Faculty and Staff
Olufunke Fontenot
Interim Chair Government & Sociology
Associate Dean, College of Arts and Sciences
Professor of Criminal Justice
CBX 018
478-445-4925
Olufunke A. Fontenot serves as Interim Chair for the Department of Government & Sociology. She is a Professor of Criminal Justice and Associate Dean of the College of Arts & Sciences. She has an LL.B. from the University of Ife, Ile Ife, Nigeria, an M.Litt. from Cambridge University, and an LL.M. from Yale Law School. Fontenot serves on the University System of Georgia African Council. She has led faculty development seminars to Nigeria and Cameroon, and student study abroad programs in Senegal and China. She also participated in a two-week educational program to India under the auspices of the United States-Indian Educational Foundation, one of ten US higher education administrators selected for the program. Fontenot is a 2007 graduate of the Bryn Mawr HERS Institute for women in higher education, and a member of 2008 class of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities' Millennium Leadership Institute.
Kim Knight
Department Administrative Assistant
2-03 A&S
CBX 018
478-445-4562
Michele Williams
Master of Public Administration Program Assistant
2-03 A&S
CBX 018
478-445-4562
Michele Williams serves as the assistant to the coordinator for the Master of Public Administration Program. She also provides support services to the Department of Government & Sociology, which includes maintaining content for the Department's web pages. She holds a B.A. in Psychology from California State University, Sacramento. Prior to her tenure at Georgia College, Michele spent 18 years working for California's Employment Development Department (EDD). While there, she held a variety of positions including data processing technician, telecommunications analyst, and labor market research analyst. In her role as research analyst, she assisted in a study on California's Partial Permanent Disability Study conducted by the Rand's Institute for Civil Justice .
Michele is an avid runner and enjoys reading classics on her Kindle.
Jeffrey Blick
Vitae
http://www.gcsu-anthro-club.org
http://www.nogunsoncampus.org
3-52 A&S
CBX 018
478-445-4448
Jeffrey P. Blick is Professor of Anthropology and Interdisciplinary Studies, and Coordinator of the Anthropology Program, at Georgia College & State University, Milledgeville, Georgia, USA. Professor Blick holds a BS from Virginia Commonwealth University (Sociology & Anthropology), a MS from the University of Alabama (Geography), and MA and PhD degrees from the University of Pittsburgh (Anthropology/Archaeology). An experienced scholar in the archaeology of Latin America, especially the Circum-Caribbean/Intermediate Area, Professor Blick has written numerous reports, scientific articles and chapters in journals and books published on several continents. He has presented scientific papers at scores of regional, national, and international conferences on topics ranging from anthropology and archaeology to genocide and human rights abuses, and has given invited lectures at colleges and universities around the United States. He is currently performing archaeological research on the island of San Salvador in the Bahamas, the island of Columbus’s 1492 landfall, and has been awarded grants from agencies such as the National Science Foundation, the H. John Heinz III Charitable Trust, the Tinker Foundation, and the Council on Undergraduate Research. In his thirteen years at Georgia College, Professor Blick has created more than a dozen new anthropology and interdisciplinary studies courses, created a Latin American and Caribbean Studies Program, and created a new Anthropology Minor Program. His latest publication, “The Prehistoric Settlement Pattern of San Salvador, Bahamas,” will appear in the Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology in Fall 2011.
Victoria Brown
Vitae
2-04 A&S
CBX 018
478-445-0939
Mrs. Victoria Brown, a native of Georgia, joined the Georgia College staff in January of 2009. She earned her M.A. in Sociology from the University of Memphis. Mrs. Brown is interested in pursing a Ph.D. in a program where she can combine her interest in auto ethnographies and social inequalities. She currently teaches courses in family and marriage.
Ruth Carter
2-10 A&S
CBX 018
478-445-0946
Roger Coate
2-29 A&S
CBX 018
478-445-7396
Dr. Roger Coate is the Paul D. Coverdell Professor of Public Policy at Georgia College and Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Political Science and former Director of the Richard L. Walker Institute of International Studies at the University of South Carolina. He joined the Faculty at GC in January 2009 after having taught at USC since 1981 and before that at Arizona State University for four years. He received his Ph.D. from Ohio State University and holds an M.A. from Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies.
Professor Coate's research and teaching interests focus on Public policy related to multilateral relations, international organization and global governance. His specific areas of expertise and research interests include: leadership and the role of emerging powers in the UN system, international organization reform, international administration and development, the role of civil society in global governance, nonprofit management, public-private partnerships, and U.S. multilateral foreign policy. He is author or co-author of more than a dozen books and monographs, including: Identity Politics in an Age of Globalization; United Nations Politics: Responding to a challenging World; The United Nations and Changing World Politics; International Cooperation in Response to AIDS; United States Policy and the Future of the United Nations; and Unilateralism, Ideology and United States Foreign Policy: The U.S. In and Out of UNESCO.
Coate currently serves as Vice Chair and Member of the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors of the Academic Council on the United Nations System (ACUNS), where he chairs the Subcommittee on Governance. He also chairs the Governance Committee for the Board of Directors of American for UNESCO. He recently completed his tenure as the Chair of the International Organization Section of the International Studies Association (ISA) and member of the Executive Committee of the Governing Council of ISA, and has been President of the ISA South Region. From 1998 to 2006, he directed a large-scale transnational research and professional development program, the "Creating effective Partnerships for Human Security Project," in partnership with the United Nations University, the Executive Office of the UN Secretary-General, the Academic Council on the United Nations System, the Central European University, and other partners.
among his other activities, Coate has served as: member of U.S. National Academy of Science's Board of International Scientific Organizations; member of the UN Secretary-General's Advisory Panel on Housing Rights; United Nations Fellow at the Un Centre for Human Rights; staff consultant to the U.S. Secretary of State's Monitoring Panel on UNESCO; member of the U.S. Delegation to the 31st UNESCO General Conference in Paris; and advisor to the Bureau of International Organization Affairs, U.S. Department of State.
Coate has been recipient of numerous award and honors, including: the 2009 Ladd Hollist Award for Outstanding Service to the International Studies Association; The Medal of Honor with Cravat from the Veterans Affairs Commission of the Republic of China in 2003; "Best New Journal in the United States in 1996 in Business, the Social Sciences, and the Humanities" from the Association of American Publishers for his work as founding editor of Global Governance: A review of Multilateralism and International Organizations; National President of Sigma Iota Rho, The Internations Studies Honor Society; The Charles Knowlton Law and Humanities/Social Sciences Research Award; Mortar Board's Excellence in Teaching Award; the NADA Ambassador of Global Learning Award; and the College of Liberal Arts Dean's Teaching Circle.
Carrie Cook
Vitae
2-11 A&S
CBX 018
478-445-0941
Carrie L. Cook is an Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice in the Department of Government and Sociology. Dr. Cook earned her Ph.D. in Criminology, Law and Society from the University of Florida. Her research interests include corrections, sentencing policy, victimization, and program evaluation. Her dissertation examined the issue of inmate sexual assault in jails. Her research has appeared in Journal of Criminal Justice, Journal of Interpersonal Violence, Crime & Delinquency, and Violence and Victims. She enjoys spending time outdoors, camping with her husband, gardening, baking, and walking her two dogs.
Sara Doude
Vitae
2-21 A&S
CBX 018
478-445-4257
Dr. Doude is a native of Middle Tennessee and pursued her graduate degrees in Criminal Justice at the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg. She is an associate professor of Criminal Justice and is the coordinator for the undergraduate and graduate programs in Criminal Justice. Dr. Doude teaches Criminology, Corrections, and various courses with radical criminology as a basis (Women and Crime, Racial Biases in the Criminal Justice System), in addition to Family Violence, Victimology, and Drugs and the Criminal Justice System. Her research interests include sexual victimization on college campuses and ways in which race and class impact the various stages of the criminal justice system. In her spare time, Dr. Doude enjoys creative endeavors such as painting and crafting, going on adventures with her two miniature dachshunds, attempting to master the bass guitar and enjoying the music of her partner's one man band.
Hank Edmondson
Vitae
http://hercules.gcsu.edu/~hedmonds
2-06 A&S
CBX 018
478-445-0943
Hank Edmondson has taught at Georgia College since 1988. His orientation is that of political philosophy and accordingly he teaches several courses in that field.
In addition, he has a special interest in politics and literature, an interest that gives rise, for example, to courses combining politics on the hone hand and Shakespeare and J.R.R. Tolkien on the other.
In the Georgia College MPA graduate program, Edmondson regularly teaches Public Ethics, Administrative Law for the Public Manager, and Leadership.
In 2003, he was named Georgia College "Distinguished Professor" for excellence in teaching, research and service to the university; and in 2008 he was inducted into the Honor society for contributions to the Georgia College Honors and Scholars Program.
Edmondson is widely published in politics and literature, ethics and education reform, and he has lectured not only at various universities in the U.S., but also, for example, at Oxford University, the University of Edinburgh, the University of Glasgow, the University of Aberdeen, various literary festivals in Ireland, and at the University of Madrid.
Steve Elliott-Gower
Vitae
214 Lanier Hall
CBX 029
478-445-1467
Dr. Steven Elliott-Gower is associate professor of political science, director of the Honors Program, and interim director of the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning. He is faculty advisor to the Model United Nations Club, the Honors Residential Learning Community, and Eta Sigma Alpha, and teaches international relations and global issues. Dr. Elliott-Gower is a Seven Revolutions Scholar (part of the national consortium of scholars designing instructional materials for the study of global issues.) He is also the author and editor of numerous books, articles, and book chapters on weapons proliferation and related issues.
Gerald Fisher
Vitae
2-17 A&S
CBX 018
478-445-0940
My name is Gerald Fisher and I am an associate professor in the criminal justice section of the Department of Government and Sociology. Let me tell you a little about myself. I became interested in criminal justice on a fluke. A friend of mine got a job with the Border Patrol. He really seemed to enjoy his work, so I decided that I would look into federal law enforcement positions. I was hired by the U.S. Marshal's in 1978. While working as a deputy, I was assigned to seven different districts. I had many unique experiences, some good, and some bad. I would not change anything. When I was in the Eastern District of California (Sacramento), I obtained an M.S. degree in criminal justice at California State University, Sacramento. My last duty assignment was in Montgomery, Alabama. I served as chief deputy for over two years there. The rest of my time in Montgomery, I was appointed by U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno to serve as interim U.S. Marshal. I retired as the chief deputy of the Middle District of Alabama in 1995.
After I retired, I started teaching. I have been teaching full time since 1995. While teaching, I went to the University of Alabama to get a doctorate in public administration. I graduated from UA in 2002.
I enjoy teaching, and for the most part, I believe my students enjoy my "war stories." I enjoy using my stories to illustrate concepts in criminal justice. I do have other interests, they include: traveling, helping my wife with her horses, camping, horseback riding, please target shooting (especially with my "cowboy type" guns), doing tractor work and other chores around our place.
Sandra Godwin
2-12 A&S
CBX 018
478-445-1900
Jennifer Hammack
2-19 A&S
CBX 018
478-445-2019
Jerry Herbel
Vitae
2-02 A&S
CBX 018
478-445-7394
Dr. Herbel received a B.S. (1983) in Public Affairs from Emporia State University in Emporia, Kansas, an M.P.A. (1989) and Ph.D. (2001) in Political Science from the University of Oklahoma. His teaching and research interested include ancient and contemporary political though, administrative ethics and political themes in Greek tragedy and the plays of Shakespeare. He retired from the Air Force Reserve as a Lt. Col. (2010) after 25 years service in the U.S., Japan and the Middle East.
Gregg Kaufman
Vitae
120 Beesen Hall
478-445-1711
Gregg Kaufman (Wilfred Laurier University, B.A. Political Science '71, Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary, M. Div. '5 and Princeton Theological Seminary, Th. M. '98) serves as an instructor in the Georgia College Department of Government and Sociology and coordinates the Georgia College American Democracy Project. Kaufman served as pastor to four Evangelical Lutheran Church in America congregations in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Georgia for 30 years prior to his university tenure. He participated in a Kettering Foundation research project dedicated to creating centers for public life. Most recently, Kaufman and his colleagues established the Public Voice Partnership, a members to become facilitators and consults with community organizations to plan, convene, and implement public forums. Kaufman's teaching interests include the relationship between religion and politics, citizen engagement in democracy, public deliberation, and nonprofit management. His courses enable students to engage citizens and public school students as they apply their scholarship in community-based settings.
Bradley Koch
Vitae
2-14 A&S
CBX 018
478-445-0937
Brad joined the faculty of Georgia College in August 2009. He earned his Ph.D. in Sociology at Indiana University. Brad regularly teaches Sociological Perspectives, Research Methods, and the Senior Seminar and is currently the co-director of the study abroad program based in Athens, Greece. His research interests include religion, sexuality, higher education, and teaching and learning. In his free time, Brad enjoys making music and riding his road bike around rural Georgia.
Brandy Kennedy
Vitae
2-20 A&S
CBX 018
478-445-7384
Dr. Kennedy is an Assistant Professor of Political Science and Public Administration in the Department of Government and Sociology. Her research and teaching interests include representation, political behavior, and bureaucratic role perception. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Oklahoma in 2009. Her dissertation, "Representative Bureaucracy: an Exploratory analysis Using Role Perception" uses q-sort methodology to explore bureaucratic role perceptions. Before coming to Georgia College, she worked as a Research Associate at the Burruss Institute of Public Service and Research.
Jan Mabie
2-27 A&S
CBX 018
478-445-0945
Jan Maibie is Professor of Political Science and Public Administration. He received his AB Degree in Political Science with Distinction from the University of Rochester. He received the MA and PHD degrees from Washington University in St. Lois. Professor Mabie came to Georgia College in 1973 after serving as an officer in the United States Air Force. His areas of teaching and research focus upon quantitative methods in public administration, public policy and American governmental institutions and processes. He is the coordinator of the University's Master of Public Administration program.
Sunita Manian
Vitae
316 Terrell Hall
CBX 118
478-445-5221
Dr. Sunita Manian currently is a Professor of Political Economy and Coordinator of the Interdisciplinary Studies Program at Georgia College. She came to GC from Wesleyan College where, in addition to being on the economics faculty, she was also the Director of Women's Studies. Her research focuses on gender, economic development and social justice, leading to publications on a diverse array of topics including Sexual Minorities and the HIV Epidemic in India; Sex-trafficking in North Africa; and Post-colonial Diasporic Dislocations. She is currently working on a book on HIV in India.
Kathleen Martin
2-09 A&S
CBX 018
478-445-0969
Mrs. Martin, a native of Georgia, joined the faculty at GC in 1996. During her time at GC, she has been assistant director for the department's Study Abroad program to England and Spain, co-coordinator for STEP (Standards Based Teacher Education Project), midterm course evaluator of CETL (Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning), and participant in the iPodders Faculty Learning Community. Currently, she is the coordinator for the Political Science Program, co-advisor for Pi Sigma Alpha, the national Political Science Honors Society, and Deputy Registrar for GC voter registrations. She earned her MPA from GC in 1994 and is ABD for her doctorate in Political Science from Georgia State University where she studied American Government, Electoral Behavior, and Public Policy and Administration.
Stephanie McClure
Vitae
2-08 A&S
CBX 018
478-445-1211
Dr. McClure joined the GC faculty in 2005, and she is currently an Associate Professor of Sociology and Coordinator of the Sociology Program. She earned her Masters and Ph.D. in Sociology with a focus on social stratification and inequality from the the University of Georgia. She has a Bachelor of Journalism (Broadcast) from the University of Missouri. She was a participant in a USG faculty development seminar to Spain and Morocco in 2008 and an instructor on the USG European Council Study Abroad Program to Waterford, Ireland in 2009. Her research interests are in the area of higher education, with a focus on college student persistence and retention across race, class and gender, with a special emphasis on post-college student experiences that increase student social and academic integration, success, and satisfaction. She has published in sociology, higher education, and African American Studies.
Lana McDowell
Vitae
2-13 A&S
CBX 018
478-445-0942
Professor McDowell is an Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice. Her teaching and research interests include restorative justice, peacemaking criminology, ethical issues in criminal justice, criminal justice human relations, corrections, media influences within criminal justice and criminal justice experiential learning. Two of Professor McDowell's recent publications include Restorative Justice and the Peacemaking Ethics located in Justice, Crime, and Ethics (2008) and Varieties in Restorative Justice: Therapeutic approaches in Corrections and Offender Treatment (2009) which can be found in Transforming Corrections: Humanistic Approaches to Corrections and Offender Treatment. Professor McDowell received a Master of Arts degree in criminal justice and criminology from East Tennessee State University as well as a Bachelor of Science degree in political science, criminal justice and criminology. She is currently working toward a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Administration of Justice at the University of Southern Mississippi.
Jason Rich
Vitae
2-24 A&S
CBX 018
478-445-0945
Dr. Rich is originally from Vernon, Connecticut. He attended Lenoir-Rhyne College, where he received his B.A. in Political Science. After which he attended the University of Connecticut for both his M.A. and Ph.D. in Political Science with a concentration in International Relations and Comparative Politics. He came to Georgia College in the Fall of 2009. Dr. Rich teaches both lower and upper level courses in international politics and comparative politics. He is also the co-advisor to the local chapter of Pi Sigma Alpha (honors society in political science) and is the Faculty Associate to the GC baseball team. His research interests include international security and foreign policy, with particular attention paid to the concepts of balancing behavior as well as coercion. In his spare time, Dr. Rich enjoys traveling spending time with his family and friends, and playing golf.
Claire Sanders
2-18 A&S
CBX 018
478-445-5328
Claire Sanders is a Lecturer of Political Science and Public Administration and the Course Redesign Coordinator for the Department of Sociology. Ms. Sanders joined the faculty in 2007 and teaches or has taught Politics and Society, Election Law and Administration, Introduction to the Law, and the department's First Year Academic Seminar. In 2010, she became the coordinator of the department's course redesigning pilot program and designed the introductory American government course, Politics and Society, to be taught in a hybrid format. As part of the program, Ms. Sanders implemented the hybrid model and compared student learned outcomes and student satisfaction across hybrid and traditional modes of instruction. Prior to teaching at GC, Ms. Sanders worked over five years as an election administrator and court clerk for local government. She earned a Master of Public Administration degree from Geogia College in 2007 and earned a B.S., magna cum alude, in Political Science from Georgia College in 2005.
Charles Ubah
Vitae
2-23 A&S
CBX 018
478-445-7392
Dr. Ubah is a Professor of Criminal Justice. He has a highly interdisciplinary academic background and a diverse life and administrative experience. He holds a Ph.D. in Criminology and Sociology in the joint program of the Departments of Sociology and Criminology & Criminal Justice at Southern Illinois University Carbondale.
He places a balanced emphasis on teaching, research and service. His teaching and research interests include penology and corrections, delinquency and juvenile justice policy and program studies, deviance and social control, organized crime, transnational crimes, social problems urban sociology and criminology, and sociological/criminological theories. While some of his manuscripts have been published in a variety of peer-reviewed criminology and criminal justice outlets, he continued to prepare more, for publication. Dr. Ubah serves on the University System of Georgia Africa Council. He developed the first ever Africa Council Study Abroad Program in Nigeria for which he serves as Director. He also serves as Treasurer of the Council. He has developed student and faculty exchange program between Georgia College and Imo State University, Nigeria. He had served as National Treasurer of African Criminology and Justice Association.
Clif Wilkinson
2-22 A&S
CBX 018
478-445-0958
Veronica Womack
2-25 A&S
CBX 018
478-445-0958
