Faculty Expert Guide

La Salle University’s faculty experts are available to provide commentary and analysis for news stories in print, broadcast, and online media.

Members of the media who wish to interview a La Salle faculty expert, or if you need assistance identifying an expert, may contact:

Meg Ryan

Director of Strategic Communications
Phone number:
Email address: ryanm21@lasalle.edu

Naomi Thomas

Assistant Director of Communications
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Email address: thomasn@lasalle.edu

School of Arts and Sciences

Communication

Graduate Director, Associate Professor
Interpersonal communication, health communication, instructional communication, and stigmatized groups
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Katie Neary Dunleavy, Ph.D.
Professor Emeritus

Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia member
Film, interning, peace corps, writing, fraternities
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Associate Professor

Member Public Relations Society of America, member National Communication Association 
Public relations, activist organizations, promoting places, ocmmunity building and PR
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Michael Smith, Ph.D
Associate Professor
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Elaine Zelley, Ph.D.

Computer Science

Adjunct Professor of Computer Science
Web application development and database management
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Associate Professor
NBA Draft reform; algorithms; computational social choice; mechanism design; voting theory; game theory, including applications to corruption.
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Adjunct Professor
AI and generative AI, AI strategy and business integration, data strategy and enterprise architechture, the future of technology in industry
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Associate Professor, and Director of the Graduate Computing Program
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Yang Wang, Ph.D.

Criminal Justice and Sociology

Professor and Director of Sociology and Criminal Justice Internships
Dating, Intimate Relationships, Hookup Culture, Sexual Behavior of Youth, Sexual Assault, Intimate Partner Violence, Gender-Based Violence
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Kathleen A. Bogle, Ph.D.
Associate Professor

Board Member, New Leash on Life USA
Mass incarceration, prisoner reentry, restorative justice, drug control policy, abolition, problem-solving courts
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Caitlin Taylor, Ph.D
Chair, Criminal Justice and Sociology Department
Professor
Gun violence, policing, the spatial analysis of crime and criminal justice outcomes
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History

Professor

Member of Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies
History of Russia and the Soviet Union
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Barbara C. Allen, Ph.D.
Professor Emeritus
Modern East Asian history
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Charles A. Desnoyers, Ph.D.
Archivist for Lasallian District of Eastern North America
Adjunct Professor, Department of History

Vice president, museum council of Greater Philadelphia, board member of the American Catholic Historical Society
Lasallian history, the history of Philadelphia, Archival studies, museum studies, grant writing, historic sites, public history
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International Relations

Assistant Professor
U.S. government, foreign relations, DoD, national security policy, central-east Europe politics, congress, elections
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Liberal Arts

Adjunct Instructor
Political science, American government and politics, congress, presidency, elections, Philadelphia government and politics
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Fred J. Foley, Jr., Ph.D.
Associate Professor
British literature, literature and politics, literature and trauma, political rhetoric, the culture wars, popular culture, science fiction and fantasy, superheroes
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Craig Franson, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Creative writing; fiction writing, 19th-Century American literature; 20th-Century American fiction; and contemporary literature.
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Professor
Business and technical writing and communication, popular culture, cinematic representations of the Middle Ages, the history and legends associated with Joan of Arc, Robin Hood, the Vikings, and King Arthur, Medieval studies and medievalism, literary and cinematic responses to the continuing AIDS pandemic, management and evaluation of academic programs in literature and writing
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Assistant Professor

Instructor at the Bryn Mawr Film Institute
Rhetoric, composition, film studies, affect theory, rhetorics of fashion
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Natural Sciences

Assistant Professor
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Associate Professor
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Assistant Professor
Immunology, microbiology
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tatiana jones
Assistant Professor

Member of American Association of Colleges and Universities, member of Pennsylvania Academy of Sciences 
Cellular biology, immunology, virology, molecular biology, cellular senescence
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Chair, Natural Sciences Department
Associate Professor
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Adjunct professor
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Assistant Professor

Member American Society of Microbiology
Molecular biology, biochemistry, RNA biology, microbiology, bateriophages, course-based scientfic research pedagogies
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Philosophy

Professor
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Professor
Orthodox iconography, aesthetics, Orthodox theology, Christian art, metaphysics, interface of religion, art and ideology, photography.
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C.A. Tsakiridou, Ph.D

Psychology

Associate Professor and Director, Psy.D. Program

Member of Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies
Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), grief, traumatic experiences, anxiety disorders, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), cognitive behavioral therapy, psychotherapy access and engagement
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Assistant Professor
Director of Marriage and Family Therapy Program
Couples, Families, Relationships, Marriage, Modern-day love, relationships, and coupling, and navigating everyday life stressors as they relate to relational wellness and overall mental health and well-being
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April Lancit, LMFT
Core Faculty
Assistant Professor
Black and Brown Mental Health Issues, Systemic/Relational therapy, Couple and Family relationship dynamics in counseling, racial trauma, racial identity empowerment, boundary setting in relationships, therapist self of the therapist work, and counseling with cultural humility
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Religion

Campus Minister

Member College Theology Society 
Contemporary catholic theology and spirituality, the second vatican council, sports and spirituality
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Professor Emeritus
U.S. catholicism, specifically history of women religious (nuns)
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Margaret McGuinness, Ph.D

Social Work

Associate Professor
Human rights, immigrant rights and organizing for immigrant rights, injustice in the child welfare system
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Rosemary Barbera, Ph.D.
Professor Emerita

Member Council on Social Work Education
Loss and grief, spirituality, behavioral health – individuals and families
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Janine Mariscotti, MSW, LCSW
MSW Program Director
Assistant Professor

Chair, National Association of Social Workers
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School of Business

Accounting

Assistant Professor of Accounting
Accounting analytics, auditing, financial reporting, business analyses
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Tom Adams, Ph.D.
Professor of Accounting

Member of the American Institute of CPA’s, member of the Pennsylvania Institute of CPA’s 
Federal taxation, teaching introductory accounting courses, personal finance
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Finance and Analytics

Chair, Finance and Analytics Department
Professor

Member of American Risk and Insurance Association
Insurance and risk management
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Professor of Finance
Corporate finance, banking, personal finance
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Management and Leadership

Assistant Professor, Management & Leadership
Director, Business Fellows Program
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Kathy Bagnell Finnegan
Assistant Professor of Management and Leadership
Leadership (perceptions of leaders and followers, leader-follower relationships, leader emergence), Individual differences (measurement and outcomes of motivational approaches to personality), Organizational effectiveness (organizational citizenship, work-family conflict)
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Patrick T. Coyle, Ph.D.

Marketing

Chair, Management, Marketing and Leadership Department
Associate Professor
Consumer Behavior, Consumer Well-Being, Social Marketing, Societal Impact, Social Information Processing, Marketing Research, Mixed-Methods Research, Survey Design and Analysis, Nonprofit Marketing, Community-Based Participatory Action Research, Impact Assessment
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School of Nursing and Health Sciences

Communication Sciences and Disorders

Associate Professor and Graduate Program Director

Board Member, Pennsylvania Speech-Language-Hearing Association
Child language development, child language disorders, bilingual language development, state-level advocacy for speech-language pathologists and those they serve
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Chair and Associate Professor
Aphasia, neurogenic cognitive-communication disorders, medical speech-language pathology
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Ryan S. Husak, Ph.D., CCC-SLP
Associate Professor

Member of American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, member of Pennsylvania Speech and Hearing Association 
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Nursing

Professor Emerita
Curriculum development, accreditation readiness, NCLEX success strategies, dementia care education
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Kathleen Czekanski, Ph.D.
Program Director, Nurse Anesthesia
Nurse anesthesia, pediatric and adult anesthesia, pharmcology, test taking strategies, simulation, post operative nausea and vomiting prevention
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Interim Dean, School of Nursing and Health Sciences
Care coordination, care transitions, ambulatory care, simulation
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beth ann swan
Associate Professor

Member, American Association of the History of Nursing
Nursing history, international nursing
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Nutrition

Adjunct Professor of Nutrition
Leadership, quality management, food science, food systems, food and culture, sustainability, management in food service and dietetics, senior nutrition, food safety
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Susan Adams
Assistant Professor
Nutrition education, food labeling and consumer nutrition, food science, public health and community nutrition, long-term care nutrition
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Public Health

Chair, Urban Public Health and Nutrition Department
Associate Professor

Member American Public Health Association, member Pennsylvania Public Health Association
Community health, social determinants of health, health equity/inequities
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Candace Robertson-James, DrPH, MPH