2017 Honorees

John Andrews is the author of "Colin Is Changing His Name" (forthcoming in June 2017 from Sibling Rivalry Press) which was a finalist for the 2015 Moon City Poetry Prize. Currently, he lives in Stillwater, Oklahoma, where he is a Ph.D. student in English and creative writing at Oklahoma State University and serves as an associate editor for...

Errick Braggs started his career in 1995 after graduating OSU-IT with an associate degree in graphic design. He worked in the advertising agency industry for several years until after the birth of his first child, when he transitioned his career path to corporate, in-house design jobs. In 2008 Errick began working as a...

Cindy Brakhage has had the opportunity and privilege to work with IFSTA and FPP for over 30 years. She has worked with many IFSTA validating committees as well as served as project manager/senior editor on many of the IFSTA books. Cindy is a graduate of Oklahoma State University and has a...

Ben Brock is a senior graphic designer with Fire Protection Publications at Oklahoma State University. He has been with Fire Protection Publications for 20 years, three of which as an intern while a student at Oklahoma State. He received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1999. He has collaborated on...

Per Bylund is an Assistant Professor of Entrepreneurship and Records-Johnston Professor of Free Enterprise in the School of Entrepreneurship at Oklahoma State University. His research focuses on issues in entrepreneurship, strategic management, and organizational economics – especially where...

Clint Clausing has worked in the editorial department at Fire Protection Publications for nine years. He graduated from OSU with a B.A. in English literature in 1998. Clint has previously authored and/or edited FPP's "Fire Investigator," Second Edition; Fire and Emergency Services Instructor," Eighth Edition; and Fire...

Sarah Coates earned a B.A. and M.A. in English literature from Wright State University with an emphasis on Anglo-Saxon literature and modern and contemporary British literature. She received her M.L.I.S. from...

Dinah Cox's first book of stories, Remarkable, won the fourth annual BOA Short Fiction Prize. Her stories have appeared in a variety of publications, including StoryQuarterly, Prairie Schooner, Calyx, and online at The Texas Observer and Hayden's Ferry Review. Her works have won prizes from...

Dr. Dursun Delen is the holder of William S. Spears and Neal Patterson Endowed Chairs in Business Analytics, Director of Research for the Center for Health Systems Innovation, and Regents Professor of Management Science and Information Systems in the Spears School of Business...

David DeStefano is a 28 year veteran of the North Providence Fire Department where he serves as captain of Ladder Co. 1. Additionally, Captain DeStefano has instructed numerous recruit academies for the NPFD and is currently Chairman of the Health & Safety Committee for IAFF Local 2334. He is also...

Andrew Doust gained a doctorate from the University of Melbourne, Australia, and was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, and the University of Florida, Gainesville. He came to OSU in 2007 as an assistant professor and is presently an associate professor in the Department of Plant Biology...

Jeff Fortney is a senior editor at Fire Protection Publications (FPP). He has served as lead editor on the following International Fire Service Training Association's (IFSTA) manuals...

Beth Ann Fulgenzi has been an instructional developer at Fire Protection Publications since 2004. Prior to joining Fire Protection Publications she worked in business and government. Her work has included developing training materials for industry and Oklahoma CareerTech. Her work has also included...

Jami Fullerton, Ph.D. earned her doctorate from the University of North Texas and received her B.A. in journalism from the University of Oklahoma. She is a professor in the School of Media and Strategic Communications and holds the Peggy Layman Welch Chair in Strategic Communications at...

Professor Alyson L. Greiner has taught at OSU since 1996. She earned her Ph.D. in geography from the University of Texas at Austin. She has taught courses on cultural geography, world regional geography, the history of geographic thought, as well as the regional geography of Europe, Africa, and the Pacific Realm. She regularly...

Missy Hannan is a native Oklahoman, wife, mom and a big-hair aficionado. She is a senior graphic designer and has been with Fire Protection Publications for 20 years. She graduated from Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, Oklahoma with a degree in graphic art, industrial technology. She started her...

Amanda Harrist is a professor in the Department of Human Development and Family Science, focusing on child development. She received her B.A. from the University of Texas and her Ph.D. at University of Tennessee in 1991. She joined the OSU HDFS faculty in 1998, where she teaches...

Sunderesh S. Heragu is Regents Professor and Head of the School of Industrial Engineering and Management at Oklahoma State University where he holds the Donald and Cathey Humphreys Chair. Previously, he was the Duthie Chair in Engineering Logistics and Director of the Logistics and Distribution...

Growing up on a black sheep farm in south central Kansas with Oklahoma Agriculture and Mechanical College (now OSU)-graduate parents, Lynn Hughs began teaching adults hand spinning and natural dyeing at the age of five. Education has been her lifelong career: teaching grades seven-12 home economics at...

James L. Huston is a native of Illinois; he graduated from Denison University (B.A.) in 1969, and earned his Ph.D. at the University of Illinois in 1980. He was hired by the OSU Department of History in 1980 and has been here ever since. He has authored five books (one more now going through the...

Cinthya Ippoliti is the Associate Dean for Research and Learning Services at Oklahoma State University where she provides administrative leadership for the library's academic liaison program as well as services for undergraduate and graduate students. Previously, she was head of Teaching and Learning...

Janine Joseph was born and raised in the Philippines and Southern California. She is the author of "Driving without a License," winner of the Kundiman Poetry Prize. Her poems and essays have appeared in Kenyon Review Online, Best New Poets, Best American Experimental Writing, Zócalo Public Square...

Holly M. Karibo received her Ph.D. from the University of Toronto in 2012. Her research focuses on the history of vice, labor, and sexuality in transnational urban spaces. Her first book, Sin City North: Sex, Drugs, and Citizenship in the Detroit-Windsor Borderland (UNC Press, 2015), examines the...

Rangika Hikkaduwa Koralege is a Post-Doctoral Fellow at School of Chemical Engineering, Oklahoma State University. She earned a Ph.D. in physical chemistry from Oklahoma State University in 2014 and a B.S. in chemistry from the University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, in 2007. Her overarching research....

Lauren La Riva is a graduate student working toward her master's degree in mental health counseling at Oklahoma State University. She will be graduating in Summer of 2017. She graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a Bachelor of Arts in psychology and a minor in Spanish. She currently...

Lisa Lewis is the author of the poetry collections "The Body Double" (Georgetown Review Press, 2016), "Burned House with Swimming Pool" (Dream Horse Press, 2011), "Vivisect" (New Issues Poetry and Prose, 2010), "Silent Treatment" (Viking/Penguin, 1998), winner of the National Poetry Series and...

Jeffrey Loeffert serves as associate professor of saxophone at Oklahoma State University. A dedicated teacher, Loeffert recently received the College of Arts & Sciences Junior Faculty Award for Scholarly Excellence, the Wise-Diggs-Berry Award for Teaching Excellence, and the...

Dr. Kimberly Goddard Loeffert serves as clinical assistant professor of music theory at Oklahoma State University. Loeffert completed a Ph.D. in music theory at Florida State University, and she earned a D.M.A. and M.M. in saxophone performance, as well as an M.M. in music theory pedagogy from Michigan State University...

Jayson Lusk currently serves as Regents Professor and Willard Sparks Endowed Chair in the Department of Agricultural Economics at Oklahoma State University and also serves as the Samuel Roberts Noble Distinguished Fellow at the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs...

Khaled Mansy graduated with a Ph.D. in architecture, with honors, from the Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, 2001, Master of Architectural Engineering, Helwan University, 1992, and Bachelor of Architectural Engineering, Cairo University, 1984. Professor Mansy is the recipient of the National Science Foundation grant to...

Brad McLelland is a senior editor at Fire Protection Publications. He got his start with the company in 2012 as an instructional developer. Brad has an M.F.A. in creative writing from OSU and will publish his debut novel - the first book in a four-book middle grade western fantasy series - through Macmillan's Henry Holt...

Leslie A. Miller was born and raised in Stillwater, Oklahoma, and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in English with honors from Oklahoma State University. An editor with Fire Protection Publications since 2002, she has written and edited a variety of fire service training manuals. She serves on the...

Lynne Murnane graduated from George Washington University and worked as an editor at FPP for 32 years. She is now...

David D. Oberhelman is the W.P. Wood Professor of Library Service at the Oklahoma State University Libraries where he is the subject liaison for English, history, and other humanities and performing arts departments. He holds a PhD in English from the University of California, Irvine, and a M.L.I.S...

Steven O'Hara, Professor of Architectural Engineering and Licensed Engineer, received his Master of Architectural Engineering from Oklahoma State University, and has been a member of the teaching faculty at the School of Architecture since 1988. His primary areas of interest include the...

Clint joined Fire Protection Publications in 2003 as a senior graphic designer. In 1999, he graduated from Oklahoma State University with a Bachelor of Arts. He has done the design for over 50 fire service training manuals, including "Essentials of Fire Fighting" and "Aircraft Rescue and Fire Fighting." In addition to...

Lawrence Pasternack is Professor of Philosophy at Oklahoma State University. He holds a Ph.D. in philosophy from Boston University and a M.A. in religion from Yale University. He is recognized as among the world's leading specialists in Immanuel Kant's philosophy of religion.

Julie Pearson-Little Thunder is a visiting assistant professor with the Oklahoma Oral History Research Program at the OSU Library. Her main assignment is interviewing Native artists for the Oklahoma Native artists digital interview series. She has a Ph.D. in theatre studies from...

Tim Prasil (aka Tim Prchal) teaches English at Oklahoma State University. He has written articles printed in many academic journals. He edits anthologies of supernatural fiction from the 1800s and early 1900s. His composite novel, "Help for the Haunted: A Decade of Vera Van Slyke Ghostly Mysteries," was...

Dennis R. Preston is Regents Professor of Linguistics, Director of RODEO (Research on the Dialects of English in Oklahoma), and Co-Director of the Center for Oklahoma Studies, all at Oklahoma State University and University Distinguished Professor Emeritus, Michigan State University...

Lori Raborg came to writing for the fire service via a long, convoluted path. She began her technical writing career translating government regulations into guidelines that could be easily understood and used by growers and farm workers in California's San Joaquin Valley. Raborg learned of...

Joshua D. Ramsey is an associate professor in the School of Chemical Engineering at Oklahoma State University. He earned his Ph.D. in chemical and biomolecular engineering from the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana in 2006. Upon graduating, he worked as a PhRMA Postdoctoral Fellow in...

Coral Rivera (Rewasiewicz) is originally from Orlando, Florida, and now lives in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, with her husband. She graduated from the University of Central Florida with a degree in psychology and has been a...

Dr. R. Russell Rhinehart, is a professor and BP Chair emeritus in the School of Chemical Engineering at Oklahoma State University, has experience in both industry (13 years) and academe (29 years). He was head of the School for 13 years. Russell is a 2001 fellow of the International Society of Automation...

Tara Roberson-Moore has over 10 years experience in instructional development and design and project management. She is currently a private education consultant, developing safety curriculum for U.S. DOT Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration Training and Qualifications, OkAt and...

David Schaap has been working for FPP/IFSTA since 2012. He moved to a part-time instructional developer position after joining in the Stillwater Fire Department in 2016. He has worked on other projects including "Hazardous Materials Technician," Second Edition and...

Ramesh Sharda is the Vice Dean for Research and Graduate Programs, Watson/ConocoPhillips Chair and a Regents Professor of Management Science and Information Systems in the Spears School of Business at Oklahoma State University. He has coauthored two textbooks...

Veronica Smith started working for IFSTA as a senior editor in April, 2012. Her first IFSTA manual was "Orientation and Terminology," Sixth Edition. She is currently working on "Vehicle Extrication," Fourth Edition. She completed the Fire Instructor 1 certification this year. She has a bachelor's and a master's...

Libby Snyder has been an editor at FPP since October 2009. In the office, Libby's favorite part of a project is the puzzle-like task of coordinating all the pieces of a project, including formatting and confirming language continuity. In the wider project, Libby enjoys working with committees to discuss the...

Stacy Takacs is associate professor and director of American studies at Oklahoma State University and an associate member of the faculty in screen studies and gender and women's studies. Her research focuses on the intersections of popular and political cultures in contemporary American media...

Dr. Welch holds a Ph.D. in counseling psychology from Oklahoma State University, as well as a master's degree in child development. She is a licensed health services psychologist in the State of Oklahoma, and worked in private practice for five years before coming to the HDFS department in fall 2012...

Charlotte J. Wright, Ph.D., CPA is Regents Professor and Anadarko Chair in the School of Accounting at Oklahoma State University. Dr. Wright is internationally recognized as an expert in petroleum accounting. She has worked with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission...

Mike Wieder has been employed at OSU Fire Protection Publications (FPP) for more than 30 years. He serves as associate director of FPP, as well as executive director of the International Fire Service Training Association (IFSTA), which is headquartered at FPP. He has been the writer or editor for...

Lynn has been with Oklahoma State University-Oklahoma City for three years and is the department head of Public Safety. Her responsibility includes management of the Bachelor of Technology in Emergency Responder Administration program and the Associate of Applied Science in Municipal Fire Protection. Prior to...