Osher Institute Instructors
Fall 2024 Instructor Bios
Shawn Leigh Alexander, who received his doctorate from the W.E.B. Du Bois Department of Afro-American Studies at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst in 2004, is a professor and chairperson of African and African American Studies, and the director of the Langston Hughes Center at the University of Kansas. His area of research concentration is African American social and intellectual history of the 19th and 20th centuries.
Larry Campbell spent 35 years teaching mathematics and mathematics education at two institutions in southwest Missouri. He won several college, university and state-wide teaching and service awards during his career. Since his retirement, he has been running After Math Enterprises, LLC, an umbrella organization of his various activities.
Chef Larry Canepa is a certified culinary educator with over 40 years of food and beverage experience and 20 years of teaching cooking, food and culture, and STEAM-focused classes. He has taught culinary classes at Le Cordon Bleu, the International Culinary School at the Art Institute, corporate wellness events, libraries, community centers, and other venues.
Diana Carlin, Ph.D., is professor emerita of communication at Saint Louis University and a retired professor of communication studies at KU. Carlin has written several articles and co-authored a book on gender and politics. She also taught courses on women as political leaders, the rhetoric of women’s rights, and communication and gender.
Vincent Clark holds a doctorate in modern European history. His graduate work included a Fulbright Graduate Fellowship at Germany’s University of Heidelberg. He was history professor and chair of the history department at Johnson County Community College and has published articles and books in his field.
Ken Crockett was born into a second-generation family of coal miners. He was educated at Central Missouri State University (bachelor’s degree) and Washburn University of Law (Juris Doctor). He is the author of two books related to Kansas mining -- “Missouri Coal Miner’s Strike” and “Kenneth and Helen Spencer, Champions of Culture & Commerce in The Sunflower State.”
Daniel Cudnik is a retired board-certified plastic surgeon. He formerly served as president of the medical staff and sat on various boards of trustees. He has a passion for history and shares his knowledge with others, actively presenting for civic groups on historical topics mixing medicine with history.
Don Dagenais has been a preview speaker for the Lyric Opera for more than 20 years and teaches classical music and opera courses for local organizations. He enjoys studying American political history and has compiled an extensive collection of memorabilia from presidential political campaigns from 1840 to the present. He recently retired as a real estate attorney.
Wanda Dixon grew up in Topeka, Kansas, one of the cities involved in the Brown v. Board of Education court case. Wanda was in elementary school during the time of this court case and experienced firsthand the after-effects of this landmark decision. She appeared in the PBS documentary, "I Just Want to Testify," which shares behind-the-scenes stories and dialogue of those who were in school during this time. Wanda currently serves as a board member of the Brown V. Board of Education National Historic Park.
Lindy Eakin has his doctorate in history from the University of Kansas. He has taught classes in Native American history and the Spanish frontier in North American and U.S. history. He has published on native peoples in Spanish Texas.
James Gaither, Th.D., holds a master's degree in philosophy from the University of Kansas and doctorate from Holos University Graduate Seminary. For over 25 years he has taught courses in history of Western thought, world religions, metaphysics and ethics and is currently "semi-retired."
Deb Goodrich, the host of the TV show “Around Kansas,” and the Garvey (Texas) Foundation Historian in Residence at the Fort Wallace Museum, chairs the Santa Fe Trail 200. She has appeared in many documentaries including “The Road to Valhalla,” “Aftershock,” and “American Experience” on Jesse James, and the series, “Gunslingers” on AHC. She wrote and produced the docudrama, “Thof’s Dragon.”
Carl Graves, Ph.D., holds a master’s degree in U.S. history from KU and a doctorate from Harvard. He taught at the university and community college levels, and at Kansas City’s Pembroke Hill School.
Thomas Gray, one of the Army's first nine space operations officers, is a retired educator and training specialist who served in the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command teaching at the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth as well as other institutions across the country.
Jerry Harper is a retired lawyer. He taught as an adjunct instructor at the KU Law School and taught western civilization in the KU humanities program. He has an ongoing interest in Kansas's more colorful characters.
Will Haynes has a doctorate in history from the University of Kansas. He plans, manages, and promotes public programming at the Watkins Museum of History, the headquarters of the Douglas County Historical Society.
Jean Hein recently moved to Kansas from South Carolina, where she was director and recorder performer with Columbia Baroque as well as a clarinetist. She currently teaches online recorder classes for seniors. Hein has served on the Board of Early Music America. She holds music degrees from Oberlin Conservatory and Northwestern University.
Shirley Hill is a retired KU professor of sociology who taught classes in social inequalities, health and medicine, and families.
German born and raised, Anette Isaacs is a historian and public educator who has been presenting hundreds of programs on more than 40 different topics (all pertaining to her native country's history, politics, and culture) all over the United States. She holds master’s degrees in American studies, political science, and history and is currently serving as the director of OLLI at FIU (Florida International University) in Miami, Florida.
Dr. Keith Jantz, a retired internist, enjoys speaking to the public about preventative measures to improve one's health. He earned undergraduate and medical degrees at the University of Kansas. He completed a three-year residency at Baptist Hospital in Memphis and practiced internal medicine in Kansas City for 35 years.
Marlene Katz, a graduate from the University of Missouri, was an adjunct professor at UMKC, where she taught English and literature. Marlene has a 28-year teaching career and has been involved in storytelling for 20 years. Women in history is her specialty and Marlene has performed in a five-state area and has lectured at various groups, often in costume and speech of the character she is portraying.
Charles “Chick” Keller is a retired senior executive and retired professor. He worked 15 years each at Sprint, and Black and Veatch in strategic planning and strategic marketing rising to VP level both times. In 2000, he began a career as a professor in KU’s engineering management program where he taught finance and strategic planning.
Bernie Kish has taught sport management classes at KU since 2005. He has authored the chapter on KU Athletics in the recently published book “Transforming the University of Kansas: A History, 1965- 2015.” Kish is a veteran of the U.S. Army, serving on active duty for over 29 years and completing his service as a full colonel.
Stephen Knifton is a Toronto-born video producer and brand journalist. He began his career in network television news, working as a senior producer for the CBC in Toronto, and News Corp in New York City. He covered and produced multiple live and breaking news events including 9/11, Gulf War, Iraq War, and has produced U.S. election coverage and debates. Following a career in television news, he started an online video production company, and went on to produce digital content/brand journalism for a wide variety of architects, designers, business development groups, developers, non-profits and government agencies in both Toronto, New York City and D.C. He teaches smartphone video production, video storytelling and post-production at various Toronto-area colleges and professional workshops, and won both a Peabody and an Emmy for his work in network news.
Paul Laird is a professor emeritus of musicology at the University of Kansas. He teaches courses for the KU Osher Lifelong Learning Institute on the Broadway musical and classical music. He taught for 30 years at KU, including courses on musical theater, American music, Baroque music, and other topics, and directed the Instrumental Collegium Musicum. He has been teaching continuing education courses at KU since the 1990s.
Steve Lopes, A.E., B.A., M.A., M. Ed., was an educator for 15 years prior to 30 years of advocating for teachers as a Kansas-NEA organizer. He enjoys researching rock ‘n’ roll history and sharing it with KU Osher participants.
Thomas Luellen recently retired after 31 years in hospital administration and 14 years as an adjunct instructor at Washburn University. He has a master's degree in geography from KU. His personal interests have always been his native state and its history.
David Mannering earned a doctorate in higher education from the University of Kansas. He retired from a 40-year career in information technology and has now rekindled his fascination with the ancient civilizations bordering the Mediterranean, first sparked while earning a master’s degree in philosophy. He has taught several courses about ancient Egypt and Greece.
Aaron Margolis received his doctorate in history from the University of Texas at El Paso where he concentrated on Latin American and borderlands history. He is currently an associate professor of history at Kansas City Kansas Community College.
Karl Menninger is a retired government lawyer, who seems to have found an avocation in teaching courses on disability law, citizenship, comedy, and James Bond, among other topics.
Dr. David Mills is an associate professor who joined the Department of Military History at the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College in 2016. Dr. Mills spent ten years in the United States Army, including service in Desert Shield and Desert Storm, earning a Bronze Star. He was the recipient of a Fulbright Fellowship, having taught for a semester in the Russian Federation at Ufa University. He holds a doctorate from North Dakota State University and is the author of three books on military and Cold War history. His current research project examines the effort to feed Germany from the fall of Hitler through the Marshall Plan.
Kevin L. Mitchell is the baseball history blogger of The Baseball Scroll (www.thebaseballscroll.blogspot.com) and author of “Last Train to Cooperstown: The 2006 Baseball Hall of Fame Inductees From the Negro League Era.” The Kansas City, Kansas native earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Kansas.
KelLee Parr holds bachelor’s degrees in agriculture and education plus a master’s degree in adult and occupational education from Kansas State University. He has taught elementary school for many years in Topeka and now writes science curriculum for Nancy Larson Publishers.
Vic Peterson is the author of “The Berserkers” (Hawkwood 2022/Recital 2023), set in a fictional Nordic country. He worked as a business executive and now divides his time between Lawrence, Kansas, and Northport, Michigan.
Susan Pingleton, M.D., is professor emerita at the University of Kansas Medical Center, where she was a clinician-educator. Her interests include art and art history. She is involved in local art organizations, including KC/Arts, the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, and a member of the art committee at KU Med.
Paul Post, a native Kansan, received a bachelor’s in history from KSU and a law degree from the KU Law School in 1974. Now retired from the practice of law, he is a member of the Shawnee County Historical Society and an amateur beekeeper. He has authored essays on the history of SBA Hill/ former Menninger Campus in Topeka; Topeka’s Bates Family; The Fred Harvey Company; and on Duke Ellington.
Ethan S. Rafuse received his doctorate at the University of Missouri-Kansas City and is professor of military history at the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College. His publications include “From the Mountains to the Bay: The War in Virginia,” “January-May 1862, Guides to the Antietam, Manassas, and Petersburg Battlefields,” and “U.S. Presidents During Wartime.”
Tom Schmiedeler is professor emeritus of geography at Washburn University where he taught a variety of geography courses including Kansas Geography, Geography of Europe and World Regional Geography. He was the director of Washburn's Center for Kansas Studies. He has master's and doctoral degrees from the University of Kansas and has published widely on historical geography topics particularly frontier urban planning. He has also researched a variety of topics in European geography, particularly the geography of Scotland.
Gordon Sellon is an economist who spent 30 years at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, retiring as senior vice president and director of research. He also taught economics at KU, the University of Michigan, Grinnell College, and Oklahoma City University. He has degrees in economics from Harvard College and the University of Michigan.
Bill Shefchik has a bachelor’s and master’s in science degree in geology from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He worked as a geologist for Burns & McDonnell Engineering Company for more than 36 years and has contributed geological expertise to over 500 projects across the U.S. He served as an expert witness in geology and hydrogeology cases providing litigation support.
Dr. Stephenie Slahor holds a doctoral degree and juris doctor degree and is retired from her law practice and university and law school teaching. She now creates informative and enjoyable OLLI courses for universities around the nation, primarily in the natural sciences, and about places in the world with unique geological or human history.
Robert Smith, Ph.D., is the director of the Fort Riley Museum. He has a doctorate in history from KSU and has published numerous articles on military history.
Anita Tebbe is a retired professor of the legal studies department at Johnson County Community College. She earned an undergraduate degree in history, a graduate degree in education and a juris doctor degree in law. Anita is a Kansas licensed attorney and has more than 40 years at the high school and college levels.
Robert Thorp taught at Princeton and Washington University in St. Louis for 25 years followed by a second career as tour lecturer in China and Japan. His publications include “Chinese Art and Culture” (2001), “China in the Early Bronze Age” (2006), and “Visiting Historic Beijing” (2008). He has visited China more than 50 times.
Max Westler earned his Bachelor of Arts from Boston University and his doctorate from Columbia University, where he worked with the poet Kenneth Koch. He has taught at Columbia College, Hunter College, and Northwestern University, where he taught both graduate and undergraduate courses. For 38 years, he supervised the Creative Writing Program at Saint Mary's College in Notre Dame, Indiana. His poems have appeared in The Minnesota Review, Poetry East, The Sycamore Review, Artful Dodge, The Greensboro Review, Religion and Literature, among others. His chapter book “Civil Defense” was published in 2011.
Tyson Williams' bio coming soon.