Hans Schmidt
Before Hans Schmidt began teaching at Penn State Brandywine, he earned a B.A. and M.A. in Communications Studies and a Ph.D. in Mass Media and Communication. Additionally, before coming to Penn State, he taught at several other colleges and universities, served as faculty advisor to a student newspaper, and worked as assistant director of a student academic support program.
He has published research on a wide variety of topics, primarily media literacy and journalism. His more recent research focuses on investigating how veterans respond to news coverage of wartime events.
In addition to his academic experience, Dr. Schmidt has worked as a professional journalist and photographer. He has served in leadership positions with a number of academic and communication organizations, including the Pennsylvania Communications Association and the Eastern Communication Association.
Dr. Schmidt believes in the academic and professional opportunities the Honors Program offers students, and makes a point to ensure students graduate with the qualifications, skills and intellect needed to succeed after college. He looks forward to seeing the Honors program grow and helping students discover the ever-evolving classes offered to enhance their education.
He currently teaches classes about communication, media, and journalism as an Associate Professor at Penn State Brandywine.
Angela Putman
Angela Putman has literally crossed the country for her education, receiving her B.A. and M.A. in Organizational Communication from Western Michigan University and her Ph.D. in Intercultural Communication from the University of New Mexico.
Dr. Putman positions herself as a critical intercultural scholar, focusing her energies on educating and guiding her students to an understanding of institutional racism, intersectionality, and white privilege. Along with teaching, she researches topics like whiteness as an ideology, institutional/systemic racism, and critical pedagogy. She uses her research and teachings—the two closely interconnected—to engage students in critical thinking and conversation, both in and out of the classroom.
Dr. Putman currently teaches public speaking, intercultural communication, interpersonal communication and organizational communication classes at Brandywine as an Assistant Professor.
Kathleen Kennedy
Being a first-generation college student starting on an enormous campus, Dr. Kathleen Kennedy understands the academic, social and personal opportunities the Honors program offers. Welcomed by the honors community from day one, Dr. Kennedy was able to discover the in-depth topics she is passionate about today, striving to open the same opportunities for her students.
She has obtained multiple degrees from multiple universities, focusing on history and literature at the University of Illinois, the University of Minnesota, and the Ohio State University.
She uses the dramatic potential of the classroom to teach her students to look at what they already know in a new way that develops and strengthens old and new skills. She encourages students to join the Honors program so that they can work with faculty to create their own unique educational opportunities, enabling themselves to explore what excites and fascinates them—and for college credit.
She currently studies English medieval literature and law, and since those haven’t always been in English, she has also studied French and Latin. With a background in codicology and Book History, she has authored multiple books, Medieval Hackers and The Courtly and Commercial Art of the Wycliffite Bible among her credits.
She currently teaches classes at Brandywine ranging from pop culture, Shakespeare, and composition to western civilization and comic books.
Stephen Cimbala
Dr. Stephen Cimbala has had his hand in a variety of academic and professional areas, ranging from servings on an editorial board for academic journals and teaching political science to serving as co-president for a PTA board and consulting for a number of U.S. government agencies.
Dr. Cimbala obtained his B.A. in Journalism from Penn State’s University Park campus, but soon followed with his M.A. and P.h.D. in his true passion: political science. Since then, he has specialized in political topics like international relations, military persuasion and nuclear arms control.
Believing in the strong spirit of closeness at Brandywine, Dr. Cimbala has served on the faculty for 45 years, acting as chief academic officer for a time, where he managed relations with University Park Deans and worked with faculty to develop public service programs.
The honors program’s smaller classes afford the students the chance for one-on-one interaction with the teachers, and the teachers the ability to help foster the unique and specialized academic interests of their students. Dr. Cimbala uses these extraordinary, everyday teaching opportunities to educate students on current events, helping them cut through internet fodder and “fake news.”
He currently teaches at Brandywine as a Distinguished Professor, teaching political science and American Studies classes.
Elizabeth Womack
Dr. Elizabeth Womack’s passion for literature first led her to obtain her P.h.D. from Rice University, and then to her current position at Brandywine, with some stops along the way.
Specializing in Victorian literature, Dr. Womack has been featured in multiple journals, and is currently working on a book project about secondhand exchange and its implications in Victorian novels.
Before teaching English at Brandywine, Dr. Womack also spent some time as a science writer, translating complicated documents into something the layman could understand.
When she’s not writing, teaching or working with her Honors students, Dr. Womack can be found riding her bike through the city or getting lost in dusty antique shops.