Monday, Sep 5, 2022
Expertise includes topics in science, management and more
by Adam Grybowski
Rider University welcomed seven new faculty members this fall. Their backgrounds include expertise ranging from the sciences to management to game development, and international academic and professional experience.
Ross Beschler will continue this fall as an assistant professor in the College of Arts and Sciences’ Department of Performing Arts, which he joined last spring. He brings more than 20 years of experience acting and writing for theater to the position. He is a founding member of Wilma Hothouse Ensemble and Die-Cast, as well as a member of the Actor’s Equity Association. Beschler’s higher-education teaching experiences include serving as a lecturer or adjunct instructor at Rowan University, Temple University and the Ira Brind School at the University of the Arts. He received a Bachelor of Arts in Theater Arts with a concentration in playwriting from Columbia University and a Master of Fine Arts in Acting from Temple.
Matthew DiMatteo joins the Department of Performing Arts in the College of Arts and Sciences as an assistant professor I, where he will teach in the game and interactive media design program. Previously he has taught game design and development and other related topics as an adjunct assistant professor at The College of New Jersey. DiMatteo’s professional experience includes roles as the chief technology officer and director of web publishing at Children’s Technology Review. He received a Bachelor of Arts in Interactive Media from The College of New Jersey and a Master of Entertainment Technology from Carnegie Mellon University.
Dr. Toufik Khyat is now an acting assistant professor I in the College of Arts and Sciences’ Department of Mathematics. He received a Bachelor of Science in Applied Mathematics from Mohammed V University, and a Master of Arts in Mathematics and a doctorate in mathematics from Rhode Island College. Khyat has taught at Texas Tech University, Trinity College, Rhode Island College and the University of Rhode Island. His research interests include difference equations, discrete dynamical systems and bifurcation theory along with its application to biological models.
Dr. Kellie M. McKinney is new to the Department of Graduate Education, Leadership and Counseling in the College of Education and Human Services as an assistant professor I. She received a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics from Kutztown University, a Master of Arts in Student Affairs in Higher Education from Indiana University of Pennsylvania and a Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership from Rowan University. She has previously served as an adjunct faculty member at The College of New Jersey and Rowan, where she was also an instructor. Her research interests center on gender, work-family balance and disability studies.
Dr. Nitin Singh joins the Department of Management in the Norm Brodsky College of Business as an assistant professor II. He will also serve as Harper Professor, a position that supports new faculty in the Norm Brodsky College of Business whose area of research and teaching is a strategic priority for the college. Previously, he served as an assistant professor of entrepreneurship at Missouri Western State University. His professional experience includes 13 years at the Indian Institute of Banking & Finance in Mumbai, where he rose to deputy director. Singh’s research interests center on growth strategies among firms with different structures, such as dual-class, which enables entrepreneurs to use disproportionate voting rights to control their companies. He received a Bachelor of Commerce with Economics and a Master of Business Administration from Nagpur University in India and a doctorate in business policy and entrepreneurship from the University of Texas at Arlington.
Dr. Min Young Yoon also joins the Department of Management in the Norm Brodsky College of Business. Her rank is assistant professor I and she will also serve as Harper Professor. Yoon’s previous teaching experience includes serving as an instructor at Yonsei University in Seoul, South Korea, and her research interests include diversity and inclusion, gender in leadership, and work and family. She earned a Bachelor of Science, with a double major in psychology and business administration, from Yonsei, a Master of Arts in Management and Organizational Analysis from the University of Warwick in England and a doctorate in management and organization from The Pennsylvania State University.
Dr. Lisa Warden is a new member of the faculty in the College of Arts and Sciences’ Department of Biology, Behavioral Neuroscience, and Health Sciences. Her rank is lecturer I. Warden’s previous teaching experiences includes serving as a visiting assistant professor at the University of the Sciences and a lecturer at Rowan University. Her fieldwork includes projects at the Manoa Marine Research Institute and the University of Queensland. She received a Bachelor of Science in Marine Science and a Master of Science in Biology Education from Rutgers University, as well as a doctorate in marine microbiology and biogeochemistry from Utrecht University in the Netherlands.