- Home »
- Faculty and Staff
Faculty and Staff
Dr. Anne Zaphiris
- Office Location: Hirt 107
- Phone: (814) 824-3382
- E-mail: azaphiris@mercyhurst.edu
Whether she's researching communication or putting theory into practice by engaging students in community issues, Dr. Anne Zaphiris immerses herself in her field. She is chair of the communication department, advises the department's honor society, Lambda Pi Eta, and teaches communication courses in the Organizational Leadership master's program. Currently, she's monitoring changes in corporations' values statements related to globalization and cultural convergence along with analyzing media coverage of Erie Renewable Energy's proposal to build a tires-to-energy plant.
In November, she presented a paper titled "A Content Analysis of Traditional and New Media Coverage of a Proposed Tires-to-Energy Plant in Erie, Pennsylvania" at the National Communication Association's 95th Annual Convention in Chicago. Her research interests include organizational identity, image, and reputation; corporate values and behaviors, social change and environmental issues. Before coming to Mercyhurst, she taught communication courses at State University of New York at Buffalo, Kent State University and Penn State Behrend. She also worked as an organizational communication consultant and trainer.
Anne recently moved into a late 1800s farmhouse in North East (a five-year restoration project) with her husband, Dr. Thomas Mack, and their son, Aidan. The family is experienced at restoring historic buildings, bringing the North East "Breeze" building and current Cocoa Tree storefront back to life over the past few years. Seasoned salvagers, they find use from others' castaways such as cast iron tubs, church communion rails, old barn lumber, and support beams from wineries. They're currently trying to figure out a use for an antique freight elevator recovered from a commercial building. She serves on the Board of Trustees of Erie Day School and is a member of their marketing committee. An avid gardener, she recently harvested olives (three!) from her olive trees wintered indoors.
Brian Sheridan
- Office Location: Hirt 102
- Phone: (814) 824-2464
- E-mail: bsheridan@mercyhurst.edu
Brian R. Sheridan, M.A., and Erie native, graduated from Mercyhurst College in 1987. He returned as an instructor in the Communication Department in 2004 after a career in broadcast journalism. He still does some part-time reporting/anchoring for WJET-TV/WFXP-TV. His Master’s degree is from Edinboro University.
During his career in radio and television, Sheridan worked as a producer, reporter, and anchor. Before coming to Mercyhurst, he anchored FOX 66 News at Ten on WFXP-TV, Erie. He has covered every type of news story and interviewed a variety of people from singer Tony Bennett, to Sen. Hillary Clinton, and the Dalai Lama. His history segments, “Erie Flashback”, won him an Erie County Historical Society’s Media Award.
Sheridan was the only reporter to witness the mysterious death of pizza delivery man Brian Wells on August 28, 2003. Documentary producers have since interviewed him for news programs about the so-called “Pizza Bomber” case, that have aired on Fox News Channel, The Learning Channel, the BBC in England, and Fuji-TV in Japan. He also appeared twice on Fox News Channel’s “On the Record with Greta Van Sustern” talking about developments in the case.
His written work has been published in the Erie Times-News, Erie Chautauqua Magazine, Inside Kung-Fu, The Gazette: The Official Journal of the Nero Wolfe Society, the Journal of Asian Martial Arts, and Classic Images magazine. Sheridan is also the editor and researcher of 2009 Warner Theater history book, “A Picture Palace Transformed,” and a regular contributor to “Lake Erie Lifestyle” magazine.
You can also see Sheridan, playing a news anchor, in the popular short film “Peekers”, made by local filmmaker Mark Steensland. He is on the board of directors for Erie’s Cable Access Authority.
He is married to Katherine and they have one son, Bennett. In his spare time, Sheridan bowls, enjoys jazz, books and movies, and studies the martial arts. He holds a black belt in tae kwon do from the World Tae Kwon Do Federation, a green belt in the Korean sword-form haidong gumdo, and trains in tai chi chuan.
Dennis Lebec
- Office Location: Hirt 108
- Phone: (814) 824-2425
- E-mail: dlebec@mercyhurst.edu
A native of Pittsburgh, Assistant Professor Dennis Lebec joined the Communication Department faculty in 2004. Both of his degrees, a B.S. in Telecommunications in 1972 and a M.A. in Telecommunications in 1976, are from Kent State University. Following these, he worked for 16 years in television production at WAKR/WAKC-TV, the ABC network affiliate in Akron, Ohio, where he won two Press Club awards for his work and was nominated for a regional Emmy award. In 1992 Mr. Lebec began a teaching career that started at Marshall University in the School of Journalism and Mass Communications. While there, he was given an Outstanding Teaching Award by the College of Liberal Arts. After seven years at Marshall, he took a faculty position in 1999 in the Mass Media Department at Marietta College, where he taught for five years. During his first year at Mercyhurst, Mr. Lebec was named Adviser of the Year by the National Broadcasting Society (NBS-AERho), for which he serves as the local chapter adviser on campus.
