American Sentinel University’s faculty members are subject-matter experts who deliver a quality academic experience. Our faculty includes part-time and full-time professors.
- Senior Faculty
John Bourne
Provost, Professor of Business and Technology
Dr. John R. Bourne is provost of American Sentinel University. Previously he was executive director of the Sloan Consortium, professor of electrical and computer engineering at the Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering, and professor of technology entrepreneurship at Babson College. He was also professor of electrical and computer engineering and professor of biomedical engineering at Vanderbilt University.
Dr. Bourne was editor-in-chief of the Critical Reviews in Biomedical Engineering for 27 years and editor-in-chief and founder of the Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks. He was a founding faculty member of the Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering and founder of the Sloan Consortium, Inc. He is the author of numerous articles and books.
Dr. Bourne holds the B.E degree from Vanderbilt University and M.S.E. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Florida. He is a Life Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). He has had sabbaticals at Northern Telecom and at Chalmers University in Gothenburg, Sweden. He received the Meritorious Achievement Award from the IEEE Educational Activities Board in 2003.
Judy Burckhardt
Dean of Nursing Programs
Dr. Judy Burckhardt is the dean of nursing programs at American Sentinel University. Previously, she was the dean of nursing and health programs at Kaplan Higher Education Campuses and before that, the vice president of Kaplan's School of Nursing. Dr. Burckhardt has many years of experience as an educator and administrator in diploma, ADN and BSN programs. She led the nursing division at Kaplan Test Preparation and spearheaded the development and growth of the company's nursing programs. Dr. Burckhardt delivers test preparation seminars to students, item-writing workshops to nursing faculty and career development seminars to students, nurses and health care professionals in the United States and abroad.
Dr. Burckhardt is the co-author of a top-selling book of strategies for preparation for the NCLEX-RN exam and has published numerous articles for nursing publications. She is a member of Sigma Theta Tau, the National League for Nursing, the American Nurses Association and the National Organization of Associate Degree Nurses.
Dr. Burckhardt holds a Ph.D. in educational administration from the University of Nebraska, a Master of Arts in education with an adult education emphasis from Washington University, an MSN with a nursing education emphasis from Kaplan University and a BSN from Loyola University.Devon Cancilla
Dean of Business and Informatics
Dr. Devon Cancilla is the dean of business and information technology, at American Sentinel University. Previously, he served as executive director and campus dean at New York Institute of Technology. He has held faculty appointments and senior education administration positions at Western Washington University, among other institutions. Dr. Cancilla has received numerous scholarly honors, including an award from Sloan Consortium for Most Outstanding Effective Practices in Online Education. He is the author or co-author of more than 60 scholarly and professional research papers, books and academic reports, and his work has appeared in journals such as Environmental Science and Technology, The American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education and The Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks. Dr. Cancilla has presented research papers and developed workshops on a variety of topics for such organizations as the National Science Foundation. He has been awarded research grants from organizations such as the National Science Foundation and the Hewlett-Packard Fund for Innovation in Education.
Dr. Cancilla holds a Ph.D. from the University of California, Los Angeles, in environmental health sciences and master's and bachelor's degrees from the University of Iowa.
Valentina Gokenbach
Chair of Business
Dr. Gokenbach is the chair of the business program. She has 37 years of senior leadership experience in hospitals and healthcare organizations and has taught in several universities over the years. Her last position was Vice President, Chief Nursing Officer of a 1063 bed healthcare system in South East Michigan with budget responsibilities in excess of 600 million. Currently she serves on the board of Mitch Albom Charities where she helps the author manage his philanthropic organizations including clinics for underserved women and children and an orphanage mission in Port Au Prince, Haiti. She has published several books and authored several articles. She also serves as a Magnet Commissioner for American Nurses Accreditation Association reviewing and presenting the coveted Magnet Designation to deserving hospitals.
Dr. Gokenbach has a Bachelor's of Science in Nursing and a Masters of Business in Administration from Wayne State University and a Doctorate of Management and Organizational Leadership from University of Phoenix. She is also a Robert Wood Johnson Executive Fellow.
Stephen McElroy
Chair of Geospatial Information Systems
Dr. Stephen McElroy has been in the GIS field for over 15 years, working as a GIS technician for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Southwest Watershed Research Center and as a senior research specialist for the Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy and the Department of Soil, Water, and Environmental Sciences at the University of Arizona. He has also taught as an adjunct professor of geography at Pima Community College, West Campus, and the University of Arizona and served as geospatial technologies manager for Statistical Research, Inc., an applied research firm working in archaeology, anthropology, history and historic architecture. Dr. McElroy has extensive international travel experience in Latin America, Europe and India. He has published numerous articles on geographic and geospatial topics and is proficient in integrative research methodologies, the use of geo-spatial technologies in community projects geographic information systems and remote sensing.
Dr. McElroy holds a Ph.D. in geography from the joint doctoral program at San Diego State University and the University of California, Santa Barbara, a master's degree in Latin American studies from the University of Arizona and a bachelor's degree in international affairs from the University of Cincinnati. He also holds a GIS professional certification from the GIS Certification Institute.Gloria Ohmart
Associate Dean of Undergraduate Nursing Programs
Dr. Gloria Ohmart is the assistant dean of undergraduate nursing programs at American Sentinel University. Previously, she was the dean of academic affairs at Chamberlain College of Nursing. Dr. Ohmart was the founding nursing dean at College America, where she developed and launched the college's first ADN program. She has also been the nursing chair at the University of Phoenix, College of Nursing, in Colorado, and guided her campus to achieve accreditation by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education. Dr. Ohmart previously taught at Regis University, University of Phoenix and College America. She has worked in the emergency room, adult intensive care, coronary intensive care, general medical surgical care, long-term care, and labor and delivery. She is an Advanced Practice Registered Nurse (APRN) and maintains her national board certification as a Certified Nurse Midwife (CNM). In 1981, she established one of the first nurse midwifery private practices in Denver. As a CNM for more than 20 years, she delivered more than one thousand babies.
Dr. Omhart is a member of numerous nursing associations, including Sigma Theta Tau, Omicron, the Colorado Council on Nursing Education and the American Nurses Association, among others.
Dr. Ohmart holds a Doctor of Education in educational leadership from the University of Phoenix, an MSN from Emory University and a BSN from the Metropolitan State University of Denver.Suzanne Richins
Chair of Health Sciences Informatics
Dr. Richins has more than three decades of experience in health care leadership in a variety of settings including surgical centers, clinics, cancer centers and hospitals. She served six years as chief operating officer and senior executive at Kadlec Medical Center and 26 years at Intermountain Health Care in nursing leadership. Since 1989, Dr. Richins has taught bachelor's- and master's-level nursing students as well as doctoral students in health administration for several universities. She is an active member of the American College of Healthcare Executives and became a fellow in 1992. Dr. Richins served on the nursing advisory committees for Weber State University, Washington State University and Columbia Basin College. She serves on boards and committees of various health care organizations and civic organizations, and has consulted industry leaders on strategic planning, design of facilities and the use of technology to optimize organizational teams and achieve quality patient care.
Dr. Richins holds an ADN from Weber State University, a B.A. from St. Joseph's College, and MBA from Utah State University and a Doctor of Health Administration from Medical University of South Carolina.Juan Vargas
Dean of Technology
Dr. Juan Vargas is the dean of technology at American Sentinel University. Previously, he was the principal research manager at Microsoft, managing academic relations between the company and the University of California, Berkeley, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign , and 28 other U.S. universities for the National Science Foundation Cloud Infrastructure program. He also managed cloud research programs with leading universities in Europe, Japan and Australia. Dr. Vargas has held various leadership positions at Microsoft and Google. At Google, he launched several programs with international visibility, created an internal social network of scientists and engineers who helped identify top research priorities, and helped organize the Google Faculty Summits, the Google Doctoral Fellows and the Google Energy Research Program. From 1988 to 2006, Dr. Vargas was a faculty member at the University of South Carolina, teaching computer science and electrical and computer engineering. He is a frequent keynote speaker at academic and corporate conferences around the world and has written four book chapters and more than 60 articles for many refereed journals.
Dr. Vargas holds a Ph.D. in biomedical and electrical engineering from Vanderbilt University, a Master of Science in biomedical engineering from the Center for Research & Advanced Studies of the National Polytechnic Mexico and a Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering from the University of Texas, El Paso.Cheryl Wagner
Associate Dean of Graduate Nursing Programs
Dr. Cheryl Wagner is the associate dean of graduate nursing programs at American Sentinel University. Previously, she was program director and associate professor in the College of Nursing at South University. She has taught at Walden University and Kaplan University. Throughout her career, Dr. Wagner has held several clinical and nursing administration positions as a nurse manager, emergency services manager and in acute critical care and oncology, and has served as assistant dean and acting dean of various nursing programs. Dr. Wagner helped create and launch several accredited baccalaureate and graduate-level online and traditional nursing programs.
Dr. Wagner is an editor of Nursing Interventions Classifications and a member of the organization's nursing classification and clinical effectiveness research team. She has published numerous book chapters, articles and academic papers in journals such as Nursing and Journal of Nursing Administration and has presented nearly 70 papers at various conferences. Her doctoral work focused on the areas of nursing turnover and nonlinear predictive methods, and she also researches the links between nursing interventions and positive patient outcomes.
Dr. Wagner holds a Ph.D. in nursing administration, MSN and MBA from the University of Iowa, and a BSN/B.A. from Marycrest College.Gene Ziegler
Chair of General Education, Professor of Technology
Dr. Ziegler is an educator, online learning pioneer, and information technology specialist. His teaching credits include courses at Colgate, Cornell and Arizona State. He has formerly held positions as Director of Information Technology at the W. P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University, Dean of the American graduate School of Management, Chief Learning Officer for Corpedia Education, and Chief Technology Officer for Cornell University's Johnson Graduate School of Management. He was one of the founders of Cornell's Office of Distance Learning.
Gene has worked extensively as a private consultant for academic institutions interested in expanding their reach with online learning. His strategic consulting clients have included such institutions as The Wharton School, Stanford Graduate School of Business, Harvard Business School Publishing, Cornell University, The Owen Management School at Vanderbilt, Thunderbird School of International Management, Arizona State's WP Carey School of Management, and Babson College. He is coauthor of an online training program for high-tech entrepreneurs with John Nesheim, a Silicon Valley start-up coach.
Dr. Ziegler holds a bachelor's, master's and Ph.D. in Geography from Penn State.
- General Education
- Business
- Health Sciences and Nursing
- Informatics
- Technology
