Faculty – Business Communications

Degrees

PhD, Wayne State University

MA, Eastern Michigan University

BS, Eastern Michigan University

BS, Eastern Michigan University

Biography

Jenny Tatsak, Ph.D. and Associate Provost, Associate Vice President, Director of Doctoral Programs, Professor of Business Communications at Walsh. She teaches undergraduate and graduate courses as well as courses in the doctoral program.

Dr. Tatsak has extensive leadership communication experience as a senior strategist and primary spokesperson for municipal, statewide, regional, and national campaigns. She developed general messaging strategy, direct mail, web content, as well as television and print advertisements to generate support and raise unprecedented dollars.

She developed and enacted crisis communication and image restoration plans and served as a speech writer and media coach for on-camera interviews and debate preparation. She was selected by the non-partisan National Commission on Presidential Debates to study presidential and vice-presidential debates. Her findings led to recommendations used to improve the presidential and vice-presidential debate formats.

Knowing firsthand impact of innovative and audience-relevant communication, Dr. Tatsak designed the first-ever service-learning course in the Department of Communication at Wayne State University and subsequently wrote and was awarded a Michigan Campus Compact Venture Grant that expanded the service-learning partners and opportunities available to Schoolcraft College students and faculty.

Consequently, the National Communication Association invited her to conduct a seminar on best practices for service-learning. She began her career in the Office of Student Affairs at Lawrence Technological University.

Dr. Tatsak researches persuasive campaigns, organizational communication and rhetoric, and teaching pedagogy. She serves as a presenter, on strategic communication, to professional and community organizations. She presents her research at regional and national conferences.

Her research was recognized by the National Communication Association with two top paper awards. Her research on the impact of positive communication in higher education is included in two books: Positive Communication in Health and Wellness and Communication in the Classroom: A Collection of Great Ideas in Teaching Speech (G.I.F.T.S.). She is a contributor to the London School of Economics’s USAPP-American Politics and Policy blog on issues related to the American political process.

Degrees

PhD, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
MA, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
BA, University of Michigan-Dearborn

Biography

Dr. Jen O’Meara is a writer and freelance web developer with an unusual professional and educational background. She has a Ph.D. in English Language and Literature, specializing in 16th and 17th Century British literature but focusing in particular on 17th Century texts related to natural philosophy and natural philosophers. Her blend of savvy in both humanities and science makes O’Meara a versatile educator. She teaches courses at Walsh in both Communications and Business Information Technology.

Before joining Walsh College as an Adjunct Associate Professor in 2014, O’Meara served for seven years as the Chief Innovation Officer for an internet start-up. Performing simultaneously the roles of Information Officer, Project Manager, and Social Media Specialist, she facilitated internal and external communications, documented programming requirements and performed quality tests, and created content for blog and social media platforms. O’Meara served prior to that as the Chief Information Officer for a medical billing service, where she educated physicians and administrators about clinical documentation liabilities, compliance strategies, and the credentialing process.

In 2012 O’Meara published whatever.odt, an academic memoir that brings together opposite sources — print and web, humorous and painful, scientific and literary — to place her personal experiences as a genderqueer individual in a larger cultural context.

O’Meara is a prominent member of the local racquetball community. She is a board member of the Racquetball Association of Michigan, and functions as the web and media strategist for 6-time world champion racquetball player Cliff Swain. She has also organized and directed her own sanctioned racquetball tournament, donating the proceeds from the event to a different charity or organization every year.

Degrees

MS, Walsh College
BS, Michigan State University

Degrees

MA, Eastern Michigan University
BA, University of Detroit

Biography

Jill Peplinski, M.A., is an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Business Communications at Walsh. She has been teaching since 1999 and has been involved in preparing students for standardized writing tests, developing undergraduate and graduate courses, designing instructional enhancement materials, and mentoring new instructors.

For more than 25 years, Peplinski has been a writing coach and consultant, working in the retail, manufacturing, and non-profit sectors. She conducts workshops on giving winning presentations, improving interpersonal communication skills, and writing for successful outcomes. Clients include Fairlane Town Center, in Dearborn, Michigan, HMS Manufacturing, in Troy, Michigan, and Benefit Review Services in Sterling Heights, Michigan.

Peplinski began her professional career in journalism, writing for local and national publications, including The Detroit News, Dearborn Press & Guide, and Observer & Eccentric newspapers. She was Contributing Editor of Introspective Magazine. In addition to working as Public Education Director at a non-profit agency, in Detroit, Michigan, she worked in a long-term contract position for Textron, in Troy, Michigan, ensuring compliance documentation standards were met for the Automotive Industry Action Group.

Degrees

MATESOL, Madonna University
BBA, Walsh College

Biography

Lisa Loch joined the adjunct faculty of Walsh in June 2015 and teaches Accounting Communications.

Prior to becoming an adjunct faculty member at Walsh, Loch spent five years as a Writing Workshop instructor in the Accounting Communications courses. Loch has also been an ESL Writing Lab tutor for Walsh since the fall of 2014 and worked as a tutor for students with Individual Education Plans in the ACCESS department at Oakland Community College from 2007-2014.

Loch taught freshman Writing Composition and ESL Grammar at Madonna University in Livonia, Mich., prior to joining the adjunct faculty team at Walsh College. She remains an Adjunct Assistant Professor at Madonna University.

Before pursuing a career as an educator, Loch worked for a small CPA firm and an upstream oil and gas production company in Dallas, Tex. She has also worked as a controller for a nonprofit healthcare agency in the Detroit area.

Loch has always been active in her community, most recently as Treasurer for the Knollwood Fairways Civic Association and Social Committee Chairperson for the Silver Pointe Association.

Degrees

MBA, Walsh College
BA, Michigan State University

Biography

Heather Swarthout is a professor in the Communications Department with a background in teaching English to non-native English speakers. She is also a tutoring lab instructor and provides supplemental instruction for communications classes and the Master of Arts in Business program.

Prior to pursing her graduate studies, Ms. Swarthout earned a certificate in Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) from the International TEFL Academy in Leon, Nicaragua. As a private language teacher, she has taught university students in Nicaragua and business professionals here in Metro Detroit.