Meet the Faculty
Dr. April C. Kelly
Dean of School of Public Service and Professor of Political Science
kellya@etown.edu | 717-361-1285
April C. Kelly is Dean of the School of Public Service and Professor of Political Science at Elizabethtown College. Dr. Kelly received her Ph.D. in Political Science from Ohio State University, specializing in public opinion, mass behavior, and political psychology.
Dr. Kelly's research explores the intersection of politics and higher education. For example, her book (with Stanley Rothman and Matthew Woessner), The Still Divided Academy: How Competing Visions of Power Politics and Diversity Complicate the Mission of Higher Education (Rowman and Littlefield, 2011) examines the role of students, faculty, and administrators in shaping political dialogue on campus. She has published a number of articles on politics in higher education, which have appeared in The Journal of Political Science Education, PS: Political Science and Politics, and as chapters in edited volumes. Most recently, her research examines the decline in political tolerance among America's youth.
Dr. Kelly's previous research has been featured in The Chronicle of Higher Education, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Christian Science Monitor, The New York Times Magazine, The Washington Post, The Guardian, and Science Magazine. Her opinion editorials have appeared in The Washington Post, The Chronicle of Higher Education, The Pittsburgh Post Gazette, and The Harrisburg Patriot News. She was the inaugural recipient of the Ranck Prize for Research Excellence at Elizabethtown College.
Dr. Oya Dursun-Özkanca
Professor of Political Science and College Professor of International Studies (Endowed Chair)
dursuno@etown.edu | 717-361-4749 | Personal Website
Dr. Oya Dursun-Özkanca (University of Texas at Austin, Ph.D.) is College Professor of International Studies (Endowed Chair), Professor of Political Science, and Director of International Studies Minor at Elizabethtown College, PA. Her research interests include Turkish foreign policy, transatlantic security, European Union, South East Europe, and peace operations. She is the editor of two books – The European Union as an Actor in Security Sector Reform (Routledge, 2014) and External Interventions in Civil Wars (co-edited with Stefan Wolff, Routledge, 2014) as well as a number of scholarly articles in leading peer-reviewed journals, such as Foreign Policy Analysis, Civil Wars, European Security, Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding, French Politics, Perspectives on European Politics and Society, and Journal of Balkan and Near Eastern Studies, among others, and chapters in various edited volumes. She wrote op-eds for Prishtina Insight, Juristi, Enduring America, Atlantic Community, and Hürriyet Daily News, on transatlantic relations, Turkish foreign policy, and Balkan politics. Her Hürriyet Daily News op-ed was cited in NATO’s online bibliography. She served as a Visiting Fellow of Research on South Eastern Europe (LSEE) at London School of Economics (LSE) in 2013. She received grants and fellowships from, among others, Georgetown University, the London School of Economics, the European Commission (multiple grants), the University of Texas at Austin (multiple fellowships), Deutscher Academischer Austausch Dienst (DAAD), the European Union Studies Association, and the Elizabethtown College (multiple grants). She serves on the Editorial Boards of Ethnopolitics, International Review of Turkish Studies, and Public Communication Review. She is frequently interviewed by international media as a subject matter expert, including BBC Radio in the UK. Dr. Dursun-Özkanca has extensive teaching experience internationally, as she taught at various universities in the US, Turkey, Poland, Ukraine, and Kosovo. She is the inaugural recipient of the Kreider Prize for Teaching Excellence at Elizabethtown College (2015), and the recipient of the Richard Crocker Outstanding Service to Students Award (2018). Her book titled, Turkey–West Relations: The Politics of Intra-alliance Opposition, is forthcoming with Cambridge University Press in January 2020.
Dr. E. Fletcher McClellan
Professor of Political Science Emeritus
mcclelef@etown.edu | 717-361-1304 | Faculty Website
Dr. E. Fletcher McClellan is Professor of Political Science Emeritus at Elizabethtown College. A member of the Elizabethtown faculty for 41 years, he served in many leadership roles at the College, including Dean of Faculty from 2010 to 2016, Interim Provost on two occasions, and department chair. He was a lecturer in political studies at the Queens University Bader International Study Centre in East Sussex, England in fall 1999, and an American studies lecturer at the Dalian University of Foreign Languages, Liaoning Province, China in spring 2008. He holds a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville.
Dr. McClellan teaches the senior capstone in political science and legal studies, as well as previously teaching courses in American government, the presidency and presidential elections, public policy, and public administration. He has presented dozens of papers at professional conferences in such areas as the American presidency, politics and popular culture, and teaching and learning in political science. Undergraduate students and alumni co-author some of his papers and columns, and many students he has mentored have presented their research at professional conferences. He is the recipient of the 2020 Lifetime Achievement Award and the 2018 Craig L. Brians Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Research and Mentorship, presented by the Political Science Education Section of the American Political Science Association (APSA). In 2020, Elizabethtown College awarded him the Kreider Prize for Teaching Excellence.
His recent publications include a 2023 article on how political science departments adjusted their undergraduate curricula during the 2010s and a 2021 article on the effects of high impact practices on student learning, both co-authored for the Journal of Political Science Education. His co-authored article on the Presidential Medal of Freedom in the New England Journal of Political Science was featured in the New York Times, Washington Post, and The Conversation.
In addition, Dr. McClellan is actively involved with the Political Science Education section of APSA. Starting in 2022, he is a member of the APSA Presidential Task Force on Rethinking Political Science Education, co-chairing efforts to reform the undergraduate political science major. The final report of the Task Force, released March 2024, is found here: APSA Presidential Task Force on Rethinking Political Science Education – APSA (apsanet.org). A regular contributor to LNP/LancasterOnline, he offers commentary on current politics for area media outlets, including WITF-FM, the Pennsylvania Cable Network, and the Pennsylvania Capital-Star. In 2022, City & State Pennsylvania named him one of the “50 Over 50” most influential difference-makers in the state.
Dr. Gabriel Ricci
Professor
riccigr@etown.edu | 717-361-1139
Gabriel R. Ricci has taught in the History and Philosophy Departments since 1996, and served as the chair of the History Department from 2004 to 2011. He teaches political theory courses and a public policy ethics course for political science.
Dr. Wayne A. Selcher
Professor of International Studies Emeritus
wayneselcher@comcast.net | 717-361-1308 | Personal Website | Virtual Library
Wayne A. Selcher graduated from Lebanon Valley College (B.A., Spanish) and the University of Florida (M.A., Latin American Studies and Ph.D., Political Science). From 1969 to May 2007 he taught at Elizabethtown College, where he was chair of the Department of Political Science from 1970 to 1996 and held an endowed chair as Professor of International Studies from 1984 to 2007. He retired in May 2007, but still lectures occasionally and helps to advance the College's international connections. His major academic interests are international relations, Latin American politics and foreign policy, American foreign policy, American values and culture in a comparative context, and Internet use in international studies teaching and research. He is the creator, editor, and maintainer of the WWW Virtual Library: International Affairs Resources, part of the WWW Virtual Library system.
Dr. Nathan Gibson
Assistant Professor of Political Science
Dr. Nathan Gibson is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Elizabethtown College. He received a B.A. in Public Policy Studies from Vanderbilt University and M.A. and Ph.D. in Politics from Princeton University. His research focuses on how managerial and political factors affect policymaking in the executive and legislative branches. Dr. Gibson teaches courses on American government, the presidency, Congress, public policy, and public administration.
Before to coming to Elizabethtown, Dr. Gibson served as a postdoctoral fellow at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute, drafting his book manuscript, The Policies Presidents Make: When and Why Presidents Centralize Executive Branch Policymaking. Prior to this fellowship, Dr. Gibson spent a semester as a Postgraduate Research Associate and Lecturer at Princeton University.
Dr. Gibson’s research has been published in Congress & The Presidency, The SAGE Handbook of Research Methods in Political Science and International Relations, and the Social Science Research Council’s volume, Can America Govern Itself? His dissertation, Presidential Use of Centralization and Politicization, won the American Political Science Association’s 2022 George C. Edwards III Dissertation Award in executive politics for its examination of how presidents use White House staff and political appointees to manage policymaking in the executive branch.
Dr. Matthew Telleen
Pre-Law Director
telleenm@etown.edu | 717-361-1272
Matthew Telleen teaches Etown’s LSAT prep course and constitutional law courses. Telleen previously has worked in corporate communications, print journalism, and as an attorney in St. Paul, Minnesota. His research focuses on corporate political speech, commercial speech, and First Amendment Theory. He earned his doctoral degree in communications from the University of South Carolina and his juris doctorate from the University of Minnesota.
Dr. Craig K. Lang
Visiting Assistant Professor of Political Science
langcraig@etown.edu
Dr. Craig Lang is a Visiting Assistant Professor of Political Science at Elizabethtown College. Craig’s teaching and research focus on issues that intersect both Comparative Politics and International Relations, and his most recent publication in the Journal of International Peacekeeping focuses on the impact of transitional justice on building the rule of law in post-conflict states. Dr. Lang is currently examining the political effects of missing persons, particularly as it relates to democratic transitions and peacebuilding. While interested in issues of conflict, peacebuilding, and human rights throughout the world, Craig’s research focuses on Latin America and Southeastern Europe.
Before earning his doctorate in Political Science from Florida International University in 2017, Craig served as a Foreign Affairs Officer with the U.S. Department of State from 2001 to 2011. In this capacity, he was posted in Washington, D.C., Serbia, Kosovo, and Colombia. Craig is excited to be at Elizabethtown College, and he comes to Etown after having taught at Franklin & Marshall College and Dickinson College.
Dr. Kyle C. Kopko
Adjunct Professor of Political Science
kopkok@etown.edu | 717-361-1990 | Personal Website
Kyle C. Kopko received his Ph.D. in political science from The Ohio State University in 2010, with a specialization in judicial politics and constitutional law. His teaching and research interests include American politics, election law, constitutional law, judicial behavior, political psychology, and religion & politics. Dr. Kopko has published articles in Election Law Journal, Judicature, Political Behavior, and Presidential Studies Quarterly. Dr. Kopko also graduated with honors from Elizabethtown College in 2005.
Dr. Terrence Alladin
Adjunct Professor
William Bova
Adjunct Professor
Senior Associate at Greenlee Partners
William Bova is Senior Associate at Greenlee Partners, one of Pennsylvania's premier government affairs firms. He teaches the Pennsylvania Politics course at Etown, drawing upon over 20 years of experience covering politics as the Sr. VP of Programming for the Pennsylvania Cable Network (PCN). Bova has won various awards including being named COLUMNA CURIAE by the Pennsylvania Superior Court and serves on the Palmyra Library Board. He earned his bachelor’s degree in communications from Elizabethtown College and a master’s degree in telecommunications from Kutztown University.
