Faculty

Professor of French
Director of International Studies
B.A., Marian College
M.A., Ph.D., Purdue University
pdkiley@presby.edu

Having joined the Department of Modern Foreign Languages at PC in the fall of  2008, I’m thrilled to be part of a faculty where student-centred teaching is the primary focus of the college. As both a faculty member in the French program and director of the International Studies major, I’m deeply committed to helping students explore the rich and complex dimensions of other world languages, cultures, and civilizations. As a strong advocate of study abroad, I have led many short-term programs abroad over the past several years in France as part of our Spring Break, Maymester and Summer Program offerings at PC (“Paris Modern: The City as Spectacle,” and “Intercultural Business Communication: France and the US”). My summers are spent teaching and directing the 4-week program we offer in Lyon, France at I-DRAC, International School of Business. In collaboration with my colleagues in the Office of International Programs, I have helped develop numerous exchange partnerships in France, most recently with schools in Paris (ESG), Lyon (I-DRAC), Grenoble (Pierre Mendès) and St. Etienne (HECI).

While I am passionate and enthusiastic about the courses I teach, I do believe that good teaching is also informed by good scholarship. As such, I remain professionally active in my scholarship, attending and presenting at national and international conferences and workshops in the field of languages and literatures, translation studies and applied business. My past research has focused on historical understandings of pain in post-revolutionary France and the art and science of gastronomy in 18th and 19th Century France. In recent years, my scholarly focus has shifted more towards the professional field of applied business. In the fall of 2014 I will be co-presenting forthcoming papers with business colleagues in France and the UK at conferences in London and Paris. When I am not busy in the classroom or researching in libraries, I enjoy a match of ‘le foot’ with my children, re-mastering the cello, and strolling the banks of the Saône river in Lyon.

Professor of History
Office location: Neville Hall 100
Office phone: 864-833-8363
Office email: rbcamp@presby.edu
B.A., Wingate University
M.A., Ph.D., Florida State University

Research field:

Modern China

Teaching fields:

China, India, Middle East, Revolutions

I joined PC’s History department in the fall of 2002, directly after finishing my Ph.D. work at Florida State University. What led me to PC was the desire to teach in a small liberal arts college much like my undergraduate alma mater, Wingate University.  At PC, I teach a number of classes on Chinese History (my major field), and I also regularly offer courses in my minor areas of concentration, India and the Middle East.  Beginning with a Fulbright fellowship to the South Pacific island nation of Vanuatu (the former New Hebrides), a great deal of my research over the years has centered upon the Western colonial experience in various areas of the world.  At PC, I’ve made this general interest a primary theme in a number of my specialty classes, such as Asia and the Western Impact, Violence and Terror in the Modern World, Millenarian Movements, and Violence and Revolution in the French Empire.  My favorite part of teaching at PC is the opportunity to lead students on trips abroad. Over the past few years, I’ve joined my colleagues in leading student groups to China, Oxford, Vietnam, Istanbul, Ireland, Jerusalem, Cairo, Barbados, Portugal and New Zealand. I also spent the summer of 2011 teaching on the Semester-at-Sea program’s Mediterranean voyage.

While I’m a native of North Dakota, I spent a good portion of my youth in the panhandle of Florida.  At Wingate, I met my lovely wife, Suzette, and since coming to PC we’ve been blessed with two adorable boys, Dakota (11) and Skye (9). As a family, we love traveling to out of the way places, and you’ll also see us in regular attendance at Blue Hose sporting events!

I’ll be on sabbatical during the fall semester of 2015, doing research in the French colonial archives on the colonial period in Vanuatu (Les Nouvelle Hebrides) as well as the French influence in China during the late-19th century.  I’ll be back in the spring of 2016, teaching Violence and Revolution in the French Empire and History of the Modern Middle East and North Africa.  I’ll also be leading a Maymester to bonnie ol’ Scotland next year!  So get out your bagpipes and stay tuned for more information!

Robert M. Vance Professor of Business Administration
Department Chair
B.S., Presbyterian College
B.E., Vanderbilt University
Ph.D., Clemson University
Joined PC Faculty: 1987
ssmith@presby.edu

Courses

• Management and Organizational Behavior
• Operations Management
• Computer Applications for Business
• Managerial Communication
• Doing Business in China (2009, 2012)

Awards

Presbyterian College Professor of the Year, 2001
Presbyterian College SGA Spirit of PC Award, 2001
Presbyterian College Outstanding Young Alumna Award, 1999

Professional and Service Activities

Decision Sciences Institute
Laurens County Health Care System Board member
Greenville Health System Quality & Academics Committee member

Recent Presentations and Publications

“A Review of the Higher Education Crisis Literature and Implications for Business Faculty Members,” Proceedings of Southeast INFORMS, October 2014.

“Outsourced: Romantic Comedy Meets World Economic Data and Cross Cultural Management Concepts in Heat Maps,” Proceedings of the Southeast Decision Sciences Institute, February 2014.

“Using Peer Evaluation to Support Class Participation Grading in the Managerial Communication course,” Proceedings of the Southeast Decision Sciences Institute, February 2013.

“Healthcare and Higher Education: Shared Lessons in Lean,” Proceedings of the Southeast Decision Sciences Institute, February 2012 (co-authored and co-presented with Sandra Thompson).

“Connections for Healthcare Quality – The Linkage Between the Introduction of Lean Principles in Higher Education and their Application in a Healthcare Setting,” Presentation to Decision Sciences Institute, November 2011 (co-presented with Sandra Thompson).

“A Comparison of Classroom Response Systems: Handheld Clickers vs. Cellphone Texting,” workshop presented at Southeast Decision Sciences Institute, February 2011.

“Client Satisfaction Surveys: A Process Improvement Tool for Law Firms,” Proceedings of the Southeast Decision Sciences Institute, February 2010 (co-authored and co-presented with Brenda L. Stewart).

“Faculty Assessment of Internships: Creating a Better System,” Proceedings of the Southeast Decision Sciences Institute, February 2009 (co-authored and co-presented with Linda Jameison.”

“Internships and Outcomes: Learning Through Collaboration,” presented at ACPA, March 2008 (co-presented with Linda Jameison).

Developed DVD highlighting students, faculty, and employers in the PC internship program with Linda Jameison, 2008.

Favorite Quotations

“I never did a day’s work in my life. It was all fun.”
– Thomas A. Edison

“I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.”
– C. S. Lewis

Associate Professor of History
Office location: Neville Hall 101C
Office phone: 864-833-7164
Office email: swwiecki@presby.edu
B.A., Freie Universitat Berlin
M.A., Ph.D., Brandeis University

Research field:

Modern Germany

Teaching fields:

Modern Europe, Modern War, Fascism, Communism, and Democratic Transformations

Before joining the PC History Department in the fall of 2008, I taught modern European history for two years at Wellesley College. I received my undergraduate degree in history and political science from the Free University Berlin in Germany. After finishing my B.A. in 1999, I participated for a year in the Washington Semester Program at American University in Washington, DC and worked as an editor for a homeless newspaper and later as a research assistant for the Institute for National Strategic Studies.

In 2001, I joined the Ph.D. program in Comparative History at Brandeis University in Waltham, MA. My research examines Germany’s transformation from Nazi dictatorship into democracy after WWII. I became interested in democracy development after serving as a NATO peacekeeper in former Yugoslavia in the 1990s.

My experiences there greatly inspired me to become a teacher and contribute to the development of democratic values through education. Here at PC, I offer courses on the origins and impact of modern war, especially WWI and WWII. Another class will compare fascist movements and regimes in Europe, East Asia, Africa, and South America.

Associate Professor of Political Science
B.A., Bethany College
M.A., Ph.D., Ohio State University
 jelance@presby.edu

Dr. Justin Lance joined the Political Science department at Presbyterian College in 2011. He received his Ph.D. in Political Science from the Ohio State University in 2010, his Masters degree in Political Science from the Ohio State University in 2007, and his B.A., summa cum laude, from Bethany College (W.V.) in 2002. He has previously taught at the Ohio State University, Penn State University- Harrisburg, and the College of Charleston.

His research and teaching interests include Latin American (particularly Brazilian) and African politics, political economy, and U.S. foreign policy.  In 2013, he published an article (co-authored with Prof. Erin McAdams) in Politics and Religion that compares the political attitudes of Evangelical Protestants in the U.S. and Brazil, and his research on the effects of social spending on the decrease of murder rates in Mexico and Brazil was published in Latin American Politics & Society in 2014.  He is currently expanding upon this latter research to examine the impact of conditional cash transfer (CCT) programs on Latin Americans’ trust in government. At PC, he teaches classes on Latin American Politics, African Politics, U.S. Foreign Policy, political analysis and research methods, and Third World Underdevelopment.

His hobbies include cooking, classic European cars, and landscaping and housing projects. He is also a big Cleveland sports fans and follows the Indians and Browns regularly. He enjoys traveling outside of the U.S., and has been to over 20 different countries in the world.

Dr. Lance can be reached at jelance@presby.edu or (864) 833-8451.

Assistant Professor of English
Director, Women’s & Gender Studies program
Office location: Neville Hall 216
Office phone: 864.833.8368
etaylor@presby.edu
BA, English and Spanish, University of Northern Iowa
PhD, Comparative Literature, University of Oregon
Joined PC in 2012

Courses taught:

Introduction to Literary Theory and Criticism, Women’s World Literature, Postcolonial Literature and Film