research Symposium in 2011. He enjoys basketball, reading, writing, working out, and attending cultural events. A native of Pakistan, he moved to Oklahoma City from Nashville, Tennessee, and has lived in several cities throughout the U.S.

Gregory L. Brooks
D.N.P., University of Arizona
M.S., University of Oklahoma
B.S., Oklahoma Baptist University
B.S., Oklahoma State University
E-mail: gbrooks@okcu.edu, Campus Extension: 5962

Greg Brooks joins the university as director of the BSN-DNP program at Kramer School of Nursing. He taught in the Oklahoma University Health Sciences Center's nurse practitioner program for eight years, and he remains active in the Oklahoma Nurse Practitioners Association and the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners. He has worked in areas of emergency/urgent care, orthopedics, and employee health.

Wendy Brunner
Assistant Professor of Mass Communications
M.A., B.A., University of Central Florida
E-mail: gmbrunner@okcu.edu, Campus Extension: 6034

Wendy Brunner began her professional career as a news anchor, reporter, and producer at KNAZ-TV in Flagstaff, Arizona. From there she moved to Tupelo, Mississippi, to join the NBC/Fox affiliate WTVA/WLOV-TV as an evening anchor. She also worked as a morning news anchor at Orlando’s 24-hour local news station, Central Florida News 13. Her teaching career began in Orlando at the University of Central Florida and the University of Florida. Originally from Orlando, Brunner came to Oklahoma City from Gainesville, Florida. She has received several Associated Press awards for her work in Mississippi and Florida. She and her husband, Walter, have a beautiful eight-year-old daughter, Isabella, and they enjoy watching college football together.

Kate E. Huston
Assistant Professor of Political Science
M.A., B.A., University of Oklahoma
E-mail: khuston@okcu.edu, Campus extension: 5232

Kate Huston received the Carl Albert Doctoral Fellowship from 2004-2010, and the American Political Science Association Congressional Fellowship 2008-2009. Serving on Oklahoma City University’s adjunct faculty for the past two years, she joined the full-time faculty this fall. Huston's work-related interests include legislatures, representation, and environmental and health issues related to public policy. In her leisure time, she enjoys gardening, cooking, and knitting.
 

Laurie Kauffman
Assistant Professor of Biology
Ph.D., M.A., University of Florida
B.A., Grinnell College
E-mail: lkauffman@okcu.edu,  Campus Extension: 5033

Laurie Kauffman joined the Biology Department at Oklahoma City University after serving as visiting instructor at DePaul University in Chicago. She is originally from St. Louis, Missouri. While in Chicago, she taught at Columbia College and Roosevelt University, and she has been an adjunct faculty member at Fordham University in New York and Santa Fe Community College in Gainesville, Florida. Kauffman is interested in animal behavior, primate behavior, and ecotourism. She often thinks about how to survive the zombie apocalypse when she is not reading fiction, baking, or cooking vegetarian dishes.

Hope S. Knight
Clinical Instructor of Nursing
M.S.N., B.S.N., University of Oklahoma
E-Mail: hsknight@okcu.edu, Campus Extension: 5964

With twenty years of nursing experience and five years of teaching experience, Hope Knight is a welcome addition to the faculty at Kramer School of Nursing. She is interested in curriculum design and has a passion for using technology as a teaching tool. Knight is a parish nurse at Messiah Lutheran Church and serves as a resource for parish nurses and pastors in the Oklahoma district of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod. Knight’s spare time is spent on crochet projects, reading, and caring for her two cats.

Stefanie L. LeGrande
Clinical Instructor of Nursing
B.S.N., Southern Nazarene University
B.S., University of Central Oklahoma
A.S., Murray State College
E-mail: sllegrande@okcu.edu, Campus Extension: 5932

After a career as a licensed veterinary technician in equine medicine and surgery, Stefanie LeGrande began her second career in nursing. Her new direction became a passion when she was appointed as director of nursing in an assisted living facility where she worked with residents and Alzheimer patients and their families to improve health outcomes. Her current research and interest is in the area of geriatrics and professional learning communities for nurse educators. LeGrande will complete her M.S.N. studies at Oklahoma Baptist University at the end of the fall 2011 semester. When not teaching, LeGrande enjoys spending time with her family, riding and showing horses, and caring for her Bengal cats.

Leslie A. Long
Assistant Professor of Religious Education
Ph.D., University of Oklahoma
M. Div., Phillips University
B.S., Oklahoma State University
E-mail: llong@okcu.edu, Campus Extension: 5176

Leslie Long is an ordained elder in the Oklahoma Conference of the United Methodist Church. She is the dean and co-designer of the Youth Worker’s Academy, a United Methodist Church paraprofessional training event, and she has served as co-chair of the national United Methodist Campus Ministry Association. Long holds a certificate in Christian education with the church, and serves on the Bolivian Ministry Board. She was a graduate assistant and research assistant at the University of Oklahoma and has been an adjunct faculty member at Northeastern State University and Oklahoma City University. An Oklahoma City native, Long loves to spend time with her family and enjoys traveling—especially to New York City, where she attends musicals and plays.

Edward C. Lyons
Associate Professor of Law
J.D., University of Notre Dame
Ph.D., M.A., University of St. Thomas
B.A. University of San Francisco
E-mail: eclyons@okcu.edu, Campus extension: 6801

After his graduation from the University of San Francisco, Edward Lyons received a full graduate scholarship and fellowship for his M.A. and Ph.D. studies at St. Thomas University in Houston. He previously taught at Ave Maria School of Law, the University of Toldeo, Michigan State College of Law, and he was a visiting scholar at Notre Dame Law School. In addition to his teaching experience, Lyons was an associate with Skadden Arps Slate Meagher and Flom, and he served as law clerk for the Honorable Edward Leavy, United States Court of Appeals for the 9^th Circuit. Lyons’ hometown is Manhattan Beach, California, and he comes to Oklahoma City from Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Rachel H. Mack
Clinical Instructor of Nursing
B.S.N., Oklahoma City University
M.S.N., Frontier Nursing University
E-mail: rhmack@okcu.edu, Campus Extension: 5963

Currently working on her doctor of nursing practice degree at Oklahoma City University, Rachel Mack previously taught as an adjunct and has now joined the Kramer School of Nursing faculty as a clinical instructor. She is an enthusiastic student and teacher and is glad to have the opportunity to teach future nurse practitioners. Mack also works in OCU’s student health clinic as a family nurse practitioner. Hiking, camping, and fishing are her favorite activities with her family, and she enjoys her pet cats and dog.

Carol Mannahan
Assistant Professor of Nursing
Ed.D., Oklahoma State University
M.S.N., B.S.N., University of Oklahoma
E-mail: camannahan@okcu.edu, Campus extension: 6401

Carol Mannahan has served on the faculty at the University of Oklahoma and the University of Central Oklahoma, developing a statewide reputation in nursing leadership development. She has almost twenty years of clinical nursing experience, including service with the U.S. Army Nurse Corps. She is married and has recently become a new grandmother.

Charles Joseph Meinhart
Assistant Professor of Justice Studies
Ph.D., University of Oklahoma
M. Div., Sacred Heart School of Theology
M. Div., McCormick Theological Seminary
B.S., University of Tulsa
E-mail: jmeinhart@okcu.edu, Campus extension: 5704

Joe Meinhart has served in ordained ministry in the Presbyterian and Roman Catholic churches. He has worked with homeless youth in San Francisco, abused children in Tulsa, and he spends his summers teaching in the Upward Bound program. For the past three years, Meinhart has been an adjunct faculty member with Oklahoma City Community College and Oklahoma City University. He served on the boards of the Norman chapter of Parents Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays and the American Civil Liberties Union of Oklahoma.

Peter Messiah
Director of Addiction Prevention Studies
Ed.D., Oklahoma State University
M.Ed. University of Central Oklahoma
M.A., B.S., Central State University
E-mail: pjmessiah@okcu.edu, Campus extension: 5637

After working in the Oklahoma City Public School district as a teacher and administrator, Peter Messiah was recruited to the Houston Independent School District where he served as the Safe Schools Manager. He was directly responsible for the Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities program, the Homeless Education Office, school-based social workers, and intervention assistance teams. He started several community-based initiatives in the Houston area including the teen court program, and he was named the chair for the Houston/Harris County Office of Drug Policy. Messiah is originally from Oklahoma City. He is interested in community mobilization, arts integration, and program development, and he enjoys reading, writing, cooking, movies, and whitewater rafting in his leisure time.

Jason Miller
Assistant Professor of Kinesiology and Exercise Studies
Ph.D., University of Utah
M.S., Utah State University
B.S., Weber State University
E-mail: jmiller2@okcu.edu, Campus extension: 5648

In addition to his past experience in undergraduate- and graduate-level teaching, Jason Miller is a certified strength and conditioning specialist, a personal trainer, and he holds a certificate in United States weightlifting. Miller’s professional interests include coaching athletes, both amateur and professional, and strength training for all ages. Apart from his career, Miller enjoys spending time with his beautiful wife.

Tiffany Murphy
Instructor of Law
Director, Oklahoma Innocence Clinic
J.D., B.A., University of Michigan
E-mail: trmurphy@okcu.edu, Campus extension: 6805

Tiffany Murphy joins the faculty of OCU LAW as director of the Oklahoma Innocence Clinic. She served as legal director and interim executive director of the Midwestern Innocence Project in Kansas City. In those roles, Murphy managed clinical programs, and she taught at the law schools of hte University of Missouri and the University of Missour - Kansas City. Murphy worked as a federal defender in Nevada, POennsylvania, eastern Washington, and Idaho. 

Anna Nguyen
Assistant Professor of Nursing
Ph.D., M.S., B.S., University of Oklahoma
A.A.S., Oklahoma State University at Oklahoma City
E-mail: atnguyen1@okcu.edu, Campus extension: 6403

Anna Nguyen has experience teaching nursing at both the undergraduate and graduate level. She holds a certificate in pediatric nursing and maintains a clinical practice at The Children’s Center in Bethany. She has conducted transcultural research studies focused on Asian American women to promote cancer screening and to foster post-breast cancer treatment transitions. Nguyen is committed to quality healthcare and the elimination of health disparities among racial and ethnic groups. She has been an advocate for the underserved and actively involved with issues relating to the health of minority populations.

Beth Robinson
Instructor of English
M.A., University of Central Oklahoma
B.A., University of Oklahoma
E-mail: brobinson@okcu.edu, Campus extension: 5649 

Beth Robinson has served on the Oklahoma Arts Council’s Artist in Residence Roster since 1998, presenting countless writing workshops and presentations throughout Oklahoma at schools, community centers, senior citizen centers, and libraries. She has worked as a tutor, editor, and previously taught at Northern Oklahoma College in Enid. Robinson has been an adjunct faculty member at the university for several years and, in 2010, she was presented with Oklahoma City University’s Excellence in Teaching Award for Adjunct Faculty. She is a native Oklahoman who has lived in Ottawa, Ontario Canada for several years and has dual citizenship. Someday soon, she plans to travel more. She enjoys the ocean, mountains, and beautiful sky.

Lindsay Salliotte
Assistant Professor of Kinesiology and Exercise Studies
Ph.D., M.S., Oklahoma State University
B.A., University of Michigan
E-mail: lesalliotte@okcu.edu, Campus exension: 5490

Originally from southeast Michigan, Lindsay Salliotte recently received her Ph.D. from Oklahoma State University. She is a certified health education specialist and taught at OSU for five years as a graduate assistant. In her spare time, Lindsay likes to stay active by coaching cheerleading and gymnastics. She is an avid reader and enjoys the sun either by the pool or on a boat.

Charles L. Samuels
Assistant Professor of Mathematics
Ph.D., University of Texas at Austin
B.A., Williams College
E-mail: clsamuels@okcu.edu, Campus extension: 5137

Charles Samuels comes to Oklahoma City University from Vancouver, B.C., Canada. He served as a teaching assistant and assistant instructor while he was a graduate student and received postdoctoral fellowships in Germany and Vancouver. His research interests are in number theory, where he is involved in work related to finding best approximations of irrational numbers by rational numbers, and he has made research contributions to several international mathematics journals. Samuels is originally from Boston. Outside of work, he is a big Boston sports fan (Go Sox!). He reports that he is always willing to give his money away in a poker game, or have a good chat about video games.

Amarita Sen
Assistant Professor of English
Ph.D., Michigan State University
M.A., B.A., Jadavpur University
E-mail: asen@okcu.edu, Campus extension: 5603

Amarita Sen comes to the university from India, where she served as the director and coordinator of English language classes at the Welfare Society for the Blind. Her teaching experience includes serving as a graduate instructor at Michigan State University. Her area of expertise is in the medieval and renaissance period. Sen has published an article on Bollywood appropriations of Shakespeare, and she has an article forthcoming on seventeenth century English court masques, curiosity cabinets, ethnography, and the East Indies. She has written for newspapers and published poems and short stories. Originally from Kolkata, India, Sen arrives in Oklahoma City by way of East Lansing, Michigan. She enjoys teaching and talking about literature, and looks forward to interdisciplinary discussions in and outside of the classroom.

Yi Shao
Visiting Assistant Professor of Psychology
Ph.D., M.A., Cornell University
B.S. Peking University
E-mail: yshao@okcu.edu, Campus extension: 5244

Yi Shao served as a teaching assistant at both Peking University and Cornell University and was a visiting assistant professor at Saint Francis University in Loretto, Pennsylvania. She has published scholarly articles for over ten conferences and journals, and she has received awards and grants from both Peking University and Cornell University. Shoa and her family moved to Oklahoma City this summer from Oak Ridge, Tennessee. She is originally from Shanghai, China, and she enjoys watching movies in her spare time.

Robert L. Spinks
Professor of Sociology and Justice Studies and Director of the Nonprofit Leadership Program
Ed. D., M.S., B.M.E., Oklahoma State University
E-mail: bspinks@okcu.edu, Campus extension: 5368

Bob Spinks directs the new Nonprofit Leadership program at Oklahoma City University. He began his teaching career in Cushing, Oklahoma, as a band and music teacher and has been an adjunct faculty member at Oklahoma State University, Southeastern State University, and Oklahoma Christian University. Spinks held various administrative positions with the Last Frontier Council of the Boy Scouts of America, served as executive director of the Community Council of Central Oklahoma, and served as president and CEO of United Way of Central Oklahoma. He is a member of several nonprofit boards in Central Oklahoma and holds membership in several national fraternities. Spinks fills his leisure time with family, music, outdoor activities, and lends a hand to support a wide range of nonprofits in Oklahoma.

Anthony Stancampiano
Assistant Professor of Biology
Ph.D., University of Oklahoma
M.S., B.S. University of Central Oklahoma
E-mail: ajstancampiano@okcu.edu, Campus extension: 5258

Tony Stancampiano was awarded a doctoral study grant by the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education and has received several other awards and honors in the field of biology. He taught for sixteen years at Oklahoma City Community College and the University of Central Oklahoma. His discipline at Oklahoma City University is zoology and vertebrate ecology. Stancampiano’s interests include the cultivation and application of Humulus lupulus, microbrewing and nanobrewing, birding, hunting, landscaping for wildlife, and wetland restoration. He is a native of Oklahoma City.

Paul V. Stenis
Assistant Professor of Library Science
M.S., University of Texas at Austin
M.A., Florida State University
B.A., University of Oklahoma
E-mail: pvstenis@okcu.edu, Campus extension: 5073

Paul Stenis served as an instruction librarian at the University of Central Oklahoma before coming to Oklahoma City University. He has previous teaching experience as a first-year writing instructor and worked as an associate editor at Bedford/St. Martin’s in New York. His love of reading and writing fiction has inspired Stenis to publish two short stories in literary journals. Stenis has also presented papers on information literacy and assessment topics and published a book review and conference proceeding in the field of library science. He is especially interested in contemporary literary fiction and books for boys between the ages of nine and fifteen. A strong advocate for libraries and librarians, Stenis hopes to help articulate the message that librarians are essential to the transition in media for books and other print formats in the electronic age.

Lana West
M.S.N., University of California at Los Angeles
B.S.N., University of Oklahoma
E-mail: lrwest@okcu.edu, Campus extension: 5902

After serving five years as an intensive care unit nurse and 15 years as an acute care nurse practitioner, Lana West has joined the faculty at the Kramer School of Nursing. She moved to Oklahoma City from San Antonio, Texas, but she is a native Oklahoman—born and raised in Ardmore. She is an editorial board member for Critical Care Nursing Quarterly and has expertise in solid organ transplant with an emphasis on orthotropic heart transplantation and mechanical circulatory support. One of West’s favorite pastimes is watching Sooner football.

Mike Wimmer
Artist-in-Residence
M.F.A., University of Hartford
B.F.A., University of Oklahoma
E-mail: mwimmer@okcu.edu, Campus extension: 5452

Mike Wimmer was born in Muskogee, Oklahoma where he grew up like most boys: playing hard, fighting sleep, reading comic books, and dreaming.  He credits his grandfather with his physical development and the active imagination which enabled him to chase—and sometimes catch—many of his dreams. Wimmer has illustrated the covers of more than 200 books and has several paintings hanging in the Oklahoma State Capitol building. His client list includes American Airlines, Disney, Doubleday, HarperCollins Publishers, Kimberly-Clark, Michelob, Milton Bradley, Proctor & Gamble, Reader’s Digest, and RJR Nabisco.