About Us

A distinguished researcher and professor, Janice Bially Mattern, PhD, joined Villanova as director of the Villanova Institute for Research and Scholarship in 2019. Dr. Bially Mattern began her career in academia as a Political Science professor, holding tenured positions at the National University of Singapore and Lehigh University, and serving on the faculty of Temple University and Dartmouth College. Her research focused on international alliances.

Through institutional and disciplinary appointments to various research management roles, Dr. Bially Mattern’s enduring fascination with practices of research and knowledge production grew into a primary scholarly interest. To advance her new research agenda she earned a Master of Information in Information Studies and Data Science from Rutgers University in May 2019.

While pursuing her degree, Dr. Bially Mattern worked at Villanova’s Falvey Library as social science liaison and data services librarian, and in the non-profit sector helping the New York Civil Liberty Union and New York Cares to develop effective research infrastructure and practices. Her current research on research cultures, practices and policies inform her belief that multidisciplinary engagement enhances creative inquiry and innovation.

In addition to her MI from Rutgers, Dr. Bially Mattern holds a PhD (with distinction), MPhil and MA in Political Science from Yale University; and a BA in Political Science and International Relations from University of Wisconsin, Madison.  At Villanova, Dr. Bially Mattern also holds a professiorial appointment in the Department of Political Science. 

An experienced professional in educational technology and database management within independent school environments, Heayung Cho joined Villanova University in June 2022. Prior to her appointment, Ms. Cho served in the Technology department at The Haverford School. She later transitioned to school-wide database management with Norwood-Fontbonne Academy, and admissions database management with Academy of Notre Dame. 

Ms. Cho's bilingual fluency skills in English and Korean were assets in Admissions and Institutional Advancement departments at Haverford, and within the academic program as East Asian history lecturer. She advised students and served as Adjunct Instructor for the iBT TOEFL preparation course at Harcum College, working exclusively with international students, and designed a college course incorporating food and film to facilitate the learning of conversational English.

During graduate school, Ms. Cho had her research paper accepted at McGill-CREOR Graduate Student Conference (Montreal, Canada), and has twice presented at Hawaii International Conferences on Arts and Humanities. Ms. Cho received her MLA (East Asian Studies) from the University of Pennsylvania and BS from Saint Joseph's University. 

A long-time bibliophile and aficionado of the written word, Aaren Pastor, PhD, joined Villanova and the Institute for Research and Scholarship in January of 2025 as the in-house Developmental Editor and Writing Specialist. Previously, Dr. Pastor was a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Teaching of Writing at the University of Delaware and taught courses in rhetoric and composition, Business Writing, and Technical Writing at Delaware and The Pennsylvania State University.

She also earned a reputation as an efficient, organized, and exceptionally thorough copy and developmental editor while freelancing for over 8 years during and after graduate school. It was through her freelance work that she discovered editing and writing coaching were her true passion and made the decision to transition into this work full-time. She believes in the power of clear, concise, and coherent prose and is available to assist Villanova faculty and post-docs at any stage of their writing process in any genre (book, article, research or grant proposal, tenure dossier, creative project, etc.).

Dr. Pastor received her dual-title PhD in English and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and MA in English from the Pennsylvania State University. She graduated cum laude with a BA in English and Religious Studies from Rice University. She has published in several key indicator journals in her former fields, such as Modernism/modernity, Modern Fiction Studies, and Feminist Review, among other places.