'Exceptional Teaching'

'Exceptional Teaching'

Ohio Wesleyan Welcomes Six Assistant Professors for 2026-2027 Academic Year

DELAWARE, Ohio - Ohio Wesleyan University welcomes six tenure-track professors this fall, all committed to helping OWU students earn their bachelor's degrees and achieve their career and life goals.

"Ohio Wesleyan is committed to exceptional teaching," said Interim Provost Dale Brugh, Ph.D., "and these talented professors will help us to fulfill this mission. All are highly accomplished in their fields and will provide students with new insights into their subjects. I am excited to welcome them to the university."

Ohio Wesleyan's new assistant professors and their departments and backgrounds are:

Esther Akheituame, Ph.D. - Journalism and Communication

Dr. Akheituame's research spans media effects and representation, the Nigerian film industry (Nollywood), African feminism, and gender roles from an Afrocentric perspective. She has taught courses including New Technologies and Communication, Business and Professional Communication, and Public Speaking. Some of her publications can be found in Frontiers in Communication and Qualitative Research Reports in Communication. Akheituame holds a Bachelor of Arts in Mass Communication from the University of Benin, Nigeria; a master's in Communication from the University of Central Missouri; and a doctorate in Communication from the University of Missouri.

Caio Batista de Melo, Ph.D. - Mathematics and Computer Science

Dr. Batista de Melo works on the intersection of computing systems and software engineering. His research focuses on the correctness of cyber-physical systems, studying how we can enable them to detect and react to unexpected situations, whilst managing resources and interacting with the physical world. He is also interested in computing education, and has developed and implemented many educational tools to support his courses. He earned his bachelor's and master's in Computer Science from the University of Brasília, in Brazil, and his doctorate in the same field from the University of California, Irvine.

Hayden Bishop, Ph.D. - Chemistry

Dr. Bishop specializes at the interface of inorganic and organic chemistry, specifically in transition metal catalysis. His research interests lie in two main areas: (1) the synthesis and characterization of transition metal catalysts, and (2) testing the synthetic utility of these catalysts by using them to couple feedstock chemicals into interesting molecules. Bishop aims to teach his research students how to design and set up air-sensitive reactions in the laboratory. He earned his Bachelor of Science at Southern Utah University and his doctorate in Chemistry at Purdue University. He previously worked as an assistant professor at Clarke University in Iowa.

Matthew Bowser, Ph.D. - History

Dr. Bowser is the author of "Containing Decolonisation: British Imperialism and the Politics of Race in Late Colonial Burma," published in September 2025. His research focuses on decolonization in Asia, examining the intersections of imperialism, race, nationalism, and capitalism in the process of achieving independence from colonial rule. Bowser also has published on the topic in the Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History, the Journal of Asian Studies, and the Journal of Modern Asian Studies. He earned his doctorate in World History from Northeastern University and previously worked as an assistant professor of Asian History at Alabama A&M University.

Abby Trollinger, Ph.D. - History

Dr. Trollinger is a historian focusing on the United States since 1877. She specializes in social welfare history, with particular interest in the intersection of gender and class in social work and relief-giving. Her first book, "Becoming Entitled: Relief, Unemployment, and Reform During the Great Depression," explores how social workers, settlement workers, and unemployed workers advocated for unemployment insurance in the 1920s and 1930s. Her current research examines the relationship between feminism and relief-giving during and after the Progressive Era. She earned her doctorate from Northwestern University and teaches on urban history, immigration history, and social welfare history.

Patrick Wensink, MFA - English

Wensink is the bestselling author of several novels, children's books, and most recently, the nonfiction book: "The Great Black Swamp: Toxic Algae, Toxic Relationships, and the Most Interesting Place in America Nobody's Ever Heard Of." This latest book, which earned a starred review in Publishers Weekly, mixes ecological reporting, Midwestern history, and memoir. Wensink's journalism has appeared in The New York Times, Esquire, Oxford American, and other outlets. Wensink joins Ohio Wesleyan after teaching at the University of Portland, University of Louisville, and Lincoln Memorial University.

Read about academics at Ohio Wesleyan at owu.edu/academics and about enrolling at owu.edu/admission.

Founded in 1842, Ohio Wesleyan University is one of the nation's premier liberal arts universities. Located in Delaware, Ohio, the private university offers more than 70 undergraduate majors and competes in 24 NCAA Division III varsity sports. Through its signature experience, the OWU Connection, Ohio Wesleyan teaches students to understand issues from multiple academic perspectives, volunteer in service to others, build a diverse and global perspective, and translate classroom knowledge into real-world experience through internships, research, and other hands-on learning. Ohio Wesleyan is featured in the book "Colleges That Change Lives" and included on the U.S. News & World Report and Princeton Review "Best Colleges" lists. Connect with OWU expert interview sources at owu.edu/experts or learn more at owu.edu.