Wilkes University is welcoming three new faculty members at the start of the 2020-2021 academic year. The new faculty and their areas of specialization are:
David Hicks has joined the Maslow Family Graduate Program in Creative Writing as its director and as faculty of practice in the program. Prior to joining Wilkes, Hicks was founder and director of the Mile-High MFA Program, a low-residency creative writing program at Regis University in Denver, Colo. Hicks also was professor of English at Regis, where he taught since 2001. Earlier in his career, he was chair of the English Department at Marywood University in Scranton, Pa. An accomplished fiction writer, Hicks is the author of the novel “White Plains,” published by Conundrum Press/Bower House Books in 2017. His short stories and essays have appeared in numerous publications, including Writer’s Digest, Saranac Review and Glimmer Train Stories. His short story “Diamond Dash” in the Colorado Review was nominated for a Pushcart Prize and his story “A Cylinder of Ash” won the 1999 Fiction Award, Colorado Council on the Arts. Hicks earned his Ph.D. in English from New York University, a Master of Arts in English from St. Bonaventure University and the Bachelor of Arts in English from Nazareth College.
Richard J. Muszynski III has joined the Jay S. Sidhu School of Business and Leadership as an assistant professor of quantitative management. Prior to joining Wilkes, he was a business instructor at Washington State University in Pullman, Wash. He is the author of numerous articles examining the use of analytical applications for calculations in a variety of settings, including business, health care and stock data. Muszynski earned the Ph.D. in business administration with a focus on operations and management science from Washington State University. He also earned a Master of Science degree in statistics and a second Master of Science degree in mathematics, both from Washington State University. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in mathematics from Lewis-Clark State College in Lewiston, Idaho.
Ursula-Pearl Nwabueze has joined the Passan School of Nursing as an assistant professor of nursing in the undergraduate nursing program. Before joining Wilkes, Nwabueze was a nurse educator at Brookdale University Hospital and Medical Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., covering medical surgical, operating room and same-day surgery departments. In that role she was responsible for on-going professional education for the nursing staff. She also was adjunct assistant professor in nursing at New York City College of Technology of the City University of New York. Prior to her work in nursing education, Nwabueze was a full-time staff nurse in the emergency and medical/surgical departments at Kings County Hospital Center in Brooklyn. Earlier in her career, she was a podiatrist in solo practice. Nwabueze earned the Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree at Pace University and a Master of Science in nursing education from St. Joseph’s College. She also has a Doctor of Podiatric Medicine degree from New York College of Podiatric Medicine and a Master of Public Health degree in health-care policy and administration from Brooklyn College of the City University of New York, where she also earned the Bachelor of Arts degree in biology. She is currently pursuing the Doctor of Education in Nursing Education degree at Columbia University.
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