JSC Welcomes Two New Full-Time Faculty Members

September 7, 2012

Johnson State College welcomes two new full-time faculty members to the college for the 2012-2013 academic year:

Associate Professor David Plazek Ph.D., formerly of Lyndon State College, will teach political science as a member of JSC’s Department of Humanities. He received both his doctorate and master’s degrees in political science from West Virginia University, and he holds a master of arts in public affairs from Indiana University of Pennsylvania.

Plazek’s interests include local government and cross-border studies with Canada and its government, and he has researched the liberal/conservative heuristic for use in his lower-level undergraduate courses.

He is author of the book Democracies and Foreign Policy: The Influence of Leaders and Institutions on the Foreign Policies of Democracies and has published in numerous journals. Most recently he worked with the American Democracy Project, a multi-campus initiative aimed at preparing college students to become informed, engaged citizens.

Associate Professor Amy Welch Ph.D. has joined JSC’s Department of Environmental and Health Sciences and will teach health sciences. She comes to JSC from Iowa State University, where she served as a lecturer and assistant professor in the Department of Kinesiology at for six years. She holds a doctorate in sport and exercise science from the University of Leeds and an M.S. in sports and exercise science from Sheffield Hallam University, both in Britain.

Her research interests include the psychological aspects of sport and physical activity and the role of exercise in mental health.

She has published and presented numerous papers and served as a peer reviewer for journals and funding agencies, including the Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, the Journal of Health Psychology, Preventive Medicine, Psychology and Psychotherapy, and more.