Thirteen members of Stetson’s faculty recently earned tenure and/or promotion. The new status for these faculty members will be effective this month with the start of the 2024-2025 academic year.

Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs Elizabeth Skomp, PhD, commented, “I am delighted to congratulate the Stetson faculty who have been tenured and promoted to associate professor or promoted to full professor. Attaining tenure and promotion is among the most significant milestones in academia. In pursuing the core elements of their faculty roles, these colleagues have demonstrated excellence as teachers, scholars, artists and creative practitioners, and university and community citizens.”

Chadley Ballantyne, DMA

Associate Professor of Music, Voice

In addition to teaching, bass-baritone Chadley Ballantyne has performed leading roles in productions such as Rinaldo, Madama Butterfly, Falstaff, Don Giovanni, Così Fan Tutte, Le Nozze di Figaro, Elijah, The Pirates of Penzance, Cendrillon, Il barbiere di Siviglia, Sweeney Todd, Street Scene, Gallantry, and The Father in Neely Bruce’s Hansel and Gretel. His most recent appearances include Opera Orlando’s productions of Le Nozze di Figaro, Lizbeth and All is Calm.

Ballantyne frequently presents nationally and internationally on the application of acoustic vocal pedagogy for both classical and contemporary vocal techniques. He has also presented his work at numerous notable conferences and workshops. 

Dena H. Hale, PhD

Associate Professor of Sales and Marketing

Dena Hale is a veteran of the U.S. Army and has more than 20 years of professional experience in marketing and sales within the services sector. She also provides sales training and sales development for small and midsized firms. Her research has been highlighted in sources such as Journal of Services Marketing, Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing and Journal of Business Research.

Hale earned three undergraduate degrees (BS degree in business administration, BS degree in marketing, and BA degree in foreign language and international trade), along with an MBA and Doctor of Philosophy in Business Administration (Marketing) from Southern Illinois University Carbondale.

Christopher D. Jimenez, PhD

Associate Professor of English

In addition to teaching, Chris Jimenez focuses on research that examines the discourse of catastrophe in 20th- and 21st-century global Anglophone literature, with interdisciplinary interests in ecocriticism, nuclear criticism, animal studies, biopolitics, and the sociology of literature. His secondary work in the digital humanities focuses on the computational features of writing systems and the relationship of those to the philosophy of language. 

Jimenez has published in Comparative Literature Studies, TextGenEd and The Pulter Project. He is working on a book project involving contemporary world literature and global disaster, as well as a self-verifying proof assistant that makes use of artificial intelligence and recursive glyph geometry.

Erik Johnson, PhD

Associate Professor of Communication and Media Studies

Erik Johnson teaches classes on the history and theory of rhetoric, traditions of rhetorical criticism, African rhetoric, and global communication and media. His research focuses on Ghana, examining African rhetoric, communication and media. Many of the classes he teaches incorporate his research. He also uses Intergroup Dialogue (IGD) to facilitate inclusive classroom dialogues across difference and address issues of social justice. 

Johnson is currently working on a book called “Ghana at Midnight: Rhetoric and the Invention of Freedom,” which explores political performance, crowd dynamics and social change in the country during the transition from colony to nation (1947-1966).

Erin Nickell, PhD

Associate Professor of Accounting

Erin Nickell is passionate about creating a learning environment that sparks and encourages curiosity, and she believes intellectual curiosity is essential to becoming the best possible version of ourselves. She teaches courses at the undergraduate and graduate levels, including auditing, financial accounting and fraud and forensic accounting. Since 2022, she has directed the Master of Accountancy program, and she provides one-on-one coaching for all MAcc students who are preparing to sit for the Certified Public Accountant licensure exam.

Nickell is a licensed CPA in the state of Virginia and a Certified Valuation Analyst, providing forensic accounting, valuation and litigation services to a variety of clients.

Yohann Ripert, PhD 

Associate Professor of French and Francophone Studies, Director of the University Honors Program

Yohann Ripert’s work bridges academia, diplomacy and the arts. He has published research on the intersections of culture and politics in journals such as African Studies Review and Small Axe. An expert on the African intellectual history and postcolonial state formation, he is the author of “Senghor for the Ages,” a forthcoming book of newly translated essays and speeches by Léopold Sédar Senghor. 

His commitment to cross-cultural understanding extends to his work as a former translator for the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues and his performances as a Juilliard-trained pianist in more than 30 countries. Throughout his career, Ripert has advocated for the transformative power of interdisciplinary collaboration and the vital role of arts and philosophy in addressing global challenges.

Kelly Smith, PhD

Associate Professor of Political Science

Kelly Smith’s areas of specialty include state politics and public policy. Her research focuses on American politics with a particular emphasis on the relationship among state legislative politics, bureaucratic politics and democratic governance. She has published her research in Publius: The Journal of Federalism, Perspectives on Politics, and State Politics & Policy Quarterly.

Before coming to Stetson, Smith was a postdoctoral research associate on the education standards research team at the Taubman Center for American Politics and Policy at Brown University. She received her doctorate and master’s degrees in political science from Brown University, and her bachelor’s degree from Providence College. 

Jason Evans, PhD

Professor of Environmental Science and Studies, Executive Director of the Institute for Water and Environmental Resilience

Jason Evans is an interdisciplinary systems and landscape ecologist who works in the fields of climate adaptation, habitat conservation, water quality and springs ecology. Most of his current research projects involve collaborations with local governments along the southeastern U.S. coast to develop vulnerability assessments and policy recommendations for floodplain management and sea-level rise adaptation. Evans has also conducted research on the environmental impacts of bioenergy systems and on the ecology, management, and restoration of Florida springs. 

In addition to his teaching, research and leadership responsibilities at Stetson, Evans serves as the co-editor-in-chief for the Journal of Environmental Management, one of the world’s most highly ranked publications within the fields of environmental engineering, planning and assessment.

Alan Green, PhD

Professor of Economics and Global Development Program Director

A development economist by training, Alan Green completed his doctorate in agricultural economics from Cornell University in 2009, focusing on the role of political institutions in economic growth. His work in economic development overlaps with his dedication to teaching, and he is currently working on a book about the history of capitalism that evolved from a team-taught class with a colleague in political science.

Green conducts research on pedagogy, with an emphasis on empirical analysis of pedagogical methods and technology. His recent work examines the impact of spacing and repetition of homework assignments on exam performance and the use of learning apps in introductory economics for in-class polling and simulations.

John A. Lychner, PhD

Professor of Music Education, Director of Music Education

In addition to teaching classes, John Lychner is a clinician and conductor, having conducted concerts in Florida, Michigan, Missouri, California and Mexico, as well as presenting clinics for ensembles in those and other states. Prior to Stetson, Lychner was a professor of Music at Western Michigan University for 22 years, where he conducted the University Concert Band and oversaw Instrumental Music Education.  

As a public school teacher, Lychner taught band at all levels, middle school choir and general music. He has served in a variety of leadership roles with the National Association for Music Education, and he has published in the Journal of Research in Music Education and several volumes of the series Teaching Music Through Performance in Band, among others.

Megan O’Neill, PhD

Professor of English, Executive Director for Liberal Learning and Quality Enhancement Program Director

Megan O’Neill’s professional life is about writing studies, rhetoric and composition, grammar and linguistics, teaching critical skills, writing program administration, assessment, and pedagogy, among other areas of focus. She arrived at Stetson in 1999 to teach writing and run the First Year English courses. 

O’Neill’s most significant publication is “Writing Assessment at Small Liberal Arts Colleges” (Parlor Press, 2024). The edited collection of articles showcases the rich and deep work being done at small private colleges in the field of writing assessment. Such work, which she describes as an “often invisible investment of time, expertise and care,” is now newly documented in the national data record.

Ben Tanner, PhD

Professor of Environmental Science and Studies

Ben Tanner’s education and background — beginning with an anthropology degree (Florida State University), then continuing into Quaternary and climate studies (University of Maine), and culminating in geology (University of Tennessee) — relate to how humans interact with the environment. He is a field-oriented environmental geoscientist and outdoor enthusiast who seeks to inspire the next generation to appreciate and preserve natural areas through hands-on study. 

Tanner uses the tools of geology to study wetlands and how they respond to climate and environmental change. He also uses wetland deposits to elucidate past climate changes, and he has involved undergraduate students in all aspects of his research, including journal-article publications with students.

John Tichenor, PhD

Professor of Management

John Tichenor teaches a wide variety of courses at Stetson, including business ethics, a first-year seminar on the power of traditions in organizational cultures, and a junior seminar on corporate social responsibility. Before coming to Stetson, he worked in applied social research settings for the East Carolina University School of Medicine, the State of Tennessee Department of Finance and Administration, the Vanderbilt University Institute for Public Policy Studies, and the Florida Office of Comprehensive Health Planning.

Tichenor has worn many Stetson hats over more than 20 years, teaching statistics courses and serving as director of institutional research and university registrar. He and his wife, Mercedes Tichenor, EdD, co-direct the Stetson in Innsbruck study abroad program each summer in Austria.

Special Reception, Aug. 16

A reception is planned on Friday, Aug. 16, 4-6 p.m., to honor promoted and tenured faculty, as well as faculty authors. The special gathering will be held on the first floor of the duPont-Ball Library. 

Refreshments will be served, including wine. There will be musical accompaniment to the evening, along with displays showing honorees’ favorite books. Remarks will be made at 5 p.m., but this is a drop-by event. Family members are also invited.