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James R . Martin, PhD

Assistant Director, Reinert Library, Room 211 - Assistant Director, Doctoral Program in Interdisciplinary Leadership

Associate Professor

Contact

JimMartin@creighton.edu
College of Professional and Continuing Education
Interdisciplinary Leadership EdD (Doctorate)
Interdisciplinary Department
RAML - Reinert Alumni Memorial Library - 211

James R . Martin, PhD

Assistant Director, Reinert Library, Room 211 - Assistant Director, Doctoral Program in Interdisciplinary Leadership

Associate Professor


Faculty Biography
This biography provides a sense of my professional career outside of academia, my academic pursuits in teaching, service, and research activities, and concludes with a brief discussion of my personal activities.

Before entering academia, I spent 25 years working in a small family business oriented towards audio, video, and digital production and editing. This work involved the recording, editing, production, and packaging of promotional and educational materials for individuals and companies across the United States and Canada. As a senior executive and owner, my professional responsibilities including customer relations, marketing, budgeting, and employee management with hire, review, and termination authority. During my time on the management team (1989-2009) the company (Dicobe Media, Inc.) won a Heartland Better Business Bureau Ethics award (2003) and I was fortunate enough to be named to the 40 under 40 list of business executives in Omaha. After I started work at Creighton in October of 2012, the business was sold to its’ employees and continues to operate today.

Academically, I hold a BA in Political Science and History from Bellevue University (dual major, degree obtained in 1991). After obtaining my BA, I worked in the family business for many years. In 2004, I started my studies at Creighton, eventually obtaining an MA in International Relations. During my MA studies, I worked on several research projects with Dr. Terry Clark, the director of the program at that time. I also worked as an open-source researcher for several months with USSTRATCOM in the GISC (Global Innovation and Strategy Center) as a student-intern.  After completing my MA, I was fortunate enough to teach a few introductory level political science courses as an adjunct for UNO and eventually as a visiting instructor at Bellevue University (where I learned to teach online). In 2009, I started my PhD studies at Florida State University in Tallahassee, Florida. During my PhD program (a residential program) I traveled back and forth between Omaha and Tallahassee to attend to studies, work, and family responsibilities. At Florida State, I was advised and worked with Dr. Sona Golder and Dr. Brad Gomez as a research assistant and also taught several online courses in comparative politics. I was hired to teach in the Doctoral Program in Interdisciplinary Leadership (the EdD program) by Dr. Isabelle Cherney in October 2012; I successfully defended my PhD at Florida State in March of 2013.

I have taught full-time in the EdD program since that time, primarily teaching online doctoral level social science research and writing courses. I’ve also had the opportunity to teach in the classroom a few times for the Department of Political Science. My responsibilities in the program currently involve teaching courses, advising 70+ students, chairing the admissions committee, serving as a chair and 2nd committee member on numerous dissertation committees, facilitating faculty development and communications, and acting as and coordinating the activities of course directors (technical administrative management of courses) in our program). I’ve also served in numerous service roles in the program, at the graduate school level, and at the university level. I am also (since 2014) the assistant director of the EdD program. Examples of my service include participation in the strategic planning process under Father Lannon, service on the Graduate Board, service on the Creighton Global Initiative grant review committee under Dr. Padilla, facilitation of the 2014 program review process, service on numerous hiring committees for the EdD program, serving as the academic misconduct officer for the program, and other commitments. My research activities since working at Creighton include presentations each year (at least one per year) of political science oriented papers at the Midwest Political Science Association’s yearly conference in Chicago Illinois, publications related to the scholarship of teaching and learning in scholarly journals, presentations at the AEA assessment conference at Creighton in 2015 and 2016, two AEA grants in 206 and 2017, a presentation and workshop at the Association of Leadership Educators in 2018, and the production of several working papers on SOTL and political science oriented topics that are currently under review at a variety of scholarly journals. I’ve also written an op-ed piece that appeared in the Omaha World Herald in February of 2017.

Personally, I’ve lived and worked in Nebraska for most of my adult life. I have two adult children, one of whom graduated from Creighton university and another who is a junior at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln. I am active in serving the community of those recovering from alcohol and drug abuse and have volunteered in several capacities in this regard over the last 28 years. I am also a caregiver for my widowed mother. Finally, I am also active in the art community in Omaha, presenting shows most recently at the Apollon, Malibu Galleries, and an art space in Benson.
 

Teaching Interests

  • Expert in Econometrics, 15 years of study and experience

Research Focus

I am primarily interested in voting, the study of government cabinets, elections and electoral systems, but am also interested in democratization.  I have extensively studied Eastern and Western Europe, but have also researched party systems in Africa, Latin America and the Middle East.  While I am trained in quantitative analysis included MLE and Social Network Analysis techniques, I value context and view qualitative insights as key to the development of theory and have learned quite a bit about qualitative research since arriving at Creighton.

Teaching Research: I am interested in online pedagogy and andragogy. I am particularly interested in assessing the moderating influence of teaching strategies on students’ sense of connectedness to their programs, to faculty, and to their fellow students, and the ultimate influence of these on tangible outcomes. 
 
 

Department

Interdisciplinary Studies

Position

Associate Professor

Books

  • Edward Elgar Publishing
    Moss-Breen., J., and Martin, J. (2017). Teaching leadership research online at the doctoral level: Why we do it and how it works, in Advancing Doctoral Leadership Education, Edited by Laura Hyatt and Stuart Allen, Edward Elgar Publishing.  2017

Articles

  • Criminal Justice and Behavior
    Brian Brittain, Leah Georges, I served as a co-author for our article 'Examining the Predictive Validity of the Public Safety Assessment'. It has been accepted for publication. 2021
  • The Influence of Democratic Political Processes on Inflows of FDI. A solo-author journal article. In publication at Journal of Economic Insight. 2020
  • “The Ground Beneath Their Feet: The Influence of Immigration on Party Families in Europe”. Being prepared for submission. 2019
  • "New to the Game: The Influence of New Parties on Government Formation Delays". Single authored journal article. 2019
  • "Meeting students where they are: Teaching resesarch in an online graduate program". In prepation for submission to the Journal of Leadership Educators. Co-authored with Leah Georges and Jennifer Moss-Breen. 2019
  • Creighton Journal of Interdisciplinary Leadership
    "Training the Interdisciplinary Airman". with David Lees, James Martiin, and P. Dannar. Summer 2018 Issue 2018
  • Irish Journal of Paramedicine
    Leggio, W., Abdulqader, N., Samarkindi, O.A, Martin, J. (2017). Influence of family on Saudi Arabian EMS students. Irish Journal of Paramedicine. 
    2 (1), p. 7-13. 2017
  • Politics and Policy
    “Consensus Builders: Gender and Social Networks in Government” - peer reviewed, single author publication.
    46 (4) 2017
  • Creighton Journal of Interdisciplinary Leadership
    Brock, B.L., I. D. Cherney, J.R. Martin, J. Moss-Breen, & G. Oltman. “How to Launch a Doctoral Interdisciplinary Leadership Program.'
    1, p. 14-23 2015
  • “Assessing the Effectiveness of a Proposal Construction Course”  (with Leah Georges PhD and Gretchen Oltman PhD, co-authors)

Publications

  • Omaha World Herald
    An Opinion-Editorial: “Abandoning the post-WWII trade structure carries big global risks” Here's the link:https://www.omaha.com/opinion/midlands-voices-abandoning-the-post-wwii-trade-structure-carries-big/article_87ce2ff9-31c3-5d54-b06d-8dff4d5ea4a8.html  2019
  • Omaha World-Herald
    "Words Matter". 2018
  • Omaha World-Herald
    "Meghan McCain's Eulogy for Her Father - A Call to Action". 2018
  • Emerald
    Contributed several hand-drawn illustrations to Jennifer Moss-Breen's "Exceptional Leadership by Design". 2018
  • Omaha World Herald
    "A Reflection on Charlottesville." Editorial Page. 2017
  • Omaha World-Herald
    "Do International Treaties Matter?" (Editorial, published in the Omaha World Herald) 2017
  • Omaha World-Herald
    "Trumps Ban Defies Logic." (Omaha World Herald, Thursday, April 9, 2017) 2017

Editing and Reviews

  • Leah Georges, PhD, Dr. Georges and I are working on an edited volume focused on the challenges of teaching and administering online graduate programs. She and I are also contributing chapters to the book in addition to soliciting authors, editing their submissions, and writing the forward and conclusion. 2021
  • Information Age Publishing
    "Challenges and Opportunities in the Online Education Environment: Voices from the Crowd in Today's Complex Higher Education Contexts". Co-edited with Jennifer Moss-Breen and Leah Georges. 2019

Presentations

  • I led a online workshop on Social Network Analysis techniques for members of the Association of Leadership Educators. 2020
  • "Developing the Whole Professor in the Age of Adjuncts". Presentation at the Midwest Academy of Management, Omaha, NE. October 10-12, 2019. With 2nd author Sarah Lux. 2019
  • "Bloom's Taxonomy in Action: Rubrics and More". Workshop of the Department of Interdisciplinary Studies Faculty Development Committee. With Sara Lux, Vicki Bautista, Debra Ford, and Kate Johanssen. 2019
  • "Cultures of Trust: A Social Network Analysis". Presenting co-authored paper (with Dr. Candance Bloomquist" at the 2019 ALE Conference in Albuquerque, NM. 2019
  • "Mentoring Graduate Students in Online Programs". Panel Discussion; 2018 MPSA conference in Chicago, Illinois. 2019
  • "Teaching Political Science Online" at the MPSA conference in Chicago, Illinois. 2019
  • "The Smartest, Oldest Folks in the Room" co-authored with EdD Student Simon Mace at the MPSA conference in Chicago, Illinois. 2019
  • "Cultures of Trust in Education: A Social Network Analysis". At the 2019 St. Albert's Day Event (poster session) 2019
  • Dr. Kate Nolt and I co-led a workshop for the Department of Interdisciplinary studies focusing on creativity, pedagogy, and work-life balance. 2019
  • Co-led a workshop with Drs. Sarah Lux and Vicki Bautista on the use of video technologies within online classes for the Department of Interdisciplinary Studies, in conjunction with the TLC. 2019
  • "Cultures of Trust: A Workshop" Co-led day-long workshop (40 attendees) presenting our Haddix research and faciliating a number of trust exercises. With students Ben Horgan and Laura Steele. 2019
  • "Candidacy Assessment: a Statistical Analysis". At the 2018 Meeting of of the Assocation of Leadership Educators, Chicago, Illinois. 2018
  • "Assessing Candidacy Outcomes: A Workshop". At the 2018 meeting of the Assocation of Leadership Educators. Chicago, Illinois. 2018
  • "Improving the Candidacy Process" at the 2018 meeting of the Association of Leadership Educators in Chicago, Illinois. 2018
  • "It's Who You Know? The Influence of Experience on Goverment Durations in Parliamentary Systems". At the 2018 Conference of the Midwest Political Science Association, Chicago, Illinois. 2018
  • "The Ground Beneath Their Feet: The Effect of Immigrant Populations on Immigration in Europe" 2017 Meeting of the Midwest Political Science Association, Chicago, Illinois. 2017
  • "Meeting Milestones: The Effect of a Proposal Construction Course on the Timeliness of Dissertation Proposals". (with Leah Georges and Gretchen Oltman) 2016 Assessment Symposium, Omaha, Nebraska. 2016
  • "Inflows of Immigration and Party System Fragmentation in Europe." 2016 Meeting of the Midwest Political Science Association, Chicago, Illinois. 2016
  • "Teaching Social Sciences Online: Meeting Students Where They Are." 2016 Meeting of the Midwest Political Science Association, Chicago, Illinois. 2016
  • "Implementing the Creighton University Student Performance-Quality Indicators (CUSP-QI) in an Interdisciplinary Doctoral Program": 2015 University Assessment Symposium (with Dr. L. Georges and Dr. P. Hawkins). 2015
  • "Consensus Builders: The Effect of Gender on Government Durations." 2015 Meeting of the Midwest Political Science Association, Chicago, Illinois. 2015
  • "Electoral Volatility and its Effect on Government Formation Delays." 2014 Meeting of the Midwest Political Science Association, Chicago, Illinois 2014
  • "Presidents, Prime Ministers and the Veto: A Social Network Analysis". 2014 Meeting of the Midwest Political Science Association, Chicago, Illinois 2014
  • "Electoral Volatility, Government Formation Delays, and Inflows of FDI". 2013 Meeting of the Midwest Political Science Association, Chicago, Illinois 2013
  • "Rising Tides of Fortune: Electoral Volatility in the Modern Polity": 2012 Meeting of the Midwest Political Science Association, Chicago, Illinois 2012

Foundation/Association

  • A grant from Florida State University (2012). Funded travel for research interviews of members of the Israeli Knesset and non-governmental political activists.

  • Haddix Foundation Interdisciplinary Research Grant. Co-investigator: Dr. Candace Bloomquist. My roles in this grant were in research design, writing, designing the survey instrument, deploying the instrument, gathering the data, conducting the SNA analysis, mentoring graduate student workers, and writing up the results of those elements of the work.

Other

  • AEA Assessment Grant, 2016 ($2000). Studied the effect of a the creation of a proposal construction course.

Awards

  • Graduate Research Mentor Award
    I was awarded the Graduate Research Mentor Award by the University in the Spring of 2020.
    Creighton University
  • Omaha Entertainment and Arts Awards (OEAA) - Co-Nominee
    The Nasty Artist Collective, of which I am a member and presenter, was nominated for an OEAA award for our collective show "Spectrum" in summer 2019. Winners announced at the OEAA awards celebration in early 2020.
    OEAA
  • Award
    Fellow of Florida State University
  • Award
    International Dissertation Grant: Florida State Graduate School ($7000 Grant; Summer 2012) This grant funded travel to Israel to interview political actors for my dissertation
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