Faculty and Staff Notables

704

College of Health Professions

Dr. Joseph Donnelly, clinical associate professor of physical therapy, co-presented “Introduction to imPacT: PT Move Better, Feel Better, Live Better” at the Physical Therapy Association of Georgia imPacT Meeting March 25 in Savannah.

Dr. Jeffrey Ebert, clinical assistant professor of physical therapy, was elected to serve a three-year term as a delegate representing the Physical Therapy Association of Georgia at the House of Delegates of the American Physical Therapy Association.

Dr. Alyssa Fiss, associate professor of physical therapy, in collaboration with three research colleagues, co-authored a publication that received the 2016 Toby Long Award for best paper published in Pediatric Physical Therapy. The award was presented by the Academy of Pediatric Physical Therapy at the American Physical Therapy Association Combined Sections Meeting in February in San Antonio, Texas.

Dr. Ellen Hillegass, adjunct clinical associate professor of physical therapy, and Dr. Joseph Donnelly, clinical associate professor of physical therapy, co-presented a peer-reviewed platform presentation, titled “The Effect of Early Initial Physical Therapy on First Time Upright in ICU in Critically Ill Patients,” at the American Physical Therapy Association Combined Sections Meeting in February in San Antonio, Texas. Dr. Hillegass also co-presented a platform presentation on “Safety of Ambulation for Patients with Intra-Aortic Balloon Pumps Inserted into the Common Femoral Artery: A Pilot Study.”

Dr. Ann Lucado, assistant professor of physical therapy, presented “Seize the Evidence: Lateral Elbow Tendinopathy and the Role of Scapular Muscle Strengthening” at the Philadelphia Symposium 2017 in March in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Dr. Lucado also co-presented a concurrent instructional course, titled “Nerve Mobilization.”

Dr. David Taylor, clinical assistant professor of physical therapy, co-presented an educational session, titled “Ethics and Georgia Jurisprudence,” at the Physical Therapy Association of Georgia imPacT Meeting March 25 in Savannah.  

Dr. Leslie Taylor, associate dean and professor of physical therapy, co-authored “Self-determination theory-based perceptions of community dwelling women with cardiovascular disease prediction of perceived physical activity limitations” in Applied Nursing Research 2017; 35:48-52.

Dr. Deborah Wendland, assistant professor of physical therapy, co-presented “Offloading of the Diabetic Foot: A Physical Therapy Perspective,” a two-day pre-conference course; co-presented an educational session, titled “Diabetic Foot Ulcer: Clinical Practice Guideline Update;” and presented a peer-reviewed poster, titled “Walking Behavior of People with Diabetes and Peripheral Neuropathy,” at the American Physical Therapy Association Combined Sections Meeting in February in San Antonio, Texas.

College of Liberal Arts

Dr. Jonathan Addleton, adjunct professor of international and global studies, conducted several outreach activities related to publication of his new book titled The Dust of Kandahar: A Diplomat Among Warriors in Afghanistan (Naval Institute Press). These include talks at Texas State University, the Austin Council on Foreign Affairs and the Clinton School of Public Service at the University of Arkansas; a presentation at the Dahlonega Literary Festival; radio interviews with WGBH in Boston, KUAR in Little Rock and WAAM in Detroit; and an article, titled “Dear Nasemi, I'm Sorry,” on the blog “Informed Comment.”

Dr. Elaina Behounek, assistant professor of sociology and criminal justice, will present “Family Law Mediation: An analytic autoethnographic account of marriage and divorce” at the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences annual meeting in Kansas City, Missouri.

Dr. Wallace L. Daniel, distinguished professor of history, moderated and participated in a panel discussion on “Russia: Politics, Religion, and Society” Feb. 24 at Baylor University.

Dr. David A. Davis, associate professor of English, presented the papers “Miss Amelia's Liquor: Surrealism and the Construction of the South” and “Modernism, Primitivism, and Food in James Agee's Cotton Tenants” at the Southern American Studies Association in Williamsburg, Virginia.

Dr. John Marson Dunaway, professor emeritus of French and interdisciplinary studies, was appointed to the planning committee for the annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Citywide Breakfast. He was the invited preacher Jan. 8 at the Chinese American Baptist Church in Byron. He spoke about French religious writers to a Sunday School class Feb. 12 and Feb. 19 at First Baptist Church of Christ. He was guest lecturer for Dr. James Bumpus' INT classes on Feb. 20 and Feb. 23. He organized the 13th annual Building the Beloved Community Symposium held Feb. 28-March 1 with the Rev. Jim Wallis as keynote speaker. Dr. Dunaway also attended the American Maritain Association's annual conference March 1-3 in New Orleans, Louisiana. He was interviewed via Skype on topics of multiculturalism and tolerance by English as a Second Language (ESOL) students on March 23 at Bosphorus University in Istanbul, Turkey.

Dr. Sarah E. Gardner, professor of history, gave a book talk March 6 at the University of Michigan on her forthcoming publication Reviewing the South: The Literary Marketplace and the Southern Renaissance (Cambridge University Press, April 2017). Her essay, “Mr. Cowley's Southern Saga,” appeared in Faulkner and History, edited by Jay Watson and James G. Thomas and published by University of Mississippi Press.

Dr. Keegan D. Greenier, associate professor of psychology, was invited to present his schadenfreude research Feb. 21 at Georgia Southern University. The presentation was titled “Who's laughing at you?: The relationship between personality and schadenfreude.”

Scot J. Mann, associate professor of communication and theatre arts, taught the Theatrical Firearms Safety Course for theatre majors at Louisiana Tech, a course he developed with the Society of American Fight Directors. He was recently elected president of this national professional organization, which is the largest stage combat organization in the world. He also adjudicated skills proficiency tests with the Society of American Fight Directors in Minneapolis, Minnesota.  

Dr. Clara Mengolini, assistant professor of Spanish, presented “Understanding literature through visual arts” at the Southeast Coastal Conference on Languages and Literature March 23-24 in Savannah.

Dr. Anya Silver, professor of English, had her fourth book of poetry, Second Bloom: Poems, accepted for publication by the Poiema Series of Poetry by Cascade Press. She also gave a poetry reading March 28 at Middle Georgia State University.

Dr. Doug Thompson, associate professor of history, signed an advanced contract with University of Georgia Press for a book-length manuscript titled “A Journey of Conscience: Martin Luther King, Jr., the Vietnam War, and the Struggle for the Soul of America.” The book is due out in 2018. He interviewed with The Telegraph in Macon for a long-form story published in late March/early April about segregation, desegregation and re-segregation of Bibb County schools. The story will also have a component feature on GPB. Dr. Thompson also oversaw the publication of the first roll-release of the Journal of Southern Religion in 2017. The journal published two articles and 12 book reviews in this release.

Dr. Bryan J. Whitfield, associate professor of religion, presented a paper, titled “Numbers 16 in Second Temple Interpretation: Philo, Josephus, and Hebrews on Korah's Rebellion,” at the Southeastern Commission on the Study of Religion meeting March 4 in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Dr. Carolyn Yackel, associate professor of mathematics, gave the keynote address at the Mathematics Association of America (MAA) Southeastern Section. She presented a special session talk, titled “Art with Truchet Tiles,” and a mathematics colloquium talk at Wofford College. She also organized the aforementioned special session on mathematics and art at the MAA Southeastern Section meeting held at Mercer and co-organized the mathematical art show “Adjacent” with Craig Coleman, associate professor of art.

College of Pharmacy

Dr. Joshua Davis Kinsey, clinical assistant professor, received the 2017 Phi Delta Chi Alumni Professional Development Scholarship for the Southeast Region.

Dr. Angela Shogbon, clinical assistant professor, received the 2017 College of Pharmacy Award for Excellence in Service. She serves on a number of committees of the American College of Clinical Pharmacy, the American Society of Health-Systems Pharmacists and the Nigerian Association of Pharmacists and Pharmaceutical Scientists in the Americas. Dr. Shogbon currently provides service to patients through her practice in an internal medicine setting at DeKalb Medical Center. Pharmacy students for whom she has served as preceptor there have documented 1,271 interventions in a three-and-a-half year period with an estimated cost savings of $159,896. In addition, Dr. Shogbon and her co-advisers have improved the Rho Chi tutoring program, resulting in less course failures and improvements in Pharm.D. student retention.

Eugene W. Stetson School of Business and Economics

Jody Blanke, Distinguished Professor of Computer Information Systems and Law, presented a paper, titled “The Value of Privacy and Privacy Values,” at the Southern Academy of Legal Studies in Business annual conference in San Antonio, Texas.

Dr. Tammy Crutchfield, professor of marketing, led Traffick Jam, a self-sustainable social marketing brand created by Mercer marketing students, in a news conference Feb. 21 in the Mercer Innovation Center to announce partnerships across the Macon community. Traffick Jam's purpose is to prevent Macon's teens from being sold for sexual purposes. This year, 29 senior marketing students are managing the brand, and 56 service-learning volunteers are educating 900 freshmen in four high schools (Westside, Southwest, Northeast and Howard). Numerous Macon-Bibb County officials spoke at the news conference, including Mayor Robert Reichert, Bibb BOE Assistant Superintendent Jamie Cassady, Campus Police Chief Investigator Corey Goble and Sergeant Tania Clausen with the Bibb County Sheriff's Office Special Investigations Unit.

Dr. Ania Rynarzewska, assistant professor of sports business, and Dr. Steven McClung, associate dean and associate professor of marketing, won Best Paper in Track – Sports Marketing at the 2017 Association Of Marketing Theory and Practice for “The Reason(s) Small, Private Schools Start Football Programs.” Dr. Rynarzewska also presented “Effects of spectator motivations, fan identity on Virtual Reality adoption in sport fans” at the annual Applied Sport Management Association conference hosted at Louisiana State University Feb. 22-24 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Dr. Antonio Saravia, assistant professor of economics, co-authored “Trade Effects of U.S. Antidumping Actions Against China” in the Asian Economic Journal 31:1 in March.

Dr. Lane Wakefield, assistant professor of sports business, served as session chair for the special session, titled “Sponsorship Effectiveness in International Sport,” at the 2017 Winter American Marketing Association Conference Feb. 17-19 in Orlando, Florida. He also presented “Sponsorship Filtering: How Brands Disappear Among Fans Who Appear the Most” at the conference. Dr. Wakefield presented “The Effect of Fan Passion on Consumer Ethnocentrism” with a senior student as part of a directed study at the Sport Entertainment and Venues Tomorrow 2017 Conference in Columbia, South Carolina.

Georgia Baptist College of Nursing

Dr. Tammy Barbé, assistant professor, and Dr. Laura Kimble, professor, had a manuscript, titled “A Factor Analysis of the Perceived Value of Certification Tool for Nurse Educators: Evidence for Construct Validity,” accepted by Nursing Education Perspectives in March.

Dr. Jennifer Bartlett, assistant professor, was an invited speaker on “Teaching Ethics Through Simulation” at the American Nurses Association annual conference “Days of Ethics” March 8 in Tampa, Florida. Dr. Bartlett was also on the planning committee and an invited speaker on “Ethics – Building Traditional Skills” for the fourth Ethics of Caring National Nursing Ethics Conference March 23 in Los Angeles, California.

Dr. Helen Hodges, professor, was an invited speaker on “Disrupting the traditional: Technology, Messy Classrooms, and Active Learning” at Pennsylvania State Systems of Higher Education's annual virtual conference in February.

Dr. Humberto Reinoso, clinical assistant professor, and Dr. Ruth McCaffrey, professor, had an article, titled “Transformational Leadership: A model for advanced practice holistic nurses,” published in the Journal of Holistic Nursing.

James and Carolyn McAfee School of Theology

Nancy L. deClaissé-Walford, Carolyn Ward Professor of Old Testament and Biblical Languages, conducted a one-day seminar on the Pentateuch for Carson Newman University master's degree students on Jan. 21. She delivered the Todd Endowed Old Testament Lectures March 20-21 at Memphis Theological Seminary on the topic “A New Journey through the Psalms.”

Penfield College

Dr. Caroline M. Brackette, associate professor of counseling, received a 2016-2017 Southern Region Chair's Leadership Award from the Southern Region division of the American Counseling Association for her leadership and advocacy as the Georgia Branch president. The award was presented during the Southern Region meeting at the American Counseling Association annual conference in San Francisco, California. Dr. Brackette was featured in two articles in the Toledo Blade that were part of a series on professional Black Ohioans who moved to the South. The articles highlighted the reversal of the Great Migration, the relocation of more than six million African-Americans from the rural South to cities in the North, Midwest and West from 1916-1970. The article was featured in the Atlanta Business Chronicle. She also received a Certificate of Appreciation for Exceptional Commitment to the Georgia Statewide Human Trafficking Task Force throughout 2016. She completed two years of service on the task force. She also served as a reviewer for the 2016-17 International Honor Society of Psychology Graduate Research Grant Competition.

Dr. Timothy D. Craker, associate professor of comparative literature and philosophy, Dr. Margaret H. Eskew, professor of English, Jason R. Holloway, instructor of liberal and historical studies, Dr. Steven Miller, assistant professor of humanities, Dr. J. Thompson Biggers, associate professor of communication, and Dr. Colin Harris, professor emeritus of religious studies, completed a certificate program in “Online Course Design and Delivery” through the Office of Distance Learning. The 15-hour certificate program consists of three levels of hands-on instruction in the use of the University's learning management system, the application of instructional design methodologies to content development, and the implementation and delivery of learning through the use of asynchronous and synchronous online tools.

Dr. Lynn W. Clemons, associate professor of organizational leadership, and Dr. Gail W. Johnson, assistant professor of organizational leadership, presented “Investing In Women in Higher Education” March 24 at the Vermont Women in Higher Education Conference in Killington, Vermont.

Dr. Kenyon Knapp, associate professor of counseling, was one of 15 faculty members from institutions in Georgia selected as a Governor's Teaching Fellow for the summer of 2017. The Governor's Teaching Fellows Program was established by former Gov. Zell Miller to provide Georgia's higher education faculty with expanded opportunities for developing important teaching skills. The program is highly competitive and offered through the Institute of Higher Education at the University of Georgia.

Dr. Richard Martin, professor of criminal justice and coordinator of homeland security, reviewed an article, titled “Examination on the Factors That Affect the Participation of Hearing-Impaired Individuals In Sports,” on March 26 in the Journal of Education and Training Studies.

Dr. Lynn Tankersley, associate professor of criminal justice, presented a paper, titled “Deviant Pins: Incorporating Technology in Today's Criminal Justice Classroom,” March 3-4 at the 2017 Teaching Matters Conference at Gordon State College in Barnesville.

School of Engineering

Dr. Richard O. Mines Jr., professor of environmental engineering and director of engineering graduate programs, presented “Observations on Using the Flipped Classroom Model in an Introduction to Environmental Engineering Course” at the American Society for Engineering Education Zone II Conference March 2-5 at the Caribe Hilton in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The paper was published in the proceedings.

School of Law

David Hricik, professor, and Karen Sneddon, professor, celebrated 10 years of publishing their column “Writing Matters” in the Georgia Bar Journal. In addition, Hricik gave presentations to bar associations in Georgia, Michigan, New Jersey, New York and Texas. Finally, he authored and filed an amicus brief on behalf of a group of law professors in a case pending before the Texas Supreme Court.

Dr. David Ritchie, professor, participated in the annual workshop of the Oxford Consortium for Human Rights in March at Magdalen College, Oxford. He delivered a presentation, titled “Critical Perspectives on Human Rights,” during the workshop. Three Mercer Law students also participated in the workshop and have been designated Mercer-Oxford Scholars. 

Gary J. Simson, senior vice provost for scholarship and Macon Chair in Law, authored “Should No Garland Mean No Gorsuch?: Merrick Garland would have made a great U.S. Supreme Court justice, but it's time to move forward” March 20 in the National Law Journal.

School of Medicine

Dr. Keisha R. Callins, assistant professor and chair of community medicine, co-authored “Reducing transmission of HIV in southeastern USA” in The Lancet HIV, Vol. 4, No. 3, in March.

Dr. Ashley Horner, associate professor of pharmacology, recently published a paper, titled “Blockade of patch-based mu opioid receptors in the striatum attenuates methamphetamine-induced conditioned place preference and reduces activation of the patch compartment,” in the European Journal of Pharmacology 796:207-214, 2016. Co-authors on the paper included Mary Caroline Logan and Trevor J. Fisher, undergraduate research assistants from the College of Liberal Arts, as well as recent M.S. in Biomedical Sciences graduate Jordan B. Logue.

Dr. Rob McKallip, associate professor of immunology, Bryan Hostetler, former graduate student in the biomedical sciences master's program and current medical student at Mercer, Dr. Hao Ban, postdoctoral scientist, and Dr. Olga Uchakina, research technician III, published an article, titled “Treatment of Hematological Malignancies with Glycyrrhizic Acid,” in the March edition of the Journal Anticancer Research.

Dr. Mike U. Smith, director of AIDS education and research and professor of medical education, authored an article, titled “How does evolution explain blindness in cavefish?” in American Biology Teacher, 79(2): 95-101.

Dr. Yudan Wei, professor of community medicine, presented two research papers, titled “Associations of serum levels of folate and vitamin B12 with urinary arsenic concentrations in U.S. adults” and “Ambient air emissions of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and female breast cancer incidence in U.S.,” at the 56th annual Meeting of the Society of Toxicology March 12-16 in Baltimore, Maryland. The second paper was co-presented with William Parker Stults, a second-year medical student who has been conducting research with Dr. Wei since last summer. Dr. Wei also served as chairperson for the poster session on “Epidemiology and Public Health” at the conference.

Staff and Administration

Tony Kemp, senior associate director of academic and advising services and adjunct professor in the College of Liberal Arts, judged extemporaneous speaking for the Georgia High School Association's Area 7 and 8 literary competition hosted March 2 at Georgia Military College.

Stefanie Swanger and Hugh Hunter, career consultants in career services, presented at the 2017 Georgia Future Business Leaders of America state conference in Athens. They presented to more than 100 high school students on the topic of “Soft Skills: Interpersonal Strategies for a Successful Business Career,” which focused on developing characteristics such as teamwork, leadership, communication and networking.

Lucy Wilson, registrar for the Macon campus, contributed an article to the American Association of Collegiate Registrars' Guide to Graduation Ceremonies. The article is included as a chapter, titled “Distribution of Diplomas” in the publication, which was released on March 8.

Tift College of Education

Dr. William Lacefield, professor of mathematics education, as well as Frances Clay, Beth Harvey, Laura Liao and Sara Underwood, who are four of Mercer's Woodrow Wilson Teaching Fellows, presented “Using Young Adult Literature to Motivate STEM Lessons” at the annual conference of the Georgia Science Teachers Association in February in Stone Mountain.

Dr. Justus Randolph, associate professor, co-authored “Laparoscopic lavage versus surgical resection for acute diverticulitis with generalised peritonitis: a systematic review and meta-analysis” in Techniques in Coloproctology, 21(2), 93-110; “Teachers' Engagement and Students' Satisfaction with a Playful Learning Environment” in Teaching and Teacher Education, 63, 274-284; “A systematic analysis of controlled clinical trials using the NiTi CAR™ compression ring in colorectal anastomoses” in Techniques in Coloproctology, 21(3), 177-184; and “Systematic review and meta-analysis on laparoscopic pancreatic resections for neuroendocrine neoplasms (PNENs)” in Expert Review of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, 11(1), 65-73.

Townsend School of Music

Dr. Douglas Hill, professor of music and director of instrumental ensembles and undergraduate studies, presented high school band clinics at Jones County High School Feb. 14 in Gray and Howard High School Feb. 28 in Macon. He hosted the Baylor School and conductor Thomas Show from Chattanooga, Tennessee, for a band rehearsal clinic March 10 in the McCorkle Music Building Band rehearsal hall. The Mercer Wind Ensemble performed Feb.10 at the Georgia Music Educators Association District XI Honor Band Festival, conducted by Dr. Hill with Dr. Marcus Reddick, marimba soloist, in the Georgia premiere of “Architecture of a Dream” by Kevin Bobo. This work was commissioned by Mercer and 14 other universities as part of a consortium led by Dr. Erik Forst at Messiah College in Pennsylvania. The Colony IV Brass Quintet performed in the annual Cherry Blossom organ and brass concert on March 27 at Riverside United Methodist Church. Dr. Hill is one of the founding members of the ensemble formed in 1992 on the Macon campus.

Dr. Jack Mitchener, professor of organ, University organist, and director of the Townsend-McAfee Institute of Church Music, played numerous recitals throughout the country in recent months, including performances in Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, New York, North Carolina and Texas. Of note were concerts at Independent Presbyterian Church in Birmingham and Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth, where he played the largest organ in Texas. He also was invited to serve as organist for an event during the Eastman-Rochester Organ Initiative Conference at the Eastman School of Music at the University of Rochester.

Amy Schwartz Moretti, director of the Robert McDuffie Center for Strings, associate professor and Caroline Paul King Chair in Strings, presented four recitals with Andrew Armstrong for Chamber Music Charleston March 12-15 in South Carolina. They performed music for violin and piano by Dvorak, Elgar and Gershwin for the House Concerts Series in the Brown Residence on Kiawah Island, the Conyers Residence on Seabrook Island and twice in the Spoleto Residence in downtown Charleston.

University Libraries

Louise L. Lowe, associate professor, and Arlene Desselles, assistant professor, conducted a workshop on “Demonstrating Your Professional Value: Where Do We Begin?,” sponsored by the Metropolitan Atlanta Library Association, March 11 at the Auburn Avenue Research Library in Atlanta.