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August 20, 2008
Bryant promotes seven faculty members
Each are recognized for their expertise, teaching, and research.
The Bryant community congratulates the following faculty members on their promotions:
College of Arts and Sciences
Associate Professor of Communication Kristen Berkos
Kristen Berkos began teaching at Bryant in 2002. In 2003, she earned a Doctor of Philosophy with a major in communication studies and an area of focus in interpersonal communication from Louisiana State University.
Earlier this year, an article Berkos wrote, “The Role of Imagined Interaction in Computer Mediated Communication,” and one she coauthored, “Imagined Interaction Conflict Linkage Theory: Examining Accounts of Recurring Imagined Interaction,” were published in Imagining Interactions.
She is currently a member of the National Communication Association, International Communication Association, and Eastern Communication Association, and serves as advisor to the Bryant Communication Society and the University’s chapter of Lambda Pi Eta, a national communication honor society. She is also chair of the Arts and Sciences Assessment Committee and is a member of the New England Association of Schools and Colleges reaccreditation team.
Berkos, who won Bryant’s Merit Award for Teaching Excellence in 2004, was impressed with Bryant right from the beginning.
“When I got to campus, I fell in love,” she recalls. “Everyone was so nice. I instantly connected with my colleagues, and I remember sensing that Bryant was a real community. I liked how everyone knew each other and genuinely seemed happy to be coming to work. Six years later, I’m one of those people.”
Associate Professor of History and Social Sciences John Dietrich
After starting at Bryant as an adjunct professor in 1997, John Dietrich became a full-time faculty member in 2001. He is the coordinator of Bryant’s political science and global studies programs. He also helped develop majors in politics and law, as well as global studies.
Dietrich, who earned a Ph.D. in political science from Johns Hopkins University in 1998, was editor of The George W. Bush Foreign Policy Reader: Presidential Speeches with Commentary, which was published in 2005.
Last year, he was a member of “Standards for Civics Knowledge,” a statewide committee of the Rhode Island Department of Education. On campus, he has coordinated Bryant’s involvement with the National Guantanamo Teach-In and helped facilitate visits by Ambassador Stephen Minikes, former Brazil President Fernando Henrique Cardoso, and Francis Bok, who spoke about overcoming slavery in Sudan.
For Dietrich, the best part of teaching is clarifying a concept and seeing the light suddenly click on for a student.
“When I see students explain what they've learned to someone else, or take the knowledge and build on it, I know I played a real role in their learning,” he says.
Associate Professor of Applied Psychology Joseph Trunzo
Joseph Trunzo, a licensed clinical psychologist, came to Bryant in 2002 after finishing his postdoctoral fellowship at the Centers for Behavioral and Preventive Medicine at Miriam Hospital and Brown Medical School. He also maintains a private practice in Providence.
His research focuses on health psychology, which examines the psychological factors related to the prevention, treatment, and survivorship of various medical conditions. Much of his work has concentrated on cancer and more specifically, on how physical activity affects quality of life in breast cancer survivors. He also has conducted studies to examine health behaviors in college students with a focus on substance abuse.
More recently, Trunzo’s work has looked at the psychological impact of chronic Lyme disease. He will present a research proposal at the national meeting of the International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society in San Francisco this October.
Trunzo’s favorite part of teaching is bringing his experience in the field into the classroom.
“What I love best is being in the classroom, getting students excited about psychology, supervising their research projects, and advising Bryant’s applied psychology majors,” he says.
College of Business
Professor of Finance Peter Nigro
Peter Nigro started teaching at Bryant in 2003. He had previously served in a variety of positions during his 11-year career in the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, advancing to senior financial economist in the policy analysis division.
Last year, he was one of 20 professors selected nationally as a BusinessWeek favorite professor. Two articles he coauthored, “Borrower-Lender Distance, Credit Scoring and the Performance of Small Business Loans” and “Commercial Lending Distance and Historically Underserved Areas,” were published earlier this year in the Journal of Financial Intermediation and the Journal of Economics and Business, respectively.
Nigro is a member of the Financial Management Association, American Finance Association, Eastern Finance Association, and American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association.
He is a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Entrepreneurial Finance and Business Ventures and was awarded the Bryant University Research Award in 2006.
Nigro likes to use current events and periodicals such as the Wall Street Journal to help students understand concepts and prepares them to excel after graduation.
“One of the best parts of teaching is hearing from former students how you helped them on their career path,” says Nigro. “It is great to have a profession where you can make such a difference in so many students’ lives.”
Associate Professor of Management John Visich
John Visich came to Bryant in 2002 from the University of Houston, where he was a teaching fellow for five years and earned a Ph.D. in operations management.
He is a member of the Association for Operations Management, the Decision Sciences Institute, and the Production and Operations Management Society. He has also overseen internships and directed studies for students at a variety of companies including CVS, TJX Companies, Raytheon, Sherwin Williams, Target, and Procter & Gamble.
Visich’s research expertise is radio-frequency identification (RFID). He will copresent “Empirical Evidence of RFID Impacts on Supply Chain Performance” and “A Framework for Inventory Management in Supply Network” at the 39th Annual Meeting of the Decision Sciences Institute in November.
He is an ad-hoc reviewer for various scholarly publications including the Journal of Managerial Issues, Journal of Operations Management, and International Journal of Manufacturing Technology and Management.
On campus, Visich is a member of the Bryant Master of Business Administration Goal Assessment Team, the Faculty Honors Council, and the Bachelor of Science in International Business Internal Advisory Committee.
Associate Professor of Management Angela Wicks
Wicks began at Bryant in 2002 after teaching at the University of Houston and the University of St. Thomas in Houston, TX. She earned a Ph.D. in business administration at the University of Houston.
Wicks is one of only two national examiners in Rhode Island for the Malcolm Baldrige Quality Award Program. She is also a member of the board of directors for the Rhode Island Center for Performance Excellence.
Her research focuses on health care, quality, and service operations. Articles she coauthored, “Competing Values in Health Care: Balancing the (Un)Balanced Scorecard” and “Measuring the Three-Process Segments Measurement of a Customer’s Service Experience for an Outpatient Surgery Center,” are slated for publication in Health Care Management and the International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance, respectively.
When she was researching teaching positions, Wicks, who teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in operations management, project management, and quality, says a strong campus community was a requirement.
“I wanted to teach in the type of environment where everyone wants the student to succeed,” she says. “Bryant fit my criteria, and I still feel that way today.”
Associate Professor of Computer Information Systems Chen Zhang
Chen Zhang came to Bryant in 2002 after serving as a teaching and research assistant at the University of Alabama, where he earned a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in computer science in 2000 and 2002, respectively. He received a Bachelor of Science in modern applied physics at Tsinghua University in Beijing, China.
A book chapter he coauthored, “An Analysis of Online Privacy Policy of Fortune 100 Companies,” will be published in September in Online Consumer Protection: Theories of Human Relativism. Last October, he copresented “Java ME Game Applications Development for IT Curriculum” at the World Conference on E-Learning in Corporate, Government, Health Care, and Higher Education, which was held in Quebec City, Canada.
He is a reviewer for the Journal of International Technology and Information Management and the International Journal of Computers and Applications.
In his six years at Bryant, Zhang has had the opportunity to become part of a close-knit learning community.
“In my trajectory of becoming an educator and a scholar, Bryant has provided me opportunities, freedom of development, support, mentoring, and recognition,” says Zhang. “My sincere appreciation goes to this community, along with my continuing efforts to contribute to the same community I love.”
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