Located on the second floor of the Hall of Languages, is the office of Liberal Studies professor: Dr. Brad Klypchak. Raised in a small town in Illinois, Klypchak pursued various degrees from electrical engineering and psychology before finally majoring in Sports Psychology at the University of Illinois. “I became more and more and more interested in how people come to engage the world,” says Dr. Brad “While I was at the University of Illinois that’s where I ended up finding myself along the path of taking an interest in sport and Sport psychology specifically. But during that period of time as well I became aware of looking at leisure through an academic lens and that was probably the beginning to putting me towards where I am now.”

After getting his Bachelors at the University of Illinois, he went on to get an M.S. in Sports Studies at Miami University and given the opportunity to teach. With his previous and current multidisciplinary studies he had looked through a variety of realms in the academic field that his career in Sports Psychology began to stifle after awhile. “I was getting a little constrained with just sports as a topic and I had discovered that there was this graduate program that was popular culture studies” recalled Klypchak . “That’s when I applied and got accepted into green state university. I did my PHD there; which was giving me the chance of looking at similar things to what I was doing within sports but in a broader fashion. The PHD for American culture studies is inherently interdisciplinary, one is pulling from multiple fields in order to get toward the concentrated topic of one’s interest and that was just a natural fit for me. Something like a Liberal studies program is perfectly suited to where I’ve come from” In 2007, Klpchack got his Doctor of Philosophy (American Culture Studies) at Bowling Green State University in the state of Ohio.

Another passion that Dr. Klypchak has is Rock, specifically Heavy Metal; as he had aspiring dreams to be a DJ at a young age. “We had to do a career project,” said Dr. Brad, “so I did my project on wanting to be a disc jockey with a résumé of having a PHD to become a disc jockey to which my fourth grade teacher said you probably have a little bit more education than what you need.” Utilizing that passion he has written various articles that have made it into scholarly journals, books and written a whole book himself over Heavy Metal. He’s even offered courses over said subject including the current class: Music and Gender as Narrative. It’s not everyday one gets to teach about Rock in an academic and scholarly manner, to which Klypchak responds “When those things can work your way into a schedule it’s a nice opportunity.” 

When asked on what has makes his job worthwhile, Klypchak thought back to the first week of the spring semester,” “I was giving my little lecture and over the course and there two moments were I saw light bulbs pop over peoples heads. Whenever that happens whenever folks get that “Oh wow that’s how it works” or “Wow I get it” those are the greatest moments. That’s the most rewarding moment for me as a professor.”

Dr. Brad Klypchak currently resides in Commerce, TX with his wife Carrie who also teaches here on campus in the Theatre Department.