College of Education
Dr. Katherine Perrotta, assistant professor of middle grades and secondary education, presented “All in a Day’s Work: The Radical Teaching Career of Jessie Wallace Hughan” at the Southern History of Education Society annual conference. Dr. Perrotta also presented “Road to the 19th Amendment: Examining the Women’s Suffrage Movement during the Reconstruction Era with Historical Empathy Pedagogies” for a National Council for the Social Studies “Social Inquiry” webinar session.
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Dr. James Eric (Jay) Black, Schumann Endowed Professor and chair of journalism and media studies, wrote a story on the 50th anniversary of President Richard Nixon’s visit to China that was published in China Daily. Additionally, the American Chamber of Commerce in South China released Dr. Black’s 2022 “White Paper on the Business Environment in China,” as well as his 2022 “Special Report on the State of Business in South China” on March 1. These are the fifth and fourth editions, respectively, of these publications that he has edited.
Dr. Jamie Cockfield, professor emeritus of history, received one of two honorable mentions among two-dozen entries in the annual competition of the Southern Conference of Slavic Studies for best book of the year. He was recognized for Russia’s Iron General, The Life of Aleksei A. Brusilov, published by Lexington Books.
Dr. Wallace L. Daniel, professor of history, published “The Legacy of Fr. Gleb Yakunin” in Keston Newsletter. The article is based on a lecture he presented in November 2021 in London at the annual meeting of the Keston Institute for Religion, State and Society.
Dr. David A. Davis, professor of English, published the essay “God’s Little Acre and Southern Spectacle” in Southern Studies. He gave the talk “Visualizing Hale County” at the Southeastern American Studies Association conference in Birmingham, Alabama.
Dr. Sahar Hasim, assistant professor of biology, working in collaboration with Dr. Dorina Mihut, associate professor of mechanical engineering, and students Victoria Gomez , Jheel Kirithbai Patel and Lauryn McGahee, gave the podium presentation “Mechanical Engineering – Biology Collaborative Independent Study for Students for Research on Controlling the Biofilm Formation” for the American Society for Engineering Education Southeastern Section Conference held March 13-15 in Charleston, South Carolina.
Dr. Chinekwu Obidoa, associate professor of global health and Africana studies, delivered a keynote lecture at the Alpha Epsilon Delta 44th National Convention held March 17-19 in Nashville, Tennessee.
Tennille Shuster, associate professor of graphic design, was selected by jury as the 2022 Artist-in-Residence at Ashantilly Press Project. The Ashantilly Center is a nonprofit educational and cultural historic site organized and founded by William G. Haynes Jr. in Darien, Georgia. Haynes was an artist, environmentalist and letterpress printer, founding Ashantilly Press. While in residence this summer, Shuster will utilize the Center’s letterpress facilities, including an extensive collection of wood and metal type, to custom print a series of broadsides prints which focus on the natural and built environments integral to the Georgia Coast, and she will conduct educational letterpress programming.
College of Pharmacy
Dr. Clinton E. Canal, assistant professor, co-authored, with graduate students Jessica Armstrong and Tanishka Saraf, “Spontaneous Seizures in Adult Fmr1 Knockout Mice” in Science Direct.
Dr. Raquibal Hasan, assistant professor, and Dr. Sherif Hafez, assistant professor, co-authored, with graduate students Farzana Zerin, Sreelakshmi Menon, Tanzia Tithi and third-year Pharm.D. student Morgan Daniel, “Neflamapimod induces vasodilation in resistance mesenteric arteries by inhibiting p38 MAPKα and downstream Hsp27 phosphorylation” in Scientific Reports. Dr. Hasan also co-authored “A plasma membrane-localized polycystin-1/polycystin-2 complex in endothelial cells elicits vasodilation” in eLife.
Dr. Nader H. Moniri, professor, co-authored, with graduate students Kirti Singh, Ilya Senatorov, Ameneh Cheshmehkani, and Priyanka Karmokar, “The skeletal muscle relaxer cyclobenzaprine is a potent non-competitive antagonist of histamine H1 receptors” in Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics.
College of Professional Advancement
Dr. Awatef A. Ben Ramadan, assistant professor, led Mercer’s Informatics Day event, “Informatics and Technology Careers, 2022,” where she successfully recruited panelists of successful informatics leaders and outstanding students and alumni to share information on Feb. 24. Dr. Ben Ramadan’s abstract, titled “Assessment of Stress, Anxiety, and Depression amongst Physicians at COVID Isolation Centers in Tripoli/Libya,” was accepted to be presented at Mercer’s 12th annual Atlanta Research Conference on March 26. The project was approved by Mercer IRB and by the Biotechnology Research Centre in Tripoli, Libya. Dr. Ben Ramadan also mentored seven health informatics abstracts to be presented at the same conference. As a second author, she submitted a health informatics manuscript, titled “Optimizing the Usability of Automated Dispensing Cabinets and the Optimization Impact on the Nurse Performance and Technology Adoption,” to the journal Frontiers of Nursing on March 16.
Dr. Arla G. Bernstein, program coordinator and assistant professor of communication, was invited to be a participant in a panel at the National Communication Association Conference in November in New Orleans, Louisiana, on “Experiential Learning – Overcoming Obstacles to Returning to Our Place in the Community.” She will speak on “Community engaged scholarship during the pandemic and beyond.”
Dr. Jacqueline S. Stephen, assistant professor, director of the Office of Distance Learning and instructional designer, was a featured speaker at the 26th TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) Arabia Conference and Exhibition, held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, in March. Dr. Stephen’s featured talk was centered on unpacking the new normal and its implications for teaching and learning in higher education. She also facilitated a development course focusing on instructor engagement and presence in an online course. Dr. Stephen also co-authored a chapter, “Promoting Online Student Persistence: Strategies to Promote Online Learning Self-efficacy,” in Academic Self-efficacy in Education: Nature, Assessment, and Research, published by Springer.
Dr. Lynn Tankersley, associate professor of criminal justice, presented a session, titled “Examining the Impact of Age at First Use on Drug Court Success,” at the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences annual meeting March 15-19 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Dr. Zipangani Vokhiwa, professor of science, provided greetings from the president in the spring edition of The Dragonfly, the quarterly newsletter of the Environmental Education Alliance of Georgia.
School of Business
Dr. Ehsan Ahmadi, assistant professor of management science, and Dr. Carol Cagle, associate professor of management science, co-authored “Periodic review multi-period inventory control models for perishable pharmaceutical products in hospitals,” accepted for presentation at the supply chain management track of the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineering (IISE) Annual Conference to be held May 21-24 in Seattle, Washington. Their paper will also be published in the conference proceedings.
Dr. Ania Izabela Rynarzewska, assistant professor of sports business, won the Best Paper in Track Award at an Association for Marketing Theory and Practice Conference, held March 23-25 in Sandestin, Florida. Her winning paper is titled “Anti-consumption: A Preliminary Examination of a Set of Social Considerations That Impact a Consumer’s Decision to ‘Punish’ Marketers Deemed to be Engaging in Irresponsible Behavior” and was co-authored by Tammy McCullough of Eastern Michigan University and Sam Fullerton of Eastern Michigan University and North-West University in South Africa. Dr. Rynarzewska and student Eliza Hetrick presented a paper, titled “Empathy, altruism, CSR, and consumer buycott behavior during Covid-19: lessons learned,” at the Association for Marketing Theory and Practice Conference. Dr. Rynarzewska also presented a paper, titled “Money, medals, and championships: politically driven conspiracy of silence, model development; implications for diversity and inclusion,” at the Association for Marketing Theory and Practice Conference.
School of Engineering
Dr. Arash Afshar, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, co-authored an article, titled “Nondestructive Evaluation of Carbon-Fiber Composites Using Digital Image Correlation, Acoustic Emission, and Optical Based Modal Analysis,” accepted for publication in Wind Engineering.
Dr. Kenneth Marek, instructor of mechanical engineering, made a podium presentation, titled “Lasting Impact of Pandemic on Online vs. Offline Resources,” for the American Society for Engineering Education Southeastern Section Conference held March 13-15 in Charleston, South Carolina.
Dr. Dorina Mihut, associate professor of mechanical engineering, and Dr. Arash Afshar, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, advised student Barrett McDonald on his podium presentation, titled “Creating Conductive 3D Printed Polymers and Improving their Strength by Metallization,” for the American Society for Engineering Education Southeastern Section Conference held March 13-15 in Charleston, South Carolina.
School of Law
David Hricik, professor of law and associate dean for faculty research and development, presented “Ethics Potpourri” for the University of Texas Advanced Patent Law Institute, held virtually.
Linda Jellum, professor, was featured in WalletHub’s recent study on “Tax Day by the Numbers.”
Billie Jo Kaufman, law library director and professor of law, was a panelist for the session “Legal Deserts” held March 25.
Patrick Longan, professor, served as a panelist at the 22nd Annual Georgia Symposium on Ethics and Professionalism held Feb. 25. The panel’s topic was, “Lawyering in the Public Domain: The Ethics of Advocating in the Court of Public Opinion.” Longan also spoke on Feb. 26 in Amelia Island, Florida, to the Court Advisory Committee of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Georgia on the topic of “William Augustus Bootle and the Desegregation of the University of Georgia.”
Suzianne Painter-Thorne, professor of law, was accepted to the Supermajority Education Fund’s Majority Leaders Program, a seven-week course focused on developing women’s leadership and organization skills to facilitate community change.
School of Medicine
Dr. Jennifer L. Barkin, associate professor of community medicine and obstetrics and gynecology, represented Georgia Clinicians for Climate Action (GCCA) and the Medical Society Consortium on Climate and Health on a virtual (U.S.) Capitol Hill Day held March 7. The GCCA contingent met with staffers from the offices of Sen. Raphael Warnock, Sen. Jon Ossoff, Rep. Austin Scott and Rep. Jody Hice. In a collaboration with the Italian Marce Society, Dr. Barkin published a book chapter, titled “Biomarkers, Between Diagnosis and Prognosis,” in a book focused on key topics in perinatal mental health. Dr. Barkin also presented “The Variety Possible in an Academic Career” to doctoral students in Clemson University’s Applied Health Research and Evaluation Department.
Dr. Keisha R. Callins, clinical assistant professor, was elected an alumni member of Morehouse School of Medicine’s chapter of Alpha Omega National Medical Honor Society in March. Election to Alpha Omega Alpha is an honor signifying a lasting commitment to professionalism, leadership, scholarship, research and community service. A lifelong honor, membership in the society confers recognition for a physician’s dedication to the profession and art of healing.
Dr. Edward C. Klatt, professor of of biomedical sciences, gave the presentation “Promote Effective Interpersonal Communication” at the Health Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) 2022 Global Health Conference and Exhibition held March 17 in Orlando, Florida. Dr. Klatt wore his highland dance kilt outfit in honor of St. Patrick’s Day and the Princess Diana memorial tartan honoring people empowered to change the world for the better. Dr. Klatt also moderated the session “Understanding and Managing Surgical Backlog” on March 17. HIMSS informs health care policy decisions in multiple countries.
Dr. Anne Montgomery, assistant professor of community medicine, co-authored an article with Trauma Nurse Manager Tracy Johns, Quality Improvement Coordinator Josephine Fabico-Dulin and Director of Trauma and Adult Critical Care and Professor of Surgery Dr. Dennis Ashley at Atrium Health on their “Comprehensive Initiative to Decrease Trauma Venous Thromboembolism”. This article recently won the Journal of Trauma Nursing’s Best Quality Improvement Article 2021. The award will be presented during the Society of Trauma Nurses conference on April 1 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Dr. Montgomery co-authored a newly published article, titled “Crotalidae polyvalent immune Fab (CroFab®) and cost-effective management of hospital admissions for snakebites,” in The American Surgeon. She also co-authored, with Dr. Ashley, “Surgical Stabilization of Rib Fractures Improves Outcomes in the Geriatric Patient Population” in The American Surgeon.
Dr. Kimberly Roth, assistant professor, was a speaker at the annual conference of the Southeast Regional Latino Student Medical Association (LSMA), which was hosted by the School of Medicine on Feb. 26. The title of her talk was “An epidemiologic perspective on Latinx health: principles, paradoxes, and priorities.” She was also a panelist for “Impact of Migration on Physical and Mental Health,” hosted by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health on March 1.
Dr. Yudan Wei, professor of community medicine, and Belinda Bell, a medical student in the Class of 2023 supervised by Dr. Wei, presented their research, titled “Urinary concentrations of endocrine-disrupting metals and their association with breast cancer in U.S. women,” at the 2022 American College of Medical Toxicology Annual Scientific Meeting in March. Their research was selected as platform presentation at the conference. The peer-reviewed abstract was recently published in the Journal of Medical Toxicology.
School of Music
Dr. Nathan Myrick, assistant professor of church music, hosted the annual meeting of the Society for Christian Scholarship in Music held March 3-5 on Mercer’s Macon campus. More than 70 scholars from around the world presented papers and lecture recitals on topics relating to the intersection of music and Christian religion. Professor Jean Kidula, chair of musicology and ethnomusicology at the University of Georgia, delivered the keynote, titled “Community Resurgence: Translating, Interpretating, and Domesticating the ‘worship song.'”
School of Theology
Dr. Thomas B. Slater, professor emeritus of New Testament studies, published “John’s Apocalypse and African American Interpretation” in Bitter the Chastening Rod: Africana Biblical Interpretation after Stony the Road We Trod in the Age of BLM, SayHerName, and MeToo, edited by Mitzi J. Smith, Angela N. Parker and Ericka S. Dunbar Hill. Dedicated to the memory of Bishop Thomas Hoyt, the article discusses how African Americans bring fresh approaches and new insights to biblical interpretation.
Staff and Administration
Rebekah Anaya, associate director of study abroad and Peace Corps Prep coordinator, served on the IDEAS grant national review committee. The IDEAS grant, funded through the U.S. Department of State, is intended to help colleges and universities within the U.S. increase their capacity for study abroad.
Emily Dunn, study abroad coordinator in the Office of International Programs, served as an IDEAS Grant review panelist. She also presented on the Office of International Programs’ international outreach at the Macon-Bibb Office of Small Business Affairs 2022 International Summit.
Tony Kemp, associate vice president for events and special programs, judged Georgia High School Association oral presentation literary events for Region 1-AAAAAA in Warner Robins on March 4 and Region 3-A in Metter on March 5. He also judged extemporaneous speaking events for Regions 6-A and 7-A in Milledgeville on March 10.
