RSU Announces New Faculty Members for Fall Semester

Several new professors have joined the faculty of Rogers State University, in addition to the new faculty members that were announced earlier this summer.

This fall, RSU has added a total of 11 new full-time faculty members, most of whom hold doctoral degrees or the highest degrees available in their fields. Appointments of the new faculty members recently were approved by the University of Oklahoma Board of Regents, the governing board for RSU.

More than 70 percent of RSU faculty members have earned terminal degrees, a statistic that is among the highest of all regional universities in Oklahoma.

New faculty members at RSU include Susan J. Chinburg, Dr. Francis Grabowski, Mike Miller and Denny Schmickle.

Chinburg is an instructor in the RSU School of Business and Technology. Presently, she is working toward a doctoral degree in management information systems through Oklahoma State University, with completion anticipated in December 2006. She has a master’s degree in geology from San Jose State University and a bachelor’s degree in science and mathematics from Mankato State University in Minnesota. Previously, she served as a teaching and research associate in the Department of Management Science and Information Sciences at OSU in Stillwater. She also has worked as an engineer for research and development, network architecture, at Williams Communications Group in Tulsa. In addition, she served as systems analyst and research geologist at Conoco Inc. in Ponca City, Okla., Houston, and Lafayette and New Orleans, La. She also was a research scientist, focusing on Mississippi River Delta deposition at the Coastal Studies Institute at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. She has written a variety of articles in professional journals and given conference presentations on topics such as computer network design and security. At RSU, she teaches upper-division classes in management information systems, telecommunications, marketing, and statistics.

Grabowski is an assistant professor of philosophy at RSU. He is located in the Department of Communication and Fine Arts at the RSU School of Liberal Arts. His areas of specialization include ancient philosophy, with a focus on Plato and the Presocratics. He also has expertise in the history of philosophy, with a special interest in medieval and contemporary analytic philosophies, as well as political philosophy, philosophy of religion, metaphysics, general and applied ethics, symbolic logic and critical thinking. He previously served on the faculties of Albion College, Wayne State University, Lawrence Technological University, Schoolcraft College and Oakland University, all located in Michigan. He is the author of several articles in national scholarly journals. He received a doctoral degree and master’s degree in philosophy from Wayne State University and a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from the University of Michigan.n.

Miller will serve as an emergency medical services instructor at RSU. He is a nationally certified paramedic and professional medical flight crew member who has worked for Tulsa Life Flight and as a paramedic in Boulder and Fort Collins, Colo., and in Billings, Mont. He has earned a variety of emergency medical services certificates and has received extensive training. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Oklahoma State University and was trained as a paramedic while serving in the U.S. Army National Guard.

Denny Schmickle is an artist and graphic designer who specializes in hand-printed silkscreen concert posters, gallery installations, and artwork that investigates how the two practices interact. He will teach classes in support of RSU’s associate’s degree in art and the multidisciplinary bachelor’s degree in game development. He received a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and a bachelor’s degree from College of the Ozarks in Point Lookout, Mo.

For more information about RSU programs, call (918) 343-7546 or 1-800-256-7511.