Faculty & Staff Directory

Mary Kananen’s research has been in the behavioral genetics of Drosophila. She
teaches courses in general biology, human biology, anatomy, genetics, the biology of
aging, and physiology. She is highly active in community outreach programs for
younger students.

Katherine Kellett received her doctorate in English from Boston College. Her research and teaching interests include Shakespeare, early modern literature, women writers, and gender studies. She has published articles in "Studies in English Literature 1500-1900" and "Milton Studies" on writers including Margaret Cavendish, Milton, and Shakespeare. She is currently working on a book on the figure of the mistress in early modern England.

Currently, he is pursuing his Doctoral degree in the College of Agricultural Sciences: Agricultural Extension Education. Mr. Kelly received his Master's degree from Florida Metropolitan University, Tampa, Florida and completed his undergraduate degree in criminal justice with a minor in psychology from Penn State Altoona in December 2002. His research interests include academic advising, delinquency prevention, youth civic engagement, leadership and civic programs for families, and the prevention of tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, and STDs in correctional facilities. In addition, he received the 2009-2010 and 2008-2009 Student Government Association Excellence in Academic Advising Awards. He serves as Co-Coordinator for the First-Year Transition Program (FTP) and Chair for the Alcohol Drug Abuse Prevention Team (ADAPT): Academic/Environmental Sub-Committee and is a founding member and previous Faculty/Staff Adivsor of the Criminal Justice Organization (CJO) at Penn State Altoona.

Tracey Kleinmeyer, instructor in nursing, holds a
master’s degree from Carlow University with a focus
in education and leadership and a BSN from St.
Francis University. She is currently teaching parttime
providing lab and clinical instruction at Mount
Aloysius College, as well as working as an RN in
the PACU/ASU/GI lab at both Windber Hospital and
Miner’s Medical Center.

After earning her bachelor of science in Agricultural Business Management from Penn State University, Ms. Kohler spent 10 years working in sales and marketing in the agricultural industry as a sales manager for a multinational corporation and a marketing consultant to small businesses. She then pursued her Masters of Education in Business and Workforce Development from Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Ms. Kohler’s areas of interest include consumer behavior related to food purchases, immigrant labor working in agricultural production, land and water use policy, and alternative markets for agricultural products. She has co-authored several agricultural extension publications in the Agricultural Alternatives for Small-Scale and Part-time Farmers series. Ms. Kohler teaches introductory courses in Economics and Agricultural Business Management.

Mohammad Kurdi, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, earned his doctorate from the University of Florida. Before coming to Penn State Altoona, Kurdi taught an advanced manufacturing processes class at the University of Dayton to graduate level engineers. As an NRC Fellow at the Air Force Research Laboratory, he had the opportunity to work on multiple projects in uncertainty quantification, computational methods, and control design of micro-air vehicles. He is interested in pursuing research in the manufacturing and design disciplines of mechanical engineering where he intends to utilize design optimization to coordinate different disciplines for the development of efficient products.

Paula Kustenbauder, instructor in nursing, holds
a master’s degree in nursing from the Indiana
University of Pennsylvania and a BSN from St.
Francis University. She was most recently employed
at Altoona Regional Health System as the clinical
manager and bariatric care coordinator and also
worked in the surgical trauma intensive care and the
coronary intensive care units.