Our Mission

Dr. Evan Chaloupka directs the University's writing program and teaches writing, rhetoric, and literature. His research interests include the rhetoric of health and medicine, narrative theory, and the teaching of research writing. Broadly stated, his research examines how storytelling and rhetorical strategies related to disability circulate among different communicative contexts. His work has been published in Literature and Medicine, The Journal of Narrative Theory, Disability and Society, and The CEA Critic. As a teacher, Dr. Chaloupka aims to help students see themselves as contributors to the academic and professional conversations that they find meaningful. He sees any class he teaches as a space of discovery and dialogue, and as a teacher, he aims to elevate the valuable observations and insights his students make beyond the walls of the classroom.

Dr. Chongwony is currently serving as Director of Research Core and as Lead Faculty, Quantitative Methods and Research Design. He has a very rich diverse educational background and research interests, including big-data methodology and analytics; performance improvement; instructional technology, design and leadership; organizational learning and knowledge management; and management of innovations. He has made several presentations as well as published. Dr. Chongwony is open to and very interested in collaboration on research projects. He graduated with a Ph.D. in Instructional Technology & Design and a Master of Arts in International Affairs from Ohio University. Dr. Chongwony also holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) and a Bachelor of Arts in Business Studies from Kenyatta University, Nairobi, Kenya. He holds a certificate in Performance Improvement from International Society for Performance Improvement (ISPI) and several badges, including SAS Programming and Interactive Model Building.

Marc Jaffy joined the library in July, 2017 after a career in law. He is currently the Scholarly Communications and Affordable Learning Librarian. Before moving to that role in June, 2022, he worked as the Acquisitions Librarian. He is responsible for administering FUSE, the library’s institutional repository, as well as the university's eTextbook program, with a particular focus on making free via library eTextbooks and open educational resources available to students. Additionally, Marc serves as the LibInsights administrator, capturing and analyzing all statistics for Learning Commons services and products, as well as assisting the Franklin University community in understanding, applying, and complying with copyright law.

Marc holds a JD from Northwestern University School of Law, a Master’s of Library & Information Science from Kent State University, and a BA in Mathematical Methods in the Social Sciences / Political Science from Northwestern University

Library Liaison Areas: Office of Academic Scholarship, Doctoral Programs, Writing Programs, Instructional Design, and School of Education.

Dr. Bora Pajo is a professor of Qualitative Methodology and Design at Franklin University (since 2018), Director of Dissertation Process, and a member of the Office of Academic Scholarship. Bora was born in Tirana, Albania and lived there until she graduated from the School of Law at the University of Tirana in 2002. She moved to the United States a year after to pursue a master’s degree (2006) in anthropology at St. John’s University in New York City. After, she earned a master’s degree (2008) in comparative sociology from Florida International University, and a Ph.D. (2012) in social welfare from the School of Public Health and Social Work at Florida International University. Before joining Franklin University, Bora was an assistant professor of applied sociology and data science at Mercyhurst University in Erie, Pennsylvania (2012-2017) and a data analyst for the Ohio Department of Medicaid (2017-2018). At Franklin she teaches courses in qualitative methodology for the doctoral program and works individually with students on their dissertations.

Dr. Marnie Shaffer manages the Institutional Review Board (IRB) Office and the Office of Academic Scholarship (OAS). 

Dr. John Suozzi is Lead Faculty in Doctoral Studies. He started at Franklin University as an adjunct instructor and became full-time faculty in 2023. Dr. Suozzi has a 27-year history as a learning and behavior consultant, provider of direct clinical services, psychometrician, instructor (including staff training and development), and researcher. He specialized in working with individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder, Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, Learning Disabilities, and other complex neurobiological disorders. He holds a strong background in research, statistics, psychometrics, assessment and measurement, and instructional and curriculum design and modification.

Dr. Amiee Wagner is an IRB Administrator as well as the Program Chair of Science at Franklin University.

See Dr. Wagner's faculty profile page for more information.