The Political Science Department is happy to welcome two new professors to our faculty. Ashley Nickels and Danny Chand will be contributing to our undergraduate, graduate, and Master of Public Administration programs. Please join us in welcoming them to Kent State!
Ashley Nickels holds a PhD in Public Affairs, with a specialization in Community Development, from Rutgers University- Camden. Her primary fields of study are public policy and public administration, with an emphasis in nonprofit and community-based organizations.
Ashley's research interests fall broadly into four categories: urban governance, local democracy and political participation, nonprofit advocacy and community- based organizing, and feminist activism. She has published in the journals: Risk, Hazards, and Crisis in Public Policy, State and Local Government Review (forthcoming), Feminist Formations (forthcoming), and the Journal of Public Affairs Education. She also have a forthcoming chapter in the edited book, Flint Water Crisis (Westphalia Press).
Prior to her academic career, she worked as the Assistant Director for Community Outreach and Volunteer Management at a university-based women's center. That experience led to her first co-edited book, Feminist Pedagogy, Practice, and Activism: Improving Lives of Women and Girls, which is set to be released in April 2017 by Routledge Press.
Daniel E. Chand (“Danny”) received his Ph.D. in Public Policy in the Policy Management specialization at the University of Arkansas and has a masters in Political Science with an emphasis in Community Development from Illinois State University. His primary areas of interests are policy implementation (specifically relating to immigration policy) and political activities by nonprofits. His current research projects include an examination of 501(c) nonprofits involved in federal elections and a study of disparities in immigration court outcomes.
He has worked with a number of policy nonprofits, such as Emily’s List and the American Civil Liberties Union. Before earning his Ph.D., he designed and implemented community development projects and program evaluations in both the United States and abroad. From 2006 through 2008, he served as a Peace Corps volunteer in rural Zambia.