Meet the New Faculty Members
Scott R. Robinson, Ph.D. - Psychology
Senior Research Professor
Laboratory of Comparative Ethogenesis
Department of Psychology
http://www.isu.edu/psych/fac_robiscott.htmlSince 1982, Dr. Robinson's laboratory has been engaged in a program of research concerned with the prenatal origins of behavior in the fetus. This research has provided evidence for the temporal and spatial organization of spontaneous motor activity, the prenatal expression of species-typical behavior in response to sensory stimulation, the capacity to learn in utero, and some of the neural systems involved in these behavioral abilities in rodent and sheep fetuses and preterm and newborn human infants. His lab employs state-of-the-art techniques for behavioral study of animal fetuses, manipulation of neurochemical receptors in the fetal nervous system, and assessment of the earliest forms of organization of behavior through quantitative and video-based kinematic analyses of fetal and neonatal movement.
Kevin York - Music
ISU Associate Director of Bands
Director of the Bengal Marching Band
http://www.isu.edu/departments/music/yorkk.shtmlKevin York earned Bachelors degrees in both business management and music education at Grand Valley State University. He earned a Master of Music degree in Instrumental Conducting from Texas Tech in 2005. After spending a year as the Interim Assistant Director of Bands at Mississippi State University, he returned to Grand Valley State University where he directed the 150-member marching band for the past three years.
Brett Judd, M.S.W. - Sociology
Assistant Professor
Department of Sociology
juddbret@isu.eduA native of Pocatello, Brett graduated from Pocatello High School in 1985. Following his desire to work with people in need, he began studies in Psychology at Idaho State University and graduated in 1996 with a Bachelors degree in Social Work with a minor in Sociology.
Following Graduation Brett went to work for the Department of Correction as a Felony Probation Officer and stayed with them for nine and a half years. During that time he focused his attention on group facilitation and reform, helping to establish the S.H.A.R.E. program at the Bannock county jail, which is an alcohol and drug treatment program for individuals on probation in an inpatient setting. He also became a Master Facilitator/Trainer in the Cognitive change program, Breaking Barriers, and taught officer safety courses for nearly six years.
Brett and his family became a therapeutic foster treatment home in 1999 and fostered adolescent girls, ultimately adopting in 2007. This experience prepared Brett for the next phase of his career path, as facilitator for the Foster Parent training program as part of the Title IV-E grant in the Social Work Department at ISU where he began in 2005.
Brett also began Masters studies at Walla Walla College (now University) in 2005, and graduated with a Master's of Social Work in Aug 2006 with a focus on mental health, particularly grief and trauma. He has worked for Idaho State University since 2005 as the Foster Parent training coordinator and most recently as an Assistant Professor. Brett's area of research interest is the impact of the foster experience on the fostering homes' biological children and ways to support them while at the same time providing the needed care to children in need. He is also pursuing research in the area of traumatic stress to the child in care-specifically ways to minimize this stress within the current system and also minimalize the resulting behavioral outcomes.
Robert Forbis - Political Science
Robert will receive his PhD from the University of Utah in the Spring of 2010 He received his MPA from the University of Utah (2004), and his BA, from the University of Texas at Austin (1990). His research focuses on the utilization of existing theories to better understand the legal, political, and administrative dynamics of environmental and energy-related policy issues in the American West.
His dissertation, entitled: Drill, Baby, Drill: An Analysis of How Energy Development Displaced Ranching’s Dominance of the BLM’s Land-Use Subgovernment, has been accepted for publication by the University of Utah Press. He is also co-author of the forthcoming publication The Devil is in the Details: The Federal EIS Process and Water Development in the West. His co-authored research on At-Will Public Service Reform appears in the publication American Public Service: Radical Reform and the Merit System as well as the peer-reviewed journals Public Integrity and International Journal of Public Administration. His previous written scholarship in the areas of environmental regulation and property rights, split-estate energy development, and teaching environmentalism has been published in a variety of professional public policy forums.
In 2006-2007 Robert was awarded the Todd Mitchell Memorial Award as the University of Utah’s Department of Political Science Best Teaching Assistant. From 2006-2008 he served as Chairman of the Graduate Student Advisory Committee for the Department of Political Science. In 2006-2007 he served as President of the University of Utah’s Pi Alpha Alpha (PAA) MPA honors society; the National Association of Schools of Public Affairs (NASPA) 2006-2007 PAA National Chapter of the Year.
Robert served as a member of Salt Lake City’s Planning Commission from 2004-2008. He also worked as a policy analyst and advisor to Salt Lake County in the course of developing and implementing Salt Lake County’s 10-Year Plan to End Chronic Homelessness, Environmental Master Plan, and Brownfields Assessment for Economic Development.
A native-born son of Wyoming, Robert cheerfully remains in his beloved Rocky Mountain West and joins the community of students and scholars at Idaho State University as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science.
Lynn Worsham - English
Professor
Editor, JAC
Department of English
worsham@isu.eduLynn Worsham works in the interdisciplinary fields of rhetorical theory, feminist theory, trauma studies, and cultural studies. She is also a scholar of world literature written by women. She earned her B.A. in English and Psychology from the University of Colorado in Boulder, her M.A. in British and American Literature from the University of Texas at Arlington, and her Ph.D. in Humanities, also from UT-Arlington. Before coming to ISU, she served as a member of the faculties of the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, the University of South Florida, and Illinois State University.
Professor Worsham has published seven scholarly books and numerous articles. Since 1999, she has served as editor of JAC: A Journal of Rhetoric, Culture, and Politics. In 2000, the Council of Editors of Learned Journals awarded her the Phoenix Award, international recognition for "significant editorial achievement" for her work on JAC. A member of Phi Beta Kappa, she has received a number of awards for teaching and scholarship, including the President's Award for Faculty Excellence at the University of South Florida. In 2008, The College of Arts and Sciences faculty at Illinois State University named her Distinguished Lecturer, the highest award for scholarly achievement in the College. In 2009, the University of Houston named her the Martha Gano Houstoun Distinguished Visiting Scholar.