College of Arts and Humanities
Faculty
Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Faculty
Tara Vansell
Tara Vansell has been teaching Geographic Information Systems classes at Lindenwood since 2011. She holds a Master of Arts in Urban Planning and Real Estate Development from Saint Louis University (2006) and a Bachelor of Arts in Geography with a GIS emphasis along with a History Minor from the University of Missouri – Columbia (2002). Her Master of Arts capstone research focused on the availability of “Workforce Housing in St. Charles County, MO (2006).” In addition to instructing the GIS classes at Lindenwood, she is the GIS Lab Manager. As the lab manager, Professor Vansell is an active member of the St. Charles County GIS User group and hosts a GIS day event every year that brings regional GIS professionals to campus to network with students. The GIS Lab also has a K-12 educator outreach mission and has been hosting the Teach MO Maps! Workshops since 2017. Before teaching at Lindenwood, Professor Vansell spent several years working in the GIS industry for companies such as Surdex and SAIC.
History and Faculty
Dr. Emily Colmo
Emily Colmo received a BA in History from the University of Missouri-St. Louis and an MA and Ph.D. in American Studies from Saint Louis University. She is a historian of twentieth century American social and cultural history with specializations in protest movements, feminist history, and urban studies. Dr. Colmo’s recent research focuses on student movements of the 1960s era and the ways college women formed the foundation of their activism using their unique experiences as women. Throughout her experience in academia, she has found that working with students has been the most fulfilling for her, and she hopes that every student who leaves her classroom sees the world in a new, more equitable way.
Dr. Marcus Smith
Marcus Smith (BA Anderson University, MA University of Cincinnati, PhD Purdue University) is a historian of Modern Middle East and Global history. Born and raised in Ohio, a deployment to Iraq in 2005 with the U.S. Army sparked an interest in the history and cultures of the region which led to subsequent travels in Israel-Palestine and Jordan. Research topics focus on social, political, and cultural relations of minority communities including case studies of Muslim Americans living in Columbus, Ohio 1980s-Present and the Jewish community in Baghdad, Iraq 1951-Present. His love of history stems from a curiosity about the factors that make for peace or violence in our modern world and is closely linked with social engagement and community service projects.
Philosophy and Religion Faculty
Dr. David Brown
David Brown is professor of philosophy. He received a B. A. in Philosophy from Gordon College (magna cum laude), an M. A. in Philosophy from the University of Houston, and a Ph.D. in Philosophy from the University of Toronto. His dissertation is The Moral Sense in Hume’s Treatise and Cicero’s De Officiis. His primary teaching and research interests are ethics, natural law, logic, early modern philosophy, David Hume, and Cicero.
Dr. W. Travis McMaken
Dr. McMaken is the Butler Bible Endowed professor of religion and associate dean of the College of Arts and Humanities at Lindenwood University. His writing engages primarily with 20th century theology (esp. Protestant theology, with specialization in Karl Barth, Helmut Gollwitzer, and T. F. Torrance) while working constructively on the subjects of sacramentology, ecclesiology, and political theology.
Rev. Dr. Nichole Torbitzky
Nichole Torbitzky received a doctorate from Claremont Graduate University, in Claremont, CA. She taught Critical Thinking at the University of LaVerne. Her current research investigates Whiteheadian notions of subjective form and the internal relations subjective form has on the ordering of eternal objects in the primordial nature of God. Torbitzky is an assistant professor of religion and teaches courses on World Religions, Islam, Indian Religions, History of Christianity, and Women and Religion.
Political Science Faculty
Dr. Barbara Hosto-Marti
Barbara Hosto-Marti received a Ph.D. in Political Science form University of Missouri – St. Louis, an MPA from Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville, and a BA from Illinois College. Dr. Hosto-Marti’s research interests focus on examining the interactions between civil society and public policy on both the national and global stages. This interest stems from her 20 plus years working as a nonprofit professional. Her current project explores how public perceptions of advocacy by nonprofits affect people’s willingness to contribute to or volunteer for nonprofit organizations. In the classroom, she is committed to preparing students to be informed and engaged participants of the political process.
Dr. Sharmini Nair
Sharmini Nair received a Ph.D. in Political Science from Colorado State University, a master’s in law from University Malaya (Malaysia), and a bachelor’s in law from the University of London (UK). Dr. Nair’s research interests the continuing impact of colonial discourses on the agency of labor in the global south in resisting Western environmental agendas introduced at the global level. Her interest lies in expanding the use of postcolonial theories such as Said’s Orientalism and Homi Bhabha’s mimicry in understanding green neocolonial intervention in developing countries and the types of relationships formed between labor and the state through historical processes. In the classroom, she is focused on helping students build community, achieve their career goals as well as engage meaningfully in political processes.
Shenika Harris, Ph.D.
Interim, Associate Dean
College of Arts and Humanities