Dr. Leah Panther, assistant professor of literacy education, will co-present four virtual sessions at the American Educational Research Association in April. Titles include “‘This is manist’: Counterscripts as catalysts for change in the English curriculum,” “Multifaceted mentoring communities: Resisting assimilation in mentorship through mentee – initiated practices” and “Disrupting the discipline: Subversive teaching in the secondary English language arts classroom.” Additionally, she will co-present “School-university partnerships, community accountability, and the power to reify or resist” with Dr. Vicki Luther, associate professor, and Dr. Michelle Vaughn, associate professor, in the College of Education.
Dr. Katherine Perrotta, assistant professor of middle grades and secondary education, authored “Getting HIP: A study on the implementation of asynchronous discussion boards as a high-impact practice in online undergraduate survey history courses” in the Journal of Social Studies Research 44(2), 209-217.
Dr. Robert Baeten, clinical assistant professor of physician assistant studies, authored “Inspiring the future of physician assistant ultrasound education: Lessons learned from the inaugural Yes, iScan event” in the March issue of the Journal of Physician Assistant Education. He also authored “Evolution of point of care ultrasound (POCUS) education: Cardiovascular, pulmonary and beyond” in the January issue of Chest.
Dr. Niamh Tunney, clinical associate professor of physical therapy, co-authored the manuscript “Interprofessional peer teaching: Assistive device training and medications impacting safe ambulation” in the Internet Journal of Allied Health Sciences and Practice. Dr. Melissa Chesson, clinical associate professor of pharmacy practice, and Dr. Gina Ryan, clinical professor and chair of pharmacy practice, in the College of Pharmacy served as co-authors of the manuscript.
Dr. James Eric (Jay) Black, Schumann Endowed Professor and chair of journalism and media studies, contributed to three studies released by the American Chamber of Commerce in South China on March 18. These include the Special Report on the Impact of COVID-19 Outbreak on the Supply Chain, the 2020 White Paper on the Business Environment in China and the 2020 Special Report on the State of Business in South China.
Dr. Garland Crawford, associate professor of chemistry and director of the University Honors Program, and Dr. Kathryn Kloepper, associate professor of chemistry and director of the Quality Enhancement Plan, published “Guided Heads-Up: A Collaborative Game that Promotes Metacognition and Synthesis of Material While Emphasizing Higher-Order Thinking” Feb. 10 in the Journal of Chemical Education. This work was a collaboration with Dr. Jennifer Fishovitz, assistant professor of chemistry at St. Mary’s College.
Dr. Heather Bowman Cutway, professor of biology, presented “Silene catesbaei (Fringed Campion): Conservation and Reintroduction of a Federally Endangered Species” at the Southeastern Partners in Plant Conservation Conference March 4 at the Atlanta Botanical Garden.
Dr. David A. Davis, associate professor of English, published the essay “Miss Amelia’s Liquor: Surrealism and the Construction of the South” in Southern Comforts: Essays on Alcohol and Southern Studies, edited by Matthew Dischinger and Conor Pickens.
Dr. Sarah E. Gardner, Distinguished University Professor of History, co-authored, with David Moltke-Hansen, “Southern Intellectual History” in Reinterpreting Southern History, edited by Craig Thompson Friend and Lorri Glover, Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press.
Dr. Gordon Johnston, professor of English, and Dr. James Davis May, writer-in-residence and visiting instructor of integrative education, served as panelists on “The Georgia Poetry Circuit at 35: Creative the Sustainable Reading Series” at this year’s Association of Writers and Writing Programs conference in San Antonio, Texas.
Dr. Kathryn Kloepper, director of the Quality Enhancement Plan and associate professor of chemistry, presented “Stacked High Impact Practices: Benefits for Student Learning and Faculty Development” Feb. 27 at the New Mexico Higher Education Assessment and Retention Conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Hannah Vann Nabi, associate director of the Quality Enhancement Plan, was a co-author on this work. Dr. Kloepper also presented “Lab Lessons: Online Design that Enhances Assessment of Non-Major Science Students” at the conference. Dr. Kloepper’s mother, Marcia Owens Kloepper, an instructional media specialist in the Center for Digital Learning at the University of New Mexico, was a co-presenter of this work.
Marian Zielinski, professor emerita of communication studies, has an artwork, titled “Midnight Jazz,” included in Studio Art Quilt Associates’ juried traveling exhibition “Musica!,” March 6-July 7 at the National Quilt Museum in Paducah, Kentucky. Two of her art quilts are on exhibit at the Southeastern Quilt and Textile Museum in “A Thread Runs Through It,” a juried exhibition sponsored by the Georgia/South Carolina Region of Studio Art Quilt Associates Jan. 20-April 25. Six additional artworks were exhibited in “JAM Session,” a group show of Juried Artist Members of Studio Art Quilt Associates from Georgia and South Carolina, Feb. 21-April 2 at the Carrollton Cultural Arts Center. Additionally, she had a linocut print, titled “Lotus,” included in Macon Arts’ Alliance March exhibition “Botanica” and two works, “Web and Flow” and “Ghosts,” exhibited in the Alliance’s January juried exhibition “Drawn to Macon III.” In Middle Georgia Art Association’s Winter Arts Festival, her piece “Vestments” won the first-place award in 3D, and “Jazz Variations” won third place.
Dr. Wesley Barker, assistant professor of religious studies, transitioned from vice president-elect to vice president of the American Academy of Religion Southeast Region (AAR-SE) at the recent Southeastern Commission for the Study of Religion Conference. Dr. Barker will serve a one-year term as vice president before assuming the role of president at next year’s meeting. Additionally, Dr. Hollis Phelps, assistant professor of religion, was elected vice president-elect of AAR-SE and will serve subsequent one-year terms as vice president and president of the region.
Dr. David Lane, professor of counseling, presented “Back to Basics: Maintaining Fundamentals Amid Complexity” as an invited Distinguished Scholar and Master Therapist to the Christian Association of Psychological Studies National Convention March 14 in Atlanta.
Dr. Tri M. Le, assistant professor of mathematics and computer science, co-authored “In praise of partially interpretable predictors” in Statistical Analysis and Data Mining: The ASA Data Science Journal; 13:113–133.
Dr. Richard Martin, professor of criminal justice and homeland security, completed the following manuscript reviews: “Medical and health care professionals’ sexuality education: State of the art and recommendations” on March 10 and “Factors related to stress of caregivers for individuals diagnosed with Prader-Willi syndrome” on Feb. 24 for the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, as well as “Saving officers time in the long run: Factors that contribute to writing proficiency in law enforcement reports” on Feb. 18 for the Sage Open Journal.
Dr. Antonio Saravia, associate professor of economics and director of the Center for the Study of Economics and Liberty, was interviewed March 12 by CNN, March 19 by Univision and March 24 by Radio Líder on the economic effects of COVID-19. He was also interviewed March 21 by the Right-ish podcast on the state of free speech on American campuses and the virtues of economic freedom.
Dr. Briana Sell Stenard, assistant professor of management and entrepreneurship, authored “Evaluating the Effects of Small Business Administration Lending on Growth” in the journal Small Business Economics. The article examines the relationship between Small Business Administration lending and local economic growth using a spatial econometric framework covering a sample of observations on 3,035 counties from 1980-2009. Dr. Stenard was also featured in WalletHub’s recent piece about business credit cards with rewards.
Dr. Lane Wakefield, assistant professor of sports marketing and analytics, organized the “Biggest Virtual Business Failures and Best Practices” event via Zoom on March 26. The virtual event was presented by the Mercer Sports Marketing and Analytics Club, the School of Business and the National Collegiate Sports Sales Championship and included sessions with employees of the Atlanta Hawks, Macon Bacon, Truist, Atlanta Motor Speedway, The Aspire Group, Atlanta Braves and Mercer. Rachel Woodson, director of employee wellness, presented a session on “Physical Wellness.”
Dr. Arash Afshar, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, Dr. Dorina Marta Mihut, associate professor of mechanical engineering, and Dr. Alireza Sarvestani, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, developed a research project with undergraduate students Roy Wood, Dylan Kennedy and Pengyu Chen on “Effects of environmental exposures on metallic coated carbon fiber epoxy composites” that won the first-place award in the undergraduate research poster competition at the American Society for Engineering Education Southeastern Section Conference at Auburn University in March. Dr. Afshar, Dr. Mihut and Dr. Sarvestani also developed a research project with undergraduates Ryan Field, Darren Pickren, Zachary Kubas and Fahim Rahman on “Hysteresis and Shape-Memory Properties of Thermoplastic Polyurethane at Finite Deformations” that won third place.
Dr. Dorina Marta Mihut, associate professor of mechanical engineering, Dr. Arash Afshar, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, and Dr. Laura Lackey, dean and Georgia Kaolin Chair of Engineering, conducted research with students Gregory Baker, Khang Le and Nicholas Cordista that resulted in a presentation at the annual Posters at the Georgia State Capitol event on Feb. 25. The title of the poster was “Antibacterial Performance of Electrically Activated Conductive Water Filter Papers.”
Dr. Richard Mines, civil engineering startup coordinator and professor of environmental engineering, made a podium presentation, titled “Reflections about Using a Hybrid Inverted Classroom in a Sophomore Environmental Engineering Course,” at the American Society for Engineering Education Southeastern Section Conference March 8-10 at Auburn University. The paper was published in the conference proceedings.
Dr. Scott Schultz, professor of industrial engineering, received the Tilmans-Dion Service Award for outstanding lifetime service to the American Society of Engineering Education – Southeastern Section. He was presented the award at the organization’s annual conference in Auburn, Alabama. At the conference, he also presented a paper, co-authored by Dr. Sinjae Hyun, professor of biomedical engineering, titled “Student Involvement in the Life Cycle of a 3D Yearbook Product.”
Cathy Cox, dean and professor, presented “Update on Decennial Redistricting in Georgia” Feb. 19 to the Macon-Bibb League of Women Voters at Back Burner Restaurant.
Jessica Feinberg, professor, had her article “After Marriage Equality: Dual Fatherhood for Married Male Same-Sex Couples” accepted for publication in 54 U.C. Davis Law Review.
Karen Sneddon, professor of law, and David Hricik, professor of law, continued their 13-year “Writing Matters” column, publishing “Acronyms to Enhance your Legal Writing” in 25 Georgia Bar Journal 60. Hricik also gave a virtual presentation, titled “Practical IP Ethics Issues,” in March at the University of Texas School of Law’s 15th Annual Advanced Patent Law Institute.
Ben Templin, visiting professor, presented “Pedagogical Issues in the Contracts Course” Feb. 20 as part of a four-person panel at KCON XV, an annual conference for contracts professors.
Dr. Larry Nichols, professor and interim chair of pathology, had a photomicrograph selected to appear on the cover of Autopsy Case Reports, which also included his article “How could hypoglycemia-inducing glycogen storage disease lead to hyperglycemia-induced mucormycosis?,” co-authored with student Diana Rios. Dr. Nichols presented a poster, titled “What’s Common is Not Always Common: Challenges Illustrating Disease Pathology for Medical Education,” Jan. 24 at the annual meeting of the Group for Research in Pathology Education in San Antonio, Texas. Dr. Nichols served as co-investigator on a study with Dr. Dennis Ashley, Will C. Sealy Endowed Chair of Surgery, titled “Does human amnion membrane prevent post-operative abdominal adhesions?,” presented Feb. 8 at the Southeastern Surgical Congress Annual Scientific Meeting in New Orleans, Louisiana. Dr. Nichols also gave a platform presentation, titled “Must anatomic pathologists surrender the diagnosis of fungal hyphae to the microbiology laboratory?,” and co-chaired the session that included his presentation Feb. 18 at the International Conference on Medical Pathology in Houston, Texas.
Dr. Yudan Wei, professor of community medicine, published a research article, titled “Pet ownership and risk of dying from cancer: Observation from a nationally representative cohort,” in the International Journal of Environmental Health Research.
Dr. Wei-Hsiung Yang, associate professor of physiology, and former visiting graduate student Natsuko Emura from Japan co-authored a peer-reviewed article, titled “Steroidogenic factor 1 (NR5A1) activates ATF3 transcriptional activity” in the International Journal of Molecular Sciences. Dr. Yang also co-authored a peer-reviewed article, titled “Fibrinogen Alpha Chain Knockout Promotes Tumor Growth and Metastasis through Integrin-AKT Signaling Pathway in Lung Cancer,” in Molecular Cancer Research and co-authored a peer-reviewed article, titled “A CD24-p53 axis contributes to African American prostate cancer disparities,” in The Prostate.
Dr. Douglas Hill, professor of music and director of undergraduate studies, adjudicated the Bibb County Pre-Large Group Performance Evaluation March 1 at Central High School in Macon, where he heard five high school bands and one middle school band from Bibb County. Hill was the invited guest clinician with the McIntosh High School Symphonic Band and Wind Ensemble March 10 in Peachtree City.
Tony Kemp, senior director of academic services, judged extemporaneous speaking events for the Georgia High School Association’s Single-A Literary Competition March 3 in Milledgeville. He also completed his eighth season as a member of the Georgia High School Musical Theatre Awards, where he served in a leadership role on the committee that oversees the adjudication of more than 60 high school theatre productions throughout Georgia.
