Robert Brown
(Management) – The University of New Orleans
Bob Brown served on the faculty of the College of Business at the University of New Orleans where he also directed the Business Career Coaching Center. Prior to this appointment, Mr. Brown was Vice Chancellor of Governmental, Community and Diversity Affairs at UNO. He was Managing Director of the Business Council of New Orleans and the River Region, responsible for coordinating and managing relationships with elected officials and governmental bodies and civic groups.He has served as Chairman of the Board for the Preservation Resources Center, New Orleans Metropolitan YMCA, Legacy Donor Foundation, the Institute of Mental Hygiene, House of Ruth, and Family Service of Greater New Orleans. He currently serves on the board of directors of the Public Affairs Research Council of Louisiana and as Vice President of the Board of Directors for the Louisiana State Museum. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree (Magna cum Laude) from Park College (Parkville, MO) in 1975 and a Master of Arts in Human Resource Management from Pepperdine University (Malibu, CA) in 1979.
Barbara Cooper
(Romance Languages) – The University of Georgia
Since receiving a Ph.D. in Romance Languages from the University of Georgia in 1985, Dr. Cooper has continued to live in Athens and to teach at her alma mater courses in Italian and French language/culture at the beginning, intermediate, and advanced levels. She has participated numerous times in study abroad programs in Italy and Germany and has taught on the UNO-Innsbruck program many times.
Julie Dahlquist
(Economics/Finance) – Texas Christian University
Sanda Groome
(Business Administration) – Tulane University
Sanda Groome earned her BA in Economics from Newcomb College of Tulane University, her MBA from the A.B. Freeman School of Business at Tulane University and her Juris Doctorate from the Paul M. Hebert Law Center of Louisiana State University. Prior to joining the faculty as a Professor of Practice at the A. B. Freeman School of Business in 2006, she practiced law for 14 years in New Orleans. Her law practice focused on Admiralty and Maritime Law and Commercial Litigation. At A.B. Freeman, Sanda teaches Business Law, Legal Environments, Insurance and Risk Management and Mock Trial. She serves as a Faculty Fellow for Wall Residential Center, Alumni Advisor for Chi Omega, Academic Advisor for Kappa Alpha, and as the Legal Studies representative for the undergraduate curriculum committee. She is a past recipient of the BSM Teacher Honor Roll Award. Sanda's nonacademic interests include sports, reading, Crossfit, and hanging out with her husband David and her three boys, Kirk, Beach, and Alexander.
Yotam Haber
(Music/Humanities) – The University of Missouri - Kansas City
Yotam Haber was born in Holland and grew up in Israel, Nigeria, and Milwaukee. He is the recipient of multiple awards and grants and has received fellowships from the MAP Fund (2016), New Music USA (2011), the New York Foundation for the Arts (2013). In 2015, Haber’s first monographic album of chamber music, Torus, was hailed by New York’s WQXR as "a snapshot of a soul in flux – moving from life to the afterlife, from Israel to New Orleans – a composer looking for a sound and finding something powerful along the way." Recent commissions include works for Kronos Quartet and Carnegie Hall, CalARTS@REDCAT/Disney Hall, Venice Biennale; Bang on a Can Summer Festival and more. Recent projects include New Water Music, an interactive work (2017) for the Louisiana Philharmonic and community musicians to be performed from boats and barges along the waterways of New Orleans and a chamber opera, The Lime Works, with librettist Royce Vavrek for National Sawdust (2020). Haber was Asst. Professor of Music at the University of New Orleans and Artistic Director Emeritus of MATA, the non-profit organization that has, since 1996, been dedicated to commissioning and presenting new works by young composers from around the world. His music is published by RAI Trade.
Brian Haas
(Psychology) - The University of Georgia
I am an Associate Professor Psychology at the University of Georgia. I was a Fulbright Scholar serving in the Kingdom of Bhutan, and have taught frequently on study abroad programs in Tanzania and Costa Rica. My work seeks to understand what shapes peoples' identity. I am interested in how people think about their identity, changes to their identity, and how identity is different according cultural contexts. I hope this research helps to illuminate the beauty and complexity of individuals living across different parts of the world.
Achim Herrmann
(Earth & Environmental Science)- Louisiana State University
Dr. Herrmann grew up in Southern Germany and as a young child he collected fossils in the famous Jurassic limestones deposits of that area. This sparked his interest in geology. After taking a geology elective class in high school, he enrolled at the University of Tübingen (Germany) where he majored in geology and paleontology. He received a MS degree from the University of Heidelberg in Germany (in geology and paleontology) and a PhD in Geosciences from Penn State. Currently, Dr. Herrmann is an Associate Professor of Biogeosciences in the Department of Geology and Geophysics at Louisiana State University. His is also a fellow of the Coastal Studies Institute at LSU. Before coming to LSU. Dr. Herrmann taught geology and a wide range of science classes at George Washington University in Washington, DC and in the Barrett Honors College at the Arizona State University. Dr. Herrmann is looking forward to teaching a hands-on geology course and a course on dinosaurs in Innsbruck.
Jade Hurter
(English) - The University of New Orleans
Christina (Chris) Joseph
(Anthropology) – The University of Georgia
Chris Joseph received her doctorate in cultural anthropology from the University of Rochester and is a faculty member in the anthropology department at the University of Georgia, Athens. She teaches the Honors Introduction to Anthropology every semester and also offers other classes in cultural anthropology. She was awarded the J. Hatten Howard III Teaching Professorship by the UGA Honors Program in 2015. In addition to teaching, she advocates for refugee rights, is an avid potter and genealogist, and an intrepid traveler.
Anandam Kavoori
(Communications/Journalism) - The University of Georgia
Dr. Kavoori is Professor in the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Georgia. He works in the area of International Communication and Travel Journalism. He is the author or editor of ten scholarly books and nearly 50 journal articles and book chapters. Amongst his recent book publications are Reading YouTube (Peter Lang, 2011), The Logics of Globalization (Rowman & Littlefield, 2009), and Global Bollywood (New York University Press, 2008). Dr. Kavoori has been a consultant to News Corporation, CNN International, Discovery Channel and Living Media and a faculty judge for The Peabody Awards for nearly twenty years.
Walter Lane
(Economics/Finance) - The University of New Orleans
Professor Lane is a specialist in Microeconomics and Health Care Economics. He has 40 years of teaching experience, 34 of which at UNO. His current teaching duties range from freshmen Microeconomics to Masters-level Health Care Economics and PhD-level Microeconomic Theory. He has published in leading Economic, Finance and Law Journals. Professor Lane has served on the Board of Commissioners for Slidell Memorial Hospital. He also frequently appears on Fox8 TV and WWL radio as a commentator on Economic issues.
Philipp Lehar
(History) - The University of Innsbruck
Philipp Lehar is a Museum Curator and Library Director in Wattens, 17km east of Innsbruck. He was a Teaching and Research Associate at the Institute of Archeology of the University of Innsbruck from 2018–2020. He received his Master degree in History from the University of Innsbruck in 2013. In 2015, he also earned a degree from the University of Education Upper Austria in Holocaust Education. Mr. Lehar is a Graduate of the International School for Holocaust Studies in Yad Vashem, Israel. He carried out educational and remembrance projects in partnership with the Max Mannheimer Study Center in Dachau, the Arolsen Archives (both Germany), youth groups and communities. In 2020, Mr. Lehar was involved in placing seven Stumbling stones (Stolpersteine) in his community to remember victims of Nazi persecution. In autumn 2020, he researched locations of Forced Labor and Prisoner of War Camps in Tyrol for the Federal Monuments Authority of Austria. Mr. Lehar taught at the University of Innsbruck, the University College of Teacher Education Tyrol, the UNO-Innsbruck in 2019 and 2022. In 2021 he did the historical research for a graphic novel on a Tyrolian priest, who was executed as an opponent to Nazi ideology in 1943. In autumn and winter 2023 he will teach about Graphic Novels and Memory culture at the Catholic Teachers College Edith Stein.
His research interests include Holocaust, WWII, Displaced Persons and History of Youth Movements. He is also involved in archeological projects. As chairperson of the Historical Society of Wattens-Volders he is responsible for a large collection of archeological finds from Bronze and Iron Age.
Mr. Lehar holds a certificate in Public Relations and since 2022 a degree on mental health and psychological crisis intervention from the Sigmund Freud University in Vienna.
In his personal life, he is an enthusiastic Scout Leader and enjoys hiking in the Alps.
Alexander Plaikner
(Strategic Management) - The University of Innsbruck
Mag. Mag. Alexander Plaikner is an International Business Administrator and Psychologist, with 25 years of senior leadership experience within international organizations at all strategic level and in all operational areas. Alexander Plaikner is currently Senior Lecturer at the Institute for Strategic Management, Marketing and Tourism, Department of SME and Tourism at the University of Innsbruck. He conducts research on behalf of Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Regions and Tourism, the state of Tyrol on the Alpine Tourist Destination Tyrol with a focus on branding, marketing, strategy and sustainable destination development. He also serves as Senior Scientist at the Division for Management in Health and Sport Tourism at the UMIT Tyrol private health & life sciences university. There he focuses on business and economics of health- and sport tourism in research as well as in academic education and projects.
Ken Rayes
(English) - The University of New Orleans
Mr. Rayes is a New Orleans native and resident, and a BA and MA graduate of the University of New Orleans. His areas of specialization are Composition, Film as Literature, Technical Writing, Science Fiction Literature, American Literature, Latino Literature, and Graphic Novel. As a teacher of Technical Writing, Mr. Rayes draws on his over 20 years of experience in the local Consulting Engineering Industry to provide a practical framework for writing in the workplace. As a teacher of film as literary texts, Mr. Rayes has written and presented on the Director Julian Schnabel, and the functions of music and scoring in film. Mr. Rayes has also worked in the local radio industry and written for local publications such as The Village Voice.
Jeff Rinehart
(Fine Arts) - The University of New Orleans
Jeff Rinehart is originally from Seattle, WA and has lived in the New Orleans area since 2005. He is a New Orleans based artist and instructor at the University of New Orleans, Fine Arts department.
Jeff also currently runs the Ten Gallery and studios which is an artist based collective that showcases local artists.
Mike Rodgers
(Anthropology) - The University of New Orleans
Mike Rodgers earned his BA from Florida State University, and his MA and PhD from Tulane University. Though he is a linguistic anthropologist, his scholarly interest is focused on subjects often analyzed by cultural anthropologists. His work has been with the Afro-Amerindian Garifuna people of Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, and New Orleans. He studies the multi-modal discursive construction of Garifuna national identity through speech, music, and art. Mr. Rodgers' teaching springs from his research and leads students to appreciate the ways global flows of capital, bodies, and ideas impact local cultures. He teaches that culture and identity are historically contingent and determined, but ultimately flexible and constructed. His goal is to produce students who are in awe at the scope of humans' ability to fabricate categories and concepts, and subsequently take those constructs for granted as "natural." He has taught at several universities, and glad to call the University of New Orleans home. Mr. Rodgers teaches courses on cultural anthropology, religion, music, spirit possession, and witchcraft as well as the people and cultures of the Caribbean and Sub-Saharan Africa.
Tumulesh Sulanky
(Mathematics/Management) - The University of New Orleans
Dr. Solanky is the chair of mathematics department and the University of Louisiana System Foundation and Michael and Judith Russell Professor in Data/Computational Sciences. He has authored/co-authored a research-level book, two book chapters, and over 25 research articles in scholarly peer-reviewed journals, all in the field of Data Science/analytics. Currently, he serves as an associate editor of four scholarly journals including the American Journal of Mathematical and Management Sciences. As a consultant, Dr. Solanky has extensive experience in the field of statistics, data science, and business intelligence/analytics. He has provided his analytical expertise to NASA, USDA, Federal agencies, city of New Orleans, school boards, banks, hospitals, professional sports teams, Attorney General offices of several states, leading audit and tax advisory companies, among others. Dr. Solanky has over thirty years of teaching experience and he is a Seraphia D. Leyda University Teaching Fellow. His teaching is motivated by real-world applications of analytics and business intelligence he has participated in as a consultant.
Jodok Troy
(Political Science) - The University of Innsbruck
Jodok Troy is an assistant professor at the University of Innsbruck, Austria. Previously, he was a visiting scholar at The Europe Center at Stanford University (2016-2018), a research fellow at the Center for Peace and Security Studies at Georgetown University, and affiliate scholar of the Swedish National Defense College, and a lecturer at the University of Applies Sciences Bfi in Vienna. His international relations research focuses on international political theory and, in particular, religion, ethics, the English School, and classical realism.