Scott Becker is a mental health advisor in Residence Education and Housing Services. Becker is also a licensed psychologist in private practice in Okemos, Michigan. Over the past 24 years, he has worked at several universities as a staff psychologist, faculty member, director of training, and most recently as the Director of the MSU Counseling Center. He is currently writing a book on the combined impact of globalization, climate change, digital technology, and political propaganda, entitled “Facing Monsters.” Becker earned his doctorate from Miami University. 

MSU Honors College

Dr. Scott Becker speaks at Sharper Focus/Wider Lens "The Varieties of Healing"

Clare Luz is an assistant professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine. Luz is a gerontologist who has conducted research on health services delivery for older adults, optimal functional ability and quality of life, and the intersection of the arts and health. She us founding Director of AgeAlive, a program to foster age-related networking, information exchange and partnerships across MSU. Prior to MSU, she worked for 20 years as a geriatric social worker and consultant in long-term care settings. Luz earned her doctorate from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. 

Dr. Clare Luz speaks at Sharper Focus/Wider Lens "The Varieties of Healing"

William J. Chopik is an assistant professor in the Michigan State University Department of Psychology. Chopik is a social-personality psychologist interested in how relationships and the people in them change over time. His research focuses on how factors both inside (such as biological and hormonal) and outside (such as social roles and geography) of people influence their approach to social relationships. His work examines phenomena as broad as how relationships and social institutions shape development and as focused as the hormonal mechanisms that underlie love and intimacy. Chopik earned his doctorate from the University of Michigan.   

Dr. William J. Chopik speaks at Sharper Focus/Wider Lens "The Varieties of Healing"

Mary A. Bedikian is professor of law in residence and director of the Alternative Dispute Resolution Program in the Michigan State University College of Law. Bedikian is the former district vice president for the Detroit Region of the American Arbitration Association, where she worked for 28 years. Her extensive experience in alternative dispute resolution spans many sectors, including labor, commercial, construction, international, and employment. In 1987, Bedikian created one of the first interactive alternative dispute resolution courses in Michigan and was instrumental in ADR Section of the State Bar of Michigan. Bedikian earned her juris doctorate from Michigan State University. 

Mary Bedikian, JD, speaks at Sharper Focus/Wider Lens "The Varieties of Healing"

Heather Howard is an associate professor in the Michigan State University Department of Anthropology with affiliation to the American Indian and Indigenous Studies Program, and Native American Institute. Howard’s research interests are the politics of knowledge production in cultural, heritage, health, and social service delivery organizations; community-driven methodologies; medical anthropology; indigenous peoples’ health and technologies of chronic illness management. Indigenous people and urbanization is a central focus of her research, in which she examines the evolution of urban indigenous epistemologies of community, including authority-making structures, and the production of knowledge itself as a dynamic process which intervenes in the production of politics, ethical practice, and the social order. Howard earned her doctorate from the University of Toronto. 

Dr. Heather Howard speaks at Sharper Focus/Wider Lens "The Varieties of Healing"

Noah Kaye is an assistant professor in the Department of History at Michigan State University. Noah is an ancient historian and archaeologist focused on the eastern Mediterranean in the Hellenistic and Roman periods, with an interest in the relationship between economic and cultural change. His first book will be a study of the political economy of the Attalid kingdom of Pergamon. In Spring 2020, Noah will be teaching HST 481: The Holy Land in the Graeco-Roman Period. He earned his doctorate from UC-Berkeley. 

Dr. Noah Kaye speaks at Sharper Focus/Wider Lens "Digging Up the Past: New Subjects/New Tools"

Sharon Leon is an associate professor in the Department of History at Michigan State University. Sharon is an historian of American religion with a concentration on U.S. Catholicism. She also specializes in digital methods with a focus on public history. With support from the National Endowment for the Humanities, she is analyzing experiences of the cohort of people enslaved and sold by the Maryland Province Jesuits in the 18th and 19th Sharon’s first book was, “An Image of God: the Catholic Struggle with Eugenics.” She earned her doctorate from the University of Minnesota. 

Dr. Sharon Leon speaks at Sharper Focus/Wider Lens "Digging Up the Past: New Subjects/New Tools"

Stacey Camp is an associate professor in the Department of Anthropology at Michigan State University and director of the Campus Archaeology Program. Stacey researches how social inequality manifests through material culture and environment. Her current research project involves archaeological and archival research on a World War II internment camp in Idaho, where first-generation Japanese migrants were imprisoned as enemy aliens by the United States government. Stacey’s first book, “The Archaeology of Citizenship,” examined how different marginalized groups, especially migrants, in the United States made claims to nationality and citizenship via material culture. She earned her doctorate from Stanford University. 

Dr. Stacey Camp speaks at Sharper Focus/Wider Lens "Digging Up the Past: New Subjects/New Tools"

Siddharth Chandra is a professor in James Madison College at Michigan State University and director of the Asian Studies Center. Siddharth’s research interests include behavior and policy relating to addictive substances, the intersection of economics, health, and history in Asia, and applications of portfolio theory to fields outside finance. He has received funding from the National Institutes of Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation for his research, which has been published in a variety of journals. At James Madison College, he teaches a senior seminar titled “Drug policy from Asia to America,” in which students learn about different approaches to drug policy in Asia and the USA. Siddharth earned his doctorate from Cornell University. 

Dr. Siddharth Chandra speaks at Sharper Focus/Wider Lens "Digging Up the Past: New Subjects/New Tools"

Aaron McCright is chairperson and professor in the Michigan State University Department of Sociology. Employing a range of methods and analytical techniques, Aaron explains the structure, strategy, tactics, and impacts of the US-based climate change denial countermovement; analyzes theoretically relevant patterns and trends in citizens’ climate change views; and investigates key predictors of public views of science and scientists. He is the author of “The Risk Society Revisited: Social Theory and Governance,” and “Community and Ecology: Dynamics of Place, Sustainability, and Politics”. He earned his doctorate from Washington State University. 

Dr. Aaron McCright speaks at Sharper Focus/Wider Lens "Doubting Science and Technology?"

Rick Wash is an associate professor in the Michigan State University Department of Media and Information. His work involves understanding how people think about their interactions with computers, and their interactions with other people through computers. His research has a particular focus on security and collaborative systems. He is currently the Primary Investigator on three NSF grants, including an NSF Early Faculty CAREER award. He earned his doctorate from the University of Michigan. 

Dr. Rick Wash speaks at Sharper Focus/Wider Lens "Doubting Science and Technology?"

Kevin Elliott is an associate professor in Michigan State University's Lyman Briggs College, the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, & Department of Philosophy. His research lies at the intersection of the philosophy of science and practical ethics. His books include, “Is a Little Pollution Good for You? Incorporating Societal Values in Environmental Research,” “Current Controversies in Values and Science,” “Exploring Inductive Risk,” and “A Tapestry of Values: An Introduction to Values in Science”. He earned his doctorate from the University of Notre Dame.  

Dr. Kevin Elliott speaks at Sharper Focus/Wider Lens "Doubting Science and Technology?"

Georgina Montgomery is an associate professor in Michigan State University's Lyman Briggs College and the Department of History. Her research focuses on the history of field science, particularly the development of field methods and sites within primatology and animal behavior studies. Montgomery teaches a range of courses on the history of field science, gender and science, and the history of primatology and animal behavior studies. Montgomery’s publications include a book “Primates in the Real World: Escaping Primate Folklore, Creating Primate Science,” articles for the Journal for the History of Biology and Endeavour, book chapters for Teaching the Animal and a chapter on Darwin and Gender for Cambridge University Press’ encyclopedia on Darwin. She earned her doctorate from the University of Minnesota. 

Dr. Georgina Montgomery speaks at Sharper Focus/Wider Lens "Doubting Science and Technology?"

Carolyn Logan is an associate professor in the Michigan State University Department of Political Science. She is also deputy director of Afrobarometer, a collaborative survey research project that conducts public opinion research on the quality of democracy and governance in 20 African countries. Logan’s research interests are in democratization and political development in Africa, especially in East Africa, the Horn, and Somaliland. She is particularly interested in the role of “traditional” leaders and institutions in democratization, and in “citizen versus subject” attitudes among African publics. Logan lived and worked in Southern and Eastern Africa for nearly a decade before joining MSU. She earned her doctorate from Tufts University.  

Dr. Carolyn Logan speaks at Sharper Focus/Wider Lens "A Continent of Challenge and Resilience: Africa in the 21st Century"

Leo Zulu is an associate professor in the Michigan State University Department of Geography, Environment and Spatial Sciences. His research interests include political ecology; environment and development; community-based natural resources management in rural Africa; deforestation; food security; socio-spatial; temporal and biophysical processes of land use and land cover change in Africa and the techniques that permit their examination. Zulu is editor of the African Geographical Review – the official journal of the Africa Specialty Group of the Association of American Geographers. He earned his doctorate from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.  

Dr. Leo Zulu speaks at Sharper Focus/Wider Lens "A Continent of Challenge and Resilience: Africa in the 21st Century"

Podcasts of Michigan State University faculty talks given during the Honors College's Sharper Focus/Wider Lens series

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MSU Honors College

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