Faculty & Staff

 Stuart Glennan is the Harry Ice Professor of Philosophy and the director of Butler University’s Science, Technology and Environmental Studies  program. He has a B.A. in philosophy and mathematics from Yale University, and a MA and PhD in philosophy from the University of Chicago.  He has worked as a teacher, scholar and administrator at Butler University since 1992. 

Professor Glennan’s area of specialization is the philosophy of science, with particular attention to biology, psychology and neuroscience.  He has written about causation, explanation, and model building. He is chiefly known for his work on the nature of mechanisms and the role of mechanistic models and explanations across the sciences.  He is author of The New Mechanical Philosophy (Oxford University Press, 2017) and Causation: The Basics (Routledge,  2024) and he is the editor, with Phyllis
Illari, of the Routledge Handbook of Mechanisms and Mechanical Philosophy (2018). He has also written on the topic of religion and science, and science education,and the philosophy of history.  Links to publications can be found on Butler’s archive and at Google scholar. 

For much of his time at Butler, Glennan has served in administrative positions, including seven years as chair of the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies and twelve years as associate dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. He has been instrumental in founding a number of Butler’s interdisciplinary programs, including Science, Technology and Society, Environmental Studies, Data Science, Neuroscience and Public Health. He currently serves on the steering committee for the new Neuroscience major. 

Professor Glennan has taught numerous courses in philosophy, and in support of Butler’s interdisciplinary programs, and he has contributed to many areas of Butler’s core curriculum – including the first-year seminar, text and ideas, analytical reasoning, and the social world. In recent years, Glennan’s teaching assignment have included philosophy of science, philosophy of mind, intro to science and technology studies, logic, as well as introductory philosophy courses and a seminar on causation.  

I am a research ecologist by training, specializing in plant physiological ecology,  ecosystem ecology, and urban ecology. I have a PhD in Ecology with a Minor in Statistics from the University of Wyoming and completed a postdoc at the University of Cape Town in South Africa. In South Africa, I transitioned from studying carbon and water fluxes in the boreal forest into urban ecology studying the impacts of air pollution and subsequent deposition of pollutants on plant diversity in the Cape Town metro area. 

After 3-years at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) as a Proposal Writer and Editor, I began my role as the Director of the Center for Urban Ecology and Sustainability at Butler University. In this role, I was responsible for the oversight of the CUES programs such as the campus farm and student internships as well as assisting faculty and community partners with research, education, and community outreach activities that focus on urban ecology and sustainability. 

In my current role as Executive Director of Sustainability, I lead sustainability strategy, planning, fundraising, and initiatives in service to the University’s strategic priorities and sustainability goals through cross-campus collaborations and community partnerships to inspire a culture of sustainability and propel an effective approach to achieving short- and long-term sustainability and carbon neutrality goals.

For more information on  the Office of Sustainability  and how to get involved, check out our website at: https://www.butler.edu/sustainability/.

Dr. Stephen (Steve) Barnard is Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Sociology and Criminology.  Before joining the faculty at Butler, he was Associate Professor and Chair of the Sociology Department at St. Lawrence University, where he worked from 2014-2021.  Steve earned his Ph.D. in Sociology at the University of Missouri in 2012, where he also earned an M.A. (2007) and B.A. (2005).  He also held two interdisciplinary postdoctoral positions—one with the University of Denver’s Department of Media, Film, and Journalism Studies (2013-2014), and another with the School of Journalism and Peace Studies Program at the University of Missouri (2012-2013). 

His scholarship focuses on the role media and communication technologies play in relations of power, practice, and democracy.  Steve’s latest book, Hacking Hybrid Media: Power and Practice in an Age of Manipulation, examines how problematic information flows through contemporary media.  His first book, Citizens at the Gates: Twitter, Networked Publics, and the Transformation of American Journalism, won the 2020 Best Book Award from the Communication, Information Technologies, and Media Sociology (CITAMS) section of the American Sociological Association.  Steve is also co-author of All Media are Social: Sociological Perspectives on Mass Media (2020, Routledge).  His work has appeared in the journals New Media & Society, Journalism, Cultural Studies <=> Critical Methodologies, Hybrid Pedagogy, and in several edited volumes.  Steve has written for popular audiences in publications like The Hill, RealClearPolitics, and Contexts, the magazine of the American Sociological Association.  His current book project, “Hacking Hybrid Media: Power, Practice, and Problematic Information” is under contract with Oxford University Press.

Steve teaches a number of classes, including Deviance & Social Control,  Social Theory Seminar, Violence, Media & Culture, Surveillance & Society, and a section of Social World 200: Understanding Society focused on media.

For more information about Dr. Barnard, see his personal website.

I am Associate Professor of Sociology and Criminology at Butler University. Before coming to Butler, I earned a dual-title Ph.D. from Purdue University in sociology and gerontology. I then spent at year at the University of Missouri as a postdoctoral scholar in the Research Center for Human Animal Interactions. 

My research interests include the roles of women and mothers, health and body weight issues, and social psychology. I teach a variety of courses including;  families, international crime, gender, race, and crime, health and society, aging and the life course, and gender and society.

My research is currently funded by the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS). This research examines mothers’ perspectives of the benefits of interscholastic activities of their high school students. This is a 10 year longitudinal study that begin in the fall of 2019. I also host the podcast, MOMent with Mom, with members of the NFHS. 

Jenny Cox is a Lecturer in the Mathematical Sciences Department at Butler University. She has a passion for teaching students mathematics, working as a mathematics teacher at both the high school and collegiate levels for 19 years. Prior to joining the Butler faculty, Jenny was a mathematics teacher at Herron High School and then University High School. She has also worked in both the Mathematics and Mathematics Education departments at Indiana University. 

Jenny received her Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics from the University of Southern Indiana in 2005, her Masters of Arts in Mathematics from Indiana University in 2007, and Doctorate in Curriculum and Instruction – Mathematics Education at Indiana University in 2022. Her current research is focused on reducing mathematics anxiety and inclusive inquiry practices. Her research interests also include equitable practices surrounding high-stakes assessments and supporting girls in STEM.

Jenny lives in Franklin with her husband Ryan and three children. When she is not teaching mathematics, she enjoys running, reading at all hours, and cheering on her children in their various sporting events. 

Awards

• Neatrour-McGlasson Fellowship, Indiana University
• Faculty Fellowship, Indiana University
• Inaugural Audrey Lupton Community Award, University High School
• Rothrock Teaching Award for Associate Instructors, Indiana University

 Publications 

• Cox, J. & Ataide Pinheiro, W. (2024). Advancing
equitable and responsible research involving gender and sexuality within
mathematics education. The Educational Forum. 

• Cox, J., Kaschner, S., & Krohn, M. (2024). An Intervention to Support Students
Placed Below Introductory Coursework. PRIMUS, 1-17.
doi.org/10.1080/10511970.2023.2289408 

• Cox, J. (2022). Compliance, competitiveness, and confidence: Investigating patterns in mathematics anxiety using a nuanced view of gender. [Doctoral dissertation, Indiana University]. doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.28147.60963 

• Burch, L., Tillema, E., Cox, J., Yavuz, S., & Sianturi, I. (2021). Productive
mathematical meanings as a guide to analyzing algebra textbooks. In Olanoff,
D., Johnson, K., & Spitzer, S.M. (Eds). In Productive Struggle: Persevering
Through Challenges: Proceedings of the 43rd Meeting of the North American
Chapter of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education, Philadelphia. http://www.pmena.org/pmenaproceedings/PMENA 43 2021 Proceedings.pdf 

• Cox, J. & Jacobson, E. (2020). Mathematics anxiety as a mediator for gender
differences in 2012 PISA mathematics scores. In Sacristán, A. & Cortés, J.,
(Eds.). Mathematics Education Across Cultures: Proceedings of the 42nd Meeting of the North American Chapter of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education, México. doi.org/10.51272/pmena.42.2020 

• Cox, J. (2019). A focus on factoring: Taking the difficulty out of Algebra students’ least favorite topic. Indiana Mathematics Teacher, Indiana Council of Teachers
of Mathematics (ICTM), 18-21. 

Presentations 

• Cox, J. & Enk, C. (2024, February 20). Equitable Adjustments to Indiana Department of Education Accountability Scores: Which Schools Truly Scored an A? Hoosier Association of Science Teachers Incorporated and Indiana Council of Teachers of Mathematics (HASTI-ICTM) Conference. Indianapolis, Indiana. 

• Ataide Pinheiro, W., Cox, J., Phelps, R., Cherry Shive, E., Cruz, J. (2024, July
7-14). Towards justice in mathematics education regarding gender and sexuality.
[Paper Presentation]. 15th International Congress on Mathematics Education,
Sydney, Australia. 

• Childers, G., Ataide Pinheiro, W., Cox, J., Lynn, R. (2024, July 7-14). A quantitative examination of 2SLGBTQIA+ US students’ mathematical experiences in high school. [Paper Presentation]. 15th International Congress on Mathematics Education, Sydney, Australia. 

• Cox, J. (2023, February 14). Compliance, Competitiveness, and Confidence: Investigating Gendered Patterns in Mathematics Anxiety. Hoosier Association of Science Teachers Incorporated and Indiana Council of Teachers of Mathematics (HASTI-ICTM) Conference. Indianapolis, Indiana. 

• Cox, J. (2022, November 3). Gendered Patterns in Mathematics Anxiety and Ongoing Mathematics Education Research. Invited Presentation for Butler’s ICTM/NCTM chapter. Indianapolis, Indiana. 

• Cox, J. (2021, September 25). Increasing the Cognitive Demand of Questions to Support Student Success on the SAT and ACT. National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) National Conference. [conference canceled] 

• Cox, J. (2021, April 23). Flying Birds and Ferris Wheels: Precalculus Activities for Conceptual Understanding. National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) National Conference. [Recorded presentation after in-person conference was
canceled] 

• Cox, J. (2020, April 28 & May 6). My Summer SAT Study: Common Misconceptions and Misgivings from our Students [Webinar].  

• Cox, J. (2020, April). Key connections between mathematics curriculum and the SAT. Presentation. Presentation at the Centennial National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) National Conference, Chicago, Illinois. [Conference canceled] 

• Cox, J. (2020, March 16, 18, & 20). Engaging mathematics students at a level of
high cognitive demand, even in E-Learning environments [Three-part webinar
series]. ICTM Members Helping Members. The Indiana Council of Teachers of
Mathematics.  

• Cox, J. (2020, March 6). Rigorous work in the best courses: The use of the SAT as a graduation requirement and implications for underserved students. Presentation at the Indiana Mathematics Educators Research Symposium (IMERS), Indianapolis, Indiana.  

• Cox, J. (2019, October 29). Building connections and breaking down rules in the Precalculus classroom. Presentation at the Indiana Council of Teachers of
Mathematics (ICTM) Conference, Indianapolis, Indiana. 

• Cox, J. (2019, March 1). Queries in quadratic equations: Historical and curricular developments. Presentation at the Curriculum and Instruction Research and Creative Activities Symposium (CIRCAS), Bloomington, Indiana.  

• Cox, J. (2019, February 15). Queries in quadratic equations: Historical and curricular developments. Presentation at the Indiana Mathematics Education Research Symposium (IMERS), Indianapolis, Indiana.  

• Cox, J. (2017, November 10). Educational games and activities for the mathematics classroom. Presentation at the Independent School Association of the Central States (ISACS) Conference, Chicago, Illinois. 

  Memberships and Affiliations

• National Council of Teachers of Mathematics
• Indiana Council of Teachers of Mathematics
• Hoosier Association of Mathematics Teacher Educators

Areas of Expertise:

Human Experimental Psychology:

                Visual Depth Perception in real and virtual environments

                Perception of Affordances

                Human Factors and Applied Psychology

                Cognitive Psychology

                Direct Perception and Ecological Psychology

    History and Theories of Psychology

Education:

Ph.D., Human Factors Psychology, Clemson University, Clemson, SC (2017).

M.S., Cognitive and Behavioral Sciences, Illinois State University, Normal, IL (2014).

B.A., Double major in Psychology and History, with honors, Denison University, Granville, OH (2012).

Classes Taught:

Introductory Psychology (SW 250)

Research Methods and Statistics I (PS 210)

Research Methods and Statistics II (PS 211)

Biological Bases of Behavior (PS 235)

Sensation and Perception (PS 404)

History of Psychology (PS 420)

Advanced Seminar in Applied Psychology – Human Factors (PS 479)

Careers in Psychology (PS 105)

First Year Seminar – Human Factors and the Design of Your Life (FYS 101 and FYS 102)

Experience:

CATBUS consultant (May 2016 – May 2019): As part of this experience I was tasked with analyzing data regarding Clemson Area Transit, presenting the findings to city leaders, and compiling the results to be used in reports for a federal government funding agency.

LMX concierge website (October 2015 – October 2016): Consulted for a local business designed to facilitate goal achievement.  Worked with a team to construct a user friendly website to help grow the business.  Primary duties included performing tasks analyses, heuristic evaluations, paper prototyping, user testing, and implementing new webpage designs.

US Engine Valve (April 2016 – August 2016): As part of my experience on this team my primary functions were to act as a quality check after each phase of work, and to draft, refine, and edit the final report and presentation to company leaders regarding the results of numerous task analyses and ergonomic recommendations to improve workspace design, worker safety, and worker efficiency. My secondary functions were to provide guidance and feedback to the project team during the task analysis and recommendation phase.

At Illinois State, I served as the graduate assistant in the University Assessment Services department, where I produced and distributed surveys designed to gather knowledge about various aspects of the University.  I was also tasked with analyzing and presenting the data produced by the survey assessments.

Attended the Advanced Training Institute on Nonlinear Methods in Data Analysis, at the University of Cincinnati during the summer of 2013.

Professional Memberships:

American Psychological Association

Human Factors and Ergonomics Society

Psychonomic Society

International Society for Ecological Psychology

Psi Chi

My research interests include the history and culture of Japan, the anthropology of sport, the anthropology of science, gender studies, feminist theory, historical anthropology, mass/popular culture, theories of embodiment, urban anthropology, and visual culture. Most of my fieldwork has focused on cultures of sport in Japan and while I study and teach about all kinds of sport, football (soccer) is my ultimate passion. I continue to work on my primary project about soccer, corporate sport, the recession of the 1990s, and national identity in Japan, but have also written recently about the new professional women’s soccer league in Japan and the history of women’s professional soccer/football globally; I’m also interested in issues related to trans* athletes in Japan and the U.S.

Dr. Stephanie Fernhaber teaches a variety of courses within the Entrepreneurship & Innovation program at the undergraduate and graduate levels including The Entrepreneurial Mindset, Business Practicum, First-Year Business Experience, and Social Entrepreneurship. 

In addition to teaching, Dr. Fernhaber conducts research in the areas of international entrepreneurship, grassroots innovation, and new venture strategy. Her research has been published in various academic journals including the Journal of International Business Studies, Strategic Management Journal, Journal of Business Venturing, Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, and Entrepreneurship, Theory & Practice. Dr. Fernhaber has also co-created four books.  She serves as the Field Editor for International Entrepreneurship at the Journal of Business Venturing.

At the community level, Dr. Fernhaber has a passion for spurring innovation with an emphasis on social entrepreneurship.

LinkedIn

Google Scholar

Pharmacy Practice Professor

Jane Gervasio is the Butler University Pharmacy Practice Professor of the College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences.  She is Board Certified Nutrition Support Pharmacist and a Fellow in the American Colleges of Clinical Pharmacy.  She completed a Specialty Residency in Critical Care and Nutrition Support and a Research Fellowship in Metabolic Support at the University of Tennessee in Memphis.  Dr. Gervasio is nationally recognized for her expertise in the area of Nutrition Support. She speaks both locally and nationally and has published numerous peer-reviewed manuscripts and book chapters on various nutritional and gastrointestinal related topics. Dr. Gervasio continues to serve on various committees for several nationally recognized organizations, including the American Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition, the Society of Critical Care Medicine, the American College of Clinical Pharmacy and the Specialty Council on Nutrition Support Pharmacy Practice for the Board of Pharmaceutical Specialties.  

Jason Goldsmith is a writer, artist, and educator whose work traces the vexed relationship between art and place from the19th-century Picturesque tradition through today’s twinned unravelling of ecological and social networks. He has published numerous scholarly articles on place-based writing, and his creative nonfiction and art have appeared in River Teeth, Humana Obscura, Grasmere, Indiana Waterways:The Art of Conservation, and on the cover of publications from the University of Iowa Press. 

His sense of place sharpened by figures such as Jamaica Kincaid, bell hooks, James Baldwin, and Ross Gay, Goldsmith introduces students to a range of diverse voices to interrogate the limits inherent in literary traditions and to cultivate an inclusive and equitable classroom. He teaches courses on art, literature, and the environment, from Romanticism to 19th-Century British Women Writers, from Jane Austen to Video Game Narrative, from Contemporary Writers to Creative Non-Fiction, and from Urban Sketching to Wilderness Literature. 

He is a member of the Etheridge Knight advisory group, sits on the education subcommittee of the Task Force for Indigenous Inclusion and Engagement, is faculty advisor for the undergraduate journal Manuscripts and an editor of The Hopper, an environmental literary magazine.

When not teaching, he enjoys hiking, sitting by a river while sketching, and spending time outdoors with his wife and children.

Ankur Gupta is a Professor of Computer Science and Software Engineering at Butler University. Dr. Gupta completed his undergraduate work and a master’s degree in computer science at the University of Texas at Dallas. He received his Ph.D. in Computer Science from Duke University. Dr. Gupta’s research area focuses on the design of algorithms that compress large volumes of data, while simultaneously making them searchable (think Google search or Big Data). Dr. Gupta has also pursued unique research on Artificial Wisdom, in other words, trying to discover the meaning of “wisdom” from a computational point of view. This work was funded by the John Templeton Foundation.

Biography

Born and raised in southcentral Pennsylvania in one of only two counties in the Commonwealth without a traffic light, Brent Hege earned his BA in Religion and History with a minor in Classics from Gettysburg College (PA) in 1998. He completed the Zentrale Mittelstufenprüfung Diplom (German Language Certificate) at the Goethe Institut in Dresden, Germany, in 2000 while completing his MA in Historical Theology with a minor in New Testament at The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg (PA). He earned his PhD in Theology with Distinction from Union Theological Seminary and Presbyterian School of Christian Education in Richmond, VA, in 2007. His dissertation was awarded the 2010 John Templeton Award for Theological Promise by the Forschungszentrum Internationale und Interdisziplinäre Theologie at the University of Heidelberg, Germany. He was honored by his alma mater with the 2013 Gettysburg College Young Alumni Achievement Award and in 2015 he was elected an honorary member of Butler’s chapter of Phi Beta Kappa. In 2017 he received the Outstanding Faculty Award for Excellence in Teaching from Butler’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and in 2024 he received the Butler University First-Year Impact Award for his work teaching and mentoring first-year students at Butler. In 2017 he was appointed The Compass Center Scholar in Residence and in 2020 he was promoted to Senior Lecturer in Religion. He has taught at Butler since 2008. 

Teaching Duties

As a faculty member of Butler’s Religious Studies program, Hege teaches the yearlong First Year Seminar, “Faith, Doubt, and Reason,” the Texts & Ideas (TI) course, “Religions of the World,” online every summer, and the following 300-level Religious Studies courses: God, Theologies of Liberation, Evil, Religious Pluralism, and Ecotheology. Hege has directed several offerings of the Butler Series on Religion and Society, including “Religion, Race, and Culture” (2015-2016), “Sacred Spaces: Intersections of Religion and Ecology” (2018-2019), and “Faith and Activism” (2022-2023). Hege is also the Compass Center Scholar in Residence, where he works with a cohort of student Scholars on issues of interfaith engagement and vocational discernment. Hege holds affiliate faculty status in the programs of Race, Gender and Sexuality Studies, Peace and Conflict Studies, Science, Technology, and Environmental Studies, and the Center for Urban Ecology and Sustainability. In 2022, Hege successfully chartered Butler’s chapter of Theta Alpha Kappa, the national honors society for Religious Studies and Theology, for which he serves as faculty advisor. Hege is also the faculty advisor of Grace Unlimited, Butler’s Lutheran-Episcopal campus ministry. 

Scholarship

Hege’s research focuses on the history of Christian thought and contemporary Christian theology, with special focus on 19th- and 20th-century liberal Protestant theology, continental philosophy and philosophical theology, contemporary constructive theology, Lutheranism, and theology and culture. In addition to his award-winning first book, Faith at the Intersection of History and Experience: The Theology of Georg Wobbermin (Wipf and Stock, 2009), he has published articles and invited review essays in a number of European and American journals, including Zeitschrift für Neuere Theologiegeschichte/Journal for the History of Modern Theology, Theologische Zeitschrift, Theology and Science, Radical Philosophy Review, Politics and Religion, and Teaching Theology and Religion. He is also a frequent reviewer of books on historical and contemporary theology for Interpretation: A Journal of Bible and Theology. He has presented papers at national and regional academic conferences, including The American Academy of Religion and The Southwest Popular Culture Association and The American Culture Association, as well as being a frequent guest lecturer and panel member for school, church, and community programs. His second book, Myth, History, and the Resurrection in German Protestant Theology, was published by Pickwick Press in 2017. His most recent book, based on the first semester of his popular Butler First Year Seminar, is Faith, Doubt, and Reason (Wipf and Stock 2020). In 2020 he was elected to the editorial council of Dialog: A Journal of Theology, the world’s premier journal of Lutheran theology. 

Dr. Madinger earned a bachelors degree from Valparaiso University and a masters from Ball State University. She then studied nutrient cycling in western streams at the University of Wyoming, earning a PhD. After graduate school, Dr. Madinger taught environmental science at Concordia University Wisconsin before beginning at Butler. Her current research collaboration is with the Friesner Herbarium at Butler University. Previously she has investigated many local phenomenon including 17 year cicadas, local water quality, and biofilm diversity. She teaches Ecology and Evolution (BI 230), Ecology and the Natural Environment (NW 207), and Conservation Biology (BI 419). 

I am an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology & Criminology at Butler University. I am a socio-legal scholar exploring how legal, political, and social actors influence global and local institutions and organizations, producing social change or reproducing structural inequalities. Globally, I study how lawyers shape trade regimes between countries, which has contributed to today’s climate crisis. Locally, I analyze the mobilization against and governance of climate change in Brazil’s Amazon, where I was born and raised. My work has appeared in World Development, Sociology of Development, Law & Social Inquiry, University of Illinois Law Review, University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform, and Cambridge University Press.

After moving from Brazil to the U.S., I earned my LL.M. and Ph.D. degrees from Indiana University Bloomington. In 2022-2023, I was a Visiting Fellow at the Kellogg Institute for International Studies at the University of Notre Dame. At IU-Bloomington, I remain affiliated with the Center for the Analysis of Social-Ecological Landscapes and the Maurer School of Law’s Stewart Center on the Global Legal Profession. I am currently co-editing a special issue of the Law & Society Review on Law in a Changing Climate.

You can find more information about Vitor at vitormartinsdias.github.io.

James F. McGrath is Clarence L. Goodwin Chair in New Testament Language and Literature. His PhD from the University of Durham became the basis for his first book, John’s Apologetic Christology, published by Cambridge University Press in the SNTS Monograph Series. He has also written a “prequel” about the broader context of monotheism and Christology in ancient Judaism and Christianity, The Only True God: Early Christian Monotheism in Its Jewish Context, published by University of Illinois Press. More recently he has published What Jesus Learned from Women  which explores the topic of the historical figure of Jesus and the influence the women mentioned in the Gospels had on him. His book The A to Z of the New Testament is a fun and readable exploration of the things that New Testament scholars and those who’ve taken courses on the New Testament know, yet others typically do not, even if they have a profound interest in or even reverence for those texts. Christmaker: A Life of John the Baptist is a biography of this fascinating yet underappreciated figure. This was followed soon after by a large monograph about John the Baptist titled John of History, Baptist of Faith: The Quest for the Historical Baptizer. While Christmaker is a biography written for a general audience, John of History, Baptist of Faith offers detailed studies of key questions of method and detail.

In addition to his work on the New Testament and early Christianity, Dr. McGrath also researches the Mandaeans (the last surviving Gnostic group from the ancient world) and their literature. The critical edition, translation, and commentary on the Mandaean Book of John published by DeGruyter, which he produced together with Charles Haberl of Rutgers University, represents the first such academic edition of the complete work in English based on all known manuscripts. Another area of specialty is the intersection of religion and science fiction. On that subject, he is the author of Theology and Science Fiction and The Battle of Ranskoor av Kolos (Black Archive #52), editor of Religion and Science Fiction and co-editor of Time and Relative Dimensions in Faith: Religion and Doctor Who. He has co-authored Progressive Rock, Religion, and Theology with Frank Felice.

Dr. McGrath blogs at ReligionProf and can be found elsewhere on social media under the same handle. 

Lavender McKittrick-Sweitzer is an Assistant Professor of Philosophy. Before arriving at Butler in Autumn 2021, they completed their PhD (philosophy, 2021) at Ohio State University, MA (philosophy, 2015) at the University of Missouri – St. Louis, and BA (philosophy, 2013) at the University of Missouri – Columbia. 

Their area of specialization is political philosophy, with a focus on feminist perspectives, public reason, and global justice. 

For more information about Lavender’s research, teaching, and CV, visit: www.lmsweitzer.com.

MaCie’ specializes in sustainability, process improvement, and engagement of vulnerable communities. She holds a Master of Public Affairs with Lean and Green Belt Six Sigma certifications. Her professional background includes working with the City of Indianapolis’ Office of Sustainability, where MaCie’ spearheaded numerous initiatives that significantly reduced the city’s environmental footprint, enhanced the resilience of Indianapolis’ most vulnerable communities, and assisted in the development and tracking of Indianapolis’ first sustainability and resilience action plan, Thrive Indianapolis. MaCie’ also worked for MWBE consulting firm, Engaging Solutions, where she served as a Senior Project Manager and Community Engagement Leader, playing a pivotal role in driving monumental change and fostering public engagement of marginalized communities in planning and city development in Indianapolis and across the United States. Some of her noteworthy projects include project lead for Your Voice 2022, the first redistricting forum hosted in Indianapolis history, and community engagement lead for Eskenazi Health’s Health Equity Zone project aimed at assisting Eskenazi Health in creating three plans to address social determinants of health to improve the quality of life of three of Indianapolis most vulnerable communities. In addition, MaCie’ is a 2023-2024 Princeton in Africa Alum, where she spent a year based in Nairobi, Kenya, serving as the Business Planning and Analytics Fellow for the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), where she aided the international nonprofit in sustainability reporting to the UN Global Compact and with internal process improvements and annual institutional planning. Due to her contribution to the city of Indianapolis and abroad, MaCie’ was a recipient of the Indianapolis Business Journal’s 20 in their 20s for 2023. As a new team member to the Butler Sustainability Team, MaCie’s position will be focused on leading sustainability education and behavior change programming for students, faculty, staff, and community members. 

As a community member, MaCie’ serves on the board for One Voice Martindale- Brightwood and Earth Charter Indiana and is a member of several community and service-driven organizations. MaCie’s passions and interests intersect with social impact, equity, and environmental issues. As a new team member to the Butler Sustainability Team, MaCie’s position will be focused on leading sustainability education and behavior change programming for students, faculty, staff, and community members. 

Dr. Nebiolo is a historian of the early Atlantic world. She studies the history of health and medicine, spatial history, and early modern urban history. In 2023, she received her PhD in world history from Northeastern University. Her work also encompasses the digital humanities, with a focus on maps, modeling, and pedagogy. Here at Butler, Dr. N teaches courses on the early colonial period, the history of medicine, and digital humanities.

Her current project, Constructing Health: Concepts of Well-Being in an Urbanizing Atlantic World, has been supported by the McNeil Center for Early American Studies, the American Philosophical Society, the South Caroliniana Library, Haverford College Quaker & Special Collections, the Huntington Library and Corpus Christi College at Oxford, the John Carter Brown Library, the American Historical Association, and the Francis Wood Institute at the College of Physicians of Philadelphia.

In August 2024, Dr. N published a chapter on visualizing cities in the Age of Revolutions found in the volume, American Revolutions in the Digital Age (Cornell University Press). 

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Dr. N is always excited to be on conference panels, participate in writing opportunities, and network with other scholars. Please don’t hesitate to reach out!

Dr. Katherine (Kate) Novak is a professor in the Department of Sociology and Criminology where she teaches courses in criminology, mental illness, social psychology, research methods and statistics. She holds a B.A  in sociology and in psychology, and an M.A. and Ph.D. in sociology, with a concentration in criminology, and a Ph.D. minor in Criminal Justice from Indiana University-Bloomington. 

Much of Dr. Novak’s current research focuses on adolescent and college student substance use and delinquency and has been published in academic journals such as Crime & Delinquency, Addictive Behaviors, Journal of Criminal Justice, Sociological Inquiry, Journal of Social Psychology, The Journal of Child and Adolescent Substance Abuse, The Journal of Family Issues, The Journal of Alcohol and Drug Education, and The Journal of Primary Prevention. She is the co-author of two textbooks- Individual and Society:  Sociological Social Psychology (with Lizabeth A. Crawford) and Applied Communication Research (with Judith M. Buddenbaum).  Additionally, Dr. Novak has collaborated with other faculty on research projects focusing on homelessness in Indianapolis, perceptions of crime and safety in the local community, immigrants’ perceptions of prejudice and discrimination, faculty work-load satisfaction, and student learning in a topically-focused introductory sociology course. She has published several class assignments and activities in TRAILS: Teaching Resources and Innovations Library for Sociology and serves on the advisory board for the Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning. Dr. Novak regularly mentors students, supervising internships and directed research projects, and serving as the faculty advisor for department and university honors theses. Her students have presented their research at college and sociology conferences and to organizational leaders and administrators and have published papers in peer-reviewed research journals. 

Dr. Novak has received many internal grants for both research and teaching, and she has won a number of university awards.  She received the Liberal Arts and Sciences Outstanding Faculty Award for Teaching Excellence in 2016 and the Liberal Arts and Sciences Outstanding Faculty Award in 2010 and 2003.

Recent Publications:

Crawford, Lizabeth A. and Novak, Katherine B.  2013.  Individual and Society: Sociological Social Psychology. Routledge/Taylor& Francis. [2nd edition released March 2018]  https://www.routledge.com/Individual-and-Society-Sociological-Social-Psychology-2nd-Edition/Crawford-Novak/p/book/9781138284692

Crawford, Lizabeth A. and Novak, Katherine B. 2023. “Beliefs About Alcohol and the College Experience as Determinants of Academic and Social Outcomes Among Undergraduate Students.”  College Student Journal 56(4):371-381.

Kowalski, Jennifer R., Lineweaver, Tara L., and Novak, Katherine B.  2021.  “DevelopingIntegrative Thinking in Undergraduate Students through an Interdisciplinary General Education Course on Mental Illness.”  College Teaching.  https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/87567555.2021.1982856\

Crawford, Lizabeth A. and Novak, Katherine, B.  2020.  “College Student Activities, Social Capital, and Drinking Behavior.”  Journal of Alcohol and Drug Eductation 64(1):9-32.

Crawford, Lizabeth A, Novak, Katherine B, and Rasitha R.Jayasekare.  2019. “Volunteerism, Alcohol Beliefs, and First-Year College Students’ Drinking Behaviors: Implications for Prevention.”  The Journal of Primary Prevention. Advanced On-line Publication.  https://link.springer.com/epdf/10.1007/s10935-019-00558-z?author_access_token=VsSE7FJJx4odI99TFRd2z_e4RwlQNchNByi7wbcMAY5U0p0vLjEfjXTWGPJg3fnUs7hDFpqWDQBu-3S9HNrZBdSXHQeiJNHtTScfiJScXxZnrFgi8YqhWDnMn4l9SXYNcCZl9aE9GpZQl-UpIAGxcA%3D%3D

Crawford, Lizabeth A. and Novak, Katherine B.  2018. “Being with Friends and the Potential for Binge Drinking During the First College Semester.”  Journal of the First-Year Experience & Students in Transition 30(2):79-96.

Crawford, Lizabeth A., Novak, Katherine B., and Foston, Amia K. 2016 (online)/ 2018 (print).“Routine Activities and Delinquency: The Significance of Bonds to Society and Peer Context.”  Crime & Delinquency 64(4):472-509.

Howard, Jay R., Novak, Katherine B., Scott, Marvin B. and Cline, Krista M.C.  2014. “Another Nibble at the Core: Student Learning in a Topically-Focused Introductory Sociology Course.”  Teaching Sociology 42(3):177-186.

Crawford, Lizabeth A. and Novak, Katherine B.  2013. “The Effects of Public Self-Consciousness and Embarrassability on College Student Drinking: Evidence in Support of a Protective Self-Presentational Model.”  The Journal of Social Psychology 153(1):109-122.

Crawford, Lizabeth A. and Novak, Katherine B.  2011.  “Beliefs about Alcohol and the College Experience, Locus of Self, and College Undergraduates’ Drinking Patterns.”  Sociological Inquiry 81(4):477-494.

Crawford, Lizabeth A., and Novak, Katherine B.  2010. “Beliefs about Alcohol and the College Experience as Moderators of the Effects of Perceived Campus Drinking Norms on Levels of Alcohol Use among College Undergraduates. Journal of Alcohol and Drug Education. 54(3):69-96.

Novak, Katherine B.and Crawford, L. A.  2010.  “Routine Activities as Determinants of Gender Differences in Delinquency. Journal of Criminal Justice 38(5):913-920.

Menendez-Alarcon, Antonio V. and Novak, Katherine B.  2010. “Latin American Immigrants in Indianapolis: Perceptions of Prejudice and Discrimination.”  Latino Studies. 8:93-120.

Born and raised in northern Connecticut, Thomas (Tom) Paradis obtained his Bachelor’s degree in Geography at the Pennsylvania State University (1992), and his Masters (1994) and Ph.D. (1997) degrees in Geography: Urban & Rural Development from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. He continued moving west to Flagstaff, Arizona in 1997 as faculty at Northern Arizona University (NAU), where he was recognized in 2011 and 2014 as a President’s Distinguished Teaching Fellow. He further served as the Chair of the Department of Geography, Planning & Recreation and as the university’s Director of Academic Assessment. As a professor of geography and community planning here at Butler, he is also an affiliate faculty member in Butler’s Science, Technology & Environmental Studies (STES) program. Having originally majored in meteorology at Penn State, he ended up teaching weather and climate at the U. of Illinois and later at NAU. He therefore teaches an NW course for the Core Curriculum, Weather, Climate & Society (NW 265). Beyond the fun of academics, Tom enjoys traveling, photography, railroad history and modeling, playing basketball, and was once an avid trumpet player in high school and the Penn State Blue Band (Go State!). 

Teaching and Scholarship

Tom’s areas of teaching and research encompass the topics of urban and cultural geography, downtown redevelopment, historic preservation, urban design, heritage tourism, Italy, the American Southwest, the scholarship of teaching and learning, and most recently, the Hunger Games series and franchise. He also offers a creative First-Year Seminar (FYS) course focused on Unpacking the Hunger Games, an interdisciplinary approach to understanding our world through Suzanne Collins’ dystopian series. Having led several study-abroad programs in Viterbo and Siena, Italy to explore livable cities and walkable design, Tom is the author of two books about Siena, including Living the Palio: A Story of Community and Public Life in Siena, Italy (3rd edition 2020), and Unbridled Spirit: The Untold Story of the 2018 Extraordinary Palio in Siena, Italy (Feb. 2020). He remains active in the Panther contrada (neighborhood) in Siena. Other books (some very recently) include the following:

The Illustrated Encyclopedia of American Landmarks (2012), A Place Called District 12: Appalachian Geography and Music in the Hunger Games (2022), Behind the Ballads: A Tribute to the People, Places, and Music of Sonbirds and Snakes (2024), and A Daughter of Singapore: Life Lessons of a Homegrown Tour Guide (2025). 

Current and Upcoming Butler Courses

• FYS 101/102: Unpacking the Hunger Games, Part 1 (every fall/spring)
• NW 265-ENV: Weather, Climate & Society (every fall, summer)
• ENV 315: Designing for Livable Cities (fall 2025)
• HST 347: U.S. Urban History and Landscape (spring 2025) 
• HST 359: Architecture History and Preservation (spring 2026)
• ENV 390 (Topics): Sustainable Community Planning (fall 2026)
• SW 205: Cultural Geography: Regions of the World (spring 2026)

Corey Reed is an Assistant Professor of Philosophy and steering committee member in the Race, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (RGSS) program at Butler University. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from Morehouse College, double majoring in English and Philosophy, his Master of Arts degree from the University of Louisville in Comparative Humanities, and his PhD in Philosophy from the University of Memphis with a graduate certificate in Women and Gender Studies. His dissertation was entitled “Black-Male Imagos and Counternarrative Resistance: An Africana Existentialist Framework for Black-Male Analysis.” He specializes in Africana Philosophy and the Critical Philosophy of Race and Racism, with sub-interests in Existentialism, Phenomenology, Feminism/Male Theory, 20th Century French Continental Philosophy, and Aesthetics. Reed is one of three Co-Directors for the Hub of Black Affairs and Community Engagement. 

More information can be found at https://www.coreynreed.com/ 

Carol Reeves, Rebecca Clifton Reade Professor of English, came to Butler from Texas in 1989 after receiving her Ph.D. from Texas Christian University.

Professor Reeves investigates how language and rhetoric shape our knowledge and understanding of our world, ourselves, and others.  In particular, she examines how language both enables and limits the growth of knowledge and consensus surrounding scientific claims, both inside science and in the public.  Her publications on the AIDS epidemic, MadCow Disease or Prion Disease, agricultural chemicals, addiction, and climate change all demonstrate the tenuous relation between “reality” and the language we use to represent that reality.  Bias, context, and limited data inevitably lead to imperfect definitions, descriptions, labels, and visual  representations that can easily come to“stand in” for an unexplored or unknown totality.  She also explores the struggles scientists face when they attempt to describe and establish new phenomena, engage in cross-disciplinary debates over the nature of a phenomenon, when they are entrenched in high stakes disagreements over threats to the environment and human health, when they need to communicate risk to the general public, and when they want to change perceptions of stigmatized conditions. 

Professor Reeves’s  courses combine Literary study with other fields, such as Medicine, Social Science, and History.  Topics include Doctor Writers and Addiction.  She  also teaches courses in Medical Humanities and Rhetoric.  

Professor Reeves has also made contributions to several organizations in Indianapolis and Indiana that have provided opportunities for her students.  Working with CAFO Watch,Indiana to increase regulatory oversight for Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations, Reeves has brought many students into the organization as interns who learn about the legislative process and environmental policymaking.  She and students worked with the Riley Hospital Ryan White Pediatric Infectious Disease department to plan a campaign to create awareness of pre- and peri-natal HIV transmission and the importanceof testing.  She and her students also work with Women for Change Indianapolis and Planned Parenthood to help build opportunities for women to access educational opportunities and healthcare and to combat discrimination. 

Travis Ryan is a Professor of Biological Sciences with expertise in urban ecology and conservation biology, and he is one of the founding faculty of the Center for Urban Ecology at Butler University. He teaches an introductory course in the biology major curriculum (BI 230 Ecology and Evolutionary Biology – Fundamentals), organizes the sophomore seminar (BI 299 – Biology Seminar), and teaches upper level electives in Advanced Ecology (BI 418) and Conservation Biology (BI 419). Dr. Ryan also collaborates with Dr. Phil Villani to offer Tropical Terrestrial Biology (BI 417), an intensive field course taught over the course of two weeks in Panama, every other summer. Dr. Ryan’s past research focused on the conservation of amphibians and reptiles, evolutionary ecology of amphibians and the evolution of life histories, and the ecology of turtle assemblages and the spatial ecology of turtles within urban aquatic habitats. Working with colleagues Drs. Carmen Salsbury and Julia Angstmann, he helps run Indy Wildlife Watch (Instagram: @indywildwatch), which documents the density, diversity, and distribution of of wildlife throughout the greater Indianapolis region. This is part of a nationwide research project, the Urban Wildlife Information Network. He is the author of more than 40 peer-reviewed papers and book chapters, is a former Associate Editor of the Journal of Herpetology, and is a member of the Board of Editors for Urban Naturalist. Dr. Ryan served as chair of the Department of Biological Sciences (2013-2019), was twice elected vice chair of Faculty Senate (2016-2020), and was the faculty director of the Core Curriculum (2020-2021). He was appointed Associate Provost beginning July 2021.

Carmen Salsbury is a Professor of Biological Sciences with expertise in the areas of behavioral and physiological ecology. Mammals have served as Dr. Salsbury’s primary study subjects over the years and she has a specific interest in the ecology of squirrels, both tree and ground-dwelling species. Dr. Salsbury has worked on the reproductive behavior and physiology of yellow-bellied marmots and on patterns of hibernation in woodchucks. Most recently, she has become more interested in urban ecological questions.  Dr, Salsbury has conducted studies in collaboration with students and Dr. Travis Ryan addressing patterns of distribution and abundance of tree squirrels within the urban/suburban landscape.  Dr. Salsbury current focus is to examine distributions of urban wildlife of all kinds throughout the city of Indianapolis.  She is working in collaboration with Drs. Travis Ryan and Julia Angstmann on a study, Indy Wildlife Watch, that involves a large-scale deployment of camera traps along transects throughout the city of Indianapolis to monitor the occurrence and movement of various species living within the city and the surrounding rural areas. 

Dr. Salsbury’s  teaching interests are varied although the central focus of all of her courses is evolutionary ecology.  Dr. Salsbury teaches an introductory course in the biology major curriculum (BI 230 Ecology and Evolutionary Biology – Fundamentals), Mammalogy (BI 306), Zoology (BI 301), Vertebrate Biology (BI 307), Tropical Field Biology (BI 308), Advanced Evolutionary Biology (BI 423), and seminar courses in behavioral ecology.  Currently, Dr. Salsbury is the Director of the Science, Technology and Environmental Studies interdisciplinary program. She directs both the Science, Technology and Society major as well as the Environmental Studies major. 

Julie Johnson Searcy is a medical anthropologist who investigates reproduction and maternal health. Her work looks at the intersection of disease, birth and race in the United States and South Africa. She is currently working on an ethnographic book about the role doulas play in reimagining birth and addressing maternal inequities.  In her applied work, she works with local doula groups on key issues for birth, postpartum and maternal health, including Medicaid policy that would reimburse doulas for attending births. Julie’s research has been supported by the Woodrow Wilson Foundation, Fulbright-Hays, Wilma Gibbs Moore Fellowship, and Indiana University and Butler University. 

My research focuses on accreting compact objects. When stars die they leave behind very dense remnants, which, depending on mass of the progenitor star, can be a white dwarf, neutron star or black hole. Many of these objects can be found in binary systems in an orbit with a regular star. Strong gravitational interactions cause material to fall from the secondary star on to the compact object, where it forms a disk of hot material called an accretion disk. This disk is a means to transport matter on to the compact object, where it can be swallowed up or even ejected in extremely energetic outbursts.

Accretion is one of the most fundamental processes in the Universe, and as such, we are always attempting to improve our understanding of it. By studying accreting compact objects at multiple wavelengths, from radio all the way up to the highest energy X-rays and gamma rays, we can start to answer some of the greatest unanswered questions in astrophysics.

I work with data from a variety of telescopes, including JWST, the NuSTAR X-ray telescope, Swift, Chandra and Gemini. I often have multiple projects available working with data from these observatories for students who are interested in performing research.

Robin L. Turner is an Associate Professor of Political Science, Chair of the Department of Political Science, Director of the Peace and Conflict Studies Program, and Coordinator of the African and Black Studies Minor at Butler University in the US A and an honorary research associate of the Society, Work, and Politics Institute at the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa. Dr. Turner served as the founding director of the  Social Justice and Diversity Butler University Core Curriculum  requirement from 2017 to 2019.  She earned a master’s degree and doctorate in political science at the University of California, Berkeley and a masters degree in social science (African politics) from the University of Cape Town (South Africa). Her research, writing, and teaching span multiple fields, including political science, gender studies, African studies, development studies, tourism studies, political ecology, and geography.

Dr. Turner’s research focuses principally on how public policies shape rural political economies, influence identities, and affect people’s behavior in southern Africa. She uses interviews, ethnography, and archival research to examine the interplay between state policies and local practices over time and to look closely at how past and present ways of structuring property and authority shape local political economies and influence constructions of identity. She has published on topics ranging from the politics of tradition; dispossession, property, and nature tourism; and field research to decolonial pedagogy in journals including Africa Spectrum, Development and Change, Journal of Modern African Studies, Peacebuilding, and Qualitative and Multi-Method Research.  

Dr. Turner teaches courses that help students better understand the perspectives, experiences, and political strategies of historically marginalized people in Africa, the United States, and elsewhere in the world. Her courses contribute to the political science major and minor, to the core curriculum, and to several interdisciplinary programs She led the the development of a new Global and Historical Studies course centered on the question, “What is Freedom,” with grant support from the National Endowment for the Humanities,  

Her recent course offerings include:

GHS 206-SJD Resistance and Reaction: Resistance and Reaction: Colonialism and Post-Colonialism in Africa 

GHS 210-SJD Freedom and Movement in the Transatlantic World 

PO 151 Introduction to Comparative Politics

PO 350 African Politics

PO 351-SJD Politics of Gender & Sexuality in Africa 

PO 352 Comparative Political Economy 

PO 354-SJD Environmental Justice 

PO 490 Senior Seminar on Women and Politics across the World 

SW 245-PO Politics from the Margins

Kelly Van Busum is Assistant Professor of Computer Science and Software Engineering at Butler University.  She holds a B.A. with a double major in Computer Science and Education, an M.S. in Computer Science, an M.A. in Sociology, and a Ph.D. in Computer Science.  Dr. Van Busum’s research interests lie at the intersection of computing and social justice, and her current focus is on bias identification and mitigation in Artificial Intelligence.  She also studies the development of problem-solving and enjoys experimenting with innovative methods for teaching computing.  Dr. Van Busum is developing  a STEM club for elementary school students, and is also working with a non-profit to integrate Artificial Intelligence into software used to help children in underdeveloped countries learn to read.  She strongly believes in the benefits of a liberal arts education, and truly enjoys engaging with students, so please feel free to reach out and say hello!