College of Education
Dr. Karyn Allee, associate professor of elementary education, with Dr. Amanda Seccia of Nazareth University and Ph.D. candidate Katie Wooten, co-authored the paper “Identity mediation in doctoral education: Extending a situated framework of scholarly identity,” published in the Journal of Education.
Dr. Rob Helfenbein, professor of curriculum studies, won the 2026 Edward L. Bouie Excellence in Research and Scholarship Award for the College of Education.
Dr. Katherine Perrotta, associate professor, and curriculum and instruction doctoral students Brittny Johnson and Katlynn Cross-Harris presented the poster “History in our Backyard: The Names of Places in Georgia” podcast at the National Council for History Education conference in Montgomery, Alabama. Dr. Perrotta and Annie Evans, director of education and outreach for New American history at the University of Richmond, also presented “Mapping Stories of Movement: Teaching Historical Empathy Through Migration and Diaspora.”
Dr. Elaine Thurmond, assistant professor of clinical practice, presented “STEAM in Action: Field Insights from a Hands-On, Partnership-Driven Summer Academy for Middle Schoolers” at the 2026 Georgia Tech STEAM Leadership Conference.
Dr. Tyler Watts, assistant professor of instructional design and technology, published the book “Transformative Care: Challenging Educational Practices for Meaningful Change.” He served as both an editor and author. The book is available as an open access text.
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Dr. David A. Davis, professor of English, was named a delegate to the Modern Language Association for the Society for the Study of Southern Literature.
Dr. James Davis May, associate professor of English and director of creative writing, participated in three events at the Association of Writers and Writing Programs annual conference in Baltimore. He represented Louisiana State University Press at the University Press Poetry Reading, moderated the panel “Poetry & the Sacred” and presented as part of the panel “Un/Holy Acts: Religious Violence, Sacred Texts, and Religious Poetry.”
Dr. Chinekwu Obidoa, associate professor of global health studies and Africana studies, authored the article “Summoned” in Minding Our Hearts: Devotionals on the Teaching Life for Christian Professors, edited by John Dunaway and published by Integratio Press.
College of Nursing
Dr. Linda A. Streit, professor, was selected by the American Association of College of Nursing incoming board chair and president/CEO to serve on the organization’s membership committee for a two-year term through March 2028.
College of Pharmacy
Dr. Jill Augustine, associate professor and director of assessment, co-authored the article “Systematic, narrative, scoping or rapid reviews — when, why and how to choose the best option in pharmacy education,” published in Currents in Pharmacy Teaching and Learning.
Dr. Clinton Canal, associate professor, co-authored “Bioisostere-Driven Discovery of SePP: A Selenium-Containing Polypharmacological Agent Relevant to Fragile X Syndrome,” published in the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry.
Dr. Nader Moniri, professor and associate dean for research, co-authored “Agonism of FFA4/GPR120 activates tyrosine hydroxylase and confers neuroprotection from 6-OHDA-induced cytotoxicity in PC12 cells and in a rat 6-OHDA model of Parkinson’s disease,” published in Biochemical Pharmacology. He also co-authored “The role of free-fatty acid receptors FFA1 and FFA4 in organ fibrosis,” published in the British Journal of Pharmacology.
Dr. Mohammad Uddin, associate professor, co-authored “Investigating the In Vitro Immunomodulatory Potential of Microparticulate β-L-Adenosine in Particulate Vaccine Candidates,” published in Vaccines.
Dr. Kenric Ware, clinical associate professor, co-authored “The minority student open: Utilizing the informal mentoring approach to enhance racial representation in HIV care and research,” published in the Journal of the National Medical Association. He also co-authored “Experiences at Select HBCUs as a Resource for Administrators and Health Staff to Support Student Health: Introducing an HIV PrEP Policy,” published in the Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities.
College of Professional Advancement
Dr. Wesley Barker, chair of liberal studies and associate professor of religious studies, and Dr. Stefanie Sevcik, assistant professor of writing and interdisciplinary studies, participated in the roundtable presentation, “Feminist Imagination and Creative Resistance in a Global Context,” at the National Women’s Studies Association conference in San Juan, Puerto Rico, in November.
Dr. Caroline Brackette, professor of counseling, served as the invited keynote speaker for the 2026 World Cup Speaker Symposium at Kennesaw State University on March 18. She presented on the transferability of mental skills and wellness techniques from sport to life. The event was sponsored by KSU’s Department of Exercise Science and Sport Management, Global Education and the Office of Sustainability. The World Cup Speaker Symposium explores health and wellness in sports, encouraging thoughtful discussion about the broader implications of hosting mega-sporting events. Attendees gain insight into how these large-scale spectacles affect individuals, communities and systems, and how they can approach these events more intentionally and sustainably.
Dr. Brittany L. Prioleau, assistant professor of counseling, and students from her Multicultural Wellness Research Lab co-authored the article “Pathways to Healing: Reimagining Wellness Counseling Through a Culturally Inclusive Lens,” published in the Journal for Creativity in Mental Health. She was also selected as a faculty fellow for the University-Psychedelic Education Program. The initiative will take place at the Usona Institute and is designed to broaden access to education about the therapeutic use of psychedelic medicines by equipping university faculty with essential knowledge and resources to develop and integrate evidence-based, psychedelic content into the curriculum.
Dr. Kristin Robertson, assistant professor of writing and literature, has been awarded the Georgia Writers Association Fine Arts Work Center Scholarship. She will continue work on her third poetry collection during a workshop at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, Massachusetts, this summer.
Dr. Stefanie Sevcik, assistant professor of writing and interdisciplinary studies, presented her work, “Cohabiting with Tragedy: Slow Violence and Intergenerational Trauma in Kenyan Women’s Climate Narratives,” at the 35th annual British Commonwealth and Postcolonial Studies Conference in Savannah in February.
Dr. Jacqueline S. Stephen, assistant professor and director of instructional and learning design, and Charlotte Whitehead, a student in the Human Resources Administration and Talent Development program, co-presented the peer-reviewed session “Nontraditional Student Voices on Synchronous Learning: Preferences, Barriers, and Implications for Online Course Design” at the Online Learning Consortium Innovate 2026 conference on March 4. The session shared findings from a survey of undergraduate and graduate students in online programs, highlighting what nontraditional learners valued about synchronous sessions, the barriers that limited participation and how required versus optional attendance influenced enrollment and persistence decisions. The presentation offered practical, student-informed strategies for designing more flexible, engaging and student-centered online courses.
School of Business
Jody Blanke, the Ernest L. Baskin Jr. Distinguished Professor of Computer Science and Law, had his article “Copyright Law and AI: The Building Blocks” accepted for publication by the American Business Law Journal.
School of Engineering
Dr. Sarah Bauer and Dr. Adaline Buerck, assistant professors in the department of environmental and civil engineering, presented their pre-college engineering outreach work, “Inspiring Future Engineers? That’s SWEET: Lessons Learned from a SWE-Led Middle School Engineering Outreach Program,” at the 2026 American Society for Engineering Education Southeast Section Annual Conference in Memphis, Tennessee, on March 9. Dr. Bauer and Dr. Buerck’s research team, consisting of junior engineering students Rebecca Mullaly and Julianna Ledford, was awarded first place in the upper division of the Undergraduate Student Poster Competition at the conference.
Dr. Chandan K. Roy, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, published and presented the paper “Enhancing Student Engagement in Thermodynamics through WileyPlus Integration” at the 2026 American Society for Engineering Education, Southeastern Section Annual Conference, held March 8-10 in Memphis, Tennessee. Dr. Roy’s research students, Aidan Benefield and Noah Harrell, presented their poster “Thermal performance of Indium heat spring as Thermal Interface Material using a steady-state thermal testing apparatus,” which won the Best Poster Overall award.
School of Law
Margie Alsbrook, assistant professor of law, presented the paper “A Right to Farm But No Right to Food” at Atlanta’s John Marshall Law School on Feb. 26. The paper will be published in the Denver Law Review. Alsbrook also gave the Continuing Legal Education presentation, “Professionalism in Practice: What Recent Sanctions Teach Us About Modern Lawyering,” at the Georgia Bar Association’s Agricultural Law Continuing Legal Education program, held at the law school on March 20. Additionally, Alsbrook has been appointed to the American Association of Law Schools Agriculture and Food Law Section Executive Committee.
Scott Titshaw, professor of law and associate dean for faculty research and development, authored the article “Adding Family Complications to Birthright Citizenship” that will be published later this spring in volume 40 of the Georgetown Immigration Law Journal.
School of Medicine
Dr. Yahya A. Acar, assistant professor and director of medical simulation, led a team of faculty and students from the School of Medicine and School of Engineering that received the Best Impact Award at the Society for Simulation in Healthcare’s International Meeting on Simulation in Healthcare in San Antonio in January. The award was for a simulator project involving two new low-cost simulation devices, which are now being tested and used by medical residents and professionals.
Dr. D. Cory Adamson, professor of surgery and attending neurosurgeon at Atrium Health Navicent, was elected to the position of president-elect of the Southern Neurosurgery Society, the third largest neurosurgery society in the U.S. He was also elected to the Board of Governors of the American College of Surgeons’ Pfizer Surgical Volunteerism and Humanitarian Award committee. With nearly 90,000 members, it is the dominant and largest professional surgical society in the world.
Dr. Ahmed Eltokh, assistant professor in the Department of Biomedical Sciences, was the senior and corresponding author of the paper “Autism-related phenotypes in a heterozygous Scn2aR854Q mouse model and their partial rescue via a potassium channel opener,” published in Neuropharmacology.
Jaime Fleming, research nurse coordinator with Mercer Medicine, earned the Certified Clinical Research Coordinator credential from the Association of Clinical Research Professionals. The certification is awarded to clinical research professionals who have demonstrated proficiency in specialized knowledge and skills, along with a minimum of 3,000 hours of hands-on research experience. The designation validates expertise in clinical trial coordination and demonstrates strong competency in International Council for Harmonisation-Good Clinical Practice standards.
Dr. Michael Flueckiger, adjunct faculty member, was prominently featured in the book No One’s Coming: The Rogue Heroes Our Government Turns to When There’s Nowhere Else to Turn by nursing student Kevin Hazzard.
Dr. Edward C. Klatt, professor in the Department of Biomedical Sciences, served as session host and moderator at the Health Information and Management Systems Society 2026 Global Health Conference & Exhibition in Las Vegas, March 10-12, for the sessions “Smart Medication Management: Bridging Technology with Patient Understanding,” “Global Progress Toward Digital Transformation in the Post-Pandemic Era,” “Transforming Data to Save Veterans’ Lives,” “Rural Population Health: Data Insights Drive Enhanced Outcomes and Cost Savings,” “Transforming Chronic Care: Journey to Better Outcomes and Lower Costs,” “Stronger Together: Advancing Social Determinants of Health Through Cross-State Collaboration” and “When Risk Becomes Visible: How Predictive Models Can Impact Care.”
Dr. Chefetz Menaker, associate professor of pharmacology; Dr. Kristina Hawkins, associate professor of OBGYN (Navicent); Dr. Candi Nobles-James, senior associate dean of the Macon campus; Dr. Betsy Smith, associate professor of internal medicine; Anna Krampl, associate professor of library and information science; and Dr. Sorita Carter, assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral science, received Institutional Review Board approval for their project “Premature Ovarian Insufficiency in Underserved and Rural Areas.” The study will establish focus groups of women who have lost ovarian function due to prophylactic surgery related to a family history of breast or ovarian cancer, as well as those whose ovarian function was affected by cancer treatments. Insights from the groups will inform the development of medical education programs for rural physicians and patients, helping address existing gaps in care. Ultimately, the team aims to establish an interdisciplinary clinic dedicated to the medical, mental health, wellness and peer-support needs of cancer survivors and women who have undergone bilateral oophorectomy.
School of Music
Dr. Eric Amouzou, assistant director of research for the Sacred Spectrum Project, and Dr. Nathan Myrick, assistant professor and director of the Sacred Spectrum Project, presented the co-authored paper “The Sacred Spectrum Project: Enhancing Worship for Neurodivergent Children Through Music and the Arts” at the annual meeting of the Society for Christian Scholarship in Music at Trinity College in Palos Heights, Illinois, on Feb. 28.
Dr. Nathan Myrick, assistant professor and director of the Sacred Spectrum Project, presented “Sharing Trauma and Recovery in Musical Subcultures: Mental Health and Community at Furnace Fest” at the International Association for the Study of Popular Music-U.S. in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 28. He co-authored the paper with Dr. Andrew Mall of Northeastern University. The paper presents results of a five-year study, and the presenters were given a double slot to adequately share those findings and field questions.
Katie Rios, associate professor of music history, presented at the annual meeting of the U.S. chapter of the International Association for the Study of Popular Music in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 28.
School of Theology
Rev. Dr. David G. Garber Jr., the Carolyn Ward Associate Professor of Old Testament and Hebrew, with third-year Master of Divinity student Joshua Raugh, discussed the intersection of theology, the Bible and popular culture to launch the School of Theology’s podcast. The two-episode series focuses on prophetic themes in the Bible and the Netflix series Stranger Things.
Rev. Dr. David P. Gushee, Distinguished University Professor of Christian Ethics, served as Chaplain of the Day for the Georgia House of Representatives on March 9. He offered a devotional to the House and led the group in prayer.
Rev. Dr. Leah D. Jackson, grant program director, completed the Association of Theological Schools Women in Leadership Pilot Program. She also presented “Articulating Commitments to Self: What Do I Need to Succeed?” at the conference on March 8-11 in Toronto, and presented “Protecting Your Rights Is Holy Work” at the RISE Together Conference on March 13.
Staff and Administration
Benjamin Smith, IT support specialist for the Help Desk, achieved the CompTIA Security+ certification.
