For Immediate Release

Sept. 18, 2009

Contact: Pam Joseph (419) 995-8284 or Lesley King Fry (419) 995-8671

Ohio State Lima welcomes new faculty to campus

New faculty members to be introduced at Opening Day meeting Sept. 22

Dr. Jacqueline Augustine, Assistant Professor, Biology

Jackie joins Ohio State Lima as our newest Assistant Professor of Evolution, Ecology and Organismal Biology, after previously serving on the faculty of Southwest Minnesota State University in Marshall, Minnesota.  Jackie’s undergraduate degrees are from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, where she earned a BA in Botany and a BS in Zoology. She studied offspring sex ratios in tree swallows at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, while earning an MS.  Jackie holds a PhD from Kansas State University, where her dissertation research, on the correlates of male mating success of the Greater Prairie-Chicken, was funded in part by a National Science Foundation grant.

Lilia Jmiai, Lecturer, French

Lilia Jmiai will teach French for Ohio State Lima, beginning Autumn Quarter 2009. Lilia joins Ohio State Lima’s faculty after completing her MA in French at Bowling Green State University. Her research interests are in Maghrebian literature and cultures, and in the analysis of identity in postcolonial Francophone literature. Lilia is fluent in four languages, including Arabic, French, English, and Italian.

Brian Keegan, Lecturer, Theatre

Brian Keegan joins Ohio State Lima as a Lecturer in the Theatre Department for the 2009-2010 academic year, teaching introductory Theatre classes and serving as writer and director for The Reluctant Banshee, this year’s version of the popular Theatre for Young Audiences series. Brian has worked as an actor, director, technical director, production manager, and set and lighting designer for community, academic and professional theatres since the mid-1970s. He holds a BA in Theatre and Speech Communications from Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia, and a MA in Theatre Arts from Bowling Green State University.

Dr. Nicoleta Roman, Assistant Professor, Computer Science and Engineering

Nicoleta Roman begins a tenure-track position as Assistant Professor of Computer Science and Engineering this fall, after serving the last four years on the Lima campus as a Visiting Assistant Professor. Nicoleta earned her BS and MS degrees in Computer Science from the University of Bucharest, and her PhD in Computer Science and Engineering from The Ohio State University in 2005.  Her broad research interest is in Artificial Intelligence and it includes computational auditory scene analysis, binaural processing, and machine learning.  Specifically, she designs methods and algorithms for speech enhancement which can be used in automatic speech recognition systems and hearing aids.

Doug Sutton-Ramspeck, Assistant Professor, English

Doug Sutton-Ramspeck begins service as an Assistant Professor of English this fall, with an emphasis on Creative Writing. His undergraduate degree is from Kenyon College and he earned an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of California at Irvine. Doug’s poetry collection, Black Tupelo Country, was published in 2008 after receiving the 2007 John Ciardi Prize, and his chapbook, Where We Come From, was also published in 2008. All told, several hundred of his poems have been published in various journals and magazines. In 2009 he received an Individual Excellence Award in Poetry from the Ohio Arts Council. Doug has been teaching creative writing at Ohio State Lima since 1999, and he began directing the Writing Center here in 2001.

Dr. Virginia Tompkins, Visiting Assistant Professor, Psychology

Virginia joins Ohio State Lima as a Visiting Assistant Professor of Psychology, with a focus on Developmental Psychology. She holds a BS and an MS in Psychology from the University of Florida, and as of June 2009 completed her PhD in Developmental Psychology from Florida as well. Virginia’s research focuses on cognitive development during the preschool years. Specifically, she has conducted research examining the role that language plays in theory of mind development, which is the understanding that people have thoughts, desires, and beliefs that may differ from our own or that differ from reality. She has also examined the role of mother-child interactions in promoting children’s narrative and literacy development. She has worked with a variety of populations, including language impaired children and the children of low-income families.  The overarching aim of her research has been to identify the cognitive skills that promote preschool children’s optimal success upon entering formal schooling.

Dr. Curtis Young, Lecturer, Biology

Curtis Young will be serving as a lecturer in the Department of Evolution, Ecology and Organismal Biology this year, in addition to his continuing duties with the OSU Extension. Curtis earned his BS in Biology from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania, and then graduated from The Ohio State University with two degrees, an MS and a PhD, both in Entomology. After graduation, Curtis taught at Ohio Northern University, and then joined OSU Extension in 1992, working initially with the Ohio Cooperative Extension Service as an Integrated Pest Management specialist. In 2003, Curtis transferred to the Allen County Extension Office in Lima to become the Agriculture, Natural Resource, and Community Development Extension Educator. Throughout his time at OSU Extension Curtis has continued to publish extensively and to present papers at national conferences on entomological topics.

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Editors’ Note: Photos attached