About the Authors

Shawn Smallman

Shawn Smallman (photo by Edis Jurcys)

Shawn Smallman’s first book, Fear and Memory in the Brazilian Military and Society, 1889-1954, examined military terror and corruption in Brazilian history. He then wrote The AIDS Pandemic in Latin Americawhich was based on research in southern Mexico, Cuba, and Brazil. During his fieldwork he interviewed drug traffickers and users, sex workers, doctors, and community leaders. He has also published a book on Indigenous religion and history, Dangerous Spirits: The Windigo in Myth and History. His most important project has been this co-authored textbook, An Introduction to International and Global Studies. Currently Smallman has a research interest in avian influenza and COVID-19 in Southeast Asia, where he is undertaking fieldwork.

A professor of international and global studies at Portland State University, Smallman (PhD Yale University)  loves teaching and advising students online. He is particularly interested in innovative pedagogies such as the Negotiated Syllabus and Universal Design, both of which give students choices in the classroom and help to make information more accessible. He currently teaches entirely online, and has extensive experience with online curricular development. 

Professor Smallman has a podcast, Dispatch 7: global trends on all seven continents. His mother, Phyllis Smallman, was a mystery writer, who wrote the Sherri Travis mystery series. His sister, Ellen Wild, is also a novelist, who wrote the Arthur Ellis Award-winning novel Strange Things Done. The father of two daughters, Smallman loves ghost stories (especially M.R. James) and studying Mandarin. He can be reached at smallmans@pdx.edu.

Kimberley Brown

Kimberley Brown (photo by Jady Bates)

Kimberley Brown (PhD University of Minnesota) has been both an administrator and faculty member at Portland State University since 1989. Former Vice-Provost for International Affairs and former Chair of  International/Global Studies, she holds a joint appointment in Applied Linguistics and International Studies. Prior to this time, she taught in Minnesota and Iran. An award-winning teacher, she is committed to her learners and to ongoing professional development. She considers herself an old dog who has learned new tricks to step into online teaching and Universal Design for Learning. She is a Qualified Administrator of the Intercultural Development Inventory.

Her research interests and publications center on intercultural communication, teacher education, and World Englishes. In her spare time she can be found drinking tea in local tea houses or seeking out single-source Fair Trade organic chocolate.  Check out her podcast with Professor Smallman. She is a passionate mystery reader and Jin Shin Jyutsu practitioner. She can be reached at brownk@pdx.edu.

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