DALLAS TWP. — Misericordia University awarded tenure and/or promotion to faculty members, Zhen Ma, Melissa Sgroi, Christopher A. Stevens and Steven Pheasant.
Ma, of Dallas, was promoted to associate professor of business and tenured.
Ma was named to the Misericordia University faculty in 2012 and serves as interim chair of the Department of Business. He holds a doctorate in economics and a Master of Philosophy degree from the City University of New York Graduate Center. He also earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting and computer science from the City University of New York – Queens College. He previously served as a research assistant at the New York Census Research Data Center and National Bureau of Economic Research.
His fields of interest include health economics, labor economics and applied statistics and econometrics. A peer reviewer for International Journal of Health Economics and Management, Ma was session chair and led two presentations at the Eastern Economic Association’s annual conference in 2015, and was a presenter and session chair at the annual conference of the Pennsylvania Economic Association in 2013. He frequently writes and presents on economics related topics. He most recently published a paper on the economic forces that led to Major League Baseball’s desegregation, and presented, “Mascots Aren’t Worth the Risk of Liability,” at the annual meeting of the Northeastern Association of Business, Economics and Technology.
Sgroi, of Dallas, was promoted to associate professor of communications and tenured.
Sgroi, who serves as chair of the Department of Mass Communications and Design, joined the faculty in 2006. Her research focus is on the topic of media and disability. Her work has been published in academic journals and her documentaries, “VOTE” in 2013 and “VOTE: The Disabled Democracy” in 2014, have led to meaningful improvements in accessibility for people with disabilities. A peer-reviewed article on the research was published in the journal, Disability & Society.
Sgroi has a professional background in television and print journalism. She has worked as an anchor, reporter, producer and assignment editor, and her feature writing has appeared in national and international publications. She is the advisor to Misericordia’s award-winning student newspaper, The Highlander. She holds bachelor’s degrees from King’s College, and master’s and doctorate degrees from Wilkes University. Sgroi previously taught at King’s College. She is the recipient of Misericordia’s 2016 Judge Max and Tillie Rosenn Excellence in Teaching Award, which recognizes outstanding contributions to student learning and development as selected by a vote of the students.
Stevens, of Kingston, was promoted to associate professor of history and government and tenured.
Stevens joined the Department of History and Government in 2012, and was named director of the Government, Law and National Security Program in 2014. He specializes in international relations, American foreign policy, the former Soviet Union, and national security issues. His article, “The Libyan Debate: Coercive Diplomacy Reconsidered,” recently appeared in the foreign affairs journal, Diplomacy and Statecraft. He frequently writes about Russian-Ukraine relations, and most recently presented the paper, “Crisis in Ukraine: A Product of the Moral Hazard Problem?” at the 2017 annual Conference of the International Studies Association. He will present research on the Russo-Georgian War and chair two panels at the 2018 annual Conference of the Midwest Political Science Association in Chicago in April.
Stevens holds a doctorate in political science from Brandeis University, a Master of Arts degree in political science from the University of Delaware, and an undergraduate degree in political science from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. He previously served on the faculties of College of the Holy Cross, the University of Nebraska at Kearney and the University of Vermont.
Pheasant, of East Stroudsburg, was promoted to professor of physical therapy.
Pheasant joined the Department of Physical Therapy at Misericordia in 2000, and was tenured in 2006. He teaches courses in musculoskeletal and orthopedic physical therapy. His research has focused on the effects of spinal postures on upper and lower extremity function. He recently oversaw a group of student researchers whose research on the influence of sitting posture on hip abductor strength was presented at the Combined Sections Meeting of the American Physical Therapy Association in New Orleans, in February.
Pheasant is a journal article reviewer for the Saudi Sports Medicine Journal in his specialty content area of shoulder biomechanics and pathology. He maintains a clinical practice two evenings per week throughout the academic year and expanded hours of practice during the summer. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Biology from Wittenberg University, a Master of Science in Physical Therapy from Beaver College (now Arcadia University), and a Ph.D. in Applied Biomechanics from the University of Toledo.
