Graduate Certificate Students

Marne Austin
maustin@bgsu.edu
Doctoral Candidate in the School of Media and Communication
MA in Communication, University of New Mexico
BA in Organizational Communication, Northern Arizona University
Research Interests: Identity, Intercultural/Interpersonal communication, 
relational communication, discourse

Katie Sullivan Barak
kbarak@bgsu.edu
Doctoral Student in American Culture Studies
Masters in Popular Culture, Bowling Green State University
BS in Journalism and Mass Communications, University of Colorado 
at Boulder
My research interests include representation of women in television 
and film, animals in popular culture, and the hegemonic qualities 
of humor in media.

Kerry Jones
kljones@bgsu.edu
Doctoral Student in Higher Education Administration
MA in College Student Personnel, BGSU
BM in Music Education,  Westminster College (PA)
Assistant Director, Student-Athlete Services
Research Interests: Gender Issues in Collegiate Athletics

Amira Akl

Doctoral Student in Rhetoric and Writing

aakl@bgsu.edu

Erin Paun Osborne
epaun@bgsu.edu
Doctoral Student in Communication Studies
MA in Communication, Central Michigan University
BA in Communication, Central Michigan University
BA in Theatre, Central Michigan University
Research Interests: Sport Communication and Identity

Suzanne V. L. Berg

sberg@bgsu.edu

Doctoral Student in Media and Communication
Speech Communication, Minnesota State Univ,, Mankato
Speech Communication, Minnesota State Univ., Mankato
Research Interests: Rhetorical Theory/Criticism, Copyright law, 
Ideology/Ideographs

Melinda Lewis
mmlewis@bgsu.edu

PhD American Culture Studies, BGSU 2013
MA American Culture Studies, BGSU 2009
BA English, Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP), 2007 (Indiana, PA)

My research interests are: media and film studies; gender, genre, and marketing; 

media industries, representation, gender and humor

 Nancy Bressler

nancyb@bgsu.edu

Ph.D. in Media and Communication
M.A. in Communication from the University of Hartford
B.A. in Communications/Theatre from Albright College

My research interests include media studies, with an 
emphasis on the intersections of critical/cultural studies, 
feminist theory, and popular culture. Previous research 
has concentrated on the role of media in American culture 
and how the images in movies and television influence and 
contribute to American identity. In particular, I focus on the 
intersections of gender and economic class on television 
sitcoms. My most recent project analyzes the sexual division 
of labor and its intersections with class status.  It examines 
to what extent current sitcoms contribute to the discourse of 
what constitutes household labor and hopes to further 
conceptualize how media images influence the overall ideas 
of gender roles in the American family.  If television reinforces 
negative stereotypes, it ignores broader social structures 
that marginalize these issues in the first place.

Kim Rewinkel

krewink@bgsu.edu

Masters Student in History
BA in Asia/Pacific Studies & Women's Studies, Central 
Washington University
Research Interests: gender history; history of the BBC; 
biopolitics; women, identity, and chronic disease

Heather Murphy Sloan
hsloane@bgsu.edu

ACS PhD
MSW -Virginia Commonwealth University
BS - College of William and Mary
Research Interests: Culture of medical education 
and the connection to poverty

Abby Van Vlerah
avanvl@bgsu.edu
Doctoral Student, American Culture Studies
MA in American Studies, University of Wyoming
BA in Humanistic Studies, Saint Mary's College, 
Notre Dame, Indiana
Research Interests: Motorcycle Studies, American 
media representations of women

 April Conway

aconway@bgsu.edu
PhD student in Rhetoric and Writing
MFA in Poetry, Sarah Lawrence College, Bronxville, NY
B.A. in Interdisciplinary Studies, University of Redlands, 
Redlands, CA
Research Interests: feminist theory, rhetorics of place 
and space, cultural geography, cultural rhetorics

 Diana DePasquale

Doctoral Student, American Culture Studies
Undergrad/Grad Institutions and Degrees: B.A., American 
Studies, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
M. A., American Culture Studies, Bowling Green State 
University
Research Interests:Television studies, comedy and humor 
studies, women in comedy, women on television, cult films 
and their audiences, post 9/11 television and affect.

dianad@bgsu.edu

 Katie LaPlante

Masters Student in History

 Clare Lemke

Doctoral Student in American Culture Studies

crlemke@bgsu.edu

 Heather Pristash

Doctoral Student in Rhetoric and Writing

heprist@bgsu.edu

Katharine Schaab

kschaab@bgsu.edu

PhD, American Culture Studies 
MA, English, Northern Illinois University; Women's History, 
Sarah Lawrence College 
BA, English and Spanish, Miami University 
Research Interests: 20th century, U.S. women 
immigrant identities, experiences, and depictions 
in cultural products 

Cynthia Shipman

Doctoral Student in Communication Studies

John Paul Staszel

Doctoral Student in Theater

jpstasz@bgsu.edu

Valentino Zullo

Masters of English
Bachelors of English and Spanish at Kent State University
Research Interests: Comics/Graphic Novels, Clinical 
Psychoanalysis/Psychotherapy, Narrative Medicine, 
Medical Humanities, Women's Literary History. 

vzullo@bgsu.edu

JoAnna R. Murphy

Doctoral Student in American Culture Studies
MA in Sociology, University of Toledo, Toledo, Ohio
BA in Popular Culture, Bowling Green State University
Research Interests: Fat Studies, Popular Culture, Gender, Body Theory

Stephanie Salerno

Doctoral Student in the American Culture Studies Department.
MA in Liberal Studies, North Central College, Naperville, IL
BA in Music History, Roosevelt University, Chicago College of Performing Arts, Chicago, IL
Research Interests:  Popular Music and gender/sexuality, Rufus Wainwright,
the intersection of high and low art in music, masculinity in musical subcultures, gender performance in opera