McDaniel College announces new faculty and promotions

Virginia Kuulei Berndt is assistant professor of Sociology and previously served as assistant professor of Sociology at Texas A&M International University, where she was named the 2024 Faculty Advisor of the Year. She has taught both undergraduate and graduate courses, including Introduction to Sociology, Sociological Theory, Sociology of Disasters, and Medical Sociology, among others. 

Her research is focused on health and illness, and she co-authored the book “Body Art (Arts for Health),” which explores how body art contributes to mental and physical well-being. Her work has appeared in academic journals, such as “Social Science and Medicine” and “Social Currents,” and she has presented at national and international conferences. Berndt has also been interviewed by local and national media.

​She holds a Ph.D. from the University of Delaware and master’s degree from Lehigh University in Sociology. She is a graduate of Millersville University of Pennsylvania with a bachelor’s degree in Sociology and Philosophy and earned an associate degree from Harrisburg Area Community College (HACC). 

Berndt is a member of the American Sociological Association, International Sociological Association, Eastern Sociological Society, Southern Sociological Society, Sociologists for Women in Society, and Society for the Study of Social Problems.

Lisa Buckler M.S. '06 has been promoted to lecturer in Early Childhood Education. 

Buckler, who earned a master’s degree from McDaniel’s Reading Specialist program in 2006, has served as coordinator of the Reading Specialist: Literacy Leadership program in Graduate and Professional Studies since 2017 and began teaching in the program in 2007. 

She holds a bachelor’s degree in Early Childhood Education and Psychology from Hood College and a certificate from Mount St. Mary’s University. 

Buckler has also worked for Carroll County Public Schools and Frederick County Public Schools.

Gené Fouché, who has taught at McDaniel since 2007 as an adjunct lecturer, visiting faculty member, lecturer, and senior lecturer in the Theatre Arts department, has been promoted to assistant professor of Theatre Arts. She was named chair of McDaniel’s Theatre Arts department in 2023. 

Courses she has taught include Acting, Directing, Theatre Improvisation, and Movement for the Actor, among others. She has also directed various McDaniel College Theatre productions, such as “Urinetown, The Musical,” “Radium Girls,” and “A Streetcar Named Desire.” 

Along with her husband Tad Janes, Fouché founded the Maryland Ensemble Theatre, a professional collaborative ensemble and nonprofit theater company in Frederick, Maryland, and serves as associate artistic director. She is a founding member of The Comedy Pigs improv troupe and previously taught at Mount St. Mary’s University and Frederick Community College. 

Fouché holds an M.F.A. in Theatre from Towson University and B.F.A. in Theatre from West Virginia University. 

Lt. Col. Jason Johnson is professor and department chair of Military Science. 

He also leads the Green Terror Battalion, which includes cadets from McDaniel, Hood College, and Mount St. Mary’s, and is one of the oldest Army ROTC programs in the nation. 

Johnson has over 27 years of military experience and was previously coordinator of civil military operations at Shaw Air Force Base in South Carolina. 

He earned a Master of Science in Defense Analysis from the Naval Postgraduate School and graduated magna cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in Information Technology from American InterContinental University. 

Heidi MacGlaughlin M.S. '96 has been promoted to lecturer and program coordinator of Deaf Education in Graduate and Professional Studies. 

A 1996 alum of the college with a master’s degree in Deaf Education, MacGlaughlin has also taught in the program. She holds a Doctor of Education in Deaf Studies and Deaf Education from Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas, and an Education Specialist degree in Education from Gallaudet University. She earned a bachelor’s degree in Communication Arts from Gallaudet. 

An educator for more than 20 years, MacGlaughlin was the program director for the Master of Science in Deaf Education at Lamar University and taught as an assistant professor in the Department of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education, specializing in early language acquisition, ASL/English bilingual education, and literacy. She also served as an academic services manager at Gallaudet. She previously taught at Gallaudet University, Texas School for the Deaf, Delaware School for the Deaf, Hawaii Center for the Deaf and Blind, and Minnesota State Academy for the Deaf. 

Her research has been published in various professional publications and she has presented at conferences throughout the United States and Canada. She is a member of the Association of College Educators of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing.

Nicole O’Reilly has joined the college as associate professor of Social Work and program director of Social Work. She comes to McDaniel from Boise State University, where she taught in the School of Social Work since 2015 and was the program coordinator for the Bachelor of Social Work from 2020 to 2023. Her teaching interests are human behavior and the social environment, social welfare policy, research methods, macro social work, and diversity and oppression.

Her research focuses on maternal and child health and specifically health and nutrition of families, examining the relationship between the food environment, food security, and health outcomes. She has had articles published in peer-reviewed journals, policy briefs, and research reports.

A graduate of the University of Maryland, Baltimore, with a Ph.D. in Social Work, O’Reilly holds a master’s degree in Social Work from the University of Tennessee and a bachelor’s degree in Social Work from Shippensburg University. 

She also has experience as a victim assistance officer and consultant for the Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, District Attorney and Juvenile Probation Office, senior research analyst at Holleran, a consultant for aging services and community health, in Mountville, Pennsylvania, and mobile therapist and behavioral specialist consultant for the Youth Advocate Program in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. 

Adriano Lima e Silva has joined the college as an assistant professor of Accounting, teaching in the Economics and Business Administration department. 

Silva previously taught accounting and business courses at Howard Community College, where he was a founding member of the Business, Finance, and Accounting Department. He developed and coordinated the CPA Candidacy Certificate and contributed to the creation of the accounting apprenticeship program. Silva, who received Howard Community College’s Inspiring Faculty Award for 2022-23, also served as a liaison for the dual enrollment and Jump Start programs, and faculty advisor for the National Association of Black Accountants (NABA).

A certified public accountant (CPA), Silva has over 20 years of finance and accounting experience and has been responsible for fundraising and expanding operations for companies with over $900 million annual revenues. He has held leadership roles overseeing accounting and finance departments for the automotive, construction, financial service, and real estate and development industries in Brazil. He was also a finance accounting trainee at Partners of the Americas, a nonprofit based in Washington, D.C. Additionally, Silva has a data analytics background with certificates in environmental, social, and governance (ESG), blockchain, cybersecurity, and cloud computing.

He earned a master’s degree in Accountancy from George Washington University and master’s degree in Information Technology with Cybersecurity and Data Analytics certificates from Virginia Tech. He completed the executive management program through the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University and an M.B.A. from the Thunderbird School of Global Management at Arizona State University. He also earned a bachelor’s degree from the Catholic University of Minas Gerais and master’s degree from Federal University of Minas Gerais.

Catherine Springer-Sapp has joined the college as assistant professor of Kinesiology and coordinator of Health Sciences.

She comes to McDaniel after earning a Ph.D. in Kinesiology from the University of Maryland, College Park, where she was a teaching assistant for the Department of Public Health Science and Department of Kinesiology, as well as a research assistant in the Cardiometabolic Mechanisms Laboratory. 

She earned a master’s degree in Kinesiology from East Carolina University and has a bachelor’s degree in Applied Health Science from Messiah University.

A member of the American College of Sports Medicine, her research investigates the effects of exercise training and aging on skeletal muscle. Her work has been published in academic journals and she has been invited to present as a guest lecturer and at various conferences.