Barry M. Klein Center for Culture and Globalization

Changing Lives Through Philanthropy

Barry M. Klein was a major supporter of Oakland University. He was a devoted alumnus, a steadfast benefactor, and an unwavering advocate for the university. With his passing on January 18, 2020, Oakland University lost a generous and loyal friend. As a final act of support, Klein made a transformative gift through his estate which, in part, has established the Barry M. Klein Center for Culture and Globalization. His legacy and vision will elevate Oakland University's standing in the international academic community and contribute to a more complete understanding of the social and cultural forces that impact contemporary global issues.

In 2003, Klein made an initial bequest gift commitment to Oakland University through his estate. Thanks to his considerable success, the estate was able to make an additional multimillion-dollar gift in 2021 that will further grow the George R. and Helen Klein Memorial Scholarship and support two new initiatives: the Barry M. Klein Scholarship Endowed Fund and the Barry M. Klein Center for Culture and Globalization.

Klein graduated from Oak Park High School in 1964. He was admitted to Oakland University, graduating in 1968 with a bachelor's degree in sociology. As a self-described member of the 1960s counterculture, he said he appreciated the intellectual freedom and diversity he found on OU's campus.

Klein joined the Oakland University Alumni Association shortly after his graduation in 1968 and was a regular presence on the campus thereafter. He served on the OUAA Board and is a former director of the OU Foundation. He received the OUAA Distinguished Alumni Award in 1984 and the OUAA Spirit Award in 2003.

Klein was also a longtime supporter of Oakland University and gave generously to initiatives that advanced the success of students in our community. In an interview with the OU Magazine, Klein explained his decision to give back to his alma mater.

"I really believe that Oakland University is the most important higher education institution in the metro Detroit area. More than 90 percent of our students come from southeastern Michigan and over 90 percent of graduates stay in the area after graduation. Our graduates have an enormous impact on the future of the state's economy. Because of this, I think it's incumbent on anyone with any philanthropic tendencies to consider giving to Oakland," he said.

Klein's generosity is helping to shape the future of Oakland University and the future of the countless faculty members and students who will be touched by his support in the many years to come.

2022-2023 Faculty Fellows

Rebecca Mercado Jones, Ph.D.

Rebecca Mercado Jones is an associate professor in the Department of Communication, Journalism, and Public Relations and an affiliate faculty member with Women and Gender Studies at Oakland University. She specializes in critical/cultural communication and her research tends to focus on how economic, political, and social encroachments influence the way women navigate life. Using feminist rhetorical analysis, ethnographic, and life history interviewing methodologies she seeks to understand how women think and speak about home, identity, and embodiment. Her work appears in Departures in Critical Qualitative Research, The Communication Review, Qualitative Inquiry, and Liminalities. In addition to her work at Oakland University, she also serves on the board of Planned Parenthood of Michigan and volunteers for Meals on Wheels.

During her time as a Klein Faculty Fellow, Dr. Jones will examine how the early rhetoric of Margaret Sanger and the Federation of Planned Parenthood can reflect, select, and deflect the public discourses unfolding in our current climate.

Graham Cassano, Ph.D.

Graham Cassano is the Director of Oakland University's Urban and Community Studies Concentration. He teaches in the Department of Sociology, Anthropology, Social Work, and Criminal Justice, where his specializations include social history, racial and ethnic relations, and social theory. He is the author of more than 20 peer reviewed articles and book chapters, as well as books on cinema ("A New Kind of Public: Community, Solidarity and Political Economy in New Deal Cinema"), music ("Eleanor Smith's Hull House Songs: The Music of Protest and Hope in Jane Addams's Chicago", written with Rima Lunin Schultz and Jessica Payette), and urban studies ("Urban Emergency (Mis)Management and the Crisis of Neoliberalism: Flint, MI, in Context", edited with Terressa Benz). He is also a film photographer and printer, currently enrolled in the Master of Fine Arts program at the Cranbrook Academy of Art.

During his time as a Klein Faculty Fellow, Dr. Cassano will lead a project for OU students to record oral histories in Pontiac, Michigan to document local culture and issues.

The Barry M. Klein Center Director

Chiaoning Su, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Journalism and Public Relations. Her research examines the US-China-Taiwan relations through the lens of diplomatic, journalistic, and social media practices. She is the recipient of OU's 2020 Honors College Inspiration Award and the 2021 Teaching Excellence Award. Throughout 2018 and 2020, she served as president of Association for Chinese Communication Studies. Prior to her academic career, she worked as a communication specialist at Ogilvy Public Relations and for several political campaigns in Taiwan.

The Barry M. Klein Center Steering Committee

Claude Baillargeon, Ph.D., MFA, is a Professor of Art History and an independent curator and writer, who divides his time between Metro Detroit and Toronto, Canada. A specialist of the history of photography, his current scholarship investigates the nuclear era from the perspective of its global visual representation. Throughout 2017 and 2018, he served as chair of the board of directors with the Society for Photographic Education, the leading forum dedicated to understanding how photography matters in the world.

Jon W. Carroll, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Anthropology with research interests in cultural transmission, social interaction and integration, political and economic organization, and Geographic Information Science (GIScience) combined with computer modeling and simulation. A Registered Professional Archaeologist (RPA), he is currently researching the use of remote sensing drones in the Near East, Europe, Africa, and North America, and is an FAA-licensed drone pilot.

Sara Chapman Williams, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of History. She has published a book and articles on political culture and networks in early modern France. Her current research and publications focus on Native American and French/Canadian encounters, and colonial policies in the Great Lakes region in the early modern era, including the establishment of the settler colonies at Detroit in 1701.

Alan Epstein, Ph.D., is a Special Instructor in Political Science at Oakland University with teaching and research interests in contemporary Chinese politics and foreign policy, the political economy of United States intervention abroad, and comparative democratic theory and practice. From 2013 through 2018, he directed the Religious Studies program and is currently exploring commonalities between leadership-centric forms of popular governance in China and the United States.