Personnel eJournal of Public Affairs

Executive Leadership Committee

The eJournal of Public Affairs has formed an executive leadership committee who drive the overall direction of publications. This committee includes:

Katherine (Kathy) Nordyke, PhD
Director of Citizenship and Service-Learning and of the eJournal of Public Affairs. Dr. Nordyke also co-chairs the Carnegie Recertification for Community Engagement application process and serves as a co-ADP Coordinator for Missouri State University. Previously, Kathy served as a reviewer and contributor for the journal.

Charles Whitaker, MS
Editor for the eJournal of Public Affairs and Communications Manager for Citizenship & Service-Learning. Prior to the re-launch of the journal, Charles served in the capacity of both the Associate Editor and a contributor.

Catherine (Cathy) Copeland, PhD
Currently, the Director of the Institute for Citizens & Scholars, Dr. Copeland previously served as the liaison for the partnership collaboration of the eJournal of Public Affairs and ADP/AASCU and has been instrumental in the 2024 re-launch of the eJournal. Dr. Copeland served as faculty at several institutions of higher education, including James Madison University, the University of Alabama, and Indiana University-Purdue University.

John Jasinski, PhD
Dr. J is a senior consultant for AASCU Consulting. He previously served as provost at Missouri State University and as he is President Emeritus from Northwest Missouri State University. His AASCU service includes Member, Board of Directors; member, Postsecondary Value Commission Taskforce; leadership mentor for Millennium Leadership Institute, New President’s Academy and Executive Leadership Academy; lead facilitator, Becoming a Provost Academy; member, State Council of Representatives.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnjasinski/

Rachelle Darabi, PhD
Faculty Emeritus at Missouri State University, Dr. Darabi has a lengthy history with the eJournal of Public Affairs, not only in her prior role as Associate Provost of Student Development and Public Affairs, but as a member of the Editorial Board for the eJournal and a contributor. During Dr. Darabi’s tenure at Missouri State University, she was actively involved in AASCU, AACU, and ADP, and worked tirelessly to move the Journal of Public Affairs to the eJournal of Public Affairs with national and global presence.

Mary Ann Wood, MS 
Director, Office of Public Affairs Support and coordinates and oversees the development of multiple activities that promote the university’s public affairs mission including the Public Affairs Conference, Public Affairs Talks, Democracy Week, the US Naturalization Ceremony, and other special events. She also serves as co-chair of the Carnegie Recertification for Community Engagement application process and is part of a 13-member non-partisan community organization called the Informed Voter Coalition whose goal is to educate voters and engage candidates with constituents.

Tim Eatman, PhD
Dean of the Honors Living-Learning Community at Rutgers University and was the co-director of Imagining America: Artists and Scholars in Public Life. Dr. Eatman also has a long history with the American Democracy Project (ADP) and the eJournal of Public Affairs and collaborated with Marc Cooper on the eJournal prior to the untimely passing of Dr. Cooper. Dr. Eatman’s goal is to move forward the legacy that Marc Cooper created with the eJournal of Public Affairs. Additionally, Dr. Eatman’s work includes serving as the co-editor of the Cambridge Handbook of Service-Learning and Civic Engagement (2017), serving in a national capacity with the Association of American Acolleges and Universities (AAC&U) Summer Institute on High Impact Practices, serving on the Advisory Panel for the Carnegie Engagement Classification for Community Engagement, as is a Board Member of the American Association of State Colleges and University (AASCU) and the International Association for Research on Service Learning and Community Engagement (IARSLCE).

https://hllc.newark.rutgers.edu/dr-timothy-eatman/

https://www.aacu.org/people/timothy-k-eatman

Chapman Rackaway, PhD
Director of Civic Engagement and Professor of Political Science (Chair) at Radford University is a scholar in the field of civic engagement and is actively involved with the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU) and the American Democracy Project both as a contributor and in serving on the Editorial Board. Chapman’s goal is that the eJournal of Public Affairs is the “gold standard” for journals that focus on civic engagement and public affairs topics, research, and scholarship.

https://www.radford.edu/content/chbs/home/political-science/about/Rackaway.html

Dr. Rackaway’s professional portfolio can be found at www.chapmanrackaway.com