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Faculty Experts at a Glance

Thank you for considering contacting us at Gordon College when you need a story, an insight or an expert. Reporters interested in interviewing these experts please contact:

Jo Kadlecek
Senior Writer & Journalist in Residence
978.867.4752

Many stories can be found on our blog Faculty Central

FACULTY AT A GLANCE:

Jim Zingarelli

Art

Current Areas of Expertise:

  • sculpture
  • painting
  • contemporary art

Research Interests:

  • contemporary art
  • jazz
  • saxophone

James Zingarelli, Professor of Visual Arts


Roger Green

Biblical Studies and Christian Ministries

Current Areas of Expertise:

  • the history of Christianity
  • the history of Protestantism
  • conducts senior seminars on significant theologians such as Luther, Wesley, and Bonhoeffer

Research Interests:

  • the history and theology of The Salvation Army since its inception in England in 1865

Roger Green, Professor and Chair of Biblical Studies and Christian Ministries


Daniel Darko

Biblical Studies

Current Areas of Expertise:

  • New Testament and early Christianity
  • disputed Pauline letters
  • biblical hermeneutics (western and non-western perspectives)
  • Paul and Greco-Roman moral philosophy
  • kinship and household relations in the New Testament

Research Interests:

  • kinship and kinship lexemes in the Pauline corpus
  • spirit-cosmology in Ephesians
  • biblical framework of world missions
  • reconciliation and ethno-race relations in Pauline letters

Daniel Darko, Associate Professor of Biblical Studies


Dorothy Boorse

Biology

Current Areas of Expertise:

  • care of the environment
  • environmental science
  • climate change and poverty
  • aquatic ecology (wetlands, insect and invasive species, spotted salamanders, wood frogs, native plants, some coastal issues)

Research Interests:

  • environmental ethics
  • Christians and the environment
  • vernal pool ecology

Dorothy Boorse, Associate Professor of Biology


Ming Zheng

Biology

Current Areas of Expertise:

  • genetic engineering
  • plant biotechnology 
  • sustainable agriculture
  • issues concerning crop breeding
  • cellular and developmental biology
  • trained as a plant geneticist

Research Interests:

  • has been conducting research for more than a decade
  • published peer-review papers and book chapters since 1991
  • study how to reprogram the development of immature pollen and convert them to plants


Ming Zheng, Professor of Biology


Joel Boyd

Chemistry

Current Areas of Expertise:

  • physical chemistry

Research Interests:

  • photocatalytic water purification

Joel Boyd, Associate Professor of Chemistry


Irv Levy

Chemistry
Current Areas of Expertise:

  • organic chemistry
  • green chemistry
  • chemical education
  • computers & society

Research Interests:

  • searching for safer methods for human health and the environment
  • recent projects have involved the improvement of standard organic chemistry laboratories
  • in the past several years has published work related to seed oil from a variety of species of okra, watermelon, pumpkin, and peppers

Irv Levy, Professor of Chemistry and Computer Science


Sharon Ketcham

Christian Ministries

Current Areas of Expertise:

  • spiritual formation
  • adolescents and the church
  • community values

Research Interests:

  • tri-polar Christianity (others, self, and God)

Sharon Ketcham, Associate Professor of Christian Ministries


Toddy Burton

Communication Arts

Current Areas of Expertise:

  • women in the media (film/tv etc.)
  • independent film
  • art as commerce
  • "Christian" film
  • the death of the movie theater
  • the death of long form content
  • film vs. digital
  • the power of story

Research Interests:

  • independent films
  • writing and directing films

Toddy Burton, Assistant Professor, Communication Arts


Stephen Smith

Economics and Business

Current Areas of Expertise:

  • US international trade policy
  • foreign aid
  • economic growth in emerging and/or poor countries
  • interaction between Christianity, Christian ethics, and economics

Research Interests:

  • Using detailed global price data to measure the extent of international economic integration 
  • measuring trade costs
  • export behavior of Indian firms in port-liberalization environment
  • Christian ethical reflection and economics


Stephen Smith, Chair and Professor of Economics and Business


Jennifer Hevelone-Harper

History
"The History Department has begun binding the honors theses of our seniors. Binding the theses is a way to showcase and highlight the efforts of the honors students and to broaden the audience beyond just the professors. Before this, only a handful of professors read these theses. Now other students will be able to read them and use them as research tools."

Jennifer Hevelone-Harper, Department Chair and Associate Professor of History


Ruth Melkonian-Hoover

International Affairs

Current Areas of Expertise:

  • Latin America
  • immigration
  • women and politics

Research Interests:

  • religion and international affairs

Ruth Melkonian-Hoover, Director of International Affairs and Chair and Associate Professor of Political Science


Graeme Bird

Languages and Linguistics
"The study of languages and linguistics, as well as being fascinating in itself, has natural and obvious connections with such diverse fields as biblical exegesis, computer programming, and psychology. The range of options students will have in choosing their areas of study will be greatly enhanced."
Read More...

Graeme Bird, Assistant Professor of Languages and Linguistics


Michael Veatch

Mathematics and Computer Science

Current Areas of Expertise:

  • probability
  • operations research
  • manufacturing systems

Research Interests:

  • Queueing theory/systems
  • airport scheduling after crisis
  • determinant randomness and theistic evolution

Michael Veatch, Chair of Mathematics and Computer Science Department and Professor of Mathematics


David Rox

Music

Current Areas of Expertise:

  • a Christian worldview of music and the arts
  • conducting and instrumental music education
  • choosing worthwhile repertoire for instrumental ensembles

Research Interests:

  • efficient rehearsal techniques for instrumental ensembles
  • building collaborative community ensembles in the college setting


David Rox, Professor of Music, Director of Bands


David Lee

Physics

Current Areas of Expertise:

  • twelve years of industry experience
  • holds 11 patents
  • impacts industries from fuel cells of pharmaceuticals
  • a career of innovation working with metallic glass alloys
  • now the President and CTO of Glassimetal Technology
  • been involved in 5 high-tech startups, including 2 IPOs and 3 M&As

Research Interests:

  • materials physics (specifically metastable materials such as metallic glasses)
  • microfluidics and fluid characterization using acoustics
  • novel luminescent phosphors
  • high-tech metals and alloys for sports applications
  • the "maker" culture and DIY technology

David Lee, Department Chair of 3-2 Engineering Department and Professor of Physics


Paul Brink

Political Science
"My main goal in reading the Constitution aloud in class for Constitution Day is for students to know the Constitution, and to have read and heard it with some care at least once. Both the right and the left see it as the bedrock of American politics, and both also again and again appeal to it. So students need to have more than a passing acquaintance with it."
Read More...

Paul Brink, Associate Professor of Political Studies


Timothy Sherratt

Political Science

Current Areas of Expertise:

  • American politics
  • constitutional law
  • church and stat/christianity and politics
  • American political thought

Research Interests:

  • church-state relations in the U.S.
  • European-Christian democracy

Timothy Sherratt, Professor of Political Sceince


Jonathan Gerber

Psychology

Current Areas of Expertise:

  • rejection and acceptance
  • social comparison (how do we compare ourselves to others?)
  • coolness
  • post-constructionist quantification of language
  • the personality of Jesus
  • the error of feeling like an outsider

Research Interests:

  • interpersonal rejection and how control is affected by rejection

Jonathan Gerber, Professor of Psychology


Valerie Gin

Recreation and Leisure Studies

Current Areas of Expertise:

  • sport ethics
  • international competition
  • coaching strategies

Research Interests:

  • impacts of athletic motivation
  • recreation and leisure


Val Gin, Department Chair and Associate Professor of Recreation and Leisure Studies


Dan Johnson

Sociology and Social Work

Current Areas of Expertise:

  • peace and conflict studies
  • cultural sociology
  • critical sociology 
  • sociology of religion

Research Interests:

  • social conditions for the maintenance of peace
  • the fate of social hope in the contemporary world
  • utopias and dystopias


Dan Johnson, Associate Professor of Sociology, Director of the Study and Practice of Peace


Moises Park

Spanish

Current Areas of Expertise:

  • Latin American (particularly the southern cone) culture
  • literature and cinema
  • Korean diaspora in America and Latin America
  • Orientalism
  • psychoanalysis and literature/film
  • marxism and literature/film
  • biopolitics and literature/film

Research Interests:

  • Latin American culture
  • literature and cinema
  • comparative literature and cinema

Moises Park, Assistant Professor of Spanish


Norman Jones

Theatre Arts

Current Areas of Expertise:

  • acting
  • training actors
  • finding a voice for actors
  • acting and directing Shakespeare 
  • development of ensembles
  • devising plays
  • avant-garde (new and innovative theater companies
  • has directed over 40 plays

Research Interests:

 

  • creating new plays
  • working with playwrights
  • historically based plays
  • interaction of faith and the arts
  • the significance of story in society

 

Norman Jones, Chair and Professor of Theatre Arts