Mary Louise Hill joined the Humanities faculty in 2004. She holds a Ph.D. in Performance Studies from New York University, an M.A. in Fiction Writing from Syracuse University, and a B.A. in English from Cleveland State University. Her research interests include the history of technology and its impact on performance, multi-cultural performance and drama, feminist performance and drama, semiotics and phenomenology. Her dissertation, When The Voice Must Be The Body: Feminism and Radio Drama earned her honors at N.Y.U.; chapters from it have appeared in TDR: The Drama Review and Women and Performance. She has presented papers on feminism, sound theory, radio and performance in the U.S.A., Turkey and South Africa. She has taught at Syracuse University, New York University, Onondaga Community College, LeMoyne College, Alcorn State University (Mississippi), and Baskent University (Ankara, Turkey). She is also the campus Fulbright Representative.

Douglas Anderson joined Medaille College in 1985, having taught previously at Texas A&I University. In 1993, Random House published his novel, First and Ten, a murder mystery about the Buffalo Bills. Anderson has also published in Texas Monthly, Kirkus Reviews, and small press magazines, and has edited legal and juvenile books. During a sabbatical in 1998, Anderson taught himself webmaking, nonlinear information design, Javascript, database programming, and web server management. They helped him to develop the proof-of-concept prototype web site at RicciStreet.net that has replaced printed textbooks in his courses and created a community of learners supplementing his face-to-face classes. Anderson is an enthusiastic bicycle rider and budding videographer and he enjoys collecting Devonian (350 million years ago) fossils from creek beds around Western New York. More information about Anderson can be found at RicciStreet.net.

Dr. Alan Bigelow (abigelow@medaille.edu) has taught in the Humanities Department at Medaille since 1992, with experience in creative writing, composition, literature, and digital literature. He has a Ph.D. and M.A. in English from SUNY at Buffalo, and an M.A. in English (Creative Writing Emphasis) from the University of Colorado in Boulder. His B.A. is from Bard College.

His current online projects include: iDiscourse.com, an online bulletin board for humanities courses; and HumanitiesDepartment.com, a site devoted to teaching and learning in the Humanities. He also writes digital stories for the web which are created in Flash and use images, text, audio, video, and other components.

His online work, installations, and conversations concerning digital fiction have appeared in Turbulence.org, Rhizome.org, Los Angeles Center for Digital Arts, FreeWaves.org, LibraryJournal.com, FILE 2007/2008, Media-N: Journal of the New Media Caucus, E-Poetry 2007, Art Tech Media, JavaMuseum.org, Electrofringe 2007/2008, New River Journal, chico.art.net, and elsewhere.  Until recently, in addition to teaching full-time at Medaille College, he was a visiting online lecturer in Creative Writing and New Media at De Montfort University, UK.

You can see Alan Bigelow's work at http://www.webyarns.com.

Dr. Terri Borchers has taught in the Humanities Department since 2002. With graduate degrees from the Northwestern School of Law, Cleveland State University, Ohio State University, and the University of Utah, Dr. Borchers brings a depth of professional experience and publication to creative and professional writing courses. Her past and current research interests include the rhetoric and poetics of American writers and the problematics of the "we," as well as world literature issues and the importance of diversity in our increasingly complex and compelling global community. Her hobbies include Irish music and dance, running, walking, and travel.

Dr. Gerald J. Erion joined Medaille's full-time faculty in 2002, having earned his Ph.D. in philosophy from the University at Buffalo with a dissertation investigating the ontology, epistemology, and moral philosophy of common sense. He teaches courses in philosophy and general education at the College, and his current research includes topics in ethics and moral philosophy, philosophy of mind, and the teaching of philosophy. He has also contributed chapters to recent books on philosophy and pop culture, including The Simpsons and Philosophy: The D'Oh of Homer (Open Court) and The Matrix and Philosophy: Welcome to the Desert of the Real (Open Court). In addition, he is the immediate past director of the College Scholars Program, Medaille's undergraduate honors program. Dr. Erion maintains a personal Web site.

Courtney Grim has been at Medaille College since 1996. She holds a Master's of Fine Arts degree from Rochester Institute of Technology in Imaging Arts, a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Ohio University in Photography with minors in ceramics and art history. Grim has been an artist-in-residence at the Experimental Television Center in New York and was recently award an Individual Artists Grant from the New York State Council in the Arts for her project entitled, "Eerie Tales".  

Grim's artistic works have been installed, screened and exhibited throughout the country, most recently at the Sound Experiment Film Festival in Lardeo, TX; the Fairmount Water Works Interpretive Center in Philadelphia, PA; Richmond Center for the Visual Arts, Kalamazoo, MI; American Cinematic Experience, New York, NY; and the Athens International Film and Video Festival.

Grim will present her research on "Integrated Student Learning" at the College Art Association conference in Los Angeles, California. She is an active participant in the community, most recently serving on the Board of Directors at Squeaky Wheel, Buffalo's Media Art Center. Currently Grim is working on new works that are informed by a coal freighter trip on the Great Lakes. Two videos, side-by-side, tell the tale of repositioning landscapes, dwindling resources and the illusion of plenty. "Loss of Control and the Disillusion of Certainty" corresponds to a broader uncertainty of our natural resources including issues of energy, fresh drinking water, food distribution and climate change currently affecting our planet.

Erika Hamann joined the full-time faculty in 2006 and currently teaches in the Interdisciplinary Studies and Humanities departments. She began teaching at Medaille as an adjunct instructor in 2004. Erika holds a master of arts degree in English from Buffalo State College, where her academic focus was on Mark Twain, evolution and religion in Gilded Age/Victorian society. She also received her bachelor of arts degree in English from Buffalo State College.

Dr. Brad Hollingshead (bhollingshead@medaille.edu) joined the Medaille faculty in 2000, and has taught college English since 1989. He holds a Ph.D. and M.A. from Duquesne University, with specializations in nineteenth-century British literature and critical theory. His B.A. in English is from Ohio Dominican University. Dr. Hollingshead teaches undergraduate courses in British literature, theory, and composition. He also teaches graduate courses in narrative inquiry theory and the essay tradition. His research interests include British Romanticism; Victorian Prose; Marxist, feminist, postcolonial, and poststructuralist theory; film; Hip Hop culture; and the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning. His work has been published in several peer-reviewed journals, and he has been invited to speak at national and international conferences on a wide range of topics, including literature, film, rap, and building learning communities.

Dr. Hollingshead began serving as Associate Dean for Foundational Learning and Assessment in 2008.  In this role, Dr. Hollingshead focuses on two areas that promote student engagement, retention, and achievement.  He provides leadership for the ongoing development, implementation, and improvement of foundational learning for undergraduate students in the liberal arts and sciences, with particular attention to the delivery and enhancement of first-year learning communities.  He also coordinates college-wide efforts to assess and improve student learning.  Dr. Hollingshead was the chief author of the college’s Student Learning Assessment Plan, which was commended by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education.

Dr. Hollingshead has been recognized for educational excellence throughout his career.  At Medaille, he received the Dr. Brian R. Shero Teaching Excellence and Campus Leadership Award in 2005.

Dr. Douglas W. Howard joined Medaille in 2005 as Vice President for Academic Affairs, at which time he was also appointed professor of humanities. A graduate of Miami University (Ohio), he received his Ph.D. degree in English from the University of Rochester, after which he joined the faculty at St. John Fisher College, where he served for over 25 years as a faculty member and administrator before coming to Medaille.

Dr. Howard’s research and teaching interests have centered on Shakespeare and English drama, and his publications include The Plays of Samuel Foote (Garland Publishing, 1983) and Philip Massinger: A Critical Reassessment (Cambridge University Press, 1985). More recently, Dr. Howard has taught and written about twentieth-century American culture, including a range of subjects from the early black independent film to printmaking in the Great Depression. An avid art collector, he has also curated more than twenty art exhibitions, mostly focused on upstate New York modernists working from the 1930s to the 1970s. His catalog essay, “At the Margins of Modernism: Rufus J. Dryer and Kathleen McEnery” appeared in The Art of Kathleen McEnery (Harnett Gallery, 2003).

As an academic leader, Dr. Howard has focused on working with faculty to develop, assess, and sustain curricular innovation, and on fostering collaboration between academics and student life. In 2002, his work on first-year programs was recognized by the Policy Center on the First Year of College in their designation of “Institutions of Excellence in the First College Year.” From 2003-2007, Dr. Howard served as one of twenty resource faculty selected nationally to facilitate the National Summer Institute on Learning Communities at the Evergreen State College (Washington).

Dr. Richard T. Jurasek began his tenure as Medaille College's sixth president on June 1, 2007. He was previously the executive vice president and interim president of Antioch College in Ohio. Before joining Antioch, Dr. Jurasek served as dean of faculty at Augustana College in Illinois, and Professor of German at Earlham College in Indiana.

A foreign language scholar, Jurasek earned both his Ph.D. and master's degrees in German from The Ohio State University and his bachelor's degree in German from Ohio University. Dr. Jurasek has co-authored three books on German that are used in colleges and universities across the country. He has published widely and has made numerous presentations about on-campus and off-campus curriculum design.

In addition to his work in academics, Dr. Jurasek is an elected member to both the Community Resources Board and the Community Roundtable in Yellow Springs, Ohio. He was a worksite volunteer for Habitat for Humanity (2001-2003) and served as a classroom volunteer (2001-2003) in Rock Island, Ill.

Mark Lavatelli has taught at Medaille since 1988. He holds a bachelor's degree in art history from Cornell University, a master's in art history from the University of Illinois, and a master of fine arts in painting and drawing from the University of New Mexico. Lavatelli has been a resident artist at the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation in Taos, NM and at the Saltonstall Foundation for the Arts in Ithaca, NY. Lavatelli uses hot-wax encaustic technique. His work is included in numerous collections, from Dallas to Denver to Tokyo. In 2006, his paintings were featured together with those of the well-known American modernist Charles Burchfield at the Burchfield-Penney Art Center in Buffalo. As a freelance art writer, Lavatelli has published more than two dozen art reviews in The Buffalo News and Artvoice since 1996. Lavatelli maintains a personal Web site.

Dr. Norman Muir joined Medaille College in June 2004 as the undergraduate academic dean. Since receiving his Ph.D. in literature from SUNY Stony Brook in 1984, he has served as a full-time faculty member or academic administrator at three other small, private, independent colleges. His scholarly interests remain in the areas of sixteenth and seventeenth century British literature, with an emphasis on Elizabethan and Jacobean comedy. He continues to research and write about the influence of the theological doctrine of Christian Patience on Renaissance and seventeenth century literature through John Milton.

Dr. Muir has taught a variety of college writing and literature courses, ranging from developmental English to technical writing and from introduction to literature classes to a senior seminar in the novels of William Faulkner. While at Centenary College in New Jersey, he received the Lindback Foundation Award for Teaching Excellence after being nominated by his students. He has also had the good fortune of traveling to China twice in recent years to teach for short periods of time at five Chinese universities.

As an academic administrator, his primary interests are in academic program development, experiential learning, strategic planning, improving teaching and learning, and the assessment of student learning and institutional effectiveness.

He is a lifelong New Yankee fan with a passion for baseball. When not watching a Yankee game on television, he can be found indulging his interest in Italian Renaissance art and literature.

Dr. Lee Nisbet, professor of humanities, holds a M.A. in history and a Ph.D. in philosophy from the State University of New York at Buffalo. He is a past recipient of the prestigious John Dewey Senior Research Fellowship, the author of two anthologies dealing with gun violence and gun control issues and numerous articles in both scholarly and mass circulation publications. He was instrumental in the development of Medaille’s Theodore Roosevelt Honors Program and served as its director from 2001-2004. He has developed and taught, with great enthusiasm, a variety of philosophy courses at the college since 1977.

Dr. Nisbet’s scholarship is wide-ranging. His writing in both academic and mass-circulation publications covers a diversity of topics including logical theory, critical thinking, applied ethics, social and political philosophy, reverse discrimination, sex-differences, cognitive and motivational bias, mass-media bias, crime and violence, paranormal phenomena, philosophy of sport and pragmatic naturalism among others. He has edited two well reviewed volumes, The Gun Control Debate: You Decide (1990, 2001) that contain both the most important writings on gun control and gun violence issues in the United States and abroad over the last three decades and Nisbet’s in-depth analysis of these issues. His expertise in this area has led to dozens of national and local radio and television appearances dealing with gun control, gun violence issues. Also, he has lectured here and abroad on mass-media bias issues including a presentation to the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow, Russia, 2001. He is currently working on a volume dealing with the sex-gender difference debate in the United States.

He serves on the board of directors of the Center of Inquiry, Amherst, New York, is a founding member of the International Committee for Skeptical Inquiry and is a contributing editor to both the Skeptical Inquirer and Free Inquiry magazines.

In his other life he is an enthusiastic, world-traveling salt and fresh water fly-fisherman, big-game hunter, canoer, kayaker, hiker, U.S. Coast Guard licensed charter captain, and lover of remote places on this earth.

Dr. Ted Pelton has a Ph.D. in American literature from University at Buffalo and an M.A. in creative writing from University of Colorado. He is the author of three books of fiction: Endorsed by Jack Chapeau, a short story collection now in an expanded second edition; Bhang, a novella; and the novel, Malcolm and Jack (and other Famous American Criminals).

Pelton received an Individual Fellowship in Fiction from the National Endowment for the Arts in 1994 and an Isherwood Foundation Fellowship in writing in 2008. He is also the founder and publisher of Starcherone Books, a non-profit fiction publishing house, and frequently employs Medaille students in on-campus internships in non-profit small press publishing. Dr. Pelton was awarded tenure in 2004 and was promoted to the rank of Professor in 2009. In addition to numerous national reviews of his work, he has been profiled in The Buffalo News, Buffalo ArtVoice, and Western New York Life magazine, and in 2006 he was named Best Fiction Writer in the annual Best of WNY selections made by Buffalo Spree magazine. His teaching specializations are American literature, the novel, contemporary fiction, fiction writing, and film.