McKendree University Welcomes New Faculty and Staff Members

(LEBANON, Ill., August 29, 2019) — McKendree University welcomed the following new faculty and staff members who joined the campus community over the summer:

  • Katie Alford, assistant professor of education, is a former high school English, reading and ESL (English as a second language) teacher who recently completed her doctoral degree at Arizona State University. Her research focuses on the impact of teacher writing communities on literacy instruction.

  • Brittany Dobill ’06, MBA ’09, instructor of marketing, is a McKendree alumna who has taught business courses at John A. Logan College and Missouri Baptist University.

  • Vincent Dunlap, associate professor of chemistry, has taught at Erie Community College in New York and Henderson State University in Arkansas. He has taught courses in general chemistry, organic chemistry and biochemistry, and has extensive experience mentoring undergraduate research.

  • Michael Hahn, assistant professor of psychology, earned his doctorate from Saint Louis University. His thesis explored the degree to which working memory and domain knowledge predict recollection performance following the viewing of Major League Baseball game clips.

  • Recorded album of original songs

  • Robyn Swink, assistant professor of social sciences, has taught courses in race and ethnic relations, social inequalities and sociology of gender. Her thesis, entitled “Are Women Funny?: Exploring Gender, Race, (Post)Feminism and Pleasure in Women’s Comedy,” earned an award from the Department of Sociology at the University of Missouri-Columbia.

Also joining the Lebanon campus staff were Paul Lega, scientific materials manager; Alexander McWhirt, assistant director of regional recruitment for the Chicago area; Brian Bukatay, Alexis Higgs, and Natalie Jacobs, admission counselors; Jairo Javier and Jeffrey Waisganis, resident directors; Hunter Holmes, retention specialist for McKendree Worldwide; Brianna Anderson and Sarah Ford, student services specialists for McKendree Worldwide.

The Department of Athletics welcomed Josh Frisbee, athletics operations manager; Dr. John Franklin, director of athletic bands; and several new coaches this summer. Read more about them at mckbearcats.com.

 

-McK-