Internationally Engaged Faculty
International Projects
Narayanan (“Dr. Raj”) Rajendran
Paul G. Wilhelm
Andrew Smith
Christopher Daniel
Jim Tidwell
Thomas Webster
Cynthia Lynn Shelton
Steven D. Mims
Tom McPartland
Edwin Conner
Michael O. Kasongo
Raphael Jackson
Narayanan (“Dr. Raj”) Rajendran
Associate Professor. Dr. Raj received his BS (1983) from University of Madras, MS (1985), Ph.D (1990) from Bharathidasan University, and studied Molecular Biology I & II, and Cell Biology courses from University of California-Irvine. He has 25 years of research and teaching experiences from various universities such as Michigan State University, University of Cincinnati, Cornell University, University of California-Irvine, University of Louisville, Philipps University-Marburg (Germany), Anna University (India), Salem International University, etc. He has received several national and international awards and honors including the prestigious (i) Alexander von Humboldt International fellowship to do research in molecular biology at Philipps University-Marburg, Germany, (ii) QEM faculty fellowship award to do research in Nanobiotechnology at Cornell University, and (iii) ASM international Professorship to teach Bioinformatics course at Gujarat University-India. He also received UGC-DAAD (German) fellowship, DFG scholarship, and European Union scholarship. He has published 16 peer-reviewed research papers, more than 30 other research papers, abstracts and proceedings, 2 books, 5 book-chapters, 2 Biotechnology educational videos etc. He has presented his research at international conferences in Sienna (Italy), Berlin (Germany), Toronto (Canada), Assam (India) and several in United States.
Dr. Raj has been instrumental in facilitating collaboration between Kentucky State University (KSU) and Gujarat University (GU), sponsored jointly by IUSSTF and ASM (Washington DC) in 2009. Both universities, students, and faculty members have benefited from the research and teaching exchanges. GU is the largest University in the state of Gujarat in India where the ashram of Mahatma Gandhi is situated next to Sabarmati River.
Photo: Dr. Mary Sias, President of Kentucky State University, accepts the memento, from Dr. Narayanan Rajendran, presented to her by Dr. Parimal H. Trivedi, Vice Chancellor of Gujarat University, India recognizing her pivotal role in the interaction between two universities.
Paul G. Wilhelm
Associate Professor of Management, School of Business, Kentucky State University. Ph.D. , University of Iowa, College of Business, 1982. Major field: Management. Minor Field: Research Methodology and Statistics. Dissertation Title: An exploratory field test of selected factors in Schuler’s definition of stress. M.A. , University of Iowa, College of Business. 1980. Major area: Management. M.B.A. , University of Missouri – St. Louis. 1978. Major area: Management. Additional coursework: Production and accounting at Washington University, 1974-1975. B.A., University of Missouri- St. Louis, 1973. Major: Psychology. Dr. Wilhelm has been doing international research for 17 years. His work is primarily socioeconomics or international culture and econometrics research as well, and he is interested in international gender empowerment and why it is so negatively correlated with corruption.
Andrew Smith
Associate Professor of Music (1996); B.Mus., Kentucky State University; M.Mus., Roosevelt University. Mr. Smith directs the Opera Music Theatre Workshop Program. He is a regular guest of America’s leading opera companies. During twelve years at the Metropolitan Opera, he has performed leading baritone roles. The New York City Opera has also enjoyed his portrayals. Andrew Smith has frequented notable opera companies such as The Connecticut Opera, Michigan Opera Theatre, Oakland Opera, Palm Springs, Pittsburg Opera, New Jersey State Opera, performing the leading roles in most notably Aida, Billy Budd, Mahagonny, Simon Boccanegra, Nabucco, Rigoletto, Il Trovatore,, Cavalleria Rusticana, I Pagliacci, Street Scenes and Tosca to name a few. Andrew Smith has performed on some of the most illustrious stages of Europe: Opera de Nice, Birmingham England Opera Festival, and Opera Royal De Wallonie. To critical acclaim he performed in Il Tabarro, and Aida. He has also made his Hungarian concert debut as Porgy in Porgy and Bess in performances sponsored by the State Department of The United States, and Mr. Smith has been invited to return to Budapest. Other notable engagements include appearances at the Spoleto Festival in Melbourne and Sydney, Australia at the invitation of composer, Gian Carlo Menotti. Mr. Smith has appeared with the Pittsburgh Symphony on the renown stage of the Arena di Verona in Italy, and toured extensively throughout Spain and Germany in concerts with reputed conductor, Maestro Lorin Maazel.
Christopher Daniel
As a graduate student Dr. Daniel conducted field research for two years about the implementation of housing and water policies in Costa Rica. He was completing his doctorate at the University of Florida at that time, emphasizing the study of Latin American politics. He currently teaches international development courses as part of KSU’s Master of Public Administration (MPA) program, and also recruits students for study abroad. He represents KSU on the Board of the Kentucky Institute for International Studies (KIIS), a study abroad consortium. He has taught three times in Mexico, twice as part of the KIIS summer program there...His current scholarship and service address integration of blue collar Latino immigrants into American society.
Jim Tidwell
Dr. Tidwel is Chair of the Division of Aquaculture, and Principal Investigator, freshwater shrimp and largemouth bass. Dr. Tidwell is working with the Dominican Aquaculture Association (ADOA) and the Dominican Institute for Agriculture, Livestock and Forestry Research (IDAF) on the adoption of current production technologies and the development of aquaculture diets based on Dominican agro-industrial products and by-products
As one of the researchers at the Aquaculture Research Center, Dr. Tidwell's overall objective is to facilitate the development of aquaculture as a viable industry within the Commonwealth. His research is directed toward identifying culture species best suited for production and marketing within the region. Recently, his work has taken him to the Dominican Republic where he is working with officials there to explore ways in which KSU can assist that country with its aquaculture endeavors.
The aquaculture program has nine graduate students from nine foreign countries, two of which are now pursuing the PhD.
Latest news: Dr. Tidwell has been invited to speak at the Asian Pacific Aquaculture 2011 Conference in Kochi, India on January 17-20, 2011. The event is hosted by the College of Fisheries, Kochi (Kerala Agricultural University) and the Department of Fisheries of the Government of Kerala, India.
Thomas Webster
State Specialist
Dr. Webster specializes in the education of beekeepers and others with interests in honey bees. The apiculture department at KSU conducts workshops on Beginning Beekeeping each year. Current concerns and developments in beekeeping are discussed at meetings of state and local associations. Observation bee hives are maintained at the Department of Fish and Wildlife Game. Dr. Webster has worked extensively in Ecuador, as well as in Kentucky with Spanish apiculturists.
Cynthia Lynn Shelton
Dr. Shelton is an Assistant Professor and Coordinator of Africana Studies in the Whitney Young College of Honors and Liberal Studies. She has a BA in History, with a specialization in Africana Studies, from Wayne State University. She also holds an MPA, with a specialization in International Administration and Development, from Kentucky State University, an MA in American History from the University of Kentucky, and a Ph.D. in History from the University of Kentucky (2003).
Dr. Shelton has conducted independent research in Brazil focusing on the social service of women’s groups. She has participated in two CIEE faculty exchange programs, Brazil 2006 and Botswana/South Africa 2010. Recently a paper on "Societal Corporatism: The Associative Activity of Black Women in the Post Modern Era" was accepted for presentation at the Fourth International Global Studies Conference to be held in July 2011 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. For the Summer of 2011 she is also organizing a faculty-led program to take KSU students to study and experience the Caribbean nations of Antigua, Montserrat and Nevis.
While serving as Coordinator of KSU’s Masters of Public Administration program, Dr. Shelton taught courses in International Administration and Development. Perceiving the need to offer KSU’s students transnational field experiences, she became Brazil Program Director for the Kentucky Institute of International Studies (KIIS). In 2007 and 2008, 25 students in the KIIS consortium studied in Dr. Shelton‘s Brazil program.
As a graduate assistant in the School of Public Administration at KSU, she co-authored KSU’s first Cooperative Association of Southern States (CASS) grant which brought students from the Caribbean and Central America to study here. The program continues to this day and is now known as SEEDS. While pursuing her doctorate degree, her research on the involvement of African American women’s groups in the international social justice movement was presented at numerous international venues. She also is certified in cross-cultural education from Georgetown University in Washington D.C.
Steven Mims
Dr. Mims is a Professor and the Principal Investigator of paddlefish and sturgeon projects at KSU. He has developed a new collaboration with Dr. Hon Ji, College of Animal Science, Northwest Sci-Tech University of Agriculture and Forestry, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, China. Their university has a paddlefish production program in cages and reservoirs. He has submitted for funding to bring a group of hatchery professionals to Kentucky State University and have them trained in spawning techniques of paddlefish.
Since 1997 Dr. Mims has worked with Dr. Otomar Linhart, dean of the College of Fisheries and Protection of Waters at the University of South Bohemia in Vodnany, Czech Republic. In September of 2010 Dr. Linhart came to KSU and to give presentations on “Research and Education of Faculty at the College of Fisheries and Protection of Waters in Czech Republic”, as well as renew an exchange and collaboration agreement between his university and KSU.
Thomas J. McPartland
Dr. McPartland, in addition to being Chair of the Whitney Young School of Honors and Liberal Studies, is active academically and has delivered two papers recently in Hong Kong. One was a paper on “the Philosophy of History and a Second Axial Age: Lonergan and the Differentiation of Interiority” for the “Translatio Imperii in the 3rd Millennium: Philosophy and Theology Address Power and Revolution in History” conference, University of Hong Kong (February 19, 2010). He also delivered a paper on “Revolutions: Progress or Decline?” for the “Revolutions: Finished and Unfinished, from Primal to Final” Conference, University of Hong Kong, March 18, 2010.
Edwin Conner
Associate Professor (1988). B.A. University of the South; M.A., Vanderbilt University; Ph.D., Vanderbilt University: English Literature
Dr. Conner regularly teaches language and literature courses courses, including Latin, in the Whitney Young School of Honors, the honors program of KSU. He has offered a series of elective courses in the major religions of the world and teaches interdisciplinary seminars in the literature of many cultures. Since 1990 he has been a Trustee and campus representatives at KSU for the Co-Operative Center for Study Abroad, through which he has taught and directed many study-abroad programs in England, Ireland, and Australia. He has served five terms as Faculty Senate Secretary and President, and he is KSU’s Faculty Regent from AY 2010 through 2013. He has published essays on Chaucer and on the medieval literature of mysticism. Dr. Conner's office is 128A Carver Hall; his phone is (502) 597-6732; his email is edwin.conner@kysu.edu .
Michael O. Kasongo
Associate Professor of History (since 1994); B.S., University of Congo; M.Th., Free University of Congo School of Theology; M.A., University of Kentucky; Ph.D., University of Kentucky.
Originally from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Central Africa, Dr. Kasongo is a naturalized United States citizen. He has lived and worked in the U.S. for 37 years. For the past 15 years, he has been offering African, Asian, American, and European History courses at KSU. During those 15 years, he has participated in international conferences in England, France, Switzerland, and Germany, in addition to offering direct professional services to over one million Rwandese refugees who were stationed in the Congolese Cities of Bukavu, Goma, and Uvira. He is also an ordained minister in the United Methodist Church and has offered his services to both African American and European American congregations on a part-time basis. He also serves as Community representative for International Exchange Students in local high schools.
Raphael Jackson
Mr. Jackson recently joined the KSU library faculty in the spring of 2011. His first experience living abroad was during his undergraduate years when he travelled extensively throughout western and eastern Europe. His most recent international experience was as an English teacher in Indonesia, where he taught students and held workshops for English faculty at the State Polytecic Institute at Jakarta.
Raphael enjoys learning foreign languages and is fluent in both Spanish and Bahasa Indonesia. He is currently studying Modern Standard Arabic and Portuguese and hopes to promote the International Studies program and KSU. Raphael has a B.A. in International Relations from Florida International University and an M.L.S. from the University of South Florida. He is currently a librarian at the Blazer Library of KSU.
KSU Aquaculture Exhibit At World Equestrian Games
Kentucky State University’s Division of Aquaculture showcases its technological capabilities as well as recruit international and United States students for its online courses using its 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games booth, running Sept. 25-Oct. 10 at the Kentucky Horse Park, 89 Iron Works Parkway, Lexington, Ky.
“How We Learn Today” will be the first booth on the right upon entering the Trade Show Village. It will feature real and enlarged models of iPods, netbook computers, e-readers and smart phones, all displaying video content on their screens. Visitors can learn more about aquaculture on the wall-mounted iPads. In addition to the interactive technology, the booth will have brochures available with more information about the division and its video-based online courses.
Other elements of the innovative display include simulated water running through the display counter to set the aquaculture mood. Another corner of the booth will house a Microsoft Surface, which is a large tabletop computer that allows multiple people to explore the computer’s content by just touching the screen. The Surface will direct visitors to locations around Lexington or provide video clips of the day’s news and aquaculture information, photos and video.
Southern Interdisciplinary Roundtable on African Studies (SIRAS) - Dr. Egbunam Amadife leads this international forum that looks at various aspects of the African Diaspora.
Land Grant Hispanic Initiative
Working to empower the Latino community by addressing socioeconomic and educational challenges.
African American Studies Minor
KSU offers a new minor in African American studies.
SEED Program
The Scholarship for Education and Economic Development (SEED) Program is a long-term international development project aimed at creating peaceful relations among the United States and the seven Latin American and Caribbean countries involved in the program. Students who have been identified as strong leaders by their rural communities in Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic are awarded scholarships to come and study in the United States. The goal of SEED is for students to be trained as leaders who will return home after two years to give back to their families, communities, and countries. There are only 18 schools in the entire country who receive the SEED grant from Georgetown University in Washington D.C., and KSU is very proud to be one of these recipients. Approximately twenty students join the university every two years and participate in a two-year program designed specifically for them. See this site for more information.