| Dr. Adam R. Brown joins BYU this fall as an assistant professor in political science. Hailing originally from Santa Rosa, California, he has lived in eastern Europe and speaks Russian fluently. He completed his PhD in July 2008 from the University of California at San Diego after finishing his Masters from the same school, and graduated as the Political Science valedictorian from Brigham Young University in 2004. Brown's professional and research interests include state and local politics, political campaigns, voting, and gubernatorial elections. His dissertation addressed strategic behavior by candidates and donors in U.S. gubernatorial elections. He is married to Janelle Brown, a harpist and mother. They have two little boys, Hyrum and Alan. |
| Dr. Brock Kirwan joins the BYU Psychology Faculty after completing a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California, San Diego and teaching as a Lecturer at San Diego State University. Dr Kirwan completed his Masters and Doctorate degrees at John Hopkins University in Psychological and Brain Sciences. His primary research interest is how the brain forms and retains new memories and what determines the information we remember and what we forget. He uses a combination of methods to address these questions, including functional neuroimaging and studies with memory-impaired patient populations. |
| Jeffery D. Nokes is coming to the History Department after working for four years as a Clinical Faculty Associate in the Department of Teacher Education at BYU. Jeff completed a PhD in Teaching and Learning at the University of Utah in 2005. His area of emphasis was history teaching with a focus on teaching historical literacy. His current research interests continue to be in literacy in history and in teaching history. He has had recent publications in the Journal of Educational Psychology, Teaching and Teacher Education, the Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, and the National Social Science Journal. Jeff taught history at the middle school, high school, and adult high school level for 16 years prior to coming to BYU. He will be teaching Methods of Teaching Social Studies, World Civilizations, and will be supervising teaching candidates during their practicum experience. |
| Jeffrey S. Reber comes from the University of West Georgia where he served as the Associate Dean for the Social Sciences in the College of Arts and Sciences and was an Associate Professor in the department of Psychology. His Ph.D. is in general psychology with a dual emphasis in social psychology and theoretical/philosophical psychology. His research interests include critical thinking about psychology, the relationship between religion and psychology, the meaning and possibility of altruism, and relational social psychology. Originally from Southern California, Jeff and his wife Angela have enjoyed making their home in the South for the last 9 years, but now look forward to a return out west. They bring with them their four children: Brooklyn (15), Dylan (12), Carson (9), and Madison (4). Jeff has a variety of interests, including sports and cooking, but he most enjoys taking trips to the beach every summer with his family and teaching his children to surf. |
| Joel Sawat Selway , from West Sussex, England joins the Political Science Department this fall after completing his PhD at the University of Michigan. He has taught classes on Democracy and Dictatorship in Asia, the Government and Politics of Islamic Societies, and Comparative Political Economy. He received his BA in International Politics at BYU after which he worked as a Financial Advisor for Morgan Stanley before deciding to return to academia. Joel's research focuses on the problems of poverty & development (economic and human) and ethnic conflict with a theoretical focus on democratic institutions and ethnicity and identity. He has knowledge of an interesting array of languages--Thai, Greek, French and Lao--and spent time in Thailand and Mauritius doing research for his dissertation. |
| Edward P. Stratford from the University of Chicago will begin teaching History at BYU beginning this Fall. Edward grew up in Connecticut and served two years at the U.S. Air Force Academy before his mission. He graduated in Near Eastern Studies from BYU in 2000, and is scheduled to receive his Ph.D. December of 2009. Stratford's research interests are centered on the Assyrian mercantile trade during the 19th century B.C. and its extensive documentary record. Edward wrote his dissertation on the construction of social and commercial interests as evident through the lens of one year’s correspondence among a small group of merchants. He is married to Candice Stratford and they have four children: Mary, Isaac, Linda, and Abigail, born this past May. |
| Dr. Evan Ward grew up in Vernon, Texas, and attended Brigham Young University, graduating with a bachelor's degree in history, and a minor in Spanish, in 1995. He obtained an MA (1997) and PhD (2000) in history at the University of Georgia. Professionally, he has worked as an Assistant and Associate Professor at the University of North Alabama (2001-2008). His main areas of expertise include the twentieth-century history of Mexico and the Caribbean, as well as global tourism development. He is the author of two books, Border Oasis: Water and the Political Ecology of the Colorado River Delta (University of Arizona Press, 2003) and Packaged Vacations: Tourism Development in the Spanish Caribbean (University Press of Florida, 2008). He is currently working on a global history of tourism development in developing nations tentatively entitled “Elusive El Dorado: Tourism as Economic Development, 1955-1975.” Evan has also held various administrative responsibilities while at the University of North Alabama, including Director of Graduate Studies in History (2006-2008), Coordinator for Study Abroad (2007-2009), and Interim Director of the Center for International Programs (2008-2009). Evan is married to the former Jennie Shellabarger and they have one daughter, Sydney, who is six years old. |
| New Visiting Faculty |
| Benjamin Gibbs joins the Sociology department this fall as a visiting faculty member. Ben is from Pennsylvania and recieved both his B.S. and M.S. in Sociology at Brigham Young. He recently recieved his doctorate in Sociology from Ohio State University. His research examines the relationship between early forming cognitive skills and social stratification. Ben's dissertation explored the origins and explanations for gender differences in early math skills. Other work is on black/white achievement gaps and the relative role of school and non-school factors on achievement outcomes. He is married and has two young daughters. |
| Chris Henrichsen was born in Washington, DC. He was born with the love of politics. After growing up in suburban Maryland, Chris attended Ricks College and it was there, following his mission to Anaheim, CA, that he met his future wife Lyndee Curtis. They are now the parents of three children. After Ricks, Chris attended the University of Utah where he received his BA and MA, both in political science. Before teaching Chris worked at the Peace House Women's Shelter in Park City. For the last three years, Chris has taught political science and American Heritage at BYU-Idaho. During that time he also completed his doctoral coursework at Idaho State University. Chris specializes in modern and contemporary political philosophy with a particular focus on the philosophy of John Rawls. |
| Joseph McMurray joins the BYU Economics department from his PhD program at the University of Rochester, in upstate New York. His research focuses on political economics and applied game theory. His dissertation analyzes the importance of information for voter participation and electoral outcomes. Joseph received a BA in economics from BYU in 2004, and interned in the U.S. Senate Joint Economic Committee through BYU's Washington Seminar. Joseph is originally from Salt Lake City, and served a mission in Seoul, South Korea. He met and married Joy Fisher (2003 BA English) while at BYU, and they now have a three-year-old son. For Joseph and his family, returning to teach at BYU is a lifetime dream fulfilled. |
| Joseph Andrew Ostenson joins the BYU psychology department as a new visiting faculty member. Joseph has spent that last 5 years attending BYU as a graduate student, teaching in the psychology department, and researching marriage and marital therapy outcome. His dissertation explores the individualistic assumptions endemic to marital therapy outcome and marital research in general, and he plans on continuing this line of research in the coming year. As an instructor, he has taught courses in general psychology, history of psychology, and critical issues in psychology and will add psychological statistics to his repertoire this coming fall. When he isn’t teaching or writing, he’s playing softball or watching the Cubs lose another post-season series. He has been married to his wife, Bethany, for seven years and has three children, the first of which begins her academic journey this year when she starts kindergarten. |
| Nicholas C. Wheeler will begin teaching Political Science at BYU this fall as a visiting faculty. He completed his Ph.D. at the University of Virginia in June 2009 and his dissertation examined the emergence of modern states in East Central Europe. Wheeler has lived, researched and traveled extensively throughout Europe and prior to entering graduate school he worked at the Kennan Institute for Advanced Russian Studies at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C. His research interests include the evolution of the modern state and the state-building process, democratization and economic reform, European integration and other topics in Central and East European politics. |
| Brian Willoughby joins Brigham Young University as a visiting faculty member from the University of Minnesota where he completed his Master of Arts and Ph.D. degrees in Family Social Science. Brian is originally from Wisconsin where he grew up before coming to Brigham Young University to complete a bachelor's degree in Psychology in 2004. Brian will teach in the School of Family Life and his scholarly research focuses on how premarital factors influence individual development and later marriages. While at the University of Minnesota he received a full fellowship for his dissertation research which focused on how marital attitudes predict transitions into marriage and cohabitation during young adulthood. He has conducted research on cohabitation, sexuality and risk-taking during young adulthood as well as done research focused on divorce prevention and marriage education. Brian currently serves on the international steering committee of the Society for the Study of Emerging Adulthood. Brian has been married for seven years and has three children: Parker - 5, Mayli - 3 and Jaden - 2. |