Faculty

After careers in commercial lending and distribution, John Spittell came to Knox shortly after the sale of his business interests, a regional beverage distributorship, United Distributors, Inc. where he was a co-owner.

During his career, Spittell found success as a commercial lender, but soon saw the challenge and excitement of running his own businesses. As an owner/manager, Spittell believes it's important to take a "holistic approach to management," by learning all he can about customers, key operations, and enabling employees to succeed. This managerial skill has served him well. Over his career he has successfully navigated several mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, and partner buyouts.

"There are two main threads in my research and they're quite different. Because I spent nearly 20 years in the computer industry, I'm very interested in software development and in the development process. I'm particularly interested in development with small teams of programmers. I think that most really good software gets written in small teams, so that's where I like to look for improvements. The second thread is cryptology, the study of codes and ciphers. I'm particularly interested in how computers and cryptology came together. Currently I've got two projects going, one examining the relationship between Herbert Yardley and William Friedman, America's two founding fathers of cryptology, and the second taking a closer look at Alan Turing's (the godfather of the modern computer) work for the British cipher bureau during World War II."

"To the extent that there is a common theme tying my research together, it is that I study human social behavior from an evolutionary perspective. I am especially interested in understanding the psychology of everyday life. Why do we enjoy gossip about celebrities? Why do some people name their children after themselves while others do not? How do 21st century social networking tools such as Facebook satisfy prehistoric social needs?"

"My current study applies statistical analyses in two distinct areas of study. My new interest is modeling oxygen uptake and maximal effort of cardiac patients participating in rehabilitation programs prescribed to restore as much cardiovascular function as possible. It is interesting, fun and useful to apply statistical methods in academic disciplines spanning anthropology, biology, economics, political science and psychology. That is why I helped to develop the general education Stat 200 course. Lately I have developed a course called the Economics of Nonprofit Enterprises and a course on the history of financial panics in the United States."

"'What's it worth?' That question summarizes my research interests. The worth or value I'm interested in is not finding the price, but the value that people place on a good (or avoiding a bad). It's important to distinguish, too, the difference between a value in exchange and a value in use. My current investigation is on the value people place on reducing their risk of death from natural or man-made disasters. Within business and management topics, I'll be exploring the impacts of business regulation, and how non-profit and public sector work is valued."

"I am interested in methodological debates in economics and alternatives to neoclassical economics, the dominant paradigm in American economics. In my classes I try to illustrate how thinking about economics in different ways can lead to different conclusions about how to respond to macroeconomic and environmental challenges and how to think about political-economic topics like social inequality. I try to teach students how our thinking is often constrained in ways we are unaware of by paradigms, that is, by the theoretical spectacles we use to view the world."

"My research focuses on changing American roles in the new world order. The U.S. faces a dilemma as a single superpower in a chaotic multipolar world. It must choose between interventionism (philosophically or security driven) and isolationism (similarly motivated). I discuss these choices and their possible ramifications in my current writings. I also study the rise of Christian fundamentalism as a political and social movement in the U.S."

"For many years my research has focused on the Christian right. After writing a book on the Christian right and the Republican party, I shifted my focus to the Christian right's global activism. I am currently beginning a very different project: a study of how Midwestern cities are responding to the social and economic challenges posed by globalization."

"I am interested in collecting and analyzing data to better understand how people build good software, from the process and techniques used to build large systems down to the short but often intense experiences novices have while learning to program."