Chris Crawford, Ph.D.
Chris Crawford is the assistant provost for quality management and a professor at Fort Hays State University in the Department of Leadership Studies. Chris has an active interest in leadership, organizational innovation, knowledge management and quality management related areas. Over the last 15 years, Chris has developed and taught several undergraduate and graduate level classes in leadership and communication, has directed a large graduate program and has served as assistant dean of the Virtual College and as director of the Master of Liberal Studies Program. Chris has an extensive publications record with numerous articles
both in the field of leadership and other cogent areas. He has been published in numerous journals and has co-authored a number of books, including Risk Leadership; Understanding
Leadership: Theories and Concepts (3rd Ed.); Maximum Team Performance: Teamwork, Team Building, and Team Leading; Making Argument Work: Knowing and Applying Basic Argument Strategies (3rd Ed.); Oral Communication: Theory and Practice (2nd Ed.); and Speech Communication (3rd Ed.). Chris has also consulted for several organizations in Kansas and in North and South Carolina dealing with organizational training and development issues.

Kathy Dale, Ed.D.
Kathy is an educational consultant-coach and an assistant professor at Fort Hays State University in education administration and counseling and is assistant dean of the College of Education and Technology. Her primary emphasis in education administration is school finance, education research and leadership. Kathy is a licensed Legacy Leadership Consultant and co-author of Legacy Leadership for Educators that primarily targets superintendents, boards of education and principals. In addition to working closely with superintendents and principals, Kathy works with the Kansas State Department of Education and the Wallace Foundation as an executive coach in the Kansas Laboratory for Education Leaders research project. She has an Ed.D. in education administration from Kansas State University, an M.A. in special education from Fort Hays State University, and a B.A. from Florida Atlantic University.

Robert Duffy, M.A.
Robert E. Duffy has been the Coordinator of the Drug and Alcohol Wellness Network at FHSU since September 1997. In that capacity he is a Kansas Addiction and Prevention Services certified counselor and directs a state-licensed Outpatient Counseling, Diagnostic, and Referral Service on campus. Bob is also a policy fellow with the Institute, and during the past eight years he has collaborated with the Institute in the development, testing, and analysis of an annual student drinking behavior study as part of a social norms marketing campaign to reduce high-risk drinking at FHSU. He is a cofounder of The Partnership for a Safer Community, which has established a successful Safe-Ride program in Hays. Duffy received his Master’s degree in Counseling Psychology from the University of Connecticut in 1997.

Brian A. Kinnaird, Ph.D.
Dr. Brian A. Kinnaird is the Director of Research and Training for Forceology Research Group, a consulting firm for police combatives and self-defense concepts in Salina, Kan. Brian is a career trainer, serving previously as corrections officer, deputy sheriff, field training officer, lead defensive tactics trainer, and tactical team member. In 2004, he received his doctorate in the field of criminal justice, preceded by bachelor and master's degrees in the fields of sociology and criminal justice from Fort Hays State University. He has most recently held academic appointments as tenured university professor and department chair in the Justice Studies Department at Fort Hays State University. Brian has been involved with use of force training for over a decade and regularly trains, publishes, and consults on various topics. He is the author of "Use of Force" (2003) and is published in a variety of peer-reviewed and trade outlets, including work featured in model policies by the IACP. Brian has been retained as a litigation consultant in state and federal use of force lawsuits and served for a time as a guest defensive tactics instructor at the Kansas police academy. He currently stands as an advisory board member, trainer, and independent consultant for various combatives companies and professional associations, worldwide.

Heath Marrs, Ed.D.
Heath was the principal investigator for program evaluation of the 2003-2004 and the 2004-2005 Alternative Action Projects at both Hillsboro High School, USD 410, and at Peabody-Burns High School. He is responsible for teaching undergraduate and graduate courses in the Department of Psychology, including general psychology, applied statistics in the behavioral sciences, psychological testing, history and systems of psychology, cognitive psychology, experimental methods and inferential statistics. Before joining the faculty of FHSU, Heath worked in Kansas State University’s Office of Assessment and Program Review. He has published in the journals Reading Psychology: An International Quarterly and the Journal of the Kansas Association of School Psychologists. Heath received his Ed.D. in educational psychology from Kansas State University, his M.S. and Ed.S. degrees in school psychology from FHSU, and his B.A. in social science-psychology and biblical and religious studies from Tabor College.

Kate McGonigal, Ph.D.
Kate McGonigal is an assistant professor of sociology at Fort Hays State University and is co-sponsor of the Sociology Club. Her areas of specialization are in social deviance and criminology. Most recently, Kate served as the Docking Institute’s primary investigator for the United Way of Ellis County social trends study. Kate received her Ph.D. and M.A. from the University of Missouri, Columbia, and her B.A. from Drake University, Des Moines. Kate’s dissertation work with John F. Galliher is the subject of a manuscript currently being reviewed by SUNY Press. Her master’s thesis examined the patterns of legislative abolition of the Iowa death penalty and the effects of charismatic governmental leaders on the anti-death penalty movement and was published in America Without the Death Penalty: States Leading the Way by Galliher et al. in 2002. During her time at Drake University, Kate served as president of the Drake Democrats and had the experience of chauffeuring former California Gov. Jerry Brown in Iowa to political rallies and meetings with newspaper editors during the 1991-1992 presidential campaign. She also worked for the United Way of Central Iowa conducting a neighborhood needs assessment survey.

Carrie Nassif, Ph.D.
Carrie Nassif is an assistant professor of psychology and clinical psychotherapist with the Kelly Center at FHSU. She is also a policy fellow with the Institute, and in 2006 she provided expert assistance for a domestic violence study. Carrie teaches courses in personality, ethics, appraisal of adults, psychotherapy, perspectives of diversity workshops, and practicum (therapy skills). Clinical areas of interest include critical incident stress management, sexual trauma, resiliency, eating disorders, and suicide prevention. Areas of research interest include personality, creativity, supervision, and issues of diversity. Carrie is a member of the American Psychology Association and the Kansas Psychology Association, and is currently the secretary of Psychological and Educational Resources in Kansas. She received her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of South Dakota in 2004.

Marilyn Ray, M.D., M.P.H.
Dr. Marilyn Ray is a board certified radiologist, who practices radiology in northwest Kansas and eastern Colorado. She obtained her MD from Tufts University in Boston, and radiology training at Harvard's Beth Israel Hospital, also in Boston. After teaching for three years at University of Southern California Los Angeles County Hospital, and then specializing in mammography in private practice for several years, she and her family moved to Hays, KS in 1995. Dr. Ray received a Masters in Public Health at Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health in May 2005. Her main interest in public health is strategic health communication, with the goal of improving the community norms of health behaviors, both here and abroad.

Benjamin D. Wheeler, B.A.
Benjamin Wheeler is a candidate to receive his M.S. in biology from Fort Hays State University. His thesis research involves the conservation of birds relative to the Conservation Reserve Program. He has been involved with the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks on several projects. His research interests at the Docking Institute include the relationships between society and the conservation of natural resources. Ben obtained his B.A. in environmental biology from Bethel College in Mishawaka, Ind., in 2003.

Brett Zollinger, Ph.D.
Brett Zollinger is past Director of the Docking Institute and the Institute's University Center for Survey Research. He is chair and associate professor of sociology at Fort Hays State University. Brett's work has been nationally recognized. He received the Rural Sociological Society's Dissertation Award in 1997. He co-authored a report on labor force dynamics in Northwest Missouri that won Best of Class awards from the National Rural Economic Development Association and the American Economic Development Council. He is a member of the Rural Sociological Society, Community Development Society, Society for Applied Sociology, Midwest Sociological Society and the American Association of Public Opinion Research. Brett has published in several academic journals including, Economic Development Quarterly, Journal of the Community Development Society, Research in Community Sociology, and Rural Sociology. He also has a book chapter in the edited book, Mad About Wildlife. Brett has designed and conducted a wide variety of survey research projects at local, state and regional levels on such topics as labor availability, health care assessment, housing and city services satisfaction, quality of life, crime victims' issues, use of conservation tree plantings, and attitudes toward wildlife issues. He is also very active in program evaluation studies, strategic planning and community development efforts in the region. Most recently he led the Docking Institute in facilitating the 2005 Kansas Prosperity Summit planning process on behalf of the Kansas Department of Commerce and five other partner state agencies. Brett received his Ph.D. from Utah State University in 1998.