Faculty

Shlynn McKinney

Faculty Member	Champlain College Online
Contact	Email Me

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Robert Melasky

Faculty Member	Champlain College Online
Pronouns	He/Him/His
Education	Southern New Hampshire University, MSMIIT Innovation & IT; University of Vermont, Bachelor of Arts
Areas of Expertise	Full Stack Development Graphic Design

Biography

Rob has over 10 years experience with working in the technology industry. He has worked as a Graphic Designer, Web & Application Developer, along with teaching courses.

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Christine Melicharek

Faculty Member	Champlain College Online
Education	Vermont Law School, Juris Doctor; Mercy College, Bachelor of Science

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April Mentzer

Faculty Member	Social Work Degree  Social Work Minor
Pronouns	She/Her/Hers
Areas of Expertise	Group Work Human Behavior
Fun Fact About Me	I am a Certified Yoga Instructor
Contact	Freeman Hall

Biography

April holds both a Bachelors and Masters in Social Work and became a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in 2024. She is the Visiting Professor in Social Work at Champlain College. Prior to accepting this position, April worked in the Champlain College Counseling Center providing a variety of services for students including individual therapy, group therapy, health promotion, and assisting with campus wide wellbeing initiatives. April serves as the Clinical Supervisor for PEARLS, a program to reduce depression symptoms in older adults. Before coming to work at Champlain College, April served older adults through her work with the state wide SASH Program (Support and Services at Home), people in Recovery at Howard Center’s Chittenden Clinic, and served on various employee wellness committees.

Throughout her social work career, April has explored what people need to be well, bringing a Bio, Psycho, Social, Spiritual lens to her work. April is also a certified yoga instructor and has studied yoga and mindfulness for more than half her life. When April is not working she enjoys walking with friends, traveling, and spending time with her family and their beloved pet chickens.

What are your hobbies?

Walking, spending time with family and friends.

Favorite local eateries and things to do in Vermont:

Spending time outside.

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Jeffrey Messina

Faculty Member	Law Minor
Areas of Expertise	Business Law Commercial Litigation
Connect Online	LinkedIn

Biography

Jeffrey M. Messina, Esq. is an attorney in private practice in Burlington, VT. His practice generally focuses on Business Law, Commercial Transactions, and Commercial Litigation in Vermont state and federal court. He also represents clients in Administrative proceedings such as licensing, Department of Labor, and Office of Professional Regulation.

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Mitchell Miller

Faculty Member	Champlain College Online
Education	Nova Southeastern University, Doctorate of Business Administration; Brooklyn College, Bachelor of Arts; Pace University, Master of Business Administration
Areas of Expertise	Personal and corporate finance & investments Economics & management

Biography

Dr. Mitchell Miller, CFP®, is an entrepreneur, educator, author, and practicing Certified Financial Planner®, currently residing in Florida.

In a previous career, he was a corporate executive and senior manager for twenty-plus years with such global, integrated professional service firms such as KPMG LLP, Arthur Andersen LLP, and Lincoln Financial Advisors. Dr. Miller is privileged to have served as a vice president for a private, Miami-based, $150 million financial services organization and for more than 14 years was a regional consultant and manager for a publicly held corporation.

Dr. Miller’s most memorable corporate accomplishment, though, was being recognized by his corporate sponsors on numerous occasions for leadership excellence, and for receiving manager of the year awards for the ability to manage, recruit, hire, train and develop people.

Academically, Dr. Miller earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from Brooklyn College, Master of Business Administration in Corporate Finance from Pace University’s graduate school of business, and attended the College for Financial Planning, completing the CFP® Professional Education Program. Dr. Miller’s DBA in finance was earned from the H. Wayne Huizenga School of Business & Entrepreneurship, Nova Southeastern University. His dissertation subject was Modern Portfolio Theory.

As a practicing Certified Financial Planner (CFP®), Dr. Miller provides investment advisory and financial planning services for his clientele. He’s also actively involved with scholarship activities, researching, writing, and publishing investment-related articles.

Dr. Mitchell Miller, DBA, CFP®

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Mike Miller

Faculty Member	Champlain College Online
Pronouns	He/Him/His
Education	Ithaca College, Master of Science; Ithaca College, Bachelor of Arts
Areas of Expertise	Organizational Communication Sociology Interpersonal Communication
Contact	Remote

Biography

His pedagogical objective is to awaken the “sociological imagination” in students, to engage them in observing, analyzing, and thinking critically about conditions of life, work, and relationships.

He is an adjunct professor for Empire State College’s (ESC) On-line Adult Education program. At ESC he teaches a 4-credit Television and Culture class. Class size has ranged from 15 to 25 students. ESC is located in Saratoga Springs, New York, USA

He also teaches online for Champlain College in Burlington, Vermont USA. Before moving to Canada, he taught on campus classes for two years at Champlain College. His current classes with Champlain College are:

• Small Group Communication
• Introduction to Sociology
• Organizational Communication

Education

2006 certificate: faculty development course in on-line adult education instruction.

2002 Master of Science in Communications Roy H. Park School of Communications Ithaca College, Ithaca, NY USA

2000 Bachelor of Arts in Sociology, minor in Anthropology Ithaca College, Ithaca, NY USA 1998 Induction into the National Honorary Management Fraternity

The focus of his Bachelor of Arts in Sociology was class, work, and gender with a concentration in organizations and institutions. His choice to pursue a Master of Science in Organizational Communica­tion, Learning and Design aided his understanding of communicative theories in relation to learning environments and institutional communication relationships.

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Chris Miller

Faculty Member	Champlain College Online
Pronouns	He/Him/His
Education	Boston University, Master of Business Administration; Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Bachelor of Science; Pennsylvania State University, Master of Science; Pennsylvania State University, PhD
Areas of Expertise	Financial and Managerial Accounting Business Logistics and Supply Chain Management Significant Experience with Not-For-Profit Organizations

Biography

Chris started his studies in the Biological Sciences. He earned a B.S. in Biology and an M.S. in Plant Pathology. His research focus was on the impact of air pollution on Forest Trees. He switched career paths and earned an MBA from Boston University with a focus on Accounting and Finance. He worked in public accounting and met the experience requirements and passed the exam to become a CPA. He left public accounting and worked for a number of different firms, primarily with a focus on manufacturing. His longest tenure was with a publicly-traded, high-tech, multinational firm that grew from annual revenues of tens of millions to hundreds of millions while he worked there. He has held the positions of: corporate controller, CFO, and VP of Services during his career. The growth that he dealt with piqued his interest in operations. He earned a Ph.D. in Logistics and Supply Chain Management from the Pennsylvania State University. His research focused supply chain performance and measurement systems. He has taught both undergraduate and graduate courses at a number of universities.

Favorite Quote

“History doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes.”

—Mark Twain

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Emily Ann Miller

Faculty Member	Champlain College Online
Education	New York University, Master of Arts; Marymount Manhattan College, Bachelor of Fine Arts

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Shannon Mitchell

Faculty Member	Game Design Degree
Pronouns	She/Her/Hers
Education	Champlain College, Bachelor of Science Business Administration
Areas of Expertise	Game Production Games For Change Respect-Based Design/ UX Design

Biography

Shannon is an Adjunct for the division of Communication and Creative Media, with a specialization in Game Production. Recognized by Bustle in “Women Redefining What It Means To Work In STEM” Shannon is co-owner, Vice President, and COO of GameTheory Co, a Vermont-based game studio whose passion is using gaming technology to inspire social change. Shannon’s work at GameTheory begin in 2016 with this mission, and to expand the creative application of games, technology, and design towards meaningful impacts. Through her time in the game industry she has served as project manager on dozens of successful projects across entertainment, mobile, edu-tech, and health spaces utilizing wearables, AR/VR and biometric feedback. Before working in her current positions, Shannon held several roles in entertainment-focused independent studios, where she collaborated on widely recognized and award-winning app titles.

At this point in her career, Shannon is focused on expanding the benefits of leading edge gaming technologies to provide accessible and sustainable benefits outside of traditional gaming spaces. The core of this expertise lies in her use of agile project management workflows to streamline development across a portfolio of acclaimed projects of ranging scale and scope. This background provides her with years of experience effectively managing technically advanced project teams through research projects requiring significant considerations for human protections, close collaboration with subject matter experts, and secure data management processes. In addition to her experience in Game Production and Entrepreneurship, she specializes as a UX designer and consulting working from a lens of respect-based design – a methodology that bridges elements of accessibility, user-first, and empathetic design principles into a centralized theory for product development. As a professional, Shannon has served as a local event organizer, IGDA mentor, and industry coach to support individuals starting out in her career to foster positive growth, creativity, and intersectional diversity within the games industry.

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Shaffick Mohammed

Faculty Member	Champlain College Online
Contact	Remote Email Me

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James Monroe

Faculty Member	Champlain College Online
Pronouns	He/Him/His
Education	Anderson University, Master of Business Administration; Indiana University-Purdue University-Indianapolis, Bachelor of Science
Areas of Expertise	Accounting Business Finance
Contact	Remote

Biography

Jim Monroe has taught for over 20 years and been an accountant for over 30 years teaching both online and ground classes. He is married and has a son with autism and that has made him realize that not everyone learns the same way, so that is something he incorporates whenever possible. In spare time, he loves to travel, play golf and go to concerts and baseball games.

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Tanesha Morgan

Faculty Member	Champlain College Online
Education	Southern University, Doctor of Philosophy; Southeastern Louisiana University, Master of Business Administration; Southeastern Louisiana University, Bachelor of Science
Areas of Expertise	Finance Healthcare Administration

Biography

BS Finance
Master of Business Administration
MS Healthcare Administration
PhD Public Policy

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Alexis Morin

Faculty Member	Game Art Degree
Pronouns	He/Him/His
Areas of Expertise	3D Rendering Interactive Narrative

Biography

Alexis has been interested in games, interactive narrative experiences and 3D rendering as far as he remembers. He’s had his fair share of experience in the game engine space over time, working in a wide variety of contexts such as indie gaming, animation and even engine development work. He is currently the Lead Technical Artist at Felix & Paul Studios, an award-winning VR company specializing in novel virtual reality experiences developed using Unreal Engine – and spends his spare time working on strange little art games and plugins.

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Fiadhnait Moser-Hardy

Faculty Member	Education Degree
Pronouns	She/Her/Hers
Areas of Expertise	Creative Writing Children's Literature Expressive Arts
Connect Online	LinkedIn Personal Website X Facebook

Biography

Fiadhnait Moser-Hardy joined Champlain College as an adjunct professor in the CCM (Writing), SoSI (Elementary Education), and Core Divisions in 2022. She currently teaches Children’s Literature and the Expressive Arts, Creative Writing, Writing for the Workplace, Navigating Your Information Landscape, and Navigating Higher Education.

Moser received her M.F.A. in Writing with a specialization in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts in 2021. She is especially known for exploring difficult themes through fabulism and fantasy within her children’s books. Her publications include two middle grade novels, The Flourishing of Floralie Laurel and The Serendipity of Flightless Things, as well as an article discussing disability in publishing in Publishers Weekly.

In addition, Moser has extensive experience as an interdisciplinary artist and teacher, having previously worked as an elementary art and dance teacher. She is especially passionate about broadening her college students’ perspectives with new and creative ways of learning through interdisciplinary artistic study.

Distinctions & Awards

Featured Author at Denver Children’s Festival of Stories 2019

Publications & Abstracts

• The Flourishing of Floralie Laurel
• The Serendipity of Flightless Things
• It’s Not All About the Pub Date

Recommended Reading, Listening & Viewing

• Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo
• The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick
• I Talk Like a River by Jordan Scott and Sydney Smith

Favorite Quote

“Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.”

—Pablo Picasso

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