NEW FACES @ UCA

The University of Central Arkansas would like to welcome it's new faculty and professional staff for the 2001 fall semester. Each week, UCA Today will profile these new faces on campus.

Mark Mullenbach, instructor of political science
Instructor of political science Mark Mullenbach is happy to be one of the new faces at UCA.

After getting his BA degree from Minnesota State University at Moorhead, Mullenbach moved to Illinois State University to earn his MS degree. Mullenbach then went on to the University of Arizona to get his Ph.D. in political science and international relations. He recently defended his dissertation, so it is only a matter of weeks before Mullenbach will be able to put "assistant professor" before his name.

For the past three years, Mullenbach has taught at the University of Arizona as a Ph.D. student. With other offers from Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, Mullenbach found UCA to be the best choice. 

"I chose UCA because I like the relative smallness and the fact that it is a teaching university," Mullenbach said. "It is a better fit for me professionally."
On November 4, 1979 the Iran hostage crisis was the event that first sparked Mullenbach's interest in international events. The Iran hostage crisis was when Iranian students seized the American Embassy in Tehran taking more than 50 citizens hostage. After working in Washington D.C. for a member of Congress as an advisor on international issues, Mullenbach decided he wanted to teach students about the political world around them.

"Major events like that can change people's lives, and can have a long lasting impact and lead them into what they want to do professionally," Mullenbach said. "That's why I am where I am today." 

Mullenbach is working on a few different research projects. His main interest right now is stated in a paper he recently presented at a conference titled "Explaining the Occurrence of Intergovernmental Organization (IGO) Interventions in Interstate Disputes," which talks about why international organizations intervene in some civil conflicts but not others.

So far Mullenbach has gotten involved in UCA's Model United Nations. He is the Coordinator of the Arkansas Model United Nations, which is a program in which students simulate the meeting of the United States Model United Nations. 

To make the most out of his first year at UCA, Mullenbach plans begin some research, work on forming and designing his courses, and enhance UCA's Model United Nation's visibility and success. 

Steve Cox, Channel 6 engineer, instructor of mass communications
Steve Cox has joined the mass communications department staff as the Channel 6 engineer and a lecturer. 

Cox graduated from Humboldt State University in California in 1993 with a master's degree in film production. Prior to coming to UCA, Cox taught introduction to video and audio production at the Art Institute of Portland, Oregon.

Cox did not plan on becoming a teacher until he had his first experience with instructing a class. "I suspected that teaching was something I might enjoy doing," Cox said. "When I got the opportunity to do it I liked it more than I thought I would so I pursued it."

Cox received his undergraduate degree in speech communication and didn't become interested in film and video until an internship experience while obtaining his undergraduate degree. "I interned at a TV station and liked the film and video aspect so much that I decided to go into film production," he said.

Cox decided to apply for and accept the job at UCA because it provided a wonderful opportunity for him to combine his love of teaching and television production into one job.

Cox has been attending faculty sessions on training and advising so that he can better serve his students. "What I really want to do is dive into this thing and be as much as a resource for students as I can," he said.

Cox has big visions for the future of Channel 6 and students in the mass communication department for the coming years. "We have state-of-the-art, new equipment and we can offer television production since we now have the equipment and technology," he said. "Our goal is to become well established and bring people into the program even from outside of Arkansas."

Compiled by Brittney Boatman and Lisa Frein, Office of Communications