Their reach is far, their influence undeniable. They are the faculty and staff of the Greater Cincinnati Collegiate Connection (GC3) who are not only fulfilling their teaching roles at the GC3 institutions, but are also being called upon for their expertise locally, nationally and internationally. They have earned the respect of the global community and are held in high regard, and they’re right in our hometowns in Greater Cincinnati.
Dr. Rodney D’Souza
Dr. Rodney D’Souza was still studying for his MBA at Northern Kentucky University when he began receiving recognition nationally and internationally for developing an advanced business assessment tool for the Commonwealth of Kentucky’s Innovation and Commercialization Center to educate and encourage entrepreneurship within the state. The tool was designed to assist entrepreneurs determine best next steps when starting a company.
The tool was even discussed in a hearing before the U.S. Senate’s Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, as a tool for states to screen viable business investments and determine whether they should receive funding. This attention led to conference presentations and journal articles for his work and expertise in the business and entrepreneurship fields.
Now D’Souza, a Fifth Third Bank Endowed Professor of Entrepreneurship, is the director of the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at NKU. He is also co-founder of INKUBATOR, a top five ranked university business accelerator in North America and INKUBIZ, a virtual co-op program facilitating application of classroom learning. D’Souza has accumulated a laundry list of awards like the Freedoms Foundation Leavey Award for Excellence in Private Enterprise Education and the Haile/US Bank Alumni Association Impact Award for his research, and he is consulted widely for his knowledge.
“We do some really innovative and entrepreneurial things at NKU (like being one of the few colleges to offer a competency-based curriculum in entrepreneurship),” says D’Souza, noting the attention is great for the university. “It also helps in recruiting and retaining students to our program and university.”
Dr. John Forren
Dr. John Forren is frequently quoted in local media and has been consulted by National Public Radio on issues of American politics, criminal justice and civic engagement. As Assistant Professor of Justice and Community Studies and an Affiliate Faculty Member in Political Science at Miami University Regionals (Hamilton Campus) that’s right in his wheelhouse.
Typically Forren, a professor of 22 years, is consulted by media when there is a local political issue in the area. For instance, he may be asked for an explanation of how something works, what the research shows, or the likelihood of voters showing up in an off-election year. NPR requested his expert opinion during the race to replace former Speaker of the House John Boehner for an interview with Robert Siegel and for a spot on “All Things Considered.”
Forren is also actively involved in engaging and informing the public on local government and community events, like Citizen and Democracy Week, discussion panels, and meet the candidate nights, for which he is asked to weigh in with his nonpartisan opinion. Forren is co-author of the “Ohio Civic Health Index,” a periodic report that looks at various indicators of how involved Ohioans are in politics. He also presented in Columbus at the statehouse regarding the report. Forren says talking to community members, government officials and media, particularly for political scientists, is part of the job.
“If, as college faculty, we can use what we know from our training to help other people understand what is going on around them, which I think politics is pretty important, that’s worth doing,” Forren explains. “It’s a chance to sort of contribute in a positive way to the community.”
Dr. Michelle Flaum Hall
It was a harrowing medical crisis that propelled Dr. Michelle Flaum Hall, a practitioner and associate professor of counseling at Xavier University, to better understand her clients as a clinical counselor, as well as educate health care professionals about helping patients who endure distress as a result of medical treatment.
“My near-death experience following childbirth, and the lack of mental health care I received from my own health care professionals, inspired me to explore how I might make a difference in the lives of patients who experience medical trauma,” Hall says.
Hall published journal articles in “Nursing for Women's Health,” which got her noticed by a Stanford University researcher who ultimately connected her with the California Maternal Quality Care Collaborative, a leading national organization in terms of publishing best practices in maternal health and for improving maternal morbidity and mortality outcomes. There, Hall created assessment instruments and screening tools used to identify distress in patients, while raising awareness about the signs of acute stress in postpartum women, which then led to work with the Council on Patient Safety in Women's Health Care, and national recognition.
Hall used her personal and professional experience and knowledge to coauthor, with her husband Dr. Scott E. Hall, the first book to conceptualize medical trauma and provide mental health and health care professionals with best practices for treating such trauma in health care settings, “Managing the Psychological Impact of Medical Trauma: A Guide for Mental Health and Health Care Professionals.”
In addition to teaching courses focusing on training graduate students in counseling skills, clinical interventions, mindfulness, neuroscience and wellness, scholars worldwide who are passionate about ensuring patients' mental health needs connect with Hall.
Dr. Gene Kritsky
Whenever there’s a cicada emergence, Dr. Gene Kritsky is always nearby. The dean of Behavioral and Natural Sciences and professor in the Department of Biology at Mount St. Joseph University is the local, well-known bug expert whose knowledge on not only cicadas, but all things insect, is in high demand.
“I’ve done everything from “CBS Evening News,” “Sunday Morning” from one extreme to the “TODAY Show,” to the other extreme I’ve been in People Magazine,” Kritsky recounts. “I never intended to do that but it’s a great way of sharing my enthusiasm for insects.”
It all began for Kritsky when, as a senior in high school, he met Margaret Mead in Chicago after she gave a speech.
“She said, ‘Learn to write and take pictures for the public. They’re the ones who are paying the bills and they’re the ones who are arguing the benefits of what we’re discovering,’ so I took that to heart,” Kritsky recalls
Kritsky had a radio show, discovered two new broods of cicada, co-described a 110 million-year-old cicada fossil (the oldest known cicada fossil), lived as a scholar in Egypt, is the editor of American Entomologist, has written five books and over 100 papers on insect evolution, beekeeping history, Egyptology, and Charles Darwin. He also did work at the Cincinnati Museum Center on traveling exhibit design where he curated a Charles Darwin exhibit which traveled internationally and even hung in Darwin’s bedroom.
So, it’s no wonder that Kritsky’s name is the first people think of when they need entomological advice. His expertise is unparalleled and his international recognition is unmatched in the field. His popularity has also assisted him with his research, as the public and educational and research institutions contact him with helpful information, as well.
Dr. Steve Szeghi
When Dr. Steve Szeghi, professor of economics at Wilmington College, wrote and published “Right Relationship: Building a Whole Earth Economy” with four others, he was propelled to international fame. It could have been the endorsement from former President Jimmy Carter, but it also could have been his lifelong passion for not only economics, but ecological consciousness, social justice, freedom and ethics – all of which can coexist – that helped garner him media attention worldwide.
Szeghi has been featured in countless journals and publications, as well as online. He has also been invited to speak in Greece, Turkey, England, and France, among others, and was the keynote speaker at the Altai Conference in Russia where he spoke about ecology and economics. In 2016 Szeghi participated in a special United Nations Commission in the Ecological Economics portion.
And while his international acclaim has been helpful in spreading his message of ecology, economics, social justice and ethics in harmony, it has also helped broaden his perspective, bringing back what he has learned to Cincinnati, sharing his message at events like the Un-Summit, sponsored by Community Shares of Greater Cincinnati and others, which detailed perspectives on poverty.
“These international conferences have allowed me to engage in dialogue and make friendships with a whole lot of people from so many different countries that represent different cultures, different religions, different philosophies,” Szeghi expresses. “Yet, they were all people who had a passion for social justice and ecology and putting some ethics back into economics.”
With more than 18,000 GC3 faculty and staff dedicated to making sure their students become adept and skilled in their fields of study, those faculty and staff are, themselves, authorities in their respective fields of study. That means a lot of highly-qualified professionals in our region, many of whom, like the aforementioned, are considered experts, sought after by media, business leaders, governmental bodies and colleagues in academia for their prowess.
GC3 Colleges & Universities
Art Academy of Cincinnati
Athenaeum of Ohio – Mount St. Mary’s Seminary
Chatfield College
Cincinnati Christian University
Cincinnati State Technical and Community College
Gateway Community & Technical College
God's Bible School & College
Good Samaritan College of Nursing and Health Science
Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion
Miami University
Miami University - Regionals
Mount St. Joseph University
Northern Kentucky University
The Christ College of Nursing & Health Sciences
Thomas More College
Union Institute & University
University of Cincinnati
UC Clermont College
UC Blue Ash College
Wilmington College
Xavier University