Meet Our Online Faculty

Loay Alnaji, PhD

Dr. Loay Alnaji lives in Moorpark, CA, with his wife and three children. He works as a System Architect building several projects a year, in addition to teaching as an Online Adjunct Instructor for Ashford University. He teaches courses in Information Systems through Ashford's online degree programs. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree, a Master's in computer science, and a Doctorate in Business Administration and Information Systems. He wrote his dissertation on Data Mining, titled: "The Effect of Sample Size on Multi-layered Neural Networks."

Alnaji loves running, and runs an average of 6 miles a day. He also participates in every marathon he can reach, including the Pasadena and the Los Angeles International marathons.

Of his online students, Alnaji says he always tries to instill in them "hope and new opportunities." Says Alnaji: "I always push them to excel in their education, and I relate to them how my wife and I both struggled through our Master's and Doctorate programs having 3 kids to take care of and paying tuition - and eventually it paid off."

In the near future, Alnaji plans to publish several papers relating to online teaching and learning.

Abbie Beller, MBA

Like her students, Abbie Beller completed her MBA as an adult learner through Western International University. Beller lives and works in Scottsdale, AZ. She teaches online courses in entrepreneurship for Ashford University. In addition to teaching, she has her own consulting company called Global Advantage. Among the many major corporate clients to which she has provided consulting services have been AT&T, Pataya Food Industries Limited (Thailand), Open University (UK), the International Hospitality Industry (Thailand), City of Scottsdale, Ping, Harris-Moran, Transglobal, Qwest, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona, and Harvard Business School Publishing. She has structured, negotiated and implemented global projects in over twenty countries, and has worked for international agencies and educational institutions. Her areas of business focus are strategic market entry and positioning, cross-cultural understanding and negotiations, and global project management. She has developed and facilitated training for culturally diverse organizations, both in the US and overseas.

Larry Flegle, DBA

Dr. Larry V. Flegle, CSE, MFA, MPM, began in business by selling at age 8. He rooted plant cuttings and sold them door-to-door in his neighborhood. Dr. Flegle worked as a rock 'n' roll DJ in the 1960s at six different radio stations in Florida. He served in the US Navy during the Vietnam War. In 1981, Flegle began his career in telecommunication sales with ITT. Within 30 days he was ITT's number one sales representative. After a year with ITT he joined a new company called MCI, where in 12 years he won 58 sales awards. After MCI came a stint at LDDS WorldCom and then Allstar Telecom.

Dr. Flegle sits on the Business Discipline Editorial Board of MERLOT and the Internet and Higher Education Journal. He holds a DBA in Management from Nova Souteastern University, a Master of Arts in Planning and Public Administration from Pepperdine, and his Bachelor of Arts from University of South Florida.

Today, Dr. Flegle is known as "the Fishing Professor." He got this nickname because he has succesfully combined his two greatest passions in life - online teaching and fly fishing. His usual work habit has him grading papers and taking students' phone calls, fishing rod in hand, from the deck of his Bayliner cabin cruiser, which he berths on Lake Chatuge in northern Georgia.

Leon Guendoo, PhD

Dr. Leon Guendoo lives in the town of Richmond Hill, a suburb of New York City. He is a Certified Online Instructor (LERN; MIVU) and holds a PhD in Higher Education Leadership (Capella University), an MBA from Baruch College (CUNY), a BA in Economics from the University of the West Indies, and technology certifications from Microsoft, Cisco, and CompTIA (MCSE, MCP, A+, Network+).

For the past ten years Guendoo has enjoyed teaching college courses in business management and technology in both traditional and online formats. As a lifelong educator, he has taught at the high school, vocational, corporate, and college levels. Not long ago, he served as a Director of Weekend and Evening College for two years and helped launch the institution's first set of accelerated and online programs in business and information technology. He is currently Chair of the Business Program at a college in New York City. He teaches a course in managing social change for online students at Ashford University.

In 2001, Guendoo conducted a series of national seminars for Microsoft to educate companies about the benefits of hiring workers with disabilities who are able to use assistive technologies to complete office-related tasks. He owns his own computer consulting company, specializing in Microsoft Office training for firms in New York City. In his leisure time, he loves to travel and spend time with his family of four and his pets.

Says Guendoo, "I am always excited to meet a new family of learners to share my experiences and expertise, and I look forward to helping them succeed in every course."

Kathleen Kelley, MA

Originally from San Diego, CA, Kathleen Kelley has taught, in some capacity, all grades from kindergarten through the university level. She completed her Bachelor's degree from San Diego State University and a teaching credential from Cal State San Marcos before moving on to earn her Master of Arts in Education. As an adjunct instructor for Ashford University, Kelley teaches online courses in English, History of Education, and Philosophy of Education. She also participates in auditing Ashford's Writing Consultants, and is currently assisting with writing education curricula. And as a mother of two boys, she appreciates the flexibility of her online teaching schedule. Kelley prides herself in being an instructor who responds to all of her students' messages: "I want the students to know someone is out there," she says. "The online world can be very daunting and lonely, and I want them to know someone is validating their work."

Tara La Costa-Revelle, PhD

Dr. Tara La Costa-Revelle holds a PhD in Educational Psychology and is currently working to complete both her MBA and her state licensure as a substance abuse counselor. As a lead faculty member at Ashford University, she supports and mentors new online instructors. "Anyone can learn with guidance and hard work," she says. "There is nothing more amazing than to see students succeed after they had expressed concern during the first week of class." Her published research and presentations focus mostly on the role of humor and laughter as diagnostic tools in child development, research studies for which she has earned several plaudits, including the Health Psychology Research Award in 1999. La Costa-Revelle lives in sunny Arizona, where she enjoys practicing yoga and running desert trails.

Frank Morelli, PhD

Frank Morelli, PhD, of Scottsdale, AZ earned his MA and PhD in Philosophy from Boston University. He went directly from high school to college to graduate school, and then to his first career job as assistant professor and chair of the philosophy department at U of Northern Colorado. At 24 years of age he got to build the department, write some 40 courses, introduce several degree and minor programs, hire faculty, and after 6 years, philosophy became the third largest of 21 departments in the College of Arts and Sciences. He was tenured in 4 years, instead of the normal 7, and became professor after just 5 years.

In the 1980s Morelli started his own business offering strategic planning services to hospitals, especially behavioral health hospitals, and then by late eighties, he got involved in some fascinating international business, cross-cultural, and strategic management projects. While the larger share of his teaching has been in graduate business programs, he still keeps active in undergraduate arts and sciences, including philosophy, ethics, comparative religions, and social sciences. His work focuses on business ethics, legal environment, leadership, global business and cultural planning issues, and strategic management.

Of his work as an online instructor for Ashford University, Morelli says, "I have come to respect and admire the working adult learner since I began teaching online in July of 1991. One of the most rewarding things is having students stay in touch, some for more than a decade."

Lee Moser, MFA

"My passion in life has always been for learning and helping others to learn." That's how Lee Moser, of Baker Valley, OR describes himself, and what brought him to teach at Ashford University after a long career. His unique curriculum vitae includes jobs as a logger, a ranch hand, a writer, a charter sailboat captain, a personal coach, and a motivational speaker (not to mention serving in the Air Force). After completing his MFA from the University of Montana, he got his first teaching job with the University of Missouri (Kirksville) where he also served as Writer in Residence and Chair of the Creative Writing Department. Today, he is an adjunct faculty member for Ashford University, teaching and facilitating online courses in Liberal Arts, Humanities, and Communications. "Ashford offers a quality educational experience for students and faculty," says Moser. "I am always impressed by the AU support system personnel in Academic Affairs, especially the Instructional Specialists. Because of these dedicated people, I always feel I am an appreciated member of the AU team."

Nicole Rodieck, MBA

Nicole Rodieck teaches online courses in management statistics for Ashford University. She says she enjoys statistics because of its applicability to all sorts of business decisions. "I try to provide my students with realistic examples," she says, "that show how statistical results are verified through their everyday experiences."

A graduate of San Diego State University, Rodieck earned her undergraduate degree in Economics before pursuing her MBA from Arizona State University, W.P. Carey School of Business. She is also a registered investment advisor, having earned her Series 7, 63, 66 and 24 licenses. Because she had to work full-time to support herself during her studies, she finds that she can identify and empathize with most of her adult students.

Rodieck has worked in finance in both the public and private sectors for over 10 years. She started out her career as a financial advisor for several firms, including Prudential Securities, UBS PaineWebber, Wachovia Securities, and AIG. She worked in this industry during challenging times, such as the dot-com boom, Y2K, and September 11. Following her work in this field, she pursued a career in financial planning and analysis with the State of Arizona's Department of Economic Security, where she dealt with population statistics that were used to determine state and federal funding. Currently, she works for Lockheed Martin as a Senior Financial Analyst on both government and commercial contracts; there she is involved with developing a radar system to be mounted on a Boeing F-15.

On being a statistical analyst, Rodieck is fond of telling her students: "being a good analyst means not just collecting numbers, but also making critical business decisions, and even hard choices." It is this love of tough decision-making that she hopes to instill in her students.

Tim Serey, PhD, MBA

Dr. Tim Serey, of Scottsdale, AZ came to teach at Ashford University because of its high reputation for academic excellence and its ethical treatment of students. "Ashford's students have an intense desire to succeed," he reports, "plus a true-grit work ethic to find renewal in their lives by earning an Ashford degree." As an Adjunct Faculty member who teaches both MBA and undergraduate courses, Serey has facilitated several new faculty training sessions, and is currently writing the content for what will become Ashford's virtual Career Center. He earned his PhD and a BBA in Management from University of Cincinnati, and he also holds an MBA from Xavier University. He has published nearly 30 articles in peer-reviewed journals and served on the Editorial Review Board of the Journal of Management Education for nine years. Prior to joining Ashford, Serey served as a meteorologist for the US Air Force, and worked as a Marketing Manager for Standard Oil. Besides teaching, he finds satisfaction flying as a commercial pilot and volunteering at the Arizona State Veteran's Home.

Kathy Sole, MA

For the past 22 years, Kathy Sole has had dual careers as a college adjunct faculty member and as a technical writer and editor. With her Master's degree in speech and communication studies from San Francisco State University, she loves to teach introductory courses, especially in English and Communications. She lives in Kingston, WA on the shores of Puget Sound. For the past two years, she has enjoyed serving as Ashford's Lead Online Faculty for Communications. In this capacity, she serves as a mentor to new faculty members, oversees Best Practices forums, and assists with curriculum development. Also, she is the author of the reference book "What's the Rule?," and a corporate training program called "Brush up on the Basics," and has contributed to two college textbooks. Of her Ashford teaching experience, she says, "The most enjoyable aspect has been the opportunity to work with such a dedicated group of administrators, faculty, and students."

Connie Tewes, MBA, CPA

Connie Tewes lives in Manistee, MI, with her husband and three dogs. She earned a BS in Accounting at Michigan Technological University in Houghton, MI, and an MBA through Davenport University Online. She is currently licensed through the state of Michigan to practice as a CPA.

Tewes has worked as an accountant for the last 14 years, starting out as a staff accountant in an Upper Peninsula hospital, and currently working as a CPA in a small public accounting firm. She teaches intermediate accounting courses online with Ashford University.

Besides teaching, Tewes enjoys dogsledding in the wintertime. The rest of the year she likes hiking with her husband and dogs, reading, and playing music.

Tewes says she tries to instill in her students an ethic of personal responsibility. "In most things," she says, "whether it is in career advancement, pursuing continuing education, or even improving fiscal responsibility, realizing personal responsibility can make a goal achievable."