Faculty

Dr. Shannon A. Corkery is the director of the human development and family studies program for Penn State World Campus. In this role, she manages staffing, curriculum, student communications, and more. She instructs and has authored and co-authored numerous HDFS World Campus courses, including HDFS 301, 312w, 411, 433, and 455. Dr. Corkery coordinates with the resident HDFS program at Penn State University Park to uphold programmatic standards and plan strategic initiatives.

Dr. Megan Baril is co-author and instructor of HDFS 129: Introduction to Human Development and Family Studies. Since receiving her doctorate, she has taught both online and in the classroom. Her research interests include exploring dynamics and processes within the context of families with adolescent offspring, the development of parental knowledge over middle childhood and adolescence, and associations between religiosity family processes, parenting, and parent-child relationship quality.

Dr. Joanna Bissell-Havran is an assistant teaching professor of human development and family studies.  She primarily teaches courses on research methods, and child and adolescent development. Previously, she taught graduate-level courses on statistics and lifespan development, and mentored dissertation students for Walden University. She also conducted research on adolescents' achievement motivation and sexual development.

Dr. Elizabeth Cipriano Essel is author and instructor of HDFS 428: Infant Development, and co-author and instructor of HDFS 229: Infant and Child Development. Previous to becoming a Penn State World Campus instructor for HDFS, she completed a two-year postdoctoral fellowship at Penn State, where she conducted research on the effects of maltreatment, parenting, and individual differences (i.e., temperament, physiology) on preschool children's self-regulation development.

Dr. Jennifer Crissman Ishler, associate professor of teaching in HDFS, instructs first-year seminars and HDFS 311, 411, and 414 at Penn State University Park, where she also advises the College of Health and Human Development's Women's Leadership Initiative Program. Dr. Crissman Ishler also instructs HDFS 311 and HDFS 414 for Penn State World Campus. Additionally, she is the creator, author, and instructor of upper-level HDFS offerings available through Penn State and Penn State World Campus on adoption — practice, policy, and experience.

Terry Cummins is director of HDFS Penn State World Campus internships and instructor for the associate and bachelor's degrees' internship sequence: HDFS 395.1 and 395.2, and HDFS 490, 495A, and 495B. She works with students to identify internship experiences that help support their career goals and to apply their academic knowledge to hands-on learning experiences. Before joining HDFS, she was the director for diversity at the Smeal College of Business, where she mentored underrepresented students in their development of professionalism skills to obtain internships and full-time employment.

Dr. Meghan Sinton Miller is the author and instructor of HD FS 429: Advanced Child Development. She has experience teaching a range of courses on child and adolescent development, and research interests that examine individual, family, peer, and cultural influences on child and adolescent body image and eating behavior.

Dr. Joel A. Muraco teaches the Penn State World Campus course HDFS 250: Sexual Identity over the Lifespan. He also teaches online courses in family development, adolescent development, family policy, and human sexuality for the Human Development Department at the University of Wisconsin–Green Bay, where he was formerly assistant professor. He works full-time as a career educator at the University of Arizona.

Dr. Julie A. States is instructor for the Penn State World Campus course HDFS 301: Values and Ethics in the Human Development Professions. She has also taught resident courses that include HDFS 301; HDFS 239: Adolescent Development;  and HDFS 414: Resolving Human Development and Family Problems.  Dr. States is a licensed psychologist in Pennsylvania and maintains a private psychotherapy practice in State College. She was previously a staff psychologist at Counseling and Psychological Services at Penn State where she instructed the doctoral practicum class and coordinated the group program and the graduate assistant program.

Les Weiss is a social worker for the Veterans Administration in Bay Pines, Florida, and instructor for
HDFS 411: The Helping Relationship. He provides cognitive behavioral therapies for military veterans who have post-traumatic stress, and trains clinicians in the VA system. He has also taught courses in adolescence, aging, and chemical dependency for Penn State World Campus. Prior to the working in the VA system, he was director of social work at UPMC Altoona for many years, and served on numerous Blair County boards.