EMU Names New Faculty and Staff

EMU will have 16 new undergraduate and graduate faculty members when fall semester classes begin Aug. 29, 2007.

The new faculty, announced by Dr. Beryl H. Brubaker, EMU provost, and Dr. Marie S. Morris, vice president and undergraduate academic dean, are:

Kirsten Eve Beachy, assistant professor of English. Beachy earned a BA with a double major in theater and in philosophy and theology from EMU and an MFA in creative writing from West Virginia University. She has experience as a teacher, writer and journalist.

Annmarie L. Early, associate professor of counseling education. Early earned a BA in psychology from San Diego State University, an MA in Christian leadership from Fuller Theological Seminary and an MS and a PhD in marital and family therapy from Fuller Graduate School of Psychology. She has six years of clinical counseling experience and has been teaching part time in the counseling program and seminary at EMU.

S. Jeanne Horst, assistant professor of psychology. Horst earned a BA in psychology from Millersville University and an MA in psychological sciences with a concentration in assessment, measurement and statistics from James Madison University. She is currently enrolled in a doctoral program in assessment and measurement at JMU. Horst has taught courses in psychology and research and statistics and most recently worked in the office of Institutional Research and Effectiveness at EMU.

Leah M. Kratz, assistant professor of business. Kratz earned a BS in accounting from EMU and an MBA from James Madison University. She is a certified public accountant and has most recently worked as the assistant fiscal director at Woodrow Wilson Rehabilitation Center, Fishersville, Va. During 2006-07, she was an adjunct instructor at EMU.

Linda Leitch-Alford, associate professor of counseling education. She earned a BS from Philadelphia College of Bible with majors in Bible and Christian education. Leitch-Alford received an MS in counselor education degree from North Dakota State University and an EdD in counselor education and supervision from Northern Illinois University. She comes with 23 years of private practice as a counselor along with part-time teaching.

Katrina L. Maynard, associate professor of education. Maynard earned a BA in psychology, an MT in special education and a PhD in special education from the University of Virginia. Her doctoral specialization is in learning disabilities with a focus on reading instruction and the prevention of reading disabilities. She has 12 years of public school teaching experience and several years at the undergraduate and graduate levels.

Andrew D. Miller, assistant professor of business. Miller received a BA in international agriculture from EMU and an MS in agricultural economics from Iowa State University. He began doctoral coursework in agricultural Economics at the University of Maryland-College Park and is also currently pursuing an MDiv degree at Eastern Mennonite Seminary.

BJ Miller, director of institutional research and effectiveness. Miller earned a BA in economics at Virginia Tech and an MA in assessment, measurement and statistics and a PhD in assessment and measurement, both from JMU. She was assistant director of institutional research at St. Mary’s College of Maryland for eight years prior to her PhD work and has worked in JMU’s Center for Assessment and Research Studies for the past year.

Kreg R. Owens, assistant professor of art and speech communication. He earned a BA in art from Northwest Nazarene College, an MA in speech communication from Eastern New Mexico University and an MFA in ceramics from JMU. Owens has taught numerous courses in ceramics, three-dimensional design and sculpture as well as public speaking, group and interpersonal communication and classical rhetoric.

Cathy Ernst-Rittenhouse, associate professor of nursing. Ernst-Rittenhouse earned a BS in nursing from EMU and an MSN from the University of Pennsylvania. She has worked as a staff nurse and a nurse practitioner as well as an adjunct instructor at JMU.

Glenda L. Siegrist, associate professor of nursing. Siegrist earned a BS in nursing with a certificate in international nursing and an MSN with adult nurse practitioner certification from George Mason University. She worked as a nurse practitioner in Northern Virginia prior to several years of international nursing. She has worked as a Peace Corps medical officer in Russia, a medical consultant in Armenia and as a foreign service health practitioner in Armenia, Romania and Tunisia and most recently in Uganda.

Donald D. Smeeton, director of libraries (Hartzler Library). Smeeton earned a BA in Bible from Central Bible College, a BS in history from Evangel University, an M.A. in church history and history of Christian thought from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, an MA in Bible from the Assemblies of God Theological Seminary, a PhD in religious studies from the Catholic University of Louvain and an MLIS from Dominican University. Most recently, he was director of the William G. Squires Library that serves Lee University and the Church of God Theological Seminary, Cleveland, Tenn. He served many years as a missionary teacher and administrator with the Assemblies of God in Belgium and South Africa.

Anthony E. Smith, associate professor of business. Smith earned a BA in English and philosophy from Haverford College, a masters degree in architecture from The University of Pennsylvania and a PhD in management from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. He comes to EMU with more than 20 years of management, development and teaching experience. While teaching part time at EMU, he will continue as managing director of the American Shakespeare Center in Staunton.

Mary Ann Stripling, associate professor of counseling education. She earned a BA in English from Texas Tech, an MEd in counselor education from the University of Virginia and a PhD in family studies from Virginia Tech. Stripling is currently director of guidance and counseling at Waynesboro High School and has many years experience as an English teacher and school counselor.

Shelly L. Thomas, assistant professor of biology. Shelly earned a BS in biology from Eastern University and a PhD in ecology and environmental science from the University of Maine.

Judith H. Wilfong, associate professor of teacher education. Wilfong earned a BA in education from Bridgewater College, an MA in reading from JMU and an EdD in educational leadership from Nova Southeastern University. She retired from the local public school system in December 2006 after more than 20 years teaching and administrative experience and joined the EMU faculty full time in January this year.

In addition, the language and literature department at EMU will have three language assistants through a program sponsored by Mennonite Central Committee:
Cecibel de la Tamaris, Nicaragua;
Deicy Bermudez Hurtado, Colombia; and
Mariela Rios Balboa, Bolivia