Faculty
 |
Lesli JohnsonDr. Lesli Johnson, after a successful clinical career in mental health, joined Ohio University’s Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Affairs in 1997 to lead the Planning, Evaluation, Education and Research team. Dr. Johnson holds a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Ohio University and a Masters in Social Work from the University of Oklahoma. She has twenty years of experience working in community programs, including mental health, health, education and child welfare. Dr. Johnson enjoys working on interdisciplinary teams both as a researcher and as a project coordinator. As an evaluator, she has conducted evaluations on school-based programs, mental health and health interventions, community development and community readiness. She is currently serving as lead evaluator on Project Launch, a five-year SAMHSA funded program that includes a partnership between state policy makers and local service providers and the integration of services for children, birth through age eight.She is also the lead evaluator on a five state initiative to create local coalitions dedicated to the prevention and self-management of diabetes. She serves as the interim director for the Ohio Appalachia Educators Institute (OAEI) - a program dedicated to developing leadership and promoting student achievement among Appalachian school districts. OAEI is presently working with districts to promote STEM education and in a partnership with the NEA Foundation to work on school reform through teacher-leaders and local associations. 740-593-9739 | |
 |
Natalie KruseNatalie Kruse is an Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies in the Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Affairs. Kruse holds a Ph.D. in Civil Engineering and Geosciences from Newcastle University, and a B.C. in Civil Engineering with a minor in Geological Sciences from Ohio University. A winner of the Marshall Scholarship, Kruse won the Best Paper award from Mine Water and the Environment in 2009. She also won the Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship and the Morris K. Udall Scholarship. http://oak.cats.ohiou.edu/~krusen/ 740-593-3526 | |
 |
Marsha LewisMarsha Lewis currently manages applied research projects related to education and public sector strategy development. She also serves as a senior data analyst for research and evaluation projects. Marsha helped develop the Ohio University Executive Leadership Institute and served as the Institute’s managing director for five years. She is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in educational research and evaluation with concentrations in statistical analysis and psychometrics. Before joining the Voinovich School, Marsha taught high school social studies. 740-593-1435 | |
 |
Judith MillesenJudith Millesen is an associate professor at the Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Affairs at Ohio University, where she is the director of the University’s MPA programs. She is also the founder of the Regional Nonprofit Alliance, an organization dedicated to strengthening nonprofit organizations in rural Appalachia by providing online resources, affordable workshops, and hands-on help. Millesen teaches classes on public administration, nonprofit management, and nonprofit fundraising. Her research makes a strong link between theory and practice and focuses on nonprofit administration and capacity building in the sector with a special interest in board governance. She has produced research reports on the strategic decision making behavior of community foundation boards, nonprofit capacity-building in the Pittsburgh region, the evaluation practices of nonprofits in New York and Ohio, board motivation in Maine, and most recently work on philanthropy and community economic development in central Wisconsin. Her work has appeared in such journals as Nonprofit Management and Leadership, Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, Nonprofit Quarterly, Public Integrity, and Voluntas. Millesen is a member of ASPA, the Academy of Management, and ARNOVA. Nationally, she serves on the board of directors for ARNOVA and the board of editorial advisors for BoardSource. Locally she serves on the board of directors for the Athens Foundation. Millesen received her MPA from the University of Hartford and her Ph.D. in public administration from the University at Albany (SUNY). 740-593-4381 | |
 |
Holly RaffleDr. Holly Raffle is an Assistant Professor at Ohio University’s Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Affairs. She serves as a research methodologist for qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods research projects including program evaluation. Dr. Raffle primarily works in the disciplines of K-12 education, post-secondary education, and public health. Additionally, she is a Master Certified Health Education Specialist and has taught health in the public school system as well as health, kinesiology, psychology, public administration and education courses at the collegiate level. 740-597-1710 | |
 |
Anirudh RuhilAnirudh V. S. Ruhil is an Associate Professor and Associate Director of Academic Affairs at the Voinovich School. He also serves as the Co-Director of the HTC/Voinovich Scholars Program as well as the Co-Director of the Scripps Survey Research Center. Ani both teaches research methods, program evaluation, and policy analysis for the Voinovich School’s MPA/OEMPA programs, and serves as a quantitative research methodologist for the School. Ani’s research areas include issues of race and representation in local elections in particular and urban governance more generally. At the Voinovich School he has worked on several evaluations of value-added pilot programs, post-secondary access and success, a few public health surveys, and a host of other projects. His published work appears in the pages of the American Political Science Review, the American Journal of Political Science, State Politics and Policy Quarterly, Policy Studies Journal, Urban Affairs Review, Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, Social Science Quarterly, and Journal of Rural Health. Ani earned his Ph.D. in Political Science from Stony Brook University (NY) after earning BA and MA degrees in economics at the University of Bombay, India, and an MA in economics from the University of New Hampshire. 740-597-1949 | |
 |
Mark WeinbergMark Weinberg is a Professor of Leadership and Public Affairs at Ohio University specializing in the areas of organizational strategy and public sector value creation. He is the founding and current Director of Ohio University’s George V. Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Affairs. In 2002, he was named the Appalachian Regional Commission’s Whisman Scholar and served in that capacity for three years. Professor Weinberg received his undergraduate and master's degrees from the University of Maryland and his doctorate from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. He has taught a range of management courses including the capstone seminar in Public Administration, Public Budgeting, Financial Management, and Public Policy Analysis and published in these areas. |
Joint Appointments
 |
David BaylessDr. Bayless is the Loehr Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Director of the Robe Leadership Institute, Director of the newly formed Center for Algae Engineering Research and Commercialization, Director of Ohio University's Center of Excellence in Energy and the Environment, and Director of the Ohio Coal Research Center at Ohio University, where he is engaged in the development of energy and environmental technology, such as producing algal-based fuels coupled with mitigation of greenhouse gases, bioreactor design, novel fluidized bed gasification and thermal processing of solid fuels, novel membrane electrostatic precipitators, adapting planar solid oxide fuel cells to coal-derived syngas, and mercury speciation and capture kinetics. He has been principal investigator for over $12 million in externally funded research in the last eight years, holds several patents with three revenue generating licenses, and over 50 peer-reviewed publications in the fields of pollution control and energy conversions. Dr. Bayless received his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. 740-331-4536 | |
 |
Geoff BuckleyGeoff Buckley has been a member of the faculty at his research interests include conservation history and austainability; management of public lands, especially state forests and urban green spaces; environmental justice; and the evolution of mining landscapes. Over the years his articles have appeared in the Annals of the Association of American Geographers, Geographical Review, Historical Geography, Urban Ecosystems, Maryland Historical Magazine, Appalachian Journal, and the Encyclopedia of Energy. His first book, Extracting Appalachia: Images of the Consolidation Coal Company, 1910 – 1945 was published in 2004 (Ohio University Press). His most recent book, America's Conservation Impulse: A Century of Saving Trees in the Old Line State, was published in 2010 (Center for American Places). Another book, Mountains of Injustice: Social and Environmental Justice in Appalachia, co-edited with Michele Morrone, is scheduled for publication in fall 2011 (Ohio University Press). 740-593-9846 | |
 |
Michele MorroneDr. Morrone is an Associate Professor of Environmental Health and the Director of Environmental Studies. Dr. Morrone holds a Ph.D. in environmental planning from The Ohio State University, an M.S. in forest resources from the University of New Hampshire and a B.S. in natural resources from The Ohio State University. Dr. Morrone previously served as the Chief of the Office of Environmental Education at Ohio EPA. She has authored or co-authored more than 40 papers on a variety of environmental issues and has been on CNN and quoted as an expert on environmental health issues in US News and World Report, the Detroit Free Press, The Columbus Dispatch, and the Cleveland Plain Dealer. Her first book was Sound Science, Junk Policy (2002), her second book, Poisons on Our Plates, was published in 2008. Her next book, Mountains of Injustice: Case Studies in Environmental Equity, should be available by the end of 2011. She created the Graduate Certificate in Environmental Sustainability at OU and took the lead on creating the Environmental Leadership Option, in which graduate students build relationships with community organizations to solve problems. 740-593-9549 | |
