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College Welcomes New Faculty
Virginia Wesleyan's Office of Academic Affairs welcomes new faculty for 2013-2014
By Staff | September 20, 2013
Vice President of Academic Affairs and Kenneth R. Perry Dean of the College Dr. Timothy O'Rourke and the Virginia Wesleyan College community are pleased to welcome the following faculty for 2013-2014.
Photos by Janice Marshall-Pittman
Mrs. Takeyra Collins
Visiting Instructor of Recreation and Leisure Studies
Takeyra Collins is a Certified Therapeutic Recreation Specialist (CTRS). She joins Virginia Wesleyan from Oceans Behavioral Health Hospital in New Orleans, where she worked as the director of therapeutic recreation. She taught at Old Dominion University as an instructor in the Human Movement Sciences Department before obtaining positions as a recreation therapist with the Department of Veterans Affairs in Honolulu and Naval Medical Center Portsmouth. Collins has worked as a CTRS in various clinical, healthcare, and community-based settings with at-risk youth and persons with various disabling conditions, including spinal cord and brain injuries, mental illness, developmental disabilities, and older, frail adults. She is a 2008 graduate of Virginia Wesleyan College, having obtained her B.A. in recreation and leisure studies with an emphasis in therapeutic recreation and a minor in psychology. She was also a collegiate athlete on VWC’s volleyball team. Collins received her M.Ed. from Old Dominion University in physical education with a concentration in recreation and tourism studies. She is the proud wife of an active duty Marine and mother of two beautiful children.
Dr. Scott R. Hinze
Assistant Professor of Psychology
Scott Hinze joined the Psychology Department at Virginia Wesleyan in the fall of 2013. Most recently, he held a post-doctoral research fellowship at Northwestern University in the School of Education and Social Policy. He attended Hope College in Holland, Michigan, where he received his B.A. in psychology with a minor in biology. He earned his Ph.D. in cognitive psychology from the University of Illinois at Chicago. His research explores how processes of human learning and memory unfold in everyday experiences, including educationally-relevant ones, and how these experiences can be supported with effective instructional design. Hinze is a native of Shelby, Michigan, a small town with a population of 2,000, where there is no McDonald’s and not a single stoplight. He relocated to Hampton Roads in August with his rescue dog, Chuck.
Dr. Eric E. Johnson
Assistant Professor of Biology
Eric Johnson is a plant molecular biologist who comes from the University of Oklahoma where he held a teaching-focused post-doctoral position that introduced inquiry to botany students. Johnson earned his Ph.D. in botany from the University of British Columbia while studying the production of unique chemicals in Arabidopsis, the first plant with a fully sequence genome. He earned his B.A. in plant biology at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale where he was introduced to undergraduate research. He gained an appreciation for teaching during the completion of his Ph.D. and is excited to contribute to the undergraduate research program at VWC while studying molecular evolution in plants. Since moving to the area with his family, Johnson has enjoyed exploring and learning about the history and natural areas around Hampton Roads.