A. Olu Oyinlade person
A. Olu Oyinlade PhD, is professor of sociology at the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO). He earned a PhD in sociology with emphasis in Formal Organizations, Demography, Sociological Theory and Industrial Management from South Dakota State University, a Master of Science in Industrial Management from Central Missouri State University (now University of Central Missouri), and a Bachelor of Science from the University of Kentucky, Lexington, in Agricultural Economics with a concentration in Credit and Financial Management.
Professor Oyinlade is primarily a business-organizational sociologist and a scholar in race-ethnic relations. He has, for several years, focused his intellectual pursuits to studying organizational systems and behaviors, and his research has been published in many journals. Among his published works is his standards-based leadership assessment method titled Essential Behavioral Leadership Qualities which has received much attention by other scholars in organizational behavior. He is the leading author on this textbook, since joining the BVT Publishing authors’ team of Basirico, Eshleman and Cashion to start a new version of an introductory textbook from the team’s earlier core manuscript. Because Professor Oyinlade is very passionate about teaching, his enthusiasm for leading the writing of this book is only matched by his enthusiasm for teaching. Across the universities where he had worked prior to the University of Nebraska, Omaha, he had received nominations for university-wide Burlington Northern Award and the Margaret J. Prouty Faculty Award for excellence in teaching. He has also, twice, received special recognition as a professor who has made a difference in the life of students at the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Nebraska, Omaha.
Other than teaching and writing, Professor Oyinlade has also served in several other professional roles. He was once the director of university honors program at Northern State University, the chair of the Minority Scholars Committee for the Midwest Sociological Society (MSS), as well as served as a member of the Board of Directors for the MSS as director from South Dakota and later Nebraska. He has also served as vice president and president of the Great Plains Sociological Association. Additionally, he is President, CEO and Principal Consultant of the Omaha-based organizational performance improvement consulting firm of Crown Business Consulting, LLC. In 2009, Professor Oyinlade’s biography was entered into Marquis’ Who’s Who in America.
Barbara Cashion person
Barbara G. Cashion received her PhD from the University of Maryland and taught at a variety of universities, including Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., and Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania. She has special interest in the sociology of medicine and has worked in group health insurance settings at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and in the pharmaceutical field.
Dr. Cashion has published on related topics in a variety of journals. She is currently retired from teaching and is living in Hagerstown, Maryland. There she continues to develop her interests in music and fine arts, especially in the sociology of American art. Dr. Cashion has two daughters and four grandchildren.
Laurence Basirico person
Laurence "Larry" Basirico earned his BA in sociology from Hofstra
University (1972) and his MA (1974) and PhD (1983) at Stony Brook University. He is
professor of sociology at Elon University where he has been since 1983. He was chair of
the Department of Sociology and Anthropology from 1994 to 2004 and resumed his role
as department chair in 2009. Dr. Basirico’s research primarily has been in the areas of
social interaction, identity, socialization, the family and culture—as applied specifically
to rock groups, arts and crafts communities, family reunions, and marital relationships.
His major teaching areas are introduction to sociology, self and society, and the family.
Dr. Basirico was also dean of international programs at Elon for five years (2004 to
2009), spearheading one of the most successful study abroad programs in the United
States and overseeing efforts to internationalize the campus. While he was dean, Elon
won the prestigious Paul Simon Internationalization of the Campus Award, the highest
award given by NAFSA: Association of International Educators.
In 1988, he joined forces with J. Ross Eshleman and Barbara G. Cashion to write
Sociology: An Introduction (Scott Foresman, Little Brown, and then with HarperCollins
Publisher), the precursor for this textbook. That book was one of the first sociology
textbooks that focused on how students could apply sociology in their lives. He assumed
primary responsibility for Introduction to Sociology with BVT Publishing beginning
with the 4th edition.
Dr. Basirico is married with three children and lives in Burlington, North Carolina.
He is a lifelong music lover and learner dedicated primarily to guitar these days, but with
a background in piano. He regularly walks around golf courses chasing a little white ball
into never-before-seen natural habitats.
J. Ross Eshleman person
J. Ross Eshleman, PhD, received his doctorate from Ohio State University and is now professor emeritus at Wayne State University. His past teaching experience includes serving as department chair of sociology at Wayne State University and Appalachian State University, two Fulbright grants to the Philippines at the University of Santo Tomas and De La Salle College, a year with the National Science Foundation, and two university teaching awards.
Dr. Eshleman has directed five institutes for teachers of high school sociology with grants through the National Science Foundation. His publications include numerous editions (ten of his own and two co-authored) of a sociology of the family text.
