Our Faculty

Dr. Jim Duncan earned his Ph.D. in Management, with a specialization in Human Resource Management. With over 20 years in progressive human resources positions, 15 years in online higher education, and previous education administrative experience in both graduate and international programs. Three key strategies drive Dr. Duncan’s teaching philosophy. First, providing substantive and differentiated feedback in both formative and summative assessments to help each student achieve learning objectives. Second, developing the professional competencies of students so they can lead and succeed in the real world. Lastly, mentoring students to help them overcome barriers to success. His students know that he cares about their learning, and their ability to make a difference, in not only their lives and careers, but to society as a whole.

Mary “Micki” Englert is a Family Nurse Practitioner and Certified Nurse Educator. She completed her BSN and MSN at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, PA, and her DNP at University of North Florida. Micki has worked in general surgery, wound care, and primary care as a nurse practitioner. She has taught at all levels of nursing education and in multiple modalities: brick-and-mortar, traditional online, and competency-based education (CBE). Micki brings extensive experience in curriculum design and educational leadership, including roles as Program Chair, Program Director, and Associate Dean of Nursing. She also holds a professional certificate in E-Learning Instructional Design and Development from Oregon State University.

Joe Amoral joined Beal University in January 2019. He earned his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Nursing at Purdue Global/Kaplan University. Joe started his health care career as a Medical Assistant after receiving an Associate’s degree in Medical Assisting.

He started practicing on a substance use disorder treatment team upon obtaining his nursing degree and became a clinical instructor for Purdue Global at campus locations in Maine, and within one year was promoted to Department Chair of the Medical Assisting program for all three Maine locations.

After obtaining his Master’s degree, he became a full time clinical instructor at Beal University, and was recently promoted to program director of the ADN program at Beal.

Joe proudly served his country as an active duty member of the United States Army, where he served for four years.

I have been a nurse for 15 years. During that time I worked in long-term care, for several years as a CNA, and then later as a nurse for the same facility. I have also worked at St. Joseph’s Hospital on the cardiopulmonary floor. For the majority of my career, I have been a float nurse at Eastern Maine Medical Center, where I have taken care of patients on all of the main adult inpatient floors, pediatrics, mother-baby, ICU/CCU, and the emergency department. I have been involved in coordinating care for patients being discharged when the hospital was utilizing the discharge unit, a unit meant to streamline hospital-to-home and reduce readmissions. I also have been chosen by my managers to attend select in-services on various topics ranging from wound care to tracheostomies and then serve as a unit champion to be a resource for other nurses for those skill sets. For 4 year, I served as float pool representative for Eastern Maine’s shared governance committee – which is a committee that allows frontline nurses to have input on process and policy changes that will directly impact their work. I have chaired several committees during that role and have worked closely with hospital leadership to improve or introduce various initiatives, most recently helping to bring the Daisy Award to Eastern Maine Medical Center.

As far as nursing education, I have been a clinical instructor for more almost 10 years and have worked for various nursing schools in the Bangor area. I have brought clinical groups to numerous long-term care facilities, St. Joseph’s Hospital, and various floors at Eastern Maine Medical Center. I have didactic teaching experience through Eastern Maine Medical Center, where I taught the LifeWings program- a safety and quality improvement educational workshop- for two years. Through that, I was able to participate in introducing several other quality improvement initiatives. I started with Beal University as a clinical instructor in the Spring of 2019 and have been a member of the full-time faculty, teaching Lifespans courses there since the Fall of 2019. I have been working as program director for the ADN program in Bangor since November of 2022.

Dr. Siebert earned a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology. He has 43 combined years of executive, administrative, clinical, and academic experience. His background extends to work in the areas of substance abuse, mental health, cross-cultural relations, culture-based treatment, homelessness, and end-of-life care in Chicago, San Francisco, and Calcutta. Most recently, he was Chair of the Marriage and Family Therapy (MFT) and Counseling Psychology (Ed.D.) graduate programs at Argosy University, Hawai`i. In addition, he previously served as Executive Director of a non-profit Hawaiian drug treatment program on O`ahu, Hawai`i, managing and coordinating services with federal, state, city, public agencies and foundations. He has conducted lectures, seminars, workshops, and presented nationally on television and radio on the east-west psychological integration of spirituality and sexuality.

Sarah is a plant biologist (B.S./M.S.) who believes in the power of phytomedicines to address many intractable diseases, particularly those involving systemic inflammation. She has taught courses at the college level, and has worked across many fields including agriculture, horticulture, and arboriculture performing diverse work in research, quality control, regulatory affairs, scientific communication, and consulting.

Kasey has been an adjunct faculty member at various institutions across the country. Throughout her experience she has taught in many biomedical concentrations including; Biochemistry, Anatomy & Physiology, Microbiology, Kinesiology, etc. She is a lifelong learner who loves to find new innovating ways to present curriculum to students.

Liz Wilson, MA, RHIA, CCS, CDIP, CPC-I, CPC, CRC, CEMC, CPMA, CPCO, CHC, CFE
L. RT (R)(M)(BD)(CT)(MR)(QM)

Liz’s career in HIM is one of service to Health Information Professionals. She has been an educator for the last decade and has held officer positions during this time. She had first served as a New York Health Information Management Association (NYHIMA) delegate in 2015 before being elected to VP of the American Academy of Professional Coders (AAPC) Buffalo Chapter in 2015, and then President in 2016. She is credited with developing and instituting the first AAPC Approved Official Extern Site in Buffalo, NY in 2014 and she had served as an AHIMA consultant from 2015 to 2017.

Liz has published articles for the Journal of AHIMA and has served as a speaker for over forty conferences in the last seven years. Her experience in Health Information includes mentoring newer HIM professionals and teaching HIT and HIM students. Her work history includes a position as interim HIM program director and several positions as associate professor for CAHIIM-approved baccalaureate HIM programs. Most recently, Liz held a three-year term volunteer appointment as Commissioner-At-Large for the Commission on Certification for Health Information and Informatics Management (CCHIIM) where she served the public by establishing, implementing, and enforcing standards and procedures for certification and recertification of health information and informatics professionals.

She holds an Associate Degree in Health Information Technology from Erie Community College in Williamsville, New York, and a Bachelor of Science in Radiologic Sciences from Manhattan College in Riverdale, New York. Liz earned her Master of Arts in Organizational Leadership from Medaille College, in Buffalo, New York and is currently enrolled in a Ph.D. program.

Joyce joined Beal University in 2017 as an adjunct instructor for the Medical Assisting Program, while also working full-time as an Office Manager for an internal medicine physician.

Before joining Beal, Joyce spent almost 20 years at St. Joseph Hospital, with most of that time in the Operating Room as an Anesthesia Technician. Currently, she is the Lead BLS Instructor Certifier at Beal University for the AHA and St. Joseph Healthcare Training Center faculty.

Joyce has been married for 35 years and has 5 children, 4 grandchildren and two dogs (that are her perpetual babies) . She resides in Bangor and enjoys sitting on her front porch watching traffic race by.

Nick took a night course welding with his older brother just out of high school and did well. He then pursued a structural welding job at Cianbro where he was hired and worked as a structural welder for 1 year prior to being accepted to train as a pipe welder. He was trained in multiple pipe welding processes and excelled as a pipe welder. He was chosen to represent Cianbro at the National ABC Craft Championships for pipe welding and won first place! He went on to weld for years on oil refinery piping for the Motiva project that was built right in Brewer and then barged to Texas. When that job ended, he took a position in the fabrication shop for Cianbro where gained a large amount of fabrication and structural welding experience. After many years he applied at General Electric where h was able to do precision TIG welding on steam turbine components. He was trained in Level 2 non-destructive testing for VT, MT, and PT. At GE he also operated CNC lathes for several years. He has now been teaching for 2 years and has been certified as a CAWI through he AWS.

DBA-Finance, MBA, CFP®, CLU, CTP

Dr. Geoffrey Vanderpal has 25 years of financial industry and business experience. After spending 10 years working my up and through multiple promotions with two large multinational and global financial firms, I founded and built a financial service firm and a fashion label. My extensive business experience, including many successes and some failures along the way, provide hands on, practical knowledge and application of the material. I have worked in the private sector, public sector, and nonprofit/association sector, in leadership roles. With combined academic and industry experience I can provide practical and applied knowledge to help students further their careers and maximize the satisfaction from their education.

My name is Kateryna Bagrii. I was born in and spent my first 28 years of life in Ukraine. In May 2014, the war started in the Eastern part of the country where I lived and worked. To save my life and the lives of my children, I left home and relocated to the United States.

Upon arriving in the U.S., I decided to focus on nursing. I completed my two-year nursing program at Eastern Maine Community College, a Bachelor’s Degree in Nursing (BSN) at the University of Maine at Fort Kent, and now I am working on my Master’s degree (Adult–Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner) at Husson University.

I am working full-time on the Medical-Surgical floor at Maine Coast Hospital and per diem at Seaport Village Healthcare in Ellsworth, Maine. I teach Nursing and Anatomy and Physiology at Eastern Maine Community College. In my free time, I travel to UMaine and conduct Russian and Ukrainian language classes.

It seems apparent that I appreciate patient care and education. I am tirelessly and with intrinsic joy proceeding both these branches of Nursing. I hope to be able to combine my clinical work and teaching and share my knowledge and experience with future generations of nurses.

I am looking forward to meeting and working with you!

Kathie loves Earth Science and her teaching goal is to inspire students to investigate the natural world and enjoy its beauty and mystery. Having witnessed a massive fish die off in Lake Erie as a child, Kathie has been interested in Earth Science for a lifetime. Later, inspiration to study Geology and Geochemistry was instilled in her by two of her favorite college professors. She has had extensive undergraduate and graduate research experience through grants furnished by the National Science Foundation, Sigma Xi Honor Society, and the U. S. Dept. of Agriculture. Her graduate research was a part of a large agricultural project focused upon the transport and fate of veterinary antibiotics in waters and soils.

Kathie obtained a BA and MS in Geology at the University of Toledo. She has been teaching various Earth Science courses for the last 11 years. Her research interests remain in systems interactions, biogeochemical processes, and the isolation and detection of microcontaminants in the environment. Kathie prefers the online environment where she gets a chance to interact with students individually in discussions and feedback.

Ann Duffy Patterson earned her Masters Degree in Education in Social Studies from the University of Maine in Orono.   She has been an Adjunct Instructor for the past 11 years and taught for several local colleges including EMCC, Husson University and Unity College.  Ann lives on a small pond in Hancock County with her husband and our two beautiful and very energetic Golden Retrievers.

John Cleary holds a doctorate in Pedagogy and Philosophy from the Institute for the Advancement of Philosophy for Children at Montclair State University in New Jersey. He currently teaches Philosophy at Raritan Valley Community College, and has taught English, Speech/Drama, American/ World Literature and Philosophy at a high school before transitioning to teaching Philosophy with college students. He is also a professional actor, poet, folk musician and part time resident of Canada. His research interests focus on the relationship between the information environment and Philosophy.

Justine Warren holds a Master’s in English Literature and has been teaching online and face to face English Composition, Writing and Research, World Literature, Public Speaking, Communications, Writing for the Workplace, and Pre-College English since 2015. She has been in education since 2013 and enjoys growing learners from where they are to where they need to be in order to find success in university, the workplace, and in life.

Dr. Klaus Heyer has over 20 years in academia and 18 years teaching experience. He teaches both Sociology and Biology and has an additional post-graduate certification in Anatomy and Physiology. His current research projects include patterns of Narcan (naloxone) distribution in New Orleans, LA. He is also leading the qualitative research component in a NIH-funded inquiry into Covid-19 vaccine hesitancy. When not teaching, Dr. Heyer is an EMT and regularly volunteers on an ambulance.

My name is Lisa Kervin, I am a new Nursing Instructor. I have been in the nursing field since the late 90’s and I have over 20 years experience as a Registered Nurse. I have worked in a variety of roles in acute care as I worked per diem for the beginning of my career. I have also worked for the Maine Army National Guard as a Nurse Case Manager. I have been on medical mission trips to Haiti. I live in Winterport with my family.

Amanda Kolln joined Beal in October 2022. She earned her bachelor’s degree in Nursing at Purdue Global/Kaplan University. Amanda started her health care career as a Medical Assistant after receiving her associate’s degree in Medical Assisting from Andover College in 2010.

She has worked in several different nursing capacities from Medical/Surgical nursing to ICU/ER and Leadership. She started her nursing education career with precepting new graduate students as a floor nurse and moving up to adjunct faculty at Central Maine Community College, University of Maine at Augusta, and Beal University. She is working toward obtaining her Master’s degree in Nursing Education.

Amanda resides in Oxford County with her husband, children and 3 dogs. She is the proud mother of 5 wonderful children. In her free time, Amanda enjoys spending time with her family and friends, crafts of all kinds, reading, trying new restaurants, and helping others.

Donna Colford completed her undergraduate degree in Nursing from University of Maine at Augusta and graduate degree in Nursing from Walden University. She has worked in psychiatry, Med Surg, Orthopedics, Neurology and Care Management for which she is certified.

Mr. Reyes joined Beal University as an adjunct Instructor in 2021. Mr. Reyes has been a Registered and Certified Medical Technologist since 1993, and worked in the Clinical Laboratory Science profession for 27 years prior to transitioning careers into the Immune Monitoring Clinical Trial profession as a Quality Assurance Specialist in 2019. During his tenure in the laboratory, he worked the majority of his tenure in various leadership roles in supervision, management and also worked as a Lab Director. He has taught at the post-secondary education level since 2003 at various Colleges and Universities teaching courses such as Anatomy and Physiology, Microbiology, Clinical Laboratory Science Courses, and Human Biology. Mr. Reyes has experience teaching distance learning courses, hybrid/blended courses, and land-based courses. He is a military veteran having served in the US Army as a Combat Medic. He resides in Huron, Ohio on the beautiful shores of Lake Erie with his family. Mr. Reyes currently teaches online courses in Ohio as well as classes for Beal University. In his spare time, he enjoys spending time on Lake Erie, swimming, and attending High School, College, and NFL Football games.

Hilari Simmons, RHIT, CCS, CPC, CPC-I, CPRC, CCMA, CBCS, AHI. For most people, Health Information Technology (HIT) doesn’t sound very interesting. For Hilari, HIT is a passion she’s been chasing for 20 years. She has focused on teaching students throughout her career to help them succeed and accepted a full-time faculty position with Beal University. I guess you could say she is living the dream.

Hilari has held numerous officer positions within her local American Academy of Professional Coders (AAPC), Bangor, ME chapter. She remains very involved with her local chapter and getting the word out to recently credentialed.

She holds an Associate’s Degree in Health Information Technology from Beal University and an Associate’s Degree in Business Management from Eastern Maine Medical Center. She has earned multiple certifications from professional organizations including AHIMA, AAPC, AMT and the NHA and is a certified coding instructor and allied health instructor through the AAPC and AMT. Hilari is currently working on her Bachelor’s degree in Health Information Management from Beal University.

Hilari lives with her husband Michael, a firefighter; son Drew and two puppies, Denver and Georgie. In her spare time, she enjoys cheering on her teams the Dallas Cowboys and San Antonio Spurs.

Amy Anway is Dean of the Allied Health, Nursing, and Human Services division at Terra State Community College and she also teaches in the Health Information Management program at Beal University. She graduated from Mercy College with an Associate of Applied Science in Health Information Technology and went on to receive her Bachelor of Science in Health Sciences in Health Information Management from the University of Cincinnati. She completed her graduate studies at The University of Toledo in Higher Education and also obtained her Registered Health Information Technician (RHIT) credential from the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA).

Amy started her career in the HIM department at St. Anne Mercy Hospital as a medical records clerk. She was offered a position at Flower Hospital a few years later as a supervisor for the release of information department where she worked for two years before being promoted to operations supervisor for The Toledo Hospital and Flower Hospital campuses.

She eventually accepted a position at Bellevue Hospital as an HIM supervisor and began teaching as an adjunct for Owens Community College. In 2009 Amy began teaching in the HIT program at Terra State and in 2015 transitioned to her new role as a Dean.

Amy currently serves as a member of the ProMedica Memorial Hospital Operating Board, chair of the ProMedica Memorial Hospital Ethics council, member of the Sandusky Area Health Education Center (SAHEC), and institutional representative for the American Council on Education Ohio Women’s Network. In 2018, Amy received the SAHEC Pipeline Award.

Brent Scobie, Ph.D., LCSW is an accomplished healthcare executive and practicing substance abuse and behavioral health clinician with experience in organizational development, management, data analytics and quality, federal and state substance abuse and mental health licensing regulations, ASAM Placement Criteria and evidence-based treatment. He has presented on these topics at state and national conventions and participated as a Field Reviewer for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s Treatment Improvement Protocol on Medication Assisted Treatment. His research interests include Disability Studies and the applications and impact of communication technology on clinical practice and health.

Dr. Shelly’s primary research interests include project management, management and leadership issues, and change management. Dr. Shelly has been teaching in higher education since 2005 where she taught in the business discipline at the undergraduate and graduate levels. Before starting her teaching career, she served as a vice president/branch manager for a banking institution and now owns a consulting firm. She has a PhD in Business Administration/Management from Northcentral University. She lives in Sioux Falls, SD with her goldendoodle and enjoys all outdoor activities in all seasons of the Midwest.