Meet the Course Leaders
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Dr. Harry Basehart is Emeritus Professor of Political Science, Salisbury University. He is a U.S. Army veteran, serving in Vietnam from November 1969 to November 1970.
Todd Becker is a retired US Foreign Service Office and former Ambassador of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). He currently teaches Conflict Resolution and Comparative Government at Salisbury University and has led a variety of ALL courses over the past 8 or 9 years. Dr. Ron Dotterer holds a B.A. with honors in English from Bucknell University, M.A., M. Phil, and Ph.D. with highest honors degrees in English and Comparative Literature from Columbia University. He was a professor for 21 years at Susquehanna University (where he founded the honors program, was assistant to the president, and chair of the Department of English) and for 24 years at Salisbury University, where he was professor of English and Dean of the Fulton School of Liberal Arts, and is Professor and Dean Emeritus. He has published over 40 articles and six books on Shakespeare, Irish literature, poetry, women and the arts, film, and undergraduate research. Dale Godfrey graduated from St. Mary’s College of Maryland with a bachelor’s degree. Since 1974 he has been employed in the communications industry, adult education, IT, and elections with the State of Maryland. Nancy Hesser, Ph.D., has taught literature in the US, DR Congo, and Mali. Since moving from Maryland’s Eastern Shore to Pennsylvania’s Northern Tier, she continues to connect with ALL Salisbury’s lifelong learners via Zoom. Her short story courses have focused on American regionalism, the Roaring 20s, African voices, Central America, the Caribbean, foodies, pub crawlers, identities, travel, work, houses, dress codes, and flash fiction, among other subjects. Phillip Hesser has taught in the US and Africa and served with the UNHCR and the Academy for Educational Development. Most recently, he has taught at Salisbury University and Wor-Wic Community College. He now spends his time delving into the deep history of Delmarva and the Chesapeake Bay watershed and running the hills of Tioga County, Pennsylvania, with his pint-sized retriever Marshall and hound Bayly. Indulging his interests at the intersection of landscape, life & livelihood, he wrote What a River Says: Exploring the Blackwater River and Refuge (Cambridge, MD: Friends of Blackwater, 2014), co-wrote (with Charlie Ewers) Harriet Tubman’s Eastern Shore: The Old Home Is Not There (Columbia, SC: History Press, 2021) and is completing A Fellow Feeling for the Bears – Rebalancing the Alaskan Life of Frances H. Willard, Tlingit Missionary. Dr. Richard Keenan, Professor Emeritus, University of Maryland Eastern Shore, received his Bachelor of Science from Temple University, his Master of Arts from St. Joseph’s University, and his PhD from Temple University. He chaired the Department of English and Modern Languages at UMES from 1998-2007. His teaching areas at UMES were expository and critical writing, contemporary American and world literature, Victorian literature, literature and film, and film history and criticism. His book, The Films of Robert Wise, was published in 2007 by Rowman and Littlefield Group. With a Ph.D. in economics, Professor Phillip LeBel has a 30+ year record of teaching and research at various institutions, most notably Montclair State University where since 2010 he has been awarded Emeritus Professor of Economics. With over 40 published articles and several books, he brings a seasoned perspective to issues surrounding economic and fiscal policies designed to address ongoing issues involving sustainable growth, economic stabilization, and the management of risk. |
Kenneth Medearis holds undergraduate degrees in Physics and Geology, along with a minor in Russian History from Whitman College and a graduate degree in Civil Engineering from Stanford University. During his career he traveled extensively to many parts of the world, and took the opportunity to explore local faiths and religious customs. He has always served in some form of Christian education at whatever church he was a member of, teaching classes from middle school through confirmation and high school. Since his retirement and relocation to Salisbury he has become an Elder at Bethany Lutheran Church.
Nancy Mitchell is a recipient of the Pushcart Prize, and the author of The Near Surround, Grief Hut, and The Out-of-Body Shop, and co-editor of Plume Interviews I. Her poems have appeared in journals such as Agni, Green Mountains Review, Ploughshares and Washington Square Review. Former lecturer at Salisbury University, Maryland taught Poetry Workshops and produced the annual literary festival WORDSTOCK. An instructor of Environmental literature and ECO-art, she and her students produced bi-annual installation art exhibitions of student work. She has worked for Maryland Summer Center for the Arts, Girls Innovative Academy, Worcester County Libraries, and 1 Year to Empowerment. She serves as Poet Laureate of Salisbury, Maryland and produces the Poet’s Corner Reading Series and is Associate Editor for Plume Poetry Journal. Mike Roberts holds a bachelor’s degree, with a major in History, from Duke University and a Juris Doctor Degree from American University, where he was Editor-in-Chief of the Law Review. He served as an officer in the U.S. Navy, with two tours of sea duty in the Mediterranean, and shore duty with the Naval Security Group in Washington. For over 30 years he practiced law in Washington, specializing in aviation and international law. While in the Navy he attended graduate school at the University of Maryland, and studied under Professor Gordon Prange, the foremost authority on the Pearl Harbor attack. This led to a lifelong interest in and study of the subject matter of this course. Dan Satterfield holds a BS in Atmospheric physics (Meteorology) and an MS in Earth Science. He is a fellow of the American Meteorological society and one of about 6,000 people to have stood at the South Pole. Jennifer Schermerhorn, LCSW, holds her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Social Work from Salisbury University. She currently serves as the Director of Graduate Field Education and is a clinical associate professor in the School of Social Work at Salisbury University. Her practice background includes over ten years of experience in long-term care as a nursing home social worker. Jennifer is a Community Educator volunteer with the Alzheimer’s Association, delivering education programs to both the local community and virtually. Carolyn Stegman (Ed.D.,R.N.) taught Psychology of Death, Dying and Bereavement at Salisbury University, was chair of the MAC Board of directors, president of Wicomico’s Commission on Again, served as consultant to MAC for many years, and has authored two novels on aging. Her new book, The Sages of Oak Place, was published in 2024 and recently commissioned for a TV mini-series. Dr. G. Ray Thompson’s has taught Ancient History courses for nearly 60 years at the university level. |
