Ph. D. – Texas A&M University, 2014

Bio

Dr. Todd C. Couch is an Associate Professor of Sociology. His research focuses on examining racial and ethnic relations in the United States from various theoretical perspectives. Dr. Couch's research using systemic racism theory to analyze threat narratives promoted by student gun rights organization Students for Concealed Carry on Campus was recently published in Issues in Race and Society. His current research examines racialized emotions and the influence of inverted epistemology in constructing vulnerability narratives. He also serves as an expert reviewer for The Journal of Historical Sociology. Dr. Couch has presented his research at national and regional conferences, including the American Sociological Association, the American Society of Criminology, the Association of Black Sociologists, the Southern Sociological Society, and the Southwestern Social Science Association.

Courses Taught:

SOCI 201: Principles of Sociology

SOCI 310: Racial and Cultural Minorities

SOCI 311: Economic Inequality

SOCI 375: Sociology of Health and Medicine

SOCI 389: Sociology of Religion

Bio

A native of Oklahoma, Dr. Erica Johnson specializes in the history of the Atlantic World. She is author of a monograph, Philanthropy and Race in the Haitian Revolution, part of the Cambridge Imperial and Post-Colonial Studies Series (Palgrave Macmillan, 2018). She has published articles in The History Teacher, the Southern Quarterly, the Journal of Transnational American Studies, and the Journal of Western Society for French History. Her research interests include race, religion, and revolution in the greater Atlantic World. She is the faculty coordinator for FMU's Universities Studying Slavery initiative.

Education

PhD, Florida State University, 2012

Courses Taught: 

European History to the French Revolution

The Historian's Craft

Medieval Europe

Native American History and Culture

Atlantic World

Tiffany R. Pressley received her DNP in Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing Practice at the University of South Alabama in July 2017. She currently practices as a psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner and is a university faculty member. She evaluates and treats psychiatric patients at three different tribal medicine clinics via telemedicine.

Dr. Pressley began as a full-time assistant professor and PMHNP program coordinator at Francis Marion University (FMU) in August 2020. She teaches graduate and undergraduate students didactic and clinical skills in psychiatric mental health nursing as well as other courses in FMU's School of Health Sciences.

Professionally, Dr. Pressley has worked as a high school Spanish teacher, medical-surgical registered nurse, clinical staff leader, USAF officer, and psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner. She is a United States Air Force Health Professions Scholarship Program graduate and previously served on Active Duty at Scott AFB as a PMHNP. When accepting the full-time PMHNP program coordinator position at FMU in 2020, she transitioned to the United States Air Force Reserves. She is currently a traditional reservist attached to and Aeromedical Staging Squadron at Robins AFB, GA.

She currently holds APRN licenses in Georgia, Maine, Minnesota, and South Carolina and RN licenses in Minnesota and South Carolina. She is a researcher in community-based and military research settings in a variety of areas including behavioral parent training, telepsychiatry, simulation in nursing education, and substance use disorders.

Dr. Pressley is a proud mom of three and wife of one. She enjoys time with family, listening to music, playing board/card games, and traveling. She is committed to improving access to education and mental health for rural and underserved populations within her community and the communities she serves.

Adviser to FMU ACM Student Chapter and CS programming contest team Coordinator of the CS internship program

Education

M.S., Stevens Institute of Technology

B.S., University of Maryland

Area of Expertise

Software Engineering Networking

Biography

Padmaja Rao joined the Francis Marion faculty in 2005. She teaches courses in object-oriented programming, software engineering and networking. Before coming to FMU, she worked for eight years in IBM, T. J. Watson Research Center in Hawthorne, New York where her research areas included network management, directory services and security. Her work was presented at many conferences including IEEE 802.9 Working Group Task Force and Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) on secure DNS. She holds a patent in the area of network security architecture.

Education

Masters of Fine Arts, Costume Design May 1999- University of Tennessee, Knoxville Projects in Lieu of Thesis: Costume Design/Developmental Collaboration, Adaptation of The Threepenny Opera, Director: Beth Craven Costume Design, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Modern Interpretation, Director: Liviu Ciulei

Bachelor of Arts, Theatre May 1996- Mississippi University for Women, Columbus

Biography

Originally from Pensacola, FL., I have been designing in educational and professional theaters since 1992. I received my BA degree in Theatre from Mississippi University for Women and my MFA degree in Costume Design from The University of Tennessee. I have also trained at the Skoulli Art School with Frank Hänig.

As a Costume Designer and Theatre Artist, I strive to create designs that inform and enhance the production through the development of character as supported by the text. I am at my best working in a collaborative environment where I can develop my designs with the director and actors as the characters evolve through the rehearsal process. I also enjoy the challenge of creating designs in a fast-paced repertory setting.

As an Educator, I believe in fostering students’ passion and talents in a nurturing and challenging environment. Whenever possible I create opportunities for learner-centered practical application of theory. I feel that students learn best when permitted to take risks and learn from their mistakes as well as their successes. It is the educator’s responsibility to share their knowledge and to provide the student with clear guidelines and a method of evaluation and assessment. The why is as important as the how.

As a Costume Technologist I have experience in all levels and types of costume and costume craft construction from draping to tailoring to millinery. I am a draper with a particular interest in corsetry.

Bio

Dr. Venters began teaching at Francis Marion in 2007. He is a co-author of the award-winning public history study "African Americans in Camden, South Carolina" (2006), No Jim Crow Church: The Origins of South Carolina's Bahá'i Community (University Press of Florida, 2015) and A History of the Bahá'i Faith in South Carolina (The History Press, 2019). He is particularly interested in the history of race, religion, and social change in the United States, as well as issues of rural and urban planning and the intersection of cultural and environmental stewardship. A Pee Dee native, he has lived and traveled extensively in Africa, Central America, and Europe.

Education

PhD, University of South Carolina, 2010

Courses Taught: 

• U.S. History since 1877
• The New South, 1865 to the Present
• History of Black Americans Since 1865
• African History
• South Carolina History