August 2025

It’s not every day, nor on every college campus, where business and humanities faculty collaborate and propose bold alternatives to long-held beliefs.

However, that’s exactly what happened recently at The University of Scranton.

And the uncommon collaboration led to international recognition.

Douglas M. Boyle, D.B.A.’88, professor and chair of the Accounting Department and director of the University’s Ph.D. program, and Daniel P. Haggerty, Ph.D., professor and chair of the Philosophy Department and director of the University’s Special Jesuit Liberal Arts Honors Program, appeared this week on the Institute of Management Accountants’ (IMA) official podcast to discuss their article titled “Aristotle and Accounting: Building Virtue to Fight Fraud.”

“Often, when people think of ethics, they think of actions. What can you do? What can’t you do?” Dr. Haggerty said on the podcast. “But with virtue, as Aristotle understood it, action sort of comes at the end of the line. What (virtue ethics) focuses on is the development and the cultivation of habits of thinking, feeling, emotion, desire ... and all of those lead to action.”

The paper, which was co-authored by Dr. Boyle, Dr. Haggerty and Dana R. Hermanson, Ph.D., of Kennesaw State University, was selected as the IMA Committee on Ethics and Strategic Finance 2025 Curt Verschoor Ethics Feature of the Year.

The authors applied Aristotelian virtue ethics to modern accounting practices, offering a fresh and humanistic approach to fraud prevention.

“These leaders get their formal education through business school and that’s particularly focused on technical topics, net present value, how we do different things. It’s very quantitative, it’s very analytical and now it’s very technology-focused … lots of things that are very important to understand, but it’s not building virtue. It’s a rule book,” Dr. Boyle said on the podcast. “What we’re trying to do here is give these executives an alternative way to think about ethics and not just be so rules-based, but also be more human behavioral-based.”

The authors argue that building virtue takes time, trust and hard work, but it will ultimately happen. When it does happen, it leads to higher employee and customer satisfaction and ultimately better financial outcomes.

“This pursuit of virtue is not just a nice thing to do,” Dr. Boyle said, “it also has a real financial impact to a company.”

Dr. Boyle had previously won the prestigious Verschoor Award in 2020 and 2024 from the IMA, which has about 140,000 members in 150 countries. It is one of the largest associations focused on advancing the management accounting profession.

The University of Scranton has appointed 14 new full-time faculty members for the 2025-2026 academic year.

Sara Chan Yun Yu, Ph.D., was named an assistant professor in the Philosophy Department. Her research interests lie in ethics, social epistemology and the philosophy of religion. She earned her Ph.D. at the University of Notre Dame, where she was the recipient of two graduate fellowships. Prior to that, she graduated from the University of Oxford (BPhil in Philosophy, Blackfriars Hall) and the University of St. Andrews (MA in Philosophy and Psychology). She publishes on the philosophy of disability and has spoken at conferences across the world.

Beatriz Fontoura, Ph.D., was named an assistant professor in the Chemistry Department. Most recently, she was a postdoctoral research associate in the Department of Chemistry at Wake Forest University where she also served as a research instructor in analytical chemistry instrumentation. Dr. Fontoura earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in chemistry from Federal University of Viçosa, Brazil, and a Doctor of Philosophy in chemistry from Federal University of São Carlos, Brazil. She has been a contributor to numerous scholarly publications, is a journal reviewer for several academic journals, and is a member of leading Chemistry organizations. She has presented at conferences and events in both South and North America. In addition to her native Portuguese, she is fluent in English and speaks intermediate Spanish.

Nathan Henceroth, Ph.D., was named an assistant professor in the Political Science Department. Prior to joining the University, he was assistant professor of Computer Science and Political Science at Albright College, where his teaching focused on comparative politics, European politics, political economy and research methodology. Previously, he was visiting assistant professor of Political Science at Allegheny College. He earned a bachelor’s degree in international relations and French at Centre College, a master’s degree in international economics and politics at Charles University, Prague, and a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. In partnership with other academic colleagues, he has published works in peer-reviewed publications and has also presented at numerous professional conferences in his field. He is fluent in French and has intermediate fluency in Czech/Slovak.

Hyun Kim, Ph.D., was named an assistant professor in the Department of Health and Human Performance. She joined the University after serving for nine years on the faculty at Alma College where she was assistant professor, then associate professor of Public Health and was also program coordinator of the Public Health Program. She received a bachelor’s degree in merchandising from Indiana University, a Master of Science degree in economics from State University of New York, Buffalo, and a Ph.D. in community health from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She is a member of notable professional organizations in her field and is a regular presenter at the American Society for Nutrition meetings, among other professional organizations.

Megan Ossont, Ph.D., was named an assistant professor in the Department of Nursing. A Registered Nurse Practitioner with certification in family psychiatric mental health and as a nurse educator, Dr. Ossont was most recently assistant clinical professor at Drexel University of Graduate Nursing. She has served as a psychiatric nurse practitioner with the Federal Bureau of Prisons, where she was also selected as part of the National Forensic Psychiatry Team, and previously practiced at other correctional health care organizations and Geisinger Health Systems Department of Psychiatry, where she was named part of the residency faculty. Dr. Ossont earned a bachelor’s degree in nursing from The University of Scranton, a master’s degree in nursing from the University of Pennsylvania and a Doctor of Philosophy in nursing from Villanova University. She has presented at conferences, and her work is published in professional journals.

Corey Posa was named a faculty specialist in the Department of Nursing. A nurse navigator with nursing experience in substance use and high-risk obstetric care, she specializes in perinatal addiction medicine. Most recently, she was a nurse navigator at UPMC Magee-Women’s Hospital Pregnancy and Women’s Recovery Center. Previously, she served as a staff nurse in other units at UPMC. She earned a Bachelor of Science in nursing and Master of Science in nursing education from Duquesne University and is a Registered Nurse. She has presented at numerous professional organizations about Care of the Perinatal Patient with Opioid Use Disorder.

Carissa Pupo, DNP, previously an adjunct faculty member in the Nurse Anesthesia Program at the University, was named a faculty specialist in the Department of Nursing. She has worked as a nurse anesthetist at Anesthesia Specialists of Bethlehem and Lehigh Valley Health Network, as a registered nurse at Geisinger Medical Center and a nursing simulated learning lab manager at Bloomsburg University. She received a Bachelor of Science in nursing from Bloomsburg University and a Doctor of Nursing Practice in anesthesia from The University of Scranton. She is a member of the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists and is certified as a critical care registered nurse.

Swathi Ragulan, Ph.D., was named assistant professor in the Department of Counseling and Human Services. Dr. Ragulan received a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a master’s degree in applied behavior analysis from Rutgers University and went on to earn a Ph.D. in behavior analysis from the University of Nevada, Reno. A Board-Certified Behavior Analyst, she has taught as a lead instructor at the University of Nevada, Reno, and as a teaching assistant for the Global Institute for Behavioral Analysis. Dr. Ragulan has served as a clinical supervisor and assistant clinical director at service delivery organizations in her community, where she provided ABA services across the lifespan to individuals with autism and other developmental disabilities. She has presented extensively on topics in behavior analysis and skill acquisition for individuals with autism and is a contributor to scholarly publication articles.

Sangita Saha, Ph.D., was named an assistant professor in the Department of History. Most recently, she was a lecturer in South Asian History at Santa Clara University. Previously, she was instructor of record in the Department of History at the University of Michigan — where she received several writing fellowships and research awards — while simultaneously completing her doctoral studies. She received a bachelor’s degree in history from Calcutta University, a master’s degree in modern history from Jawaharlal Nehru University, an M.Phil. degree in social sciences from Jadavpur University and a Ph.D. in history and women’s and gender studies from the University of Michigan. Dr. Saha has presented at conferences and workshops in the U.S., U.K. and Europe. Bilingual in English and Bengali, she has working proficiency in Hindi.

Samantha Scott, Ph.D., was named faculty specialist in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies. She previously served as a lecturer in the Department of Theology at Marquette University and Lee University. She earned a bachelor’s degree in theology from Marquette University, master’s degrees in theological studies and biblical studies at Lee University, and a Ph.D. in Judaism and Christianity in Antiquity from Marquette University. She has published journal articles, book chapters and book reviews and has made numerous academic presentations to the Society of Biblical Literature and other societies in her field. She is proficient in many languages, including Hebrew, Greek, Aramaic, Latin, Syriac, German and French.

Navid Shahrouzi, Ph.D., was named an assistant professor in the Department of Physics and Engineering. Dr. Shahrouzi is an electrical engineer with expertise in embedded systems, FPGA prototyping, VLSI and microcontroller design. He previously served as an assistant research and teaching professor at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs, where he co-advised graduate students, served as the IEEE Student Branch Counselor and helped launch The Wire Lion Engineering Club. A senior member of IEEE, Dr. Shahrouzi has published in leading journals and conferences and regularly serves as a reviewer. In industry, he held a key role at Cypress Semiconductor (now Infineon Technologies), where he performed timing sign-off for SRSS IP in advanced microcontrollers. He earned his Ph.D. in electrical engineering from the University of Colorado, an M.Sc. from the University of Guilan, and a B.Sc. from K.N. Toosi University of Technology.

Marlon Mike Toro-Alvarez, Ph.D., was named an assistant professor in the Department of Criminal Justice, Cybersecurity and Sociology. He was previously an evaluator and analyst in cybersecurity and law enforcement training at Boston University, where he was part of a team on several research grant projects. As former head of the National Cybercrime Investigation Unit in the Colombian National Police, he organized the first White Hat Hackers Conference in Bogotá. He has been an instructor at Southern Illinois University and has been a guest lecturer at schools, police academies and criminology and cybercrime centers in South America and Mexico. He earned a bachelor’s degree in police administration from the Department of Police Service, Colombia, a bachelor’s degree in computer sciences from Catholic University, Colombia, a master’s degree in criminal justice from Boston University and a Ph.D. in criminology and criminal justice from Southern Illinois University.

Al Turano, previously an adjunct faculty member, was named a faculty specialist in the Department of Operations and Analytics. Before joining the University, he was senior director, Global Professional Services for Dell Technologies, where he was responsible for an $8 billion global consulting practice specializing in big data, artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things. Previously, he held leadership positions for EMC Corporation, a multinational information technology company, and served in business development, account management, and portfolio and project management roles for businesses and consulting firms. He received a bachelor’s degree in business management from Philadelphia University and a Master of Business Administration degree from Southeastern Oklahoma State University.

Jacob Zoromski, Ph.D., was named visiting assistant professor in the Department of Mathematics. He earned a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from the University of Wisconsin–Madison and a Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of Notre Dame. Dr. Zoromski has received awards for his work in student teaching.

Twenty-five faculty members at The University of Scranton received promotions heading into the 2025-26 academic year.

Four faculty members were elevated to professor: Duane Armitage, Ph.D. ’05, philosophy; John Deak, Ph.D., chemistry; Joan Grossman, Ph.D., health and human performance; and Hank Willenbrink, Ph.D., English and theatre.

Ten faculty members were advanced to associate professor: Mehmet Bastug, Ph.D., criminal justice, cybersecurity and sociology; Vincent Farallo, Ph.D., biology; Spencer Galen, Ph.D., biology; Madeline Gangnes, Ph.D., English and theatre; Emily Gerstle, Ph.D., health and human performance; Christopher Hauser, Ph.D., philosophy; Joseph Klobusicky, Ph.D., mathematics; Sylvia Orner, library; Amelia Randich, Ph.D., biology; and Paul Sampson, Ph.D., history.

Four faculty members were named associate professor and granted tenure: Ovidiu Cocieru, Ph.D., management and marketing; Rita DiLeo, D.Sc. ’11, health administration and human resources; Cara Krieg, Ph.D., biology; and Murong Xu, Ph.D., mathematics.

Seven professors were granted tenure: Sinchul Back, Ph.D., criminal justice, cybersecurity and sociology; Marleen Cloutier G’22, library; Nathaniel Frissell, Ph.D., physics and engineering; Emily Hopkins, Ph.D., psychology; Amanda Marcy, Ph.D. ’10, G’11, PHD’20, accounting; Ian O’Hara ’05, library; and Mary Troy, Ph.D. ’95, G’00 counseling and human services.

Dr. Armitage, who has worked at the University since 2015, received a bachelor’s degree from The University of Scranton, a master’s degree from Boston College and a Ph.D. from the New School for Social Research.

Dr. Back, who has worked at the University since 2019, received a bachelor’s degree from Northeastern University, master’s degrees from Hankuk University of Foreign Studies and Bridgewater State University and a Ph.D. from Florida International University.

Dr. Bastug, who has worked at the University since 2020, received bachelor’s degrees from Turkish National Police University and Akdeniz University and master’s and doctoral degrees from Rutgers University.

Prof. Cloutier, who has worked at the University since 2016, received a bachelor’s degree from Wentworth Institute of Technology and master’s degrees from The University of Scranton and Drexel University.

Dr. Cocieru, who has worked at the University since 2019, received a bachelor’s degree from the Alexandru Ioan Cuza University and master’s and doctoral degrees from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Dr. Deak, who has worked at the University since 2002, received a bachelor’s degree from the State University of New York at Buffalo and a Ph.D. from the University of Rochester.

Dr. DiLeo, who has worked at the University since 2007, received a bachelor’s degree from The University of Scranton, a master’s degree from Marywood University and a doctoral degree from the University of Alabama.

Dr. Farallo, who has worked at the University since 2020, received a bachelor’s degree from John Carroll University, a master’s degree from Texas State University-San Marcos and a Ph.D. from Ohio University.

Dr. Frissell, who has worked at the University since 2019, received a bachelor’s degree from Montclair State University and master’s and doctoral degrees from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.

Dr. Galen, who has worked at the University since 2020, received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Delaware, a master’s degree from the University of New Mexico and a Ph.D. from Richard Gilder Graduate School.

Dr. Gangnes, who has worked at the University since 2020, received a bachelor’s degree from University of Puget Sound, a master’s degree from University of Dundee and a Ph.D. from the University of Florida.

Dr. Gerstle, who has worked at the University since 2020, received a bachelor’s degree from Denison University and master’s and doctoral degrees from the University of Wisconsin.

Dr. Grossman, who has worked at the University since 2010, received a bachelor’s degree from King’s College, a master’s degree from Colorado State University and a Ph.D. from Marywood University.

Dr. Hauser, who has worked at the University since 2020, received a bachelor’s degree from Dartmouth College and a Ph.D. from Rutgers University.

Dr. Hopkins, who has worked at the University since 2018, received a bachelor’s degree from Brown University and master’s and doctoral degrees from the University of Virginia.

Dr. Klobusicky, who has worked at the University since 2020, received bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Carnegie Mellon University and master’s and doctoral degrees from Brown University.

Dr. Krieg, who has worked at the University since 2018, received a bachelor’s degree from Grinnell College and a Ph.D. from Michigan State University.

Dr. Marcy, who has worked at the University since 2015, received bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees from The University of Scranton.

Prof. O’Hara, a faculty member at the University since 2019, received a bachelor’s degree from The University of Scranton and a master’s degree from Clarion University.

Prof. Orner, who has worked at the University since 2020, received a bachelor’s degree from Gettysburg College and master’s degrees from Syracuse University and The University of Scranton.

Dr. Randich, who has worked at the University since 2020, received a bachelor’s degree from Grinnell College and a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago.

Dr. Sampson, who has worked at the University since 2020, received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Dallas, a master’s degree from Marquette University and a Ph.D. from Rutgers University.

Dr. Troy, who has worked at the University since 2018, received bachelor’s and master’s degrees from The University of Scranton and a Ph.D. from Regent University.

Dr. Willenbrink, who has worked at the University since 2009, received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Tulsa and master’s and doctoral degrees from the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Dr. Xu, who has worked at the University since 2020, received bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Jinan University and a doctoral degree from West Virginia University.