BUCKHANNON — West Virginia Wesleyan College welcomed four new faculty members for the Fall 2021 semester.
The new faculty members are Joseph Niederhauser, assistant professor of biology; Mary M. Medlin, assistant professor of psychology; John Epler ‘89, assistant professor of mathematics; and Issaiah Wallace (D.N.P. ‘22), assistant professor in the School of Nursing.
Niederhauser received his Ph.D. in integrative biology from Florida Atlantic University, his Master of Science in biology at the University of Central Florida, and his Bachelor of Science in biology at the University of Michigan. His research focuses on the behavioral ecology of wild birds. Specifically, he studies how behaviors are affected by disturbance, both human-caused and natural.
Medlin previously earned her Ph.D. at USM and worked with Dr. Donald Sacco in the Evolutionary Social Psychology Laboratory. Her primary research interests include the evolutionary basis of social perceptions, primarily as it relates to attitudes regarding perceived personality characteristics, socially acceptable behaviors (e.g., sexual assault), and scientific information dissemination. Within her research, she primarily considers how these attitudes and beliefs are shaped through personality and other socially relevant individual difference factors (e.g., political affiliation, social awareness). She has investigated these perceptions as they relate to social attitudes towards specific behaviors/ideology (e.g., rape myth acceptance, scientific attitudes, humor appreciation) and acceptability of personality characteristics (e.g., narcissism).
Epler is a December 1989 graduate of WVWC. He taught public school mathematics for 31 years in Randolph and Upshur counties and recently retired from Buckhannon-Upshur High School. Epler has also been involved at Wesleyan as a part-time lecturer in mathematics since fall of 2003. He is married to Marsha (Sturm) Epler, and he is father of one son, Adam, who works for the FBI, and is married to Hannah, a pharmacist. Epler is very active as an elder in the Belington Church of Christ.
Wallace is a Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (PMHNP). Some of his research interests include psychopharmacology, as well as the Philosophy of Mind. Wallace’s interests include puzzles, science, and the mind. He also has a passion for advocacy in mental health and substance abuse treatment, utilizing opportunities to write or talk about that subject in books, magazines, and at conferences. A 2018 graduate of West Virginia Wesleyan College with a Master of Science in Nursing, Wallace is expected to earn his Doctor of Nursing Practice from WVWC in 2022. Additionally, he has a Post-master’s certificate in Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner from Shenandoah University.
