Huntington University appoints six new faculty members
FOR RELEASE: Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Huntington, Ind.- Huntington University has appointed six new faculty members for the fall. Kathy Buck has accepted the position of instructor of nursing. Buck began her nursing career at Ball Memorial Hospital in Muncie, Ind., where she worked in the orthopedics unit and the coronary intensive care unit. She then relocated to Tulsa, Okla., where she worked at the City of Faith hospital in the intensive care unit for three years. Upon returning to Indiana, she worked in a small rural hospital in Peru, Ind., and then in Fort Wayne in home health care, hospice and cardiac rehab. She has also worked in the cardiovascular intensive care unit at Lutheran Hospital. Buck holds an associate's degree from Anderson University and a bachelor's degree and a master's degree in nursing education from Indiana Wesleyan University.
Tanner Babb has accepted the position of instructor of
The Rev. Rick Leone will serve as the assistant professor of social work and director of social work. Leone has taught at Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne in the human services department and at Ivy Tech in the sociology department. He has also worked at SouthernCare Hospice providing pastoral care, social services and bereavement services for clients and families. He served at Crossroad Children's Home as the director of pastoral care and as an outpatient therapist for TriCity Mental Health Care in East Chicago, Ind., where he also served in the Intensive Outpatient Program. He also worked as an inpatient therapist for Charter Hospital in Hobart, Ind. Leone received his Bachelor and Master of Social Work degrees from Valparaiso University and Loyola University in Chicago, respectively. In addition, he holds a Master of Divinity degree from California's Anglican Theological Seminary. He pastors Our Glorious King Anglican Church in Huntington, Ind., and the Anglican Fellowship of Fort Wayne, Ind.
Dr. Melanie Ross has accepted the position of assistant professor of worship leadership. Ross comes to Huntington University having previously taught undergraduate courses in theology at the University of Notre Dame. Her articles have also appeared in Worship, Pro Ecclesia and Scottish Journal of Theology. Ross holds a doctorate in Liturgical Studies from the University of Notre Dame. She earned a Master of Arts in Religion degree at Yale Divinity School and Yale Institute of Sacred Music in 2004.
Dr. Laura Gerig has accepted the position of part-time instructor in psychology. Gerig will be teaching half-time in the psychology department. She has previously taught in the psychology departments at Taylor University-Upland and Taylor University Fort Wayne. She has also done psychological testing in schools and in private counseling settings. She holds a bachelor's degree in psychology from Taylor University and a master's degree and a PhD in school psychology from Ball State University. Her doctorate specialized in neuropsychology. Her areas of interest are child development and psychological assessment.
Phillip Hall has accepted the position of director of the digital media arts program and assistant professor of digital media arts. Hall brings a wealth of experience to the digital media arts, particularly in the area of animation. He earned a B.S. from the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale and a M.F.A. from the Miami International University of Art and Design. He realized his dream to animate on feature films when he was hired to work at Blue Sky Studios on "Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs." He then went on to work at Rhythm and Hues Studios on "Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel," and "Yogi Bear." He has also worked on next-gen games for the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 as a cinematics animator for Vicarious Visions (a subsidiary of Activision) on Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 as well as working as a facial animator at Image-Metrics, contracted by Rockstar Games for "Red Dead Redemption." Moreover, he has taught a variety of character animation classes as a full-time instructor at the Art Institute of California- San Diego. Professor Hall started his career as a 3D Generalist/ Character Animator at International Game Technology where he worked on various licensed games including "Indiana Jones," "Back to the Future," "Soul Train" and "The Addams Family." In 2008, he won the monthly character animation competition, the 11Secondclub.com, for the month of February.
