Who are our professors?

The International Studies Program comprises faculty from across departments at Denison University. Most of our faculty have active international research agendas and offer numerous courses with an international orientation. The International Studies Committee has the major responsibility for overseeing the program and for advising international studies majors.

Professor of Modern Languages Gary Baker joined the faculty at Denison in 1989 and teaches German. He earned his B.A. from Juniata College, his M.A. from Pennsylvania State University and his Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota. His research interests include German culture and literature and Netherlandic topics.

Assistant Professor Brenda Boyle received her B.A. in English from Davidson College,  an M.A. in International Relations from University of Southern California, an M.A. in English from Ohio State University, and a Ph.D. in English from Ohio State University. As a member of the English faculty and Director of the Writing Center, Brenda Boyle is interested in American literature of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, with a special focus on issues of rhetoric, race, gender, sexuality, and disability. She teaches classes in composition and rhetoric, British and American modernism, the contemporary novel, fiction and non-fiction war narratives, and academic writing.

Professor of Religion John E. Cort joined the faculty at Denison in 1992. He earned a B.A. and an M.A. at the University of Wisconsin and an M.A. and a Ph.D. at Harvard University. His research interests include Asian, Indian and comparative religions, Indian history and culture and the history of religion.

Assistant Professor Katy Crossley-Frolick joined the faculty in the political science department at Denison University in 2007. Her research focuses on German unification, in particular, the efforts to address the legacy of the East German communist past in the context of East Germany’s transition to democracy. Her newest research project examines the role of the EU in designing policies intended to address human rights violations and to promote reconciliation and the rule of law in post-conflict settings. She is the faculty advisor Denison’s Model United Nations program. Students enrolled in her UN course participate in the annual American Model United Nations simulation in Chicago, a four-day simulation of UN diplomacy. 

Assistant Professor Quentin Duroy teaches in Economics and is a committee member of the International Studies and the Environmental Studies programs. He received a B.S. and M. S. in Economics and a master's degree in Banking and Finance from the Université de Rennes, France. He earned an M.A. in American Culture Studies from Bowling Green State University and a Ph.D. in Ecological Economics from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. His research is concerned with the interface between the multiple dimensions of sustainability. Within that framework, his scholarly work explores relationships between environmental action and economic conditions, between democratic justice and biotechnological development and between social identity formation and capabilities. His research areas are primarily the EU and the US. 

Assistant Professer Sangeet Kumar joined the Department of Communication Fall 2010.  He earned a B.A. from Delhi University, India a M.A. from University of New Mexico, Albuquerque and Ph.D from The  University of Iowa. His research interests lie in the field of cultural globalization.  He believes teaching to be an academician's praxis and is driven by the pedagogical philosophy of creating better global citizens.

Director of International and Off-Campus Study Andrew Law came to Denison in 2004. He earned a B.A. at Georgetown University and a Ph.D. at the University of Minnesota.

Director of International Studies and Associate Professor of Sociology/Anthropology Veerendra P. Lele joined the faculty at Denison in 2003. He earned an A.B. at Cornell University, an M.A. at Georgetown University, an M.A. at the University of Michigan and an M.Phil. and a Ph.D. at Columbia University. His research interests are in cultural identity, material culture and archeology, issues of racial and ethnic identity, kinship, and religious ritual. Much of his field work has been done in Ireland, exploring issues of identity through the work of certain philosophers.

Assistant Professor of Women's Studies and International Studies Isis Nusair joined the faculty at Denison in 2005. She earned a B.A. at Tel-Aviv University, an M.A. at the University of Notre Dame and a Ph.D. at Clark University. She has served as a researcher on women's human rights in the Middle East and North Africa for Human Rights Watch and worked as a researcher with the Euro-Med Human Rights Network.

Dr Jim Pletcher Jim R. Pletcher joined the faculty 1983 after earning his doctorate from the  University of Wisconsin-Madison. At Denison he has served in a variety of faculty governance rules including coordinating the Early Career mentoring Program and the Preparing Future Faculty Program. He currently serves as the University's Director of Fellowships. He is also the Executive director of the Africa Network, a consortium of liberal arts colleges and professors teaching about Africa at the undergraduate level. Jim also currently holds the Charles and Nancy Brickman distinguished Service chair.

Dr Pletcher's research focuses on the politics and institutions of agricultural production and marketing in the developing world. Most of his research has been done in Africa, though he has worked in Malaysia as well. Jim's current project explores the dynamics of small holder production and marketing of agricultural exports in Uganda. I am also looking at the effect of import standards and global trade negotiations on Ugandan exports.

Assistant Professor of International Studies Taku Suzuki joined the faculty in 2007. He earned a B.A. at Meiji Gakuin University in Japan and his M.A. and Ph.D. at the University of Minnesota. His research interests include the Okinawan immigrant community in eastern Bolivia, Okinawan/Bolivian immigrant communities in Japan, and transnational Okinawan peace and environmental activism.

Assistant Professor of Communications Ping Yang earned her B.A. from Xi'an International Studies University, M.A. from Bowling Green University, and Ph.D Arizona State University. Her teaching and scholarship focus on the intersection of culture, communication, and technology.  She is currently working on projects that examine ethnic minority identity, heritage language education, and identities construction in intercultural online communication. 

For more information about the department and curriculum, go to:

International Studies Department

or contact:

Veerendra Lele, Director
Department of International Studies
Fellows Hall, Room 417
Denison University
Granville, Ohio 43023

Phone:  (740) 587-5765
Fax:  (740) 587-5764
E-mail: lelev@denison.edu