{"id":494,"date":"2022-12-05T13:52:41","date_gmt":"2022-12-05T19:52:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bemidjistate.edu\/academics\/honors\/?page_id=494"},"modified":"2026-10-31T23:32:44","modified_gmt":"2026-11-01T04:32:44","slug":"honors-council-members","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.bemidjistate.edu\/academics\/honors\/faculty-staff\/honors-council-members\/","title":{"rendered":"Honors Council Members"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mitchell Blessing<\/h2>\n

\"Mitch<\/picture>A sculptor and designer, Mitch has been a student of visual communication his whole life. As an art scholar, he studied in Spain and England before returning home to Bemidji to earn his BFA in Sculpture. He then went on to receive his MFA in Sculpture and 3D Design at the University of Miami, Coral Gables. After nearly 10 years as an entrepreneur and an advertising agency Creative Director, Mitch is now in his tenth year following his life goal of teaching art and design in higher education here at BSU.<\/p>\n

\n

Sarah Cronin<\/h2>\n

\"\"Sarah Cronin’s PhD is in counseling psychology. Her passion is helping students gain knowledge and experience that will help them reach their professional goals. She uses her counseling and research experience to inform her teaching so that students can apply what their learning in the classroom to real-world examples.<\/p>\n

Clinically, her specialty is in college counseling and emerging adulthood. She owns a private practice where she provides personal therapy and provides consultation services about promoting positive development and mental health in young people.<\/p>\n

Her research endeavors focus on equitable access to mental health services in educational settings. She uses hierarchical linear modeling to account for individual, school, and community factors that impact student success and qualitative approaches to gain further understanding of student perspectives. Dr. Cronin integrates students into her research endeavors as much as possible.<\/p>\n

\n

Mark Fulton<\/h2>\n

\"\"Dr. Mark Fulton is a quantitative ecologist with a particular interest in the structure and dynamics of forest communities. Particular areas of activity have included: simulation modeling of forest dynamics, statistical modeling of demographic processes in forests from long-term data using information statistics, and applications of an operational definition of multivariate “predictability” of community change. Developing interests include: linkages between canopy tree and understory dynamics, light environments in tree canopies, and constraints on maximum tree height.<\/p>\n

\n

Stephen Hamrick<\/h2>\n

\"Stephen<\/picture>Professor Stephen Hamrick teaches early British and American literature, religion and literature, speculative literatures, religious studies and writing. In addition to work on the literatures of the English Reformations, Hamrick has published on early modern poetry, religion, racism and comedy. He has edited two collections, George Gascoigne<\/i> (2008) and Tottel’s Songes and Sonettes in Context<\/i> (2013) and is the author of The Catholic Imaginary and the Cults of Elizabeth, 1558-1582<\/i> (2009) and Shakespeare and Sexuality in the Comedy of Morecambe and Wise <\/i>(2020).<\/p>\n

\n

Kathryn Klement<\/h2>\n
\"\"Dr. Kat Klement (they\/them) has been at BSU since 2017, teaching courses primarily related to research methods, social psychology, death, and sex and gender. Their major research interests include how transphobia relates to other systems of oppression, physical and psychological outcomes related to purity culture, and inclusive pedagogy. They have also published work related to consensual BDSM (bondage\/discipline, dominance\/submission, and sadism\/masochism), sexual consent, and sexual entitlement.<\/div>\n
\n

Jenna O’Dell<\/h2>\n

\"\"Dr. Jenna O’Dell serves as an Associate Professor of Mathematics at Bemidji State University, where she teaches courses in mathematics and mathematics education. Jenna holds a PhD in mathematics education from Illinois State University, a MS from Northern Michigan University, and she earned her BS from Ferris State University. Her current work is on how children learn and feel while doing mathematics. She serves as the principal investigator on the Bemidji State STEM Teacher Preparation Project, an NSF-funded project to support STEM teachers in high need school districts.<\/p>\n

\n

Sue Rickers<\/h2>\n

\"SueSue is an Associate Professor and Department Chair in Social Work. She enjoys teaching a variety of courses at BSU and interacting with future social workers. Sue has a range of work experiences working with diverse populations and in a variety of settings. Sue is interested in the experiences of social work practitioners, social work education and holistic approaches to well-being.<\/p>\n

\n

Shaawano Uran<\/h2>\n

\"ShaawanoShaawano Uran (White Earth Anishinaabe), Associate Professor of Indigenous Studies, earned his PhD in Anthropology in 2012 from the University of Iowa. His undergraduate work in Anthropology and American Indian Studies was completed at the University of Minnesota. He is an artist and quilter, electronic music and instrument maker, hunter, guitarist, drummer and horror fan.<\/p>\n

His research areas are: Indigenous language revitalization, language and identity, American cultural studies, language ideologies, Indigenous sovereignty, critical theory, Indigenous studies and coloniality. He also known for applying Indigenous critical theory to zombie films and literature.<\/p>\n

\n

James White<\/h2>\n
\"\"Research interests:<\/div>\n
    \n
  • Lead author of 5 peer-reviewed journal articles<\/li>\n
  • Two book chapters published in a college-level health and wellness text<\/li>\n
  • Presented at over 20 national or regional health\/exercise-related conferences on variety of topics.<\/li>\n
  • Research interests include: health promotion, role of physical activity in prevention and management of chronic illness, interventions\/strategies that impact behavior change, cultural, social and environmental factors that promote health, quality of life and active living.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
    Recent Work:<\/div>\n
      \n
    • Dr. White has been working full time in the health and fitness promotion field for 20 years.<\/li>\n
    • Prior to his move to academia he worked with MeritCare Health Systems (now Sanford Health) Department of Cardiovascular Rehabilitation in Fargo, ND where he spent nine years as an Exercise Physiologist caring for patients across the age spectrum with chronic disease. He also helped create and coordinate an award winning faith community-based health\/physical activity promotion program entitled Faithfully Fit Forever<\/li>\n
    • Involved with multiple university committees and is serving terms on two non-profit boards within the Bemidji community.<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
      Open Field:<\/div>\n
        \n
      • In my free-time I enjoy reading, woodworking and recreating in the great outdoors<\/li>\n
      • Spending time with my lovely wife and 3 active children as much as I can<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
        \n

        Judith Zatkin<\/h2>\n

        \"\"I am an Associate Professor of Social and Community Psychology. I have a PhD in Applied Psychology from Portland state University, and completed my undergraduate degree at The University of Michigan (Go Blue!)<\/p>\n

        My scholarly interests center upon sexual violence prevention. I have worked on research surrounding the prevention of campus sexual assault, prevention of child sexual abuse in organizational settings, and perceptions of media and policy surrounding those who perpetrate sexual violence. I use both quantitative and qualitative methods to conduct my work. My favorite class to teach is Research Methods, because I love seeing students pursue their interests and get excited about thinking critically!<\/p>\n

        In my spare time, I love to cook, watch bad reality television, read fiction, and hang out with my dog, Fred.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

        Mitchell Blessing A sculptor and designer, Mitch has been a student of visual communication his whole life. As an art scholar, he studied in Spain and England before returning home to Bemidji to earn his BFA in Sculpture. He then went on to receive his MFA in Sculpture and 3D Design at the University of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":0,"parent":7,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"bsu_hero":"","bsu_hero_on_children":false,"bsu_hero_height":"600","bsu_hero_video":"","bsu_hero_focal_point":"","bsu_hero_media":"","bsu_hero_display":"random","bsu_hero_slider_interval":5,"bsu_hide_from_navigation":false,"bsu_redirect_enabled":false,"bsu_redirect_url":"","bsu_redirect_target":false,"bsu_require_auth":false,"bsu_require_auth_usertypes":"","_bsu_seo_title":"","_bsu_seo_description":"","_bsu_robots_noindex":false,"_bsu_sitemap_priority":"","_bsu_og_title":"","_bsu_og_description":"","_bsu_og_use_hero":false,"_bsu_og_image":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"class_list":["post-494","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bemidjistate.edu\/academics\/honors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/494","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bemidjistate.edu\/academics\/honors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bemidjistate.edu\/academics\/honors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bemidjistate.edu\/academics\/honors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bemidjistate.edu\/academics\/honors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=494"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.bemidjistate.edu\/academics\/honors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/494\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":810,"href":"https:\/\/www.bemidjistate.edu\/academics\/honors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/494\/revisions\/810"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bemidjistate.edu\/academics\/honors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bemidjistate.edu\/academics\/honors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=494"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}