This autumn, high-impact programs are set to infuse additional faculty talent across the college.
One educator joins us from beyond Ohio State, bringing fresh perspectives and expertise. Three accomplished colleagues step into elevated roles.
Together, the four will help amplify excellence in Counselor Education, Kinesiology and Special Education.
The Counselor Education program, currently ranked No. 6 in the nation by U.S. News and World Report, will benefit from the addition of Shelby Gonzales as a tenure-track assistant professor.
The Counselor Education program is known for offering master’s degree students the choice of two tracks. They may become professional school counselors who work in public or private primary or secondary education settings. Or they may train to be clinical mental health counselors who work in agency, community or private practice settings.
The doctoral program in Counselor Education prepares graduates to become university faculty who train counselor educators.
Gonzales will be teaching ESCE 6831: Professional School Counseling during autumn semester. The course familiarizes students with the foundational concepts for providing counseling in schools.
Madison Kackley and Moetiz Samad both transition to new roles within the Kinesiology program.
The PhD program in Kinesiology is ranked No. 1 in the nation, based on faculty size, by the National Academy of Kinesiology. Seven of the college’s faculty are Fellows of the academy, bringing heightened expertise to their teaching, both at the undergraduate and graduate levels.
The program offers multiple specializations. Kackley will concentrate on teaching courses in the Health and Exercise Science specialization for both undergraduate and graduate students.
Undergraduate students may choose to major in Exercise Science, a program with all the prerequisites to apply to graduate school in physical therapy. Or they may broaden their expertise in the Health Promotion, Nutrition and Exercise Science major.
Kackley also will support doctoral and master’s students as they develop their dissertation or thesis proposals and conduct their research.
Samad will continue in his role within the college’s most popular undergraduate Kinesiology program: Sport Industry.
The highly enrolled program attracts student-athletes as well as students who love sports or recreation and want to be involved in leading behind the scenes.
They gain real-world experience during their internships at the numerous sport and recreation venues in the Columbus area and beyond.
This autumn, Samad is teaching two sections of Research in Sport, a course on Brand and Licensing in Sport, a Legal Aspects in Sport section and a course on College Sport. In each, students will gain hands-on experiences that translate to real-world work aspirations. He also will partner with Fox Sports’ research team to create a project for students.
Additionally, his Legal Aspects of Sport course again will conclude with a Mock Trial in the Moot Courtroom of the Moritz College of Law. Students present their legal arguments in front of a live jury and judge.
Alana Telesman will transition from the role of lecturer to clinical assistant professor in the Special Education program.
This autumn, she will present the course introducing students to the special education profession, as well as supervise college students’ field experiences in the schools with K-12 special education youth.
This program now prepares graduates to be mild to intensive dual intervention specialists. Previously, they had to choose between mild to moderate or moderate to intensive intervention licensure.
Dual licensure offers a strategic advantage for students and the communities they serve. They have the flexibility to work at different grade levels in public or private schools, focusing on a range of needs.
Special education teachers with these qualifications are in high demand in Ohio schools and beyond.
New faculty bios
Shelby Gonzales, assistant professor of counselor education, Department of Educational Studies
Shelby Gonzales comes to Ohio State from Boise State University, where she was an assistant professor and served as the coordinator of the School Counseling program. As a previous school counselor in urban, rural and Title 1 schools in North and South Carolina, she has worked with students and districts with a diverse spectrum of needs.
Her research focus lies within the field of school counseling, with emphasis on facilitating role understanding and interdisciplinary collaboration among pre-service school counselors and principals in K-12 school systems.
She has published in journals such as Professional School Counseling and the Journal of Mental Health Counseling and co-authored several book chapters.
She is an active member of and has presented at the conferences of the American Counseling Association, Association for Assessment and Research in Counseling and the Association for Counselor Education and Supervision.
Gonzales is an editorial board member for the Professional School Counseling Journal and the Journal of School-Based Counseling Policy and Evaluation. Her PhD in Counselor Education and Supervision is from the University of South Carolina.
Madison Kackley, assistant professor of kinesiology and exercise science, Department of Human Sciences
Madison Kackley has been with the college since 2022, first as a student, then a postdoctoral scholar and most recently as a research scientist. She directs the SHE IS Laboratory, where her work with students focuses on advancing women’s health through integrative approaches that bridge nutrition, endocrinology and behavioral science.
With over a decade of experience in metabolism and hormonal physiology, she explores how ketogenic diets and exogenous ketones influence reproductive health, metabolic outcomes and cognitive function. She has published in journals such as Current Nutrition Reports, PLOS One and Brain Sciences.
She has presented widely, including at the Women’s Health Focus Day given by LowCarb USA, where she gave the invited keynote this year. She will speak at the October World Nutrition Summit in South Africa and recently received the Clinical and Translational Science Research Award from Ohio State’s Center for Clinical and Translational Science.
In 2021, she received the Charles E. Ragus Award from the American Nutrition Association for her article in the organization’s journal. She is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist through the National Strength and Conditioning Association and earned her master’s and PhD from the college in kinesiology.
Moetiz Samad, clinical assistant professor of sport industry and sport management, Department of Human Sciences
Moetiz Samad has been with the college for two years as a visiting assistant professor. Since that time, the alumnus of the college has earned appreciation from his many students. Previously, he spent the last decade serving in staff roles at several universities, including at Ohio State.
Having been a first-generation college student himself, Samad’s research purpose is to better understand how individuals navigate youth, collegiate and professional athletics. His research focuses on the experiences of Middle Eastern athletes, and collegiate and professional athletes with an emphasis on intersections of life, culture and sport.
Through his connections over the past few years and his service to the Department of Human Sciences and the college, Samad also will serve as the undergraduate studies chair for the Sport Industry program.
In this role, he will continue to lead course development in the program and assist in recruitment and retention efforts. He also will establish innovative approaches to experiential learning opportunities for students to couple with their classroom knowledge.
Samad has taught a variety of the college’s courses, including Leadership and Programming in the Sport Industry, Branding and Licensing, Research in Sport, College Sport, Sport Law and a graduate course on Consumer Behavior in Sport.
He has published in the journals Sport, Education and Society, Sport Management Education Journal and the Journal of Legal Aspects of Sport. He recently co-authored am article with Professor Donna Pastore in the journal Sport, Education and Society.
He remains active in his service to the profession. He has presented at the annual meetings of the North American Society for Sport Management (NASSM), North American Society for the Sociology of Sport (NASSS) and the International Conference on Sport and Society.
He has served as a reviewer for a variety of journals in the field and was recently named to the Editorial Advisory and Review Board of the Sport, Business, Management: An International Journal.
Alana Telesman, clinical assistant professor of special education, Department of Educational Studies
Alana Telesman has been with the college for five years, most recently as a senior lecturer and director of the college’s First Education Experience Program.
Her research interests focus on evidence-based early literacy and behavior interventions that improve outcomes for young learners in low-income settings.
Some of her most recent co-authored articles appeared in the journal Behavior and Social Issues, Education Treatment of Children, Journal of Behavioral Education and Journal of Special Education.
She co-authored There’s More to the Story: Using Literature to Teach Diversity and Social-Emotional Skills in the Elementary Classroom.
She has presented at conferences such as the International Conference on Urban Education, the Applied Behavior Analysis International Conference and the International Dyslexia Association Conference, as well as at the annual conference of the Council for Exceptional Children.
Telesman is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst and certified in the Orton-Gillingham Approach. She is a three-time alumna of the college in special education and applied behavior analysis.
