Class of 2016-17
Meet the Faculty LEAD Class of 2016-2017
Dr. Sheila Dunn is an Associate Professor of Voice and Chair of the Department of Music at UWF where she primarily teaches applied voice, vocal pedagogy, vocal literature and women in popular music. She maintains an active performing career, having performed with Chautauqua Opera, Pensacola Opera and the Indianapolis Symphony among other organizations.
She has earned praise for her operatic performances including such roles as Adele (Die Fledermaus), Blonda (Abduction from the Seraglio), Johanna (Sweeney Todd), Mabel (The Pirates of Penzance), and Susanna (Le Nozze di Figaro).
In 2011, she was recognized for her dedication to teaching by receiving UWF’s Distinguished Teaching Award. In 2014, her online course, Women In Popular Music, was awarded Quality Matters certification.
Dr. Dunn holds a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance from Oberlin Conservatory of Music and both a Master and Doctor of Music in Vocal Performance from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music.
Dr. Hillary Fox is a North Carolina transplant who joined UWF two years ago. Previously, she served as a Library Assistant at the Environmental Protection Agency Library in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina as well as a Research Assistant at NOAA's Southeast Regional Climate Center. She is now the Science Librarian at the University. Hillary's interests include Tar Heel basketball (go figure!), animals, weather, reality TV, and live music.
Dr. Ali Green is a passionate teacher, researcher, and co-founder of the Hospitality Learners Model. She embraces life by injecting creativity and innovation in both teaching and research. She believes that every educator can incorporate techniques to encourage participation and create an active classroom. Dr. Green has over 25 years of hospitality experience, to include operations, sales, and training, and over 14 years of teaching experience in higher education. With a B.A. in communications, she decided to apply her knack of training and public speaking savvy to the service industry in her early career years. As her career shifted from front line positions into management level positions, she saw value in advancing her education and earned a Master's degree in Organizational Management and another Master's degree in Human Relations.
Realizing that her passion was in teaching and researching, she went on to earn her PhD in Organizational Learning and Instructional Technology from University of New Mexico for one reason, to apply her industry experience, and help change the future of hospitality, through education. Her commitment is to inspire learners, across the hospitality platform.
Currently she is an Assistant Professor at University of West Florida and teaches Human Resources, Leadership and Management, Hospitality. Previously she has taught at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, University of New Mexico and Gulf Coast State College (Panama City, FL).
Her research areas include generational diversity in corporate training, leadership, learning styles, Global Hospitality Learning, employee engagement and motivation in the workplace, active learning models, assessment/evaluation, andragogy. Currently, she is researching technology, the use of clickers and lecture software in the hospitality classroom, from a cross-cultural lens.
Dr. Green is an accomplished speaker, connecting her expertise with fellow hospitality industry educators across the globe. She is a member of the International Council on Hotel, Restaurant, and Institutional Education (CHRIE) and the Association of Talent Development (ATD), Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM), and the Society of Organizational Learning (SOL). In addition to holding a PhD, she is also a Certified Hotel Administrator (CHA), Certified Hospitality Educator (CHE), and Certification in Hotel Industry Analytics (CHIA).
Dr. Angela Hahn is the Chairperson and a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Health Sciences and Administration. After earning her bachelor’s degree in Biology from UWF in 1996, she worked at Vanderbilt Medical Center. She completed her Ph.D. in Immunology and Microbiology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2005. After teaching briefly in North Carolina she returned to UWF to teach in 2006. She has interests in learning assessment, program evaluation, and health policy. Angela is also the UWF HOSA, Future Health Professionals, faculty advisor.
Dr. Alexis Janosik started at UWF in 2012 after finishing her Ph.D. at Auburn University. She is an Assistant Professor of Marine Biology and her research focuses on exploring different aspects of the ecology and evolution of marine fish and invertebrates using molecular tools. Alexis enjoys working at UWF, interacting with colleagues, and helping students pursue their academic and career goals. Being in close proximity to a living research lab, the ocean, is an incredible bonus. When not working, she enjoys cooking with her husband, snorkeling, photography, and traveling.
Dr. Tanay Kesharwani is currently an Assistant Professor of Chemistry at UWF. He received his undergraduate degree in Chemistry from Indian Institute of Technology, India and Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from Iowa State University. After spending two years in a biotech company his keen interest in academia motivated him to join Northwestern University for post-doctoral studies. He began his UWF career in 2013 after spending two years as a visiting faculty in Bard College, New York. His research interests include the development of new greener synthetic methods and their applications toward the synthesis of small molecules of biological interests. In spare time, he likes to paint and explore nature.
Dr. John Pecore, Associate Professor in the Department of Teacher Education and Educational Leadership (TEEL) in the College of Education and Professional Studies, joined the University of West Florida in 2012. His scholarly interests include situating learning in contextualized experiences with an emphasis in project-based learning and instruction. Dr. Pecore earned a B.S. in Physics and Chemistry from Old Dominion University, and a M.Ed. in Science Education and Ph.D. in Teaching and Learning from Georgia State University. He has held positions as an environment scientist, middle and high school science teacher, visiting instructor at Wake Forest University, and Assistant Professor at Temple University. He serves on several professional societies, editorial boards, and advisory boards. Dr. Pecore has held a number of leadership positions including Division Director for an Environmental Company, Program Coordinator on a number of education grants, and Associate Chair for TEEL. His hobbies include numismatics, genealogy, and competing in triathlons.
Dr. Charles Penrod is an Assistant Professor in the Legal Studies Program at UWF. After obtaining his law degree from LSU Law School, Professor Penrod practiced employment law defense in Shreveport, Louisiana with the firm Cook, Yancey, King and Galloway. In addition to teaching courses in Constitutional Law, Ethics, Cyber Law and Contracts, Prof. Penrod writes extensively on business law and intellectual property rights, including the bounds of fair use in copyright protection.
Dr. Lisa VanWormer is Chair of the Department of Psychology and Associate Professor at the University of West Florida. She received her Ph.D. in Cognitive Psychology with a minor in Gerontology and a specialization in Human Factors Engineering from Purdue University. Since she joined UWF in 2008, Lisa has taught courses in Experimental Psychology, Memory & Cognition, and Advanced Research Methods. She has also received the Faculty Distinguished Research & Creative Activities Scholar Award for her research with students in the Attention & Memory Lab studying inhibitory processes in older adults.
Dr. Michelle Hale Williams is Chair of the Reubin O’D. Askew Department of Government and Professor of Political Science at the University of West Florida. She teaches courses in world elections, parties and politics, democracy & democratization, radicalism and extremism in politics, race and ethnicity, international relations, data analytics and social science research methods. Her research interests include far right parties, nationalism and ethnic politics, political parties and party systems, political institutions, European politics, and scholarship of teaching and learning with emphasis on information literacy. Her books include The Multicultural Dilemma: Migration, Ethnic Politics, and State Intermediation (ed., 2013, Routledge) and The Impact of Radical Right-wing Parties in West European Democracies (2006, Palgrave). She has book chapters with Oxford University Press and Routledge presses. Her published work also appears in many scholarly journals including Party Politics, Ethnic and Racial Studies, Análise Social, Nationalism and Ethnic Politics, Journal of Contemporary European Studies, German Politics, PS: Political Science and Politics, and the Journal of Political Science Education.