College of Arts & Sciences

Andrew M. Abernathy is an assistant professor at OSU's School of Media & Strategic Communications. Abernathy conducts mixed-methods research at the intersection of teaching, learning, media, and society. His research in experiantial and equity-oriented remediation in journalism & mass communication received the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication's 2023 Campbell Research Award, and his current research interests explore the ethical integration generative AI in creative and classroom contexts, media literacy, and alternative assessment methods. His research has been published in Journalism & Mass Communication Educator, Journal of Media Education, Teaching Journalism & Mass Communication, and the Journal of Marketing Communication. 

A former journalist and public relations practitioner, Abernathy worked in professional media roles for more than 15 years before joining the OSU faculty in 2020. His professional work has been published by more than 50 publications and has been recognized by the National Association of Business Publications Editors, the Southern Public Relations Federation, the Mississippi Association of Broadcasters, and more.

His primary teaching interests include introductory and advanced media writing, campaign planning, market research and more. In 2024, Abernthy received the CAS Outstanding Club Advisor for his work with OSU's Strategic Communications Club. He served as a 2024-25 research group fellow with the OSU Center for Humanities and was a 2025 finalist for OSU's Regents Distinguished Teaching Award. He curently serves as a Community News Champion with the Center for Community News at the University of Vermont. 

Originally from Gallipolis, Ohio, Brant Adams (b. 1955) holds a bachelor of music degree in piano performance from Capital University (Columbus, Ohio), a master of music degree in music theory from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, and a Ph.D. in theory from The University of Texas at Austin, where he studied composition with Donald Grantham. He has taught at Mercer University in Macon, Georgia, and since 1987 at Oklahoma State University, where he currently serves as professor and coordinator of the theory/composition area, and served as interim department head for academic year 2004-5, and became permanent head from 2008-2015, and once again as interim Director of the Greenwood School for academic year 2022-23.

In 1992, Dr. Adams was awarded the Distinguished Composer of the Year Award by the Music Teachers National Association for his Masque and Bacchanalia for woodwind quintet and piano. In 1994, he wrote the incidental music for the off-Broadway play Exchange produced at the Soho Repertory Theatre in New York City. In 2000, he arranged and orchestrated Sing for the Cure, a compilation of choral compositions of ten composers from around the U.S. commissioned by the Susan Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, and which has been performed in dozens of cities across the country.

His compositions, arrangements, and orchestrations have been performed and recorded around the world by orchestras and choral ensembles in England, Japan, Mexico, Canada, Argentina, the former Czech Republic, the Middle East, and across the United States. His choral compositions are published by Santa Barbara Music Publishing, and Mark Foster Music (Shawnee Press). He is widely known for his orchestrations and instrumental arrangements of sacred music which are published by the Lorenz Corporation, Shawnee Press, Alfred Music, and Southern Music. Performances of his music at regional and national meetings of professional music organizations include the Society of Composers, Inc., Music Teachers National Convention, American Choral Directors Association, College Band Directors National Association, and the National Flute Association. His orchestrations are frequently performed at Carnegie Hall with the New York Pops Orchestra and the Kennedy Center with the National Pops Orchestra, both with maestro Steven Reinecke conducting, and has also written music for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Dr. Adams also works periodically in the recording and publishing industry as a producer, arranger, orchestrator, and conductor.

At OSU, Dr. Adams has received several awards including two Outstanding Faculty Member awards, the Friends of Music Distinguished Music Professor Award, and the Wise-Diggs-Berry Award for Teaching Excellence. In 2021, he received the OSU Regents Distinguished Research Award for his many musical publications.

I am a scholar of contemporary Spain and a Professor of Hispanic Studies at Oklahoma State University. My research studies how people make sense of time and identity through literature, music and film after events that alter collective worldviews. I work across disciplines, combining literature with political and cultural theory, and I pay particular attention to artistic expression in minoritized languages.

I have examined narratives written in exile following the Spanish Civil War, and cultural production—especially fantasy and sci-fi cinema—in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. My current work explores cultural activism and how some peripheral communities in northern Spain reimagine tradition. My research has appeared in journals such as  Bulletin of Hispanic Studies, MLN, Catalan Review, Lletres Asturianes, and Linguistic Minorities in Europe Online. I am the co-editor of the book Asturian Studies in the 21st century, and have two forthcoming edited collections on Asturian women writers and migration. My work has been supported by grants from the Spanish Ministry of Education (Hispanex) and by Oklahoma State University, among others.

I serve as President of Asturian Studies / SAnTINA, an international research network that promotes scholarship on Asturias. I organized the network’s second international conference at OSU in 2023. I'm also part of the Modern Language Association liaison group within ALCESXXI (Asociación de Literatura y Cine Español Siglo XXI), and I serve on the scientific committees of ARLAS (Archivu de la Represión Llingüística del Asturianu) and the Textos UEx collection at the Universidad de Extremadura. I co-edit the Asturiana Studies book series at De Gruyter. As co-founder and coordinator of Voces y versos-Tulsa, I promote Spanish-language poetry and music performances in the local community.

Before arriving at OSU, I taught at Central Michigan University and at the Univerzitet Džemal Bijedic´ in Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina. I earned my PhD in Hispanic Cultural Studies from Michigan State University, and my BA and MA in Hispanic Philology from the Universidá d’Uviéu in Spain.

In addition to my academic work, I translate and write creatively in Spanish, English, and Asturian. I bring this multilingual and multicultural approach to my teaching, where I aim to engage students with the richness and complexity of Iberian languages and cultures.

Research Interests:

Literature, film and music in contemporary Iberian cultures (Spanish, Catalan, Basque, Galician, Asturian). Exile studies. Memory studies. Studies of the future. Minoritized Languages. Asturian Studies.

Classroom discourse
Conversation Analysis
Critical language testing and assessment

Cultural-historical psychology
Development of second language teacher cognition
Second Language Acquisition
Second language pedagogy and practice
Second language teacher education
Sociocultural perspectives on L2 teacher professional development
Vygotskian Sociocultural Theory
Theory and practice of second language teacher education
Language teaching methods

A versatile conductor with a passion for creating community through music, Luca Antonucci is equally at home in front of an orchestra, leading choirs, or in the opera pit. His work has included stops in the US, Europe, and Latin America, including in Boston Symphony Hall, Carnegie Hall, Tanglewood, the Wiener Konzerthaus, Argentina’s Centro Cultural Kirchner, Cape Town City Hall, Soweto’s historic Regina Mundi Church, and many others. 

He currently serves as the Director of Orchestral Studies at Oklahoma State University, Music Director of Boston Summer Opera, Artistic Director of the Open Door Ensembles of Boston, cover conductor for the Portland Symphony, and as a member of the music staff of the Berkshire Opera Festival, where he is Assistant Conductor and Chorusmaster, and has been invited to serve as a cover conductor with the Detroit Symphony and National Symphony Orchestra. 

Recent appearances include as guest conductor with the Spectrum Orchestra in Bloomfield Hills, MI and as Assistant Conductor with The Washington Chorus on its concert tour to Buenos Aires, where he prepared the Orquesta Juvenil Libertador de San Martín, Argentina’s premiere training orchestra, for its performances of Mendelssohn’s “Elijah” with baritone Will Liverman under the direction of Eugene Rogers.

A champion of music by composers from historically underrepresented backgrounds, Antonucci is the founder and Artistic Director of the Orchestra Without Borders of Boston, which presents works by composers from around the globe in collaboration with performers from a diverse range of traditions outside of classical music. He has also served as a producer on world-premiere recordings of the Michigan Orchestral Repertory Equity Initiative and as a production assistant on Naxos's critically-acclaimed recording of James P. Johnson's operas "De Organizer" and "The Dreamy Kid," and is the founder of the Boston Summer Singers, whose mission is to support local organizations working to change systemic social issues from hunger to immigrant rights through inclusive musical performances. 

An experienced educator and a passionate advocate of amateur music-making, Antonucci has brought dynamic leadership to a number of collegiate and community ensembles throughout the US, including the University of Michigan Campus Orchestras, the Michigan Life Sciences and Pops Orchestras, the Manchester Symphony Orchestra and Chorale, the Lincoln-Sudbury Civic Orchestra, and the Pioneer Valley Symphony Orchestra and Youth Orchestra. He also worked as a middle and high school band director in the Boston area, where he taught subjects ranging from beginning improvisation and jazz band to the History of Hip-Hop, in addition to developing a middle-school music curriculum based on the intersection between blues music, American protest music of the 20th century, and samba-reggae. 

Dr. Antonucci is the co-founder of Boston Summer Opera, whose mission is to create opportunities for young professionals and advanced graduate students to explore the operatic repertoire alongside established singers, and his work as Chorusmaster of the Berkshire Opera Festival has been praised as “stellar” (the Berkshire Eagle) "thrilling" (OperaWire) and “vibrant” (In the Spotlight). Other recent production credits include as assistant conductor at Opera in the Heights for La Bohéme, and as assistant conductor and coach for three productions of the University of Michigan, including a 2023 "Orphée aux Enfers" that recieved national press. 

Previously, Dr. Antonucci enjoyed an active freelance career in Boston as a trumpeter, keyboardist, choral director, and singer, performing with the Boston Firemen’s Band, Bay Colony Brass, New England Film Orchestra, the Oberlandler Hofbrau Band, Charles River Brass Quintet, and Zamir Chorale, where he served as conducting intern, and holding a series of church music positions before an injury led him to pursue orchestral conducting full-time. 

The recipient of a U.S. Department of State Fulbright grant to study the life of Arnold Schoenberg in Vienna, where he published with the Journal of the Arnold Schönberg Center and studied at the University for Music and Performing Arts, Luca is the winner of numerous academic awards and a graduate of the Hartt School, the University of Michigan, and Amherst College. Most recently, he is published as a contributor to "Observing in Music Classrooms," edited by Colleen Conway.  

Additional studies include at the European American Musical Alliance, Domaine Forget, the Donau Brass Festival, the International Conductors Institute, the Conductors Institute of South Carolina, the International Conducting Workshop and Festival, the Conductors Retreat at Medomak, and the Miami Beach International Classical Music Festival, where he was awarded first prize in the annual conducting competition. He has participated in masterclasses with Benjamin Zander, Donald Schleicher, Mark Gibson, and Edward Gardner, among others.

Rosemary Avance is a community scholar whose research and teaching aim to improve information access for vulnerable populations. Recipient of 2024 College of Arts and Sciences Social and Behavioral Sciences Research Award and a 2022-2023 Center for the Humanities Digital Humanities Research Fellow, Avance's research expertise is interdisciplinary, focusing on the interplay between social dynamics, communication technologies, and identity formation across diverse domains. By employing a range of qualitative and quantitative methods, such as literature reviews, surveys, interviews, case studies, and thematic analysis, her research sheds light on the evolving nature of societal structures, the challenges faced by traditional institutions, and the potential for innovative modes of influence, communication, and expression. She is especially interested in the practical application of research that analyzes the complex interactions between social, technological, and cultural aspects of contemporary society, especially how organizations and individuals navigate new ecologies of identity in the digital age. Recent projects include: 

—community and stakeholder engagement vis-a-vis carbon capture, use and storage perception, funded by the Department of Energy;
—a study of United States nuclear deterrence theory and practice, 1945-present, funded by the Department of Defense;
—a collaborative study on the Oklahoma news ecosystem funded by a grant from the Kirkpatrick Foundation and in partnership with the Oklahoma Media Center;
—a College of Arts & Sciences Faculty Council study of university policies and procedures and faculty experiences of discrimination and harassment at OSU.

Other topic areas of interest and research in the pipeline:
— Misinformation, news media distrust and social media
— Native American representation in entertainment media
— Ethics of artificial intelligence / ChatGPT in the academy

Avance's manuscript, Mediated Mormons: Shifting Religious Identities in the Digital Age (University of Utah Press, 2025) uses the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as a case study to examine how individuals navigate change in a strictly-bounded system given the challenges posed to traditional authority systems by the open text of the internet. Avance received her PhD from the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania.

Research Interests:

Local news & information access, especially in rural areas

Citizen journalism

Digital literacy

Diversity, equity and inclusion

Religious identity, narrative & media
Ethics of generative artificial intelligence
Media history
Racial identities & white nationalism
Organizational communication
Gender identity & representation
Native American representation & strategic communication

My program of research, grounded in attachment theory and guided by social information processing theories, addresses the following: 1) the impact of caregivers’ emotions and cognitions on caregiving behaviors and emotional development, 2) the role of caregivers’ own developmental experiences in caregiving behaviors and child development, and 3) how characteristics of children directly and indirectly contribute to their own developmental processes. My work has an overarching goal of identifying mechanisms that can be targeted to inform prevention and education efforts. My work primarily focuses on parent–child interactions in early childhood, though the models and theories I test are also relevant to older developmental phases. I employ complex statistical modeling and use longitudinal data using parent-report, physiological assessments, wearable technology, and observational coding to assist in answering research questions and testing theories of developmental change. 

I am interested in accepting a graduate student for the upcoming cycle (starting Fall 2027). Please review my profile here and the lab website below to determine if your interests line up with the work we are doing. I would be happy to answer specific questions over email! 

See my lab's website: https://familyanddevelopmentlabosu.weebly.com/

J "Bryson" Baker is a Stillwater native, entrepreneur, and has been associated with the Oklahoma State University Theatre Department since 2004.   Bryson received a Liberal Studies degree from Oklahoma State and went on to receive his Honors Degree in Fine Arts specializing in Acting.  In 2011 he graduated with his Master's Degree in Acting.  Bryson has performed on stage at Oklahoma State University and worked on several regional films.  His favorite roles include "Eddie" in Fool for Love, "Jody" in Lonely Planet, & "Satan" in The Last Days of Judas Iscariot.  Bryson stopped auditioning in 2014 when he founded his first company EVERYMAN but plans to make a return to more active auditioning soon. 

From 2011-2015 Bryson founded and developed the OrangeTech concept inside the University Store at the Student Union.  Bryson created a nationally recognized brand amoung college retailers and was a frequent guest speaker at collegiant retail conferences.  He was a selection to the National Association of College Stores' first Leadership Institute and would later go on to be a facilitator for the Institute.   

For 10 years Bryson built EVERYMAN into the premier destination in Stillwater for Barbering & Menswear.  In 2022 he began a multi-million dollar renovation and expansion project in Downtown Stillwater.  That iteration of EVERYMAN would eventually open in 2023 but go sour because of a failed partnership and closed as of October 2024.  Bryson continues to stoke the entreprenuerial flame with other projects in early development.  

Bryson has continued to serve on faculty throughout his business adventures.   He teaches a lively course titled "Introduction to Staged Entertainment" as well as "Fundamentals of Acting" with a focus on non-majors.  He is passionate about Theatre and believes the study of the theatrical arts, in particular acting, can inarguably benefit any dicipline.  Bryson is also a vocal ally in the world of foster care, adoption, and youth mentorship..  He and his wife has fostered several children and have adopted two of their own, Briarlynn & Annson. 

AWARDS & RECOGNITION: 

1. (ACTING) Irene Ryan Nominee - "Jody" in Lonely Planet
2. (ACTING) Thad Scott Scholarship - "Satan" in The Last Days of Judas Iscariot Chamber Choice Award Winner
3. (VOLUNTEER) Big Brother of the Year
4. (ORANGETECH) Leadership Institute Selection
5. (EVERYMAN) "Chamber Choice Award 2017"
6. (EVERYMAN) "Business of the Month" April 2019
7. (EVERYMAN) "Business of the Month" December 2023

COMMITTEE, SERVICE & ADVISING: 

1. (ORANGE TECH) Leadership Institute Facilitator - National Associate of College Stores
2. (ORANGE TECH + OSU) Host of first TEDx OSU 
3. (OSU) The Dean's Building Leaders Initiative - Panelist (April 2024) 
4. (EVERYMAN + OSU) Riata Entrepreneurial Internship Host Company 

Leslie Baldwin is a Clinical Assistant Professor in the  Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders. She is a graduate of Oklahoma State University and an ASHA certified and Oklahoma licensed speech-langauge pathologist.

Brad's training is in the historical geography of agricultural settlement and U.S. federal Indian policy, especially as it operated in what became Oklahoma during the allotment era of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. He has examined the political geography of tax-exempt status retailing in Indian country and the interactions of tribal governments and state governments. Since arriving at OSU, Brad has worked with geographic education initiatives and he has often contracted with the state to identify and record Oklahoma's architecturally and historically significant buildings.

Research Interests:
Brad's research uses a landscape and historical GIS approach to examine Oklahoma's agricultural evolution. A native of the waning eastern margin of the Winter Wheat Belt, he documents twentieth century agricultural change at the local scale from a time of peak rural population density, when animal-powered general farming was the rule, across a century of mechanization and regional specialization, and ultimately agro-industrialization and the retirement of marginal lands. He is interested in gauging the local scale and short term decisions that drive agricultural intensification and in turn affect patterns of regional specialization.