Staff biographical information:

John Alan Applebaugh is the graduate assistant to the director of GPIS, Dr. Regina Karp and also serves as the President of the Graduate Society for International Studies. John graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2004 with a Bachelor of Arts in History. He is currently enrolled in the Master's program in International Studies.

JoAnne Hakala-Applebaugh is the graduate assistant to the International Topics Journal and the Graduate Society for International Studies. JoAnne holds a Bachelor of Science in Individualized Studies from the University of Minnesota. She received her degree in May 2004 and specialized in History, Educational Psychology, and Aerospace Studies. JoAnne also holds a Certificate in Advanced International Affairs from the School of Government and Public Service from Texas A&M University. She is currently enrolled in the Master's program in International Studies at Old Dominion University and serves as the GSIS/GPIS Liaison Officer.

In 2002 Melodee Baines earned a BA in Modern Languages and Linguistics from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. A Fulbright scholar, she speaks French, German and Arabic and recently completed a comprehensive research project as a US State Department Critical Language Scholar in Jordan. In the fall of 2008 Melodee begins her final year as a doctoral fellow in the Graduate Program in International Studies at Old Dominion University, concentrating in global political economy and the Middle East. She plans to return to the Middle East to continue studying Arabic while completing her dissertation.

Matus Dobsovic is a PhD candidate in the Graduate Program for International Studies at the Old Dominion University. He earned his M.A. in Philosophy and History of Philosophy from Comenius University, Bratislava, completed a series of European Studies in Leuven, Belgium and relocated to the United States in 2000 as a visiting teacher of Latin language. His areas of concentration include the politics of Central and Eastern Europe and Russia and the just war theory.

Anna Rulska is a doctoral candidate at the Graduate Program for International Studies at Old Dominion University. Her research and interests include global and collective security, with a focus on energy security, European and Transatlantic relations, and NATO transformation. She also teaches comparative politics and international relations at ODU and Tidewater Community College.

Sheila Ryan is pursuing a Master's in International Studies. She holds a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Texas. She is a native of Iraq and speaks several foreign languages including Arabic and Italian. Sheila has recently relocated back to the United States from Europe, and has an extensive knowledge of world cultures and politics. While living overseas, she was a substitute teacher at Department of Defense schools. She is currently a co-editor of the International Topics Journal.

Kimberly Van Dike is a PhD student at Old Dominion University. Kimberly earned her B.S. from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY in 2003. She has worked in nuclear safeguards at the International Atomic Energy Agency and at Los Alamos National Lab. In the summer of 2007 she was a student associate with Harvard's Managing the Atom Project. She is currently the Social Activities Officer for the Graduate Society of International Studies and a graduate assistant to Dr. Regina Karp, the director of GPIS. Her research interests include nonproliferation and nuclear strategy.

Christopher White is a doctoral candidate in the Graduate Program in International Studies at Old Dominion University and currently teaches undergraduate political sciences courses. He earned a Bachelor of Arts from UNC-Chapel Hill in German and History, and also had the opportunity to teach English in Salzburg, Austria as a Fulbright Assistant before completing a Master of International Studies from North Carolina State University. His research interests include international law, international migration, political economy, and US-EU relations.

Cody Zimmerman is a PhD student in the Graduate Program for International Studies with a primary concentration in US Foreign Policy and a secondary concentration in Conflict and Cooperation. He currently works as a Graduate Teaching Assistant with the ODU Model United Nations. He received his B.A. in Political Science, with a concentration in International Relations, from Christopher Newport University in 2007. His fields of interest include Russian politics, nuclear weapons proliferation, and international relations theory.