Communication

Dr. Michael J. Freeman has been teaching and mentoring communication students for the past two decades. He has former students working at Fox, ESPN, and even on Capitol Hill. He has prepared students to excel in the fields of television, radio, print journalism, marketing and public relations, and in both corporate and non-profit communication. Dr. Freeman's research passion is the intersection between audiences and the mass media. He has presented at and chaired numerous conferences and panels on media effects. He is the past president of ACCESS, a professional organization for Christians in Distance Education and completed his doctoral dissertation studying the impact of mediated instruction on both a student's spiritual formation and an institution's missional focus. Dr. Freeman supports our students by advising Charge - LBC's fine arts magazine, Focus - the student online newspaper, and Ichthus - the yearbook. In this advisory capacity, Dr. Freeman has provided students with valuable pre-professional opportunities. He serves as the Communication internship supervisor, supervises senior projects, and is the academic adviser for the Communication major. He also contributed to the design of LBC's newest communication production facilities, WJTL Studio B (a collaborative effort between LBC and WJTL to launch a professionally equipped streaming radio station for all LBC students) and the Video Production Studio. Dr. Freeman helped to design LBC's Communication major and continues to work to keep its curriculum current with industry changes and professional demands. Dr. Freeman trains LBC's Communication majors to be embedded missionaries in a very secular profession. He prepares them to be professionally excellent and spirituality equipped to use the passions, talents, and gifts God has given them to be used where He plants them - influencing the influencers.

Ryan A. Geesaman has been involved in media and technology since the 7th grade. While he spent a good amount of time on the stage in high school and college, his professional career has been mainly behind the scenes. He holds a degree in Television/Radio from Ithaca College and a Master’s degree in Information Systems from Penn State University. From 2004 to 2018, he served as Video Production Director at LCBC, a multi-site church based in Manheim, PA with a weekly attendance of over 16,000. An award-winning film editor, he now serves as Chair of the Communication & Media Arts Department at Lancaster Bible College, coordinating the Media Arts Production program. When not behind a camera or in front of a computer, Ryan is a husband to Stacy, father to Ryker and Carter, avid film-watcher, and enjoys the challenges of home-improvement.

Mike Barker shares a joy in working with all things that bring a live production to life. Although his main background is Stage Managing for live theatre, Mike has experience working with audio, lighting, rigging, scenery, and technical direction. He is also a certified event planner. After receiving his BFA in Theatre Production from Penn State University, Mike worked as a project manager for Sight & Sound Theatres. Currently, Mike serves as the Director of Student Activities & Leadership in the Office of Student Affairs on campus but enjoys having this opportunity to teach and work alongside the students in class and on productions. Mike is a loving husband and father and an avid Pittsburgh sports fan.

Shelby Bowers has loved writing ever since she was old enough to pick up a pencil. When she was young, she used to write short stories and poems in her free time and her favorite subject in school was always literature and language. It wasn’t until she came to LBC for her undergraduate education that she discovered the intersection of her passion for writing and the world of communications. Ever since, she has focused her career on roles where she can craft messaging for agencies through various mediums, but specifically writing. She’s worked in corporate communications, church communications, and at present, government communications. In her current full-time role with the state of Maryland, she serves as a Public Information Manager, where she ghost writes responses for local government leaders in reply to constituent concerns. Prior to her current role, she served as the Director of the Writing Center for LBC, and has taught various LBC courses, from Introductory English Composition, Writing Lab, English Composition, and Media, Conveyor of Cultural Ideas. In her free time, she enjoys freelance copywriting and editing, working on her Stories with Shelby podcast, reading, and best of all, spending time with her husband Nathan and puppy Teddy.

Ned Bustard is the graphic designer for World’s End Images and Christians in the Visual Arts (CIVA). He is also a children’s book illustrator, author, and a printmaker. Some of the books he has written, illustrated, or edited include It Was Good: Making Art to the Glory of God, the Veritas Press Legends & Leagues series, Squalls Before War: His Majesty’s Schooner Sultana, The Chronicles of Narnia Comprehension Guide, Bede’s History of ME, History of Art: Creation to Contemporary, The Reformation ABC’s, Bigger on the Inside: Christianity and Doctor Who, Every Moment Holy, and Revealed: A Storybook Bible for Grown-Ups. He is an elder at Wheatland Presbyterian Church, creative director for Square Halo Books, Inc., curator of the Square Halo Gallery, and serves on the boards of the Association of Scholars of Christianity in the History of Art (ASCHA) and The Row House, Inc.. He and his wife Leslie have three daughters, one dog, and an unreasonable about of books. Ned lives in the West End of Lancaster, Pennsylvania—much too far inland for him to get to go sailing.

Kristi Leigh’s love of radio began as a child. She spun vinyl on the antique stereo in the basement and segued cassette tapes on the boom box in her bedroom. She made announcements everywhere from the swing set to the bathroom. Her grandfather, Clifford Huffman, was a radio broadcaster for local stations WGAL, WHP and he hosted “Religion in the News”, on WLAN in Lancaster for 35 years. Even though radio was in her blood, she began college with a major in Music Performance for piano. Her involvement in college radio made the difference. She graduated from Cedarville University in 2002 with a degree in Communication Arts. While at Cedarville, she also gained experience at the Country and 80’s radio stations owned by Cox Media Group in Dayton, Ohio. Kristi started at WJTL immediately after graduation. She was a drive-time DJ for 13 years before going part-time to become a mother. She is the winner of 3 Excellence in Broadcasting awards from the Pennsylvania Association of Broadcasters and remains active at WJTL today as host of the Sunday morning Praise & Worship Program and also host of WJTL's Praise & Worship Podcast. Kristi has been adjunct professor of radio broadcasting at Lancaster Bible College since 2016. She and her husband, Sam, are worship leaders, cancer survivors, football fans, and thrilled parents of their 6-year-old son, Josiah.

For more than 15 years, Jessica Whitmore has been a freelance content and proposal writer. Her work and bylines have included hard news and soft news (features) for newspapers and magazines (B2C and B2B) as well as online content and social media posts for businesses across the country. Her work has been published nationally as well as internationally including translations into multiple languages and has been used as part of an international fundraising campaign. Her grant proposal writing has resulted in increased funding for non-profits working to grow their organizations and programs. She has successfully worked remotely with national and international teams. Her interests also focus on all things communication, including nonverbal, interpersonal and intercultural communication.

Thom began his career as a creative in ad agencies before furthering his education and moving to the client side to serve in capacities such as Vice President of Marketing for a public company with over six hundred million dollars in annual revenues, and partner in a professional educational company where he sharpened his abilities to integrate social media, direct mail, and public relations in order to create “movements” that filled stadiums as large as 20,000 and sold well over one million books. He has worked in both business-to-business and business-to-consumer environments in over 50 different industries and has tied all that experience into his Marketing From the Heart strategies that he has taught throughout the USA – sharing the stage with such luminaries as Zig Ziglar, Bob Proctor, Les Brown, and Lewis Howes. In 2020, Thom left his last full time marketing position at Water Street Mission to join the Communication & Media Arts Department at LBC, where he focuses on integrated marketing communication in all its forms. Thom is passionate about having Kingdom impact through helping his students learn valuable marketplace skills while growing their vision for how God’s Word and their faith can guide them in the workplace. He also continues to serve as an advisor to select for-profit and non-profit organizations. A home-schooling father of six, Thom lives in East York with his wife, Jody and their youngest son, Caleb.