Shawn Apostel, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Instructional Technology Specialist
sapostel@bellarmine.edu
Dr. Apostle has a B.A. in Journalism from Toccoa Falls College, a M.A.in Professional Communication from Clemson University, and a Ph.D. in Rhetoric and Technical Communication, Michigan Technological University. A graphic designer by trade, Dr. Apostel formerly served as the Communication Coordinator for the Noel Studio for Academic Creativity at Eastern Kentucky University from 2010-2013, and the Information and Graphics Specialist for the City of Toccoa from 2008-2010.
Dr. Apostel's research interests include teaching with technology, applied creativity, digital ethos, e-waste reduction, and visual communication. He is chair of the Visual Rhetoric Panel for the South Atlantic Modern Language Association and serves as a reviewer for various journals and conferences. His work is published by IGI Global, CCDigital Press, Lexington Books, New Forums Press, and Computers and Composition Online. His co-edited book Online Credibility and Digital Ethos: Evaluating Computer-Mediated Communication was published by IGI Global in December, and his co-authored book Teaching Creative Thinking: A New Pedagogy for the 21st Century will be published by New Forums Press this Spring.
Dr. Jennifer Lynde Barker, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, English
Director of Film Studies Minor
Director of Design, Arts and Technology Program
jbarker@bellarmine.edu
Dr. Barker teaches classes on film history and theory, contemporary global cinema, the history of animation, film adaptation, and introductory classes on film and literature; she has also taught courses on film noir, the literature of war, modernism, musicals, documentary, and creative writing, as well as film classes in Scotland and Paris. Dr. Barker received a B.A. from Tulane University, a M.F.A. from the University of Oregon, and a M.A. and Ph.D. from Indiana University. Before coming to Bellarmine, she was a Post-Doctoral Fellow at Stanford University and an Assistant Professor and Director of Film Studies at ETSU. In 2009 she received a NEH Summer Seminar Grant. Dr. Barker specializes in film history and aesthetics, animation, documentary, visual studies, international cinema, transatlantic modernism, and the legacies of antifascism. Author of The Aesthetics of Antifascist Film: Radical Projection (Routledge, 2012), she has also published in Animation: an interdisciplinary journal, Film Quarterly, Journal of African American Studies, Literature/Film Quarterly, and the collection Film and Genocide. She is currently working on essays about phenomenology, violence, and race in early animation and cosmopolitanism and collage in international animation and experimental film.
Jimmy Burns, M.M.
Adjunct Faculty
jburns@bellarmine.edu
Jimmy Burns is a Music Technologist specializing in audio recording and production. He received his M.M. from New York University in 2014 from the Steinhardt School. His skills include Digital Audio Production, Acoustics, Sound Design, Video Production, and Digital Signal Processing. Currently, Jimmy works as a freelance recording engineer and producer, supervising and performing live, multi-channel recordings. Jimmy specializes in recording chamber ensembles and choirs, including Louisville's Bourbon Baroque and the Youth Performing Arts School. Additionally, he has engineered the recording of numerous classical and contemporary concerts while working at Bellarmine University. Throughout his musical career, Jimmy has lent his talents in guitar, bass, and drums to several projects in genres ranging from Rock to Celtic.
Laura Hartford, M.F.A.
Associate Dean, Bellarmine College of Arts and Sciences
Associate Professor, Art
lhartford@bellarmine.edu
Laura Hartford teaches photography and digital art and serves as an Associate Dean of the Bellarmine College of Arts and Sciences. She has a background in both fine art and commercial media production, including credits as an Associate Producer of video programs for Donna Lawrence Productions. She holds an M.F.A. from Indiana University, Bloomington and is the recipient of grants for art and teaching from the Kentucky Foundation for Women, the Society for Photographic Education, and the Kentucky Center for the Arts. Her work is included in both private and institutional collections including the University of Louisville Photographic Archives, the Kinsey Institute, the Preus Museum of Photography in Horten Norway, and the William Henry Fox Talbot Museum in Lacock, England where she served as an artist in residence.
Sarah Martin, M.F.A.
Chair and Associate Professor, Art
smartin3@bellarmine.edu
Sarah Martin teaches photography and digital media and is the Art Department Chair. She earned her BA in Media Art from the University of Tennessee and her MFA in Photography from Yale University. Sarah worked five years in the film and television industry before teaching full time. Prior to teaching at Bellarmine University, Sarah taught at Yale University, The University of Tennessee, created a photography major at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and served as Artist in Residence for a year at Lyon College. Sarah exhibits her photography and video art internationally, and you can view her work at: www.thesarahmartin.com
Dr. Michael D. Mattei, Ph.D.
Professor, Rubel School of Business
mmattei@bellarmine.edu
Dr. Mattei is a professor of management information systems in the Rubel School of Business. Mike served as Dean of the School of Continuing and Professional Education, and Executive director of the Bellarmine Center for Interdisciplinary Technology & Entrepreneurship from 2004-2012. Dr. Mattei has been teaching information systems and entrepreneurship for 18 years. He received his Ph.D. at the University of Louisville and a MBA in finance from Indiana University-Bloomington. Prior to beginning a career in teaching, he was vice president of information technology at IMX, Inc. His 15 years of corporate experience includes work at Cincinnati Milacron, General Electric and Brown & Williamson, where he served as manager of domestic and international marketing systems.
Lara Needham, Ph.D.
Professor, Department of Communication
lneedham@bellarmine.edu
Dr. Needham has a B.A. in Communication from Hanover College, a M.A. in Public Communication from American University and a Ph.D. in Health Communication from University of Kentucky. Dr. Needham teaches classes in Public Relations, Children and Media, Mass Media and Politics, Public Speaking and Business Communication. Her teaching and research interests involve public communication—including public relations and campaigns, media and children, health communication and political communication—and public speaking and rhetoric, including persuasion, business communication and basic public speaking. Dr. Needham has more than a decade of experience in the field of communication as a health researcher, writer, speaker and educator. Her research includes an examination of the impact of physician’s persuasive messages on older women’s mammography noncompliance. She is also the founder and CEO of BabyPro, an award-winning children’s media company that produces sports-themed DVDs for babies and toddlers. BabyPro’s products have appeared in numerous national media outlets including Parenting and Scholastic magazine, and have received fifteen national awards.
Moira O'Keeffe, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
mokeeffe@bellarmine.edu
Dr. O’Keeffe has a B.A. in Liberal Arts with a concentration in Media Studies from the New School for Social Research, a M.A. in Broadcasting, Telecommunication and Mass Media from Temple University, and a Ph.D. from the Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania. O’Keeffe’s teaching and research interests include visual communication, film and media studies, science in popular culture, digital media. Dr. O’Keeffe’s teaching and research interests include visual communication, film and media studies, science in popular culture, and digital media. Dr. O'Keeffe's publications include "Science Fiction and the Big Questions," forthcoming from the Journal of the British Interplanetary Society, "Lieutenant Uhura and the Drench Hypothesis: Diversity and the Representation of STEM Careers," published in the International Journal of Gender, Science, and Technology, and “Evidence and Absence: Documenting the Desaparecidos of Argentina” published in Communication, Culture and Critique.
