March Faculty and Staff Notables

1143
Statue of Jesse Mercer on the Mercer campus.

College of Continuing and Professional Studies

Dr. Richard Bohannon, associate professor of organizational leadership and program coordinator for organizational leadership, and Dr. Priscilla Danheiser, dean and professor of psychology, presented “Leadership with Volunteer Organizations” for the Society of Human Resource Management Georgia State Council Meeting Jan. 28-29 in Macon. Dr. Lynn Clemons, associate professor of organizational leadership and chair of the Department of Leadership Studies, participated in the development of the presentation.

Dr. Diane Clark, assistant professor of counseling, presented “The Impact of Cultural Identity Development in the Supervisory Relationship” at the 10th Annual Southeastern Conference on Cross-Cultural Issues in Counseling and Education, Feb. 11-12 in Savannah.

Dr. David Lane, professor of counseling, returned to Haiti the week of Feb. 21 with Dr. Daniel Vestal, executive coordinator with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, to assess the effectiveness of the counseling program’s “train the trainer” efforts with pastors and teachers following the Haitian earthquake. 

Dr. Laurie Lankin, associate professor of counseling and human services and coordinator for the program in human resources administration and development, along with Mercer human resources students, led a discussion focused on establishing College/University-Society of Human Resource Management chapter relationships at the Society of Human Resource Management Georgia State Council Meeting held Jan. 28-29 in Macon. Dr. Lankin also presented “Experiential Strategies to Facilitate Cultural Identity Development and Diversity Understanding” at the 10th Annual Southeastern Conference on Cross-Cultural Issues in Counseling and Education held Feb. 11-12. She co-presented with four students in the Master of Science in clinical mental health counseling program, April Mojica, Thomasina Odom, Lane Pease and Denise Rountree.

Dr. Zipangani Vokhiwa, assistant professor of science, and Dr. Richard Mines Jr., professor in the School of Engineering, submitted an abstract, titled “Mercer On Mission to Malawi, Africa,” which was accepted for presentation at the 2011 World Environmental and Water Resources Congress, to be held on May 22-26 in Palm Springs, Calif.

Dr. Art Williams, professor of counseling, Dr. Kenyon Knapp, associate professor of counseling and assistant dean for graduate programs, Dr. Diane Clark, assistant professor of counseling, and two students in the counselor education and supervision doctorial program, Nadia Glover and Yvette Gates, participated in the Georgia Crises Consortium Mass Casualty “table top exercise” on Jan. 26 in Atlanta.  The purpose of the exercise was to see how mental health workers would be involved during a mass casualty event. The simulated event was the collapse of a building in downtown Atlanta. Dr. Williams and Dr. Knapp served as “tabletop exercise leaders.”

College of Liberal Arts

Dr. Kevin Bucholtz, assistant professor of chemistry, recently had a paper published in the Journal of Chemical Education, titled “Spicing Things Up by Adding Color and Relieving Pain: The Use of Napoleon’s Buttons in Organic Chemistry.”  The paper highlights an approach to incorporate examples of specific molecules or classes of molecules that have had significant impacts on history, society and culture into the standard organic chemistry curriculum. In February, Dr. Bucholtz served as a panelist for the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program in Washington, D.C.  Also, he gave an invited research talk at Georgia Institute of Technology’s Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, titled “PPAR d and 3ß-HSD1:  Two Stories in Ligand Selectivity.”  Dr. Bucholtz also hosted and organized a Proposal Writing Workshop with Dr. Bill Campbell from the University of Wisconsin – River Falls.

Dr. Heather Bowman Cutway, associate professor of biology, received two Knight Neighborhood Challenge Grants from the Community Foundation of Central Georgia. The goal of the first, Corridor Releaf, is to increase tree cover in the College Hill Corridor. Dr. Bowman Cutway and her urban ecosystems class will plant about 40 native trees for homeowners within the neighborhoods surrounding Mercer. The second, Composting in the Corridor, will fund a composting workshop to be held on Mercer’s Macon campus on March 30.

Dr. John Marson Dunaway, professor of French and interdisciplinary studies and director of Mercer Commons, authored an advent devotional, titled “Seasons of the Soul,” which appeared on MyMinistryMinute.com, a weekly resource published online and circulated via email to Christian professors across the country. The devotional can be viewed at www.myministryminute.com/seasons-of-the-soul. Dr. Dunaway was also the featured speaker at University Worship on Dec. 1.

Dr. Janell Johnson, associate professor of Christianity and chair of the Women’s and Gender Studies Department, published a review of Conceiving a Nation: The Development of Political Discourse in the Hebrew Bible by Mira Morgenstern in Interpretation 65.1 (Jan 2011): 94-95.

Dr. Eric Klingelhofer, professor of history, published two books in 2010, including a monograph, titled Castles and Colonists: an archaeology of Elizabethan Ireland, published by Manchester University Press, and an edited work, First Forts: Essays on the Archaeology of Proto-Colonial Fortifications, which was published by Brill Academic Press. One chapter written by him, “Tudor Overseas Fortifications: a review and typology,” also appeared in the latter work. Dr. Klingelhofer co-authored a paper, titled “Molana Abbey and its New World Master,” in Archaeology Ireland, vol. 24, no. 4 (Winter 2010). He wrote the article with Irish archaeologist James Lyttleton. The article examines the ruins of the Irish residence that Sir Walter Raleigh gave as payment for services by Thomas Harriot, the Elizabethan scientist who explored for one year at Raleigh’s “Virginia” colony in North Carolina.

Dr. Shawn Loht, visiting assistant professor of philosophy, presented a paper, titled “Being Alive, Being Conscious, and Being: An Existentialist Reading of Heraclitus’ Fragment 101,” at Clayton State University in Morrow on Feb. 18.

Georgia Baptist College of Nursing

Dr. Susan S. Gunby, professor, presented the keynote address for the Georgia Association for Nursing Education annual conference on Feb. 17, and also presented a plenary address on Feb. 18. Additionally, Dr. Gunby was appointed for a two year term as an abstract reviewer for the Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing’s 22nd International Nursing Research Congress and the 41st Biennial Convention in 2011.

Dr. Helen Hodges, professor, has recently had published a major article, titled “Preparing New Nurses with Complexity Science and Problem-based Learning,” in the Journal of Nursing Education, January 2011. The article reports a completed study on the scholarship of teaching and learning.

School of Engineering

Dr. Wade H. Shaw, dean and Kaolin Professor of Engineering, has been named to the editorial board of The Journal of Engineering, Project, and Production Management

School of Medicine

Dr. Ashley Horner, assistant professor of pharmacology, gave a platform presentation, titled “Malondialdehyde and Methamphetamine-Induced Neurotoxicity: Cause or Effect?” at the Winter Conference on Brain Research in Keystone, Col., on Jan. 24. The presentation described the accumulation of the compound malondialdehyde that is seen in several regions of the brain following repeated methamphetamine administration, and discussed whether this compound might contribute to methamphetamine-induced neuronal damage. The data that was presented by Dr. Horner was from a recent project developed in collaboration with Dr. Susan D. Cline, assistant professor of biochemistry, with assistance from Yamiece E. Gilbert, a 2010 graduate of the Masters in Public Health Program at the School of Medicine. 

Miriam Hudgins, archivist for the School of Medicine and technical services coordinator for the Medical Library, and Kristin Howard, technical services librarian, presented a poster, titled “Cataloging Learning Resource Center Collections at Mercer University School of Medicine,” at the biennial conference of the Online Audiovisual Catalogers on Oct. 16 in Macon.

Carolyn Klatt, reference and electronic resources librarian at the Savannah Campus, has published an article, titled “Going Mobile: Free and Easy” in the January 2011 issue of Medical Reference Services Quarterly.

Anna Krampl, reference librarian, has been named a senior member of the Academy of Health Information Professionals. The Academy is the Medical Library Association’s peer-reviewed professional development and career recognition program that recognizes the personal investment of time and effort required for exemplary professional performance and for contributions to the association and to the profession.

Rita Smith, outreach and education coordinator at the Medical Library and Learning Resources Center, has published a book review of Harrison’s Infectious Diseases in the January 2011 issue of Medical Reference Services Quarterly.

Stetson School of Business and Economics

Dr. Steven McClung, associate professor of marketing, had the manuscript “Acceptability and Ethics of Product Placement in Sport Video Games, published in the Journal of Promotion Management, 16(4) Pages 411 – 427  (2010). His manuscript, titled “The role of the Internet site in the promotion management of sports teams and franchise brands,” has been accepted for publication in the Journal of Promotion Management. The article is scheduled for publication in issue Volume 18 (2011). In addition, his paper, “Toward a detailed understanding of illegal digital downloading intentions: an extended theory of planned behavior approach,” has been selected for the 2011 International Communication Conference in Boston, Mass.

Dr. Cheryl Tibus, assistant professor, had a paper, titled “Leadership beyond the glass ceiling: does ownership matter?” recently published in the Leadership & Organization Development Journal [Vol. 31, number 8].

Tift College of Education

Dr. Elaine M. Artman, associate professor of educational leadership, gave a presentation with John Mason, a doctoral candidate in education leadership, titled “Teaching Faculty to Think Like Marketers,” at the Southern Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers on Feb. 21.

Dr. William Lacefield, professor of mathematics education, and three curriculum and instruction doctoral candidates, Claudine Davis, Sarah Hobbs and Kenneth Whaley, presented “Passionate Mathematics Teaching:  Innovative Methods for the 21st Century” at the annual conference of the Association of Teacher Educators, held Feb. 13-16 in Orlando, Fla. Dr. Lacefield also attended the annual conference of American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education, Feb. 24-26 in San Diego, Calif.

Dr. Barbara Rascoe, assistant professor and science educator, presented “The Language of Science,” and “Myths of Science and Science Misconceptions,” at the Georgia Science Teachers Association Annual Conference in Atlanta, Feb. 17-19. She also presented “Issues of hope: Perceptions Changes, At-Risk Students, and the Gap,” with Tonya Woolfolk, doctoral candidate in curriculum and instruction, at the Association of Teacher Educators Annual Conference in Orlando, Fla., Feb. 12-16.

Townsend School of Music

Amy Schwartz Moretti, director of the Robert McDuffie Center for Strings and associate professor in the Townsend School of Music, performed the Beethoven Violin Concerto as soloist with the Valdosta Symphony Orchestra and Music Director Howard Hsu, for the symphony’s Subscription Concert III. The concert was held Feb. 12 at Whitehead Auditorium on the campus of Valdosta State University. She also performed at the Valdosta Symphony Youth Concert for elementary and middle school children and conducted a master class for collegiate violin students on Feb. 11. As a member of the Georgian Chamber Players, Moretti performed Tchaikovsky Trio with Mercer colleagues Christopher Rex, cello, and Elizabeth Pridgen, piano, in recital at Trinity Presbyterian Church, Atlanta, Feb. 20. She also performed Beethoven’s “Ghost” trio with Julie Albers, cello, and visiting pianist Adam Neiman, for the Fabian Strings Series recital “Julie Albers and Friends” at Fickling Hall, McCorkle Music Building, Jan. 21.

Walter F. George School of Law

Dr. Theodore Y. Blumoff, professor of law, had his chapter, titled “How (Some) Criminals Are Made,” published in 13 Law and Neuroscience (M. Freeman, ed., Oxford 2011). Dr. Blumoff also gave a talk, “Disaggregating Defect: The Neurobiology and Jurisprudence of Insanity,” to a faculty colloquium at the University of Georgia Law School on Feb. 21. and on Feb. 12 at Loyola (Louisiana) Law School, which was sponsored by the Society for the Evolutionary Analysis of Law.

Jim Fleissner, professor, made a two-hour presentation on Jan. 20 on recent United States Supreme Court cases involving criminal procedure issues to more than 200 Georgia Superior Court judges at the Institute for Continuing Judicial Education in Athens.