Skills That Adapt. Careers That Last.

Grants:
RVCC Foundation. Community Fund Grant. Speaker: Jean Twenge, “The Effects of Technology on Student Mental Health and Learning Experiences.” Nov. 2025.

Research and Other Interests:
My current research focuses on the phenomenology of aesthetic experience, mostly in the context of music. I co-run an organization called the Public Philosophy Project, dedicated to spreading philosophical discourse beyond academia.

Academic degrees achieved:

• M.A., Philosophy, Duquesne University
• B.A., Philosophy, Montclair State University

Awards & grants:
Excellence in Teaching Award, The Catholic University of America, History Department, 2017—2018. Faculty Success Champion (voted by students), Raritan Valley Community College, Fall 2025.

Area of Expertise:
History of the Late Antique, Medieval, and Early Modern Mediterranean, focusing on women, gender, the family, religion, and society. Michaela’s current research evaluates “parent-saints” who lived within Latin Christendom.

Academic Degrees Achieved:

• Ph.D., History, The Catholic University of America
• M.A., History, The Catholic University of America
• B.S., History, Corban University

Research Interests
My main research seeks to explore children’s representations, how children understand or conceptualize some of the biological phenomena surrounding them. Most of my work has focused on exploring the input of different contexts on children’s conceptualizations of life and death.

Area of Expertise
Developmental Psychology, Developmental Cultural Psychology, Social Cognition, Emotion and Cognition, Mixed Methods, Qualitative Research Methods

Academic Degrees Achieved:

• Post-Doctoral Fellowship (Cognitive Development), Northwestern University
• Ph.D. (Developmental Psychology), University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
• B.A., Psychology, University of Michigan

Voices of poverty: A content analysis 2011-2012 (2013) “Preparing paraprofessionals empowering youth,” a 3 year grant funded by the US Department of Health and Human Services.

Area of Expertise
Qualitative research examining quality of life among deinstitutionalized adults with IDD; advocacy work with children and families seeking inclusive education and self-directed support services; addressing basic needs insecurity on college campuses.

Academic Degrees Achieved:

• Ph.D., M.S.W., Rutgers University
• B.A. Social Work, Elizabethtown College

Timothy has taught in the Department of Philosophy at John Jay College and Baruch Colleges of CUNY. Timothy’s interests include Ethics, Technology, Philosophy of Education and Philosophy of Comedy. Timothy lives with his wife and son and an orange Tabby named Applejack.

Academic Degrees Achieved:

• Ph.D., Columbia University
• M.Phil., Columbia University

“I teach courses in U.S., African American, and Modern Latin American history and am completing a book entitled “Haitian Refugees and the Rebirth of Immigrant Detention in the United States, 1973 to 2000.”

Area of Expertise

• Twentieth Century U.S. and Latin America, Immigration, Race and Ethnicity

Academic Degrees Achieved:

• Ph.D., M.Phil., City University of New York
• M.A., Northern Illinois University
• B.A., University of Iowa

Doctorate of Educational Leadership, ABD, Fischler School of Education, Nova Southeastern University; Qualitative research study examining early readers and the implementation of intervention programs; Qualitative research study measuring student’s perceptions of themselves as readers in the beginning and mid-year of first grade with regard to the early intervention program delivered; TEAGLE Grant.

Area of Expertise:

• Early Childhood Education, Birth-Age 10

Academic Degrees Achieved:

• M.Ed., Gratz College
• B.S., University of Maryland, College Park
• A.A., Centenary College

Area of Expertise:

• Sociology

Academic Degrees Achieved:

• Ph.D., Pennsylvania State University

Awards, research & grants:

• Seton Hall University College of Arts and Sciences Adjunct Professor of the Year, 2015

Area of Expertise:

• Psychology

Academic degrees achieved:

• M.A., Public Policy, Monmouth University, 2018
• M.S., Cognitive Psychology – Florida State University, 2010

Area of Expertise:

• International Relations, American Government, Political Theory, US History

Academic Degrees Achieved:

• B.A., M.A., Temple University
• Ph.D., University of Chicago

Selected Participant, Workshop in Nagasaki and Hiroshima on Atomic Bombings in 1945; Mid-Career Fellowship, Princeton University (twice); Participant, NEH Landmarks Program, “History and Commemoration: Legacies of the Pacific War;” Recipient, Freeman Foundation Fellowship, “Teaching About Japan,” Tokai University; NISOD Excellence Award recipient.

Area of Expertise:

• Sociology, Race and Ethnicity, Global Studies with emphasis on Asia and Middle East

Academic Degrees Achieved:

• Ph.D., Southern California University
• A.B.D., Graduate Center of the City of New York
• M.A., B.A., University of Wisconsin
• Other Education: Regents College (Nursing) and University of Southern California (Gerontology)

Area of Expertise:

• Human Origins, Introduction to Cultural Anthropology, Introduction to Archaeology, and Native North Americans.

Academic degrees achieved:

• Ph.D., Anthropology, Columbia University
• M.A., Anthropology, Columbia University
• M.A.A., Anthropology, University of Maryland
• B.A., Anthropology and Geography, Indiana University

Awards, Research & Grants:

• Awarded grant to pilot open education resources, RVCC 2023
• Awarded Online Teaching Certificate, RVCC 2023
• Certificate for Online Teaching, Ohio University 2017
• Awarded Scholarly Tool for Quantitative Reasoning, Ohio University 2017

Research Interests:

• My research interests focus on the intersection between happiness and digital well-being. Specifically, I’m interested in understanding the antecedents and consequences of happiness.

Academic Degrees Achieved:

• Ph.D., Ohio University, 2019
• M.S., Ohio University, 2019
• B.A., Fairleigh Dickinson University, 2013

Centers for Workforce Innovation Teaching and Learning grant, RV Faculty Lead, NJ Council of County Colleges; RV Workforce Training Center, Pathways to Teaching, Faculty Lead; Excellence in Teacher Preparation, Exemplary Faculty nominee, Showcase of Exemplary Practices, Office of Secretary of Higher Education.

Area of Expertise:

• Education P-12, Alternate Route to Teacher Certification.

Academic Degrees Achieved:

• Ed.D., Organizational Leadership, Stockton University
• M.Ed., The College of New Jersey
• B.S., Rider University
• Elementary Classroom Teacher Certificate (N-8)
• NJ DoE Supervisor of Instruction Certificate
• National Staff Development Council Academy XVI