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Eighteen new instructors have been added to East Central University’s faculty as the institution embarks on the 2012-13 school term.

New faculty members are:

Dr. Kelly Clasen
Lecturer of English and Languages
Dr. Clasen’s teaching approach is grounded in current composition theory, thus providing her with a range of rhetorical strategies in the classroom since this position requires instruction at ECU in English Composition I and II classes only.

She has one publication in a professional journal and another under consideration. Dr. Clasen has made eight presentations at professional meetings. Her research is focused upon ecocriticism.

Clasen most recently served as an adjunct instructor at the University of North Texas in 2011-12. Previously, she was a teaching fellow at that institution from 2005-2011. She also taught online courses for Hutchinson Community College (Kan.) and Southwestern College (Kan.) this past spring.

She earned her bachelor of science in journalism at the University of Kansas in 2000, Master of Arts in English (2006) and her Doctorate of Philosophy in English in 2011 from the University of North Texas.

Dr. Lauren Cox
Assistant Professor of Music
Dr. Cox has teaching experience in music theory classes and a wide range of experience in applied lesson settings.

She has been professionally active, most recently with the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra and the Pine Bluff, Ark. Symphony Orchestra, and earlier with the Missoula Symphony Orchestra and the Florida State University Symphony Orchestra

Cox held a one-semester interim appointment at Henderson State University during the 2012 spring semester. She also served as a graduate teaching assistant at the University of Montana from 2004-2006 and was program assistant from 2008-2011 in the Music Living-Learning Center at Florida State.

She earned her Bachelor of Arts in Music and Bachelor of Arts in French from Florida State in 2004, her Master of Music from the University of Montana in 2006 and her Doctorate of Music from Florida State in 2011.

Samantha Dillehay
Instructor of Mass Communication
Dillehay’s teaching experience and academic preparation will enable her to teach both audio and video production courses as well as other mass media courses. She possesses a broad base of skills in multiple mediums, an interdisciplinary approach to art and filmmaking, and a set of abilities in editing that will benefit the Mass Communication program.

She plans to become active in the arts and filmmaking community in Oklahoma.

Dillehay taught as an adjunct instructor at ECU during the 2012 spring semester. Previously she was a graduate assistant at the University of Oklahoma from Aug., 2008 until May, 2011.

She earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Media Arts at the University of Tennessee in 2007. Dillehay earned her Master of Fine Arts in Film/Video at the University of Oklahoma in 2011.

Anna Duran
Instructor of Nursing and Director of the Nursing Program at Ardmore
Duran has served as an adjunct instructor in Nursing for the Murray State College Nursing Program at the Ardmore Higher Education Center since 2010.

She is employed by the State Health Department as a community health nurse in Ardmore. Duran has conducted outreach work in Carter County, Love County and Jefferson County. Her current successful professional role, skill set and teaching experience will transfer readily to the ECU Nursing Program at Ardmore.

Duran earned a Bachelor of Science degree in nursing from the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center in 2005 and Master of Science in Nursing Education from the OU Health Sciences Center in 2012. She is a registered nurse and holds communicable disease nurse investigator certification.

Mary Harper
Assistant Professor of Mathematics
Harper’s teaching experience includes a wide range of courses, including Intermediate Algebra, College Algebra, Trigonometry, Calculus I and II, Mathematics Concepts and Mathematics Pedagogy Curriculum. Harper has presented four papers at professional conference and, while an undergraduate student at ECU, she was a McNair Scholar and presented papers/posters at three student conferences.

In addition to her year on a temporary appointment in the math department at ECU during 2011-12, Harper taught as an adjunct instructor at ECU in 2010-11. She served as a graduate assistant at the University of Oklahoma from 2002-05. Further, from 2008-11, Harper held appointments as Mathematics Instructor/Mathematics Education Instructor at OU. Additionally, Harper was a Professor of Mathematics at the Oklahoma School of Science and Mathematics, Muskogee Regional Center.

She earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics-Secondary Education from ECU in 2002 and her Master of Science in Mathematics from the University of Oklahoma in 2005. She is currently working on her Doctor of Philosophy in Mathematics at OU, with an anticipated completion date in 2012.

Harper’s husband is Rollin Harper and their daughter is Lilly.

Ellen Harwell
Instructor of Psychology
Harwell’s adjunct teaching experience and her work in the mental health field meet the needs of the Psychology Department. She has made two presentations at professional conferences.

Harwell taught as an adjunct instructor at ECU since May 2009 and Oklahoma State University-Oklahoma City since Aug. 2011 to May, 2012 before recently accepting s full time position. She has extensive practical experience working as a case manager for Big Brothers/Big Sisters in Seminole (2001), Juvenile Justice Specialist in Tecumseh (2001-04) and in the Juvenile Services Unit for the Office of Juvenile Affairs in Pottawatomie County (2004-05). More recently, Harwell was an Oversight Specialist III for the Oklahoma Commission of Children and Youth in Oklahoma City from 2005-09. She also currently works for the Office of Juvenile Affairs as a trainer/consultant.

She earned her Bachelor of Science in Psychology (2000) and Master of Science in Psychological Services (2004) from ECU and is currently a doctoral student at Oklahoma State University in the Human Development and Family Science program.

Sonja Hightower
Instructor of Accounting
Hightower’s experience in business, finance and auditing is expected to fit ECU’s Accounting Department.

She served as an adjunct faculty in accounting at Wright Career College and as an adjunct faculty in accounting at Oklahoma City Community College and the University of Phoenix in 2011-12. Her professional experience includes service as Senior Vice President for Internal Audit and Compliance at Vision Bank in Ada from 2007-10.

Previously, she was an Analyst for Mergers and Acquisitions at Baden-Wuerttembergische Bank in Germany before she moved to Ada in 2001.

Hightower earned her Bachelor of Science in Accounting at ECU in 2007 and her Master of Business Administration from Oklahoma State University in 2010. She is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA), Certified Internal Auditor (CIA) and a Certified Management Accountant (CMA), and Certified Global Management Accountant (CGMA). She also earned a Degree in Banking/Finance from in Germany in 1987. She started work on a terminal degree in conjunction with her employment at ECU.

Trey Hendon
Instructor of Kinesiology/Assistant Men’s Basketball Coach
Hendon was most recently a Graduate Assistant in the men’s basketball program at Oklahoma State University from 2010-12. His primary assignment was film editing and opponent scouting. He also served as a graduate assistant under ECU alum and head coach Doug Tolin at Oklahoma Baptist University in 2010-11.

Previously, he served as assistant boys’ basketball coach at Broken Bow High School in 2009-10 and gained pertinent experience as a tournament facilitator of the Eddie Ford Kentucky Hoopfest from 2010-12 and as a camp coach at the Blue Chip Basketball Camp in Georgetown, Ky., in 2010. Hendon also coached in the Faith 7 Basketball Game, which featured the high school stars from Oklahoma against their counterparts from Texas.

Hendon earned his Bachelor of Science in Secondary Education (Social Sciences) from Oklahoma State in 2009. He is currently pursuing a Master in Education in Higher Education Administration at Oklahoma State with an anticipated graduation date in 2013.

Emily Holombek
Instructor of Kinesiology/Assistant Women’s Basketball Coach
Holombek will teach in the undergraduate Kinesiology program and assume duties as an assistant women’s basketball coach.

She most recently served as a graduate assistant coach for women’s basketball and volleyball at ECU from 2010-12. She played on both the ECU volleyball and women’s basketball teams as a student at ECU.

Holombek earned her Bachelor of Science in Business Administration (2011) and her Master of Education in Secondary Education – Sports Administration, both from ECU, in 2012.

Ben Johnson
Instructor in English and Languages
Johnson’s teaching experience and academic preparation enable him to teach all levels in Spanish, including grammar and composition, and to offer literature and area studies from the 16th to 19th centuries. He also has an outstanding teaching evaluation from ECU. Johnson has also led student and adult tours to Europe for many years.

He taught Spanish for the ECU English and Languages Department on a one-year appointment in 2010-11, and has taught as an adjunct professor in the 2008-09, 2009-10 and 2011-12 academic years. Previously, he taught Spanish from 1972 until 2007 at Victoria Memorial High School in Victoria, Texas. Johnson was head of the Foreign Language Department from 1974 to 2007. From 1982 to 2007, he taught Spanish language courses for the University of Houston at Victoria at various times between 1982 and 2007.

Johnson has his Bachelor of Arts in Spanish and Education degree from ECU and a Masters of Spanish from Stephen F. Austin University. He also has a certificate in Guidance and Counseling from the University of Houston, Victoria.

His wife is Sondra, who is retired from a career in education in Texas, and a son Matthew, who is a pediatric dentist in Austin, Texas.

Terrie Kiker
Instructor of Nursing
Kiker has a wide range of nursing clinical experiences. Her nursing expertise in medical-surgical and critical care is particularly valuable to the ECU Nursing Department.

She has been a nursing instructor at Seminole State College since 2004. Kiker worked previously as Nursing Director of the Intensive Care Department at Mission Hill Memorial Hospital in Shawnee from 1991 and assisted with the department transition into Unity Health Center until 2002. She also worked at the Shawnee Heart Center, Inc., from 2002-04.

Kiker received her Associate of Applied Science in Nursing from Seminole Junior College in 1989, Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Bartlesville Wesleyan College in 2000 and Master of Science in Nursing degree from the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center in 2007. She holds ANCC Certification as a Clinical Nurse Specialist and AACN Certification in acute and critical care as an Adult CCNS.

Alexandra Knox
Instructor of Art
Knox has demonstrated strong capabilities in Sculpture and Digital Imaging and possesses technical abilities in MIG and SMAW welding, metal fabrication, metal casting and mold making, woodcarving and construction, plaster carving, and installation and mixed media based sculpture. She has several gallery showings to her credit in Oklahoma and Kansas.

Knox was most recently a teaching assistant at the University of Oklahoma from 2009-12. She has teaching experience in Art Theory, 3D Foundations, Sculpture, and Casting.

She earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Studio Art at East Carolina University in 2008. Knox earned her Master of Fine Arts in Sculpture at the University of Oklahoma in 2012.

Teri Lambeth
Instructor of Human Resources
Lambeth has 16 years of experience in social work. Her administrative experience, collaborative work with physicians and nurses to develop policies for patient rights and organizational ethics, and her active involvement in hospital accreditation processes offer much to the ECU Social Work program.

Her work experience shows a progressive direction from social worker to administrator. She was employed as a Social Worker from 1996 to 2010 and then in 2010 became Director of the Center for Rehabilitation at the Unity Health Center in Shawnee. In July 2012, she became Director of the Center for Rehabilitation at St. Anthony’s Shawnee Hospital.

Lambeth earned her Bachelor of Social Work from East Central University in 1996 and Master of Social Work at the University of Oklahoma in 2000. Since 2011, Lambeth has served as a field instructor for the ECU Social Work program and more recently, in 2012, served as a Practicum Preceptor for the School of Social Work at OU.

She has been married to Major Bruce Lambeth for 19 years. Together, they have two daughters, Darci, a freshman at the University of Oklahoma, and Cloe’, a junior at Shawnee High School.

Dr. Rebecca Nicholson-Weir
Assistant Professor of English and Languages
Dr. Nicholson-Weir is an accomplished and dedicated teacher, who brings promise of future scholarship to the English and Languages Department. She will also fill a need to teach an occasional course in the Native American Studies program. Dr. Nicholson-Weir has two book chapters published in edited collections and has also presented papers at numerous national and international conferences. A founding board member and treasuer of the North American Levinas Society, she co-guest edited a special issue of Shofar and Levinas and Jewish Thought (Summer 2008). Her current book project examines the interstices of phenomenology and life writing in British women’s modernism.

She had served as a Graduate Teaching Assistant at Purdue University since 2005 as she taught a wide variety of writing and literature courses. In the spring of 2010, she was named one of the Outstanding Graduate Teachers by Purdue’s Committee for Excellence in Teaching Assistants. Nicholson-Weir earned her Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology and English (2001) and Master of Arts in English Literature (2004) from Texas Tech University and Doctor of Philosophy in Literary Studies from Purdue (2012).

Dr. Sarah Peters
Assistant Professor of English and Languages
Dr. Peters teaches Composition, Technical Writing, World and American History and the Bible as literature. She has three publications and is working on a book project. Additionally, she has eight presentations at professional conferences and she teaches a wide range of lower and upper division courses in the English and Languages Department.

She most recently was Assistant Professor at Collin County College in Plano, Texas since 2010 and had additional experience as a Post-Doctoral Lecturer at Texas A&M University from 2009-10, a Graduate Teaching Assistant at Texas A&M from 2003-09, and am editorial assistant at the World Shakespeare Bibliography from 2005-06.

Peters earned her Bachelor of Arts in English (2001) and Master of Liberal Arts in English (2003) from Henderson State University and her Doctor of Philosophy in English from Texas A&M in 2009.

Dr. Steven Roring
Assistant Professor of Human Resources
Dr. Roring has clinical experience in community mental health and was a Carl Albert Executive Fellow at the Office of Juvenile Affairs in Sand Springs from 2010-11. He also has experience working with college students at the Student Counseling Center at Oklahoma State University.

He has teaching experience at Oklahoma State University (2010-11) at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. He also taught part time at Tulsa Community College and at Southeastern Oklahoma State.

Roring earned his Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Southeastern Oklahoma State University in 2006 and a Master of Science in Counseling from Oklahoma State University in 2009. He earned a Doctorate of Philosophy in Counseling Psychology from OSU in 2012.

Dr. Shelli Sharber
Assistant Professor of Education
Dr. Sharber, as a graduate of the East Central University Master’s program in Library Media and the Information Science doctoral program at the University of North Texas, is uniquely positioned to coordinate and teach in the program at ECU.

She was Library Media Specialist at Whitebead Elementary School from 2004-2012. Previously, she was an Early Childhood Education teacher at Wynnewood Public Schools from 1998-2004.

Sharber earned her Bachelor of Arts in Management of Human Resources from Southern Nazarene University (1993). She acquired coursework for her Early Childhood Certification (1996) and received a Master of Education in Library Media from East Central University (2004). Sharber earned her Doctor of Philosophy in Information Science from the University of North Texas in 2012.

She is married to Greg Sharber. They live in the Pauls Valley area and have two children, Wyatt and Hannah.

Brett Watson
Instructor of Kinesiology/Assistant Football Coach
Watson will teach in the undergraduate Kinesiology program and assume duties as an assistant football coach at the University of West Alabama from Jan. to July 2012 and assistant football coach at West Texas A&M University from 2010-12. In addition, he served as a graduate assistant at West Texas A&M from 2009-10.

Watson earned his Bachelor of Science in Sports and Exercise Science (2009) and Master of Science in Sports Management (2011) from West Texas A&M.

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