Faculty/Staff Activities

Millersville University’s faculty and staff have been busy with presentations, speaking opportunities and more. Here are some of the recent highlights.

Dr. Changfu Chang, a professor in Communication and Theatre, was recently in Washington, D.C., for an Asian American and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander summit. Chang attended as an organizing committee member and speaker. During the summit, the group met with officials at the White House, lawmakers at the Capitol and Department of Justice officials to share their experiences and concerns as Asian Americans.

Dr. Jennifer Frank, associate professor in the School of Social Work, was recently one of four individuals invited to provide testimony at a Senate Democratic Policy hearing on unsheltered homelessness.

Dr. Duane Hagelgans, professor of emergency management, was an invited speaker at the Kansas State Emergency Management Conference. He presented “Leadership is not a Black Swan Event” on September 11 in Manhattan, Kansas. In addition, Hagelgans is Chair of the IAEM-USA Conference Committee and moderated the webinar “Emerging Technologies & AI: What Emergency Management Leaders Need to Know” on Sept. 18. The purpose was to consider the potential impact of emerging technologies and artificial intelligence on emergency management.

Hagelgans and Janet Kacskos, director of communications, presented at the Pennsylvania Legal Aid Network Conference in Harrisburg on Sept. 19. Their presentation, “What If It’s Not a Crisis?” was for attorneys, executive directors, paralegals and people in human resources, communications and development. They presented tools to help identify a real crisis and ideas for pushing out positive information about your organization.

Paul Hill, director of environmental health and safety, recently joined the Higher Education Preparedness Leadership Group. This group is part of the Readiness and Emergency Management for Schools organization, an initiative of the U.S. Department of Education. In May, Hill participated in a FEMA National Mass Care Exercise in Shippensburg. Additionally, Hill’s office offered the Campus Emergencies Prevention, Response, and Recovery certification course from the Louisiana State University National Center for Biomedical Research and Training’s Academy of Counter-Terrorist Training for the third time.

Kacskos and Kelsey Madas, director of content development, participated in the Leadership Essentials Program at Willow Valley on September 10. They gave a presentation that included tips for senior leaders on how to create and give a PowerPoint presentation.

Mark Mullen, media specialist in Communication/Theatre, has been re-elected for the fifth year to the position of Chair for the Philadelphia Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers chapter with a term of July 1, 2024, through June 2025. SMPTE is the global society of media professionals, technologists and engineers working together to drive the industry forward.