W. David Snowball

Professor of Communication Studies/ Talbott Harbour Chair

• Phone: 309-794-7581
• Email: Snowball@augustana.edu
• Office: Old Main 306

In 1984, Dr. David Snowball joined the faculty at Augustana and since has served the college in numerous roles. Currently a professor of Communication Studies, and chair of the honors program, he teaches Advertising and Social Influence, Propaganda in the 20th Century and Beyond, and Presenting with Technology. He maintains AugieComm, the department’s Linked-In group which provides an ongoing connection between students and alumni. 

For a quarter of a century, Dr. Snowball competed in academic debate and coached college debate teams, including Augustana's. When he retired from that research-intensive endeavor, his interest turned to researching fund investing and fund communication strategies. 

His online newsletter, the Mutual Fund Observer, is read by about 25,000 people from 35 countries each month and has reached 2.5 million readers over the years. He has been interviewed by, and  his work has been cited in USA Today, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Barron’s, Business Week, BottomLine:Personal and many industry newsletters and, on the web, at Motley Fool, MSN Money, WSJ/MarketWatch and elsewhere.

Dr. Snowball lives across the Mississippi River from Augustana's campus in Davenport, Iowa. Cheryl, his other half, is the chief information officer for Eastern Iowa Community Colleges and his son Will, his other other half, is beginning graduate school in psychology.

Specializations: Mutual funds, Mass persuasion

Khalil Andani

Assistant Professor of Religion, Director of Interreligious Leadership

• Email: khalilandani@augustana.edu
• Office: Old Main 9

Khalil Andani holds a Ph.D in Islamic Studies from Harvard University’s Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations.

He is currently writing his first book based on his dissertation, titled “Revelation in Islam: Qur’anic, Sunni, and Shi‘i Ismaili Perspectives,” which is a historical investigation of Islamic theologies of revelation in the formative and classical periods of Islam, beginning with the Qur’an and extending through Qur’anic commentary (tafsir), Sunni and Shi‘i prophetic tradition (hadith), Sunni theology, and Shi‘i Ismaili philosophy. 

Andani’s research areas are Qur’anic studies, Islamic intellectual history, Shi‘i Islam, and Sufism. His publications have appeared in The Oxford Handbook of Islamic Philosophy, The Oxford Journal of Islamic Studies, Religion Compass, and The Journal of Islamic and Muslim Studies.

He teaches courses on Islamic history and thought, Islamic ethics, Christian-Muslim interactions, the study of religion, and comparative mysticism. Andani’s public and academic talks can be viewed on his YouTube channel. 

Dr. Andani won Best Ph.D. Dissertation of the Year from the Foundation for Iranian Studies for 2019-20. His dissertation, entitled "Revelation in Islam: Qur’ānic, Sunni, and Shiʿi Ismaili Perspectives," was submitted to the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, Harvard University.

Selected publications:

“Divine Diversity: The Aga Khan’s Vision of Pluralism.” Journal of Islamic and Muslim Studies. In Press.

“The Merits of the Bāṭiniyya: al-Ghazālī’s Appropriation of Ismā‘īlī Cosmology.” Oxford Journal of Islamic Studies Vol. 29, No. 2 (May 2018), 181-229.

“A Survey of Ismaili Studies (Part 2): Post-Fatimid Ismailism and Modern Ismailism.” Religion Compass Vol. 10, No. 11 (November 2016): 269-282. 

“A Survey of Ismaili Studies (Part 1): Early Ismailism and Fatimid Ismailism.” Religion Compass Vol. 10, No. 8 (August 2016): 191-206.

“Reconciling Religion and Philosophy: Nāṣir­i Khusraw’s (d. 1088) Jāmiʿ al­ḥikmatayn.” In The Oxford Handbook of Islamic Philosophy, edited by Khaled El­Rouayheb and Sabine Schmidtke. New York: Oxford University Press, 2016, 169-190.

“Light upon Light – The Qur’ān and the Light of Muhammad: Sahl al-Tustarī’s Tafsīr al-Qur’ān al-aẓīm.” In A Guide to Sufi Literature, edited by Mohammed Rustom and Joseph Lumbard. Berkeley: University of California Press. Accepted. Forthcoming.

Specializations: Sufism, Shi'i Islam, Islamic intellectual history

Shaun Edmonds

Associate Professor of Kinesiology

• Phone: 309-794-3373
• Email: shaunedmonds@augustana.edu
• Office: Lindberg Center 213

• RELATED: Kinesiology at Augustana: a good choice for ‘people persons’

Dr. Shaun Edmonds’ current academic interests focus on the sociocultural dimensions of physical health and wellness, particularly for LGBT populations. Additionally, he is actively interested in continuing to bridge the gap between academics and practitioners in the strength and conditioning field.

David A. Schwartz

Associate Professor and Chair of Communication Studies

• Email: davidschwartz@augustana.edu
• Office: Old Main 213

Dr. David Schwartz’s research focuses on the production of journalism. He is the author of "Modern Sports Around the World: History, Geography, and Sociology," as well as nearly 2,000 print and online news articles, and he has extensive experience in strategic communication and major event planning.

He enjoys traveling and spending time with his family.

Specializations: Journalism

Sarah Lashley

Associate Professor and Co-Chair of Environment, Geography, and Geoscience

• Email: sarahlashley@augustana.edu
• Office: Hanson Science Building 442

Sarah Lashley’s research interests focus on the intersection of environmental justice and conflict management. She is particularly interested in enabling nonprofit organizations, community groups and government agencies to create and implement more productive and equitable conflict management processes in environmental justice situations. Dr. Lashley previously served as assistant professor of environmental studies and the director of the Center for Teaching and Learning at Centre College.

Marty Coe

Professor of Accounting, Chair of Data Analytics, Robert A. Hanson Endowed Chair in Data Analytics

• Email: martycoe@augustana.edu
• Office: Evald 316

Dr. Martin (Marty) Coe joins Augustana as the inaugural Robert A. Hanson Endowed Chair in Data Analytics. He was a professor at Western Illinois University for 26 years, while also establishing a consulting firm.

Elizabeth Lawrence

Associate Professor of History, Chair of Asian Studies

• Email: elizabethlawrence@augustana.edu
• Office: Old Main 331

Elizabeth Lawrence is a historian of China, East Asia and the world. She has been traversing the Pacific, physically and intellectually, for most of her life. Growing up in Hawai‘i and Colorado, she learned to love stories. At Grinnell College, she honed her appreciation of the liberal arts and the humanities. At Columbia University, she specialized in the history of modern China, pursuing interdisciplinary interests in the study of heritage, memory and material culture. At Augustana College, her expansive teaching interests have led her to develop wide-ranging scholarly projects, with a recent focus on transpacific history.

Dr. Lawrence contributes to Augustana's interdisciplinary Asian Studies program. She teaches courses on the history of premodern and modern East Asia, twentieth-century China, the Japanese Empire and the modern Olympic Games.  

In addition to her scholarly publishing, she occasionally reviews fiction and scholarship for Asian Review of Books. 

Selected publications:

"The Modular Fiction of Ken Liu," Asian American Literature: Discourses & Pedagogies 12, Article 7 (2023). Available Open Access.

"Americans All: Swedish Vice Consul Gustaf Olson and the Incarceration of Japanese Immigrants and Japanese Americans in World War II Hawai‘i," The Swedish-American Historical Quarterly, 74, no. 1 (January 2023). The research for this article was conducted in Honolulu with support from an Augustana College William F. Freistat Student-Faculty Fellows grant. Research was conducted alongside Brittany Murphy ‘22. 

"Teaching the Global Cold War with Korean Adoptee Oral Histories," World History Connected 19, no. 2 (2022), https://doi.org/10.13021/whc.v19i3.3321.

"The Exhibitionary Complex in Nanjing Decade China: The National Fine Art Exhibitions of 1929 and 1937," Studies on Asia 6, no. 1 (2021). Available open access.