About Us

Dr. Timke is a Midwest-based DEIB (diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging) scholar and activist. He is currently an assistant professor in the Department of Advertising + PR at Michigan State University. He researches, preserves, analyzes, and shares DEIB (diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging) histories of advertising, with a focus on disability, sexuality, gender, and socioeconomic backgrounds within and beyond the United States. Ed is also a visiting scholar in the Department of History and an occasional professorial lecturer for the School of International Service at American University. Previously he held appointments at Duke University (Cultural Anthropology and Innovation & Entrepreneurship) and the University of California, Berkeley (Media Studies). Since 2016, Ed has been an editor of Advertising & Society Quarterly, a journal that brings academia and industry together to assess advertising’s role in society and culture, especially in shaping identities and communities through persuasive and creative messaging. Before beginning his advanced academic career, Ed worked as a program officer for the International Student Exchange Programs (ISEP) where he managed university exchange programs in francophone countries within a network serving over 40 countries. He holds a PhD in Communication from the University of Michigan, an MA in International and Intercultural Communication from the University of Denver, and a BA in International Relations and French from Michigan State University.

Dr. Gargano is a DEIB (diversity, equity, inclusivion, and belonging) scholar-practitioner. Throughout her twenty-five-year career in international higher education, she has managed dozens of institutional collaborations worldwide, conducted workshops for faculty at domestic and international organizations, and learned alongside her students in the US and abroad. She has conducted virtual and in-person trainings for the Foreign Service Institute, the NATO Defense College, and the American Council on Education, among others. She taught English in Japan for three years and served as the Assistant Dean for Semester at Sea before joining the faculty at American University, where she served as the Program Director and Faculty Advisor for Online Programs in the School. She was a Faculty Fellow with the Center for Teaching Research and Learning, where she developed and presented seminars to foster pedagogical creativity, and has won numerous university awards for her innovation in teaching. Her writing appears in books and scholarly journals. She is currently the Director of Faculty Development and Academic Affairs in the School of Education at Johns Hopkins University. Terra is certified to administer the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI) and to teach English as a foreign language (TEFL). She holds a PhD in International Education from the University of Maryland, an MA in International Training and Education from American University, and a BS in International Business and Japanese from Bowling Green State University.