Faculty and Staff Notables

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Dr. Katherine Perrotta, assistant professor of middle grades and secondary education, and collaborator Chara Bohan published “A Reflective Study of Online Faculty Teaching Experiences in Higher Education” in the Journal of Effective Teaching in Higher Education 3(1), 50-66.

Dr. David Taylor, clinical associate professor of physical therapy, was featured in an article published in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on May 17. The article was titled “Maintaining Mobility Is Simple: Don’t Stop Moving As We Age” and appeared in the bonus section “Aging in Atlanta.”

Dr. Heather Bowman Cutway, professor of biology, was a featured guest for Georgia Conservancy’s virtual outdoor adventure series “Untrips from Home,” in which she discussed the rare plants and animals that call Middle Georgia home. She was also part of a Georgia Conservancy Facebook Live event discussing the collaborative efforts to establish a National Park along the Ocmulgee River.

Dr. Wallace L. Daniel, Distinguished University Professor of History, published “The Sacred and the Secular: The Russian Orthodox Church and the Intelligentsia, Past and Present” in the Journal of Church and State 62, no. 2 (Spring 2020): 217-248.

Dr. John Marson Dunaway, professor emeritus of French and interdisciplinary studies, led a discussion of Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness via Zoom for a group of English students from Boğaziçi (Bosporus) University in Istanbul, Turkey, on May 18.

Dr. Sarah E. Gardner, Distinguished University Professor of History, participated in a two-day workshop on the American Civil War/English Civil War Feb. 21-22 at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. She discussed her work “Reading, Sociability, and Warfare.”

Dr. Keegan Greenier, professor of psychology, had a research manuscript, titled “The Roles of Disliking, Deservingness, and Envy in Predicting Schadenfreude,” published in the journal Psychological Reports.

Shelley Kuhen, costume designer for Mercer Theatre, and her two assistants, Mercer alumnae Lauren Parris and Katie Trotter, sewed 1,395 masks in the Mercer Costume Shop between March 23 and May 15. The result of a combined 393 hours of labor, these masks were donated to individuals and organizations across Middle Georgia.

Dr. Paul Lewis, professor of religion, published Faithful Innovation: The Rule of God and a Christian Practical Wisdom (Smyth and Helwys). The book offers an integrative and constructive proposal for understanding Christian ethics as the exercise of practical wisdom that draws from biblical studies, history, theology, philosophy, psychology and the neurosciences.

Dr. John Stanga, assistant professor of biology, presented a poster, titled “RT-qPCR analysis of putative mutants of the Arabidopsis karrikin signal transduction pathway as a Course-based Undergraduate Research Experience,” at The Allied Genetics Conference 2020 held online on April 29. Dr. Stanga also co-authored a report in Plant Cell, titled “Structure-Function Analysis of SMAX1 Reveals Domains that Mediate its Karrikin-Induced Proteolysis and Interaction with the Receptor KAI2,” with collaborators from the University of Georgia, the University of California-Riverside and the University of Western Australia.

Dr. Ajay Banga, professor, co-authored “Effect of Different Pressure-Sensitive Adhesives on Performance Parameters of Matrix-Type Transdermal Delivery Systems” in Pharmaceutics, 2020 Mar. 1;12(3). He also authored “Pharmacokinetics of a Weekly Transdermal Delivery System of Tenofovir Alafenamide in Hairless Rats” in the International Journal of Pharmaceutics, 2020 May 30;582:119342, and co-authored with Dr. Kevin Murnane, assistant professor, and additional collaborators “Transdermal Delivery of the Free Base of 3-Fluoroamphetamine: In Vitro Skin Permeation and Irritation Potential” in AAPS PharmSciTech, 2020 Mar 25;21(3):109.

Dr. Lori Dupree, clinical assistant professor, co-authored “Substance-Related Disorders II: Alcohol, Nicotine, and Caffeine” in Pharmacotherapy: A Pathophysiologic Approach [Internet], 11th ed. New York, NY/McGraw Hill; 2020.

Dr. Nader Moniri, professor, authored “Carboxy-Terminal Phosphoregulation of the Long Splice Isoform of Free-Fatty Acid Receptor-4 Mediates β-Arrestin Recruitment and Signaling to ERK1/2” in ASPET Molecular Pharmacology, 2020 May 15;95(5):304–13. He also co-authored, along with Dr. Kevin Murnane, assistant professor, “Docosahexaenoic Acid Protects Motor Function and Increases Dopamine Synthesis in a Rat Model of Parkinson’s Disease via Mechanisms associated with Increased Protein Kinase Activity in the Striatum” in Neuropharmacology, 2020 Apr;167:107976:1–11.

Dr. Susan Miller, professor and chair of pharmacy practice, served as lead author on “Impact of a Film on Student Pharmacists’ Views on Quality-of-Life and Aging” in the American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education, 2020 May 11;84(4):7628.

Dr. Joshua Kinsey, clinical assistant professor, collaborated with community pharmacy residents Dr. Mariam Saba, Dr. Kimberly Johnson and Dr. Kevin Philippart on presentations summarizing their residency research at the Southeastern Residency Conference in April in Athens.

Dr. David Lane, professor of counseling, participated as a panelist in a May 6 webinar, titled “COVID19 – From Crisis to Growth and Community,” presented by Warrior 2 Citizen.

Dr. Richard H. Martin, professor of leadership studies, had the manuscript “A framework of U.S. Contemporary police training: Select types of basic training and purposes of field, inservice, and specialized training” accepted by the Journal of Education and Training Studies in May. He also completed a peer review of the article “Examining the Association between Trauma Exposure and Work-Related Outcomes in Women Veterans” for the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health.

Dr. Charles Roberts, associate professor of mathematics, and Dr. Zipangani Vokhiwa, associate professor of science, had their poster presentation, titled “Rethinking the Effort to Implement Creative Strategies for Driving Student Engagement and Success in STEM,” accepted for the National Science Education Centers 2020 National Conference. The virtual conference will be held in June.

Dr. Beverly Smith, adjunct professor of counseling, will serve as president-elect of the American Mental Health Counselors Association, the premier national organization solely dedicated to clinical mental health counselors, effective July 1. She will serve a three-year term on the organization’s board of directors as president-elect, president and immediate past president, respectively.

Dr. Tammy Crutchfield, senior associate dean and professor of marketing, was awarded the Outstanding Faculty Contributions to Service-Learning Instruction in Higher Education at the Gulf South Summit on Service-Learning and Civic Engagement. She was honored for her highly innovative service-learning program “Traffick Jam,” which over the past six years has conducted community-based research on the incidence of adolescent sex trafficking in Central Georgia, developed and funded an anti-trafficking mentoring curriculum that is being implemented in high schools in partnership with the local school system and is currently in the process of expanding the service learning program to other universities.

Dr. Antonio Saravia, associate professor of economics and director of the Center for the Study of Economics and Liberty, published the book chapter “The trade-offs of the COVID-19 Crisis” in Bolivia: The Day After, Changes Coming or Already Here, Oporto, H., ed. 2020, published by The Millennium Foundation. He presented this chapter at the international forum “Economics and the COVID-19 Crisis” on April 30. Dr. Saravia also made this presentation for the Stetson-Hatcher School of Business webinar series on May 6. He was interviewed by Univision on May 18 regarding the effects of the U.S. fiscal deficit.

Dr. Pam Estes Brewer, professor of technical communication, had two of her students, Cathy Hu and Sydnei Mayers, selected to perform usability research for the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Homeland Security this summer. They will be designing and conducting usability tests on COVID-19 websites.

Dr. Jennifer Goode, instructor of technical communication, attended the Society for Technical Communication Virtual 2020 Summit on May 17-20, where she delivered three presentations, including one with students Jonathan Morey and Evan Gambill. The presentations were titled “Now I Get It: Three Strategies for Effectively Sharing Scientific Research,” “Tales from the Trenches: Making Interdisciplinary Teams Work” and “Advantages of Virtual Teaming Projects for Students, Organizations, and Educators.” Additionally, Dr. Goode earned her Certified Professional Technical Communicator (CPTC) Foundation Certification in May.

Sharon Bradley, digital and scholarly resources librarian, presented “Teaching Track: What the Japanese, the Swedes, and the Minimalists Can Teach Us About Instruction” May 19 as part of the Southeast Chapter of the American Association of Law Libraries (SEAALL) Annual Conference, which was held this year in a virtual format. The presentation discussed the rewards of downsizing, including idea files, lesson plans and exercises to make instructional efforts run more smoothly to focus on the essentials. Bradley was selected as chair of the SEAALL Government Relations Committee in May.

Cathy Cox, dean and professor of law, was named Outstanding Woman Lawyer of the Year by the Middle Georgia Chapter of the Georgia Association of Women Lawyers in April. She was also a guest panelist for a discussion on “How to Hold Elections Amidst Crisis” May 4 on Georgia Public Broadcasting’s “Political Rewind.” Cox was quoted in “Vote-by-mail fraud more a fear than a reality in Georgia” by Mark Niesse on May 14 in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Sarah Gerwig-Moore, associate dean for academic affairs and professor of law, was quoted in “New Atlanta prosecutor will ‘ensure justice is done’ in Ahmaud Arbery shooting case, Georgia attorney general says” by Nicquel Terry Ellis on May 11 in USA Today and in “Ahmaud Arbery video: Legal experts explain how key frames may be used in murder trial” by Ryan W. Miller on May 13 in USA Today.

David Hricik, professor of law, continued blogging on the nation’s leading patent law blog, patentlyo.com, co-authored with Karen Sneddon, professor of law, their regular “Writing Matters” column for the Georgia Bar Journal, and gave virtual presentations for the Practicing Law Institute, the Intellectual Property Owners Association, the Texas State Bar Advanced Patent Law Institute and the University of Texas School of Law Annual Technology Law Conference. In addition, the law faculty elected Hricik as a member of the Law School Policy Committee, and he volunteered to serve as the Law School faculty secretary for the coming year. One of his books, Patent Ethics: Prosecution, was quoted by a United States District Court, and he was quoted by on Law360.com in an article, titled “Federal Circuit Inequitable Conduct Case Alarms IP Ethics Attorneys.”

Anne G. Johnson, adjunct professor and assistant director of academic success, served as a panelist for the session “Maintaining Student Engagement and Providing Personalized Academic Support in a COVID-19 World” May 1 as part of the Association of Academic Success Educators (AASE) Virtual Conference/Discussion on “Lessons Learned from Pre-COVID Online Teaching.”

Karen J. Sneddon, professor of law, David Hricik, professor of law, co-authored “Breaking Bad… Writing Habits” in 25 No. 5 Georgia Bar Journal 66 (April 2020).

Dr. Mohammed Abdelsaid, assistant professor of pharmacology, served as mentor for Master of Science in Biomedical Sciences student Joseph M. Bailey, who defended his thesis “GLP-1 agonists improve cerebrovascular integrity and vascular cognitive impairment and dementia (VCID) beyond glycemic control via recovery of brain pericytes functions in diabetic mice” on April 2.

Dr. Jennifer L. Barkin, associate professor of community medicine and obstetrics and gynecology, published an invited editorial, titled “Screening for Maternal Mental Health in the Pediatric Setting: Situational Stressors and Supports,” in the Journal of Pediatric Healthcare. Dr. Barkin and Carolann Curry, library assistant professor, co-authored “Comparison of Maternal Functioning Between Iranian Mothers With and Without Depressive Symptoms: A Case-Control Study” on May 12 in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health.

Dr. Gretchen Bentz, assistant professor of microbiology, served as mentor for Master of Science in Biomedical Sciences student Abigail E. Harrod, who defended her thesis “The Role of Sumoylation in the EBV Life Cycle” on April 16.

Dr. Christy C. Bridges, professor of histology, served as mentor for Master of Science in Biomedical Sciences student Kayla E. Matta, who defended her thesis “Compensatory Hypertrophy Enhances Renal Uptake of Mercury” on April 9.

Dr. Keisha Callins, Joy McCann Endowed Professor, was interviewed for The Tent podcast on the coronavirus pandemic in Georgia and participated in the delivery of school lunches, menstrual pads and other essential items to students in Twiggs County, where she serves as an OB-GYN with Community Health Care Systems.

Dr. David Gu, assistant professor of biomedical sciences, published a book chapter, titled “NEUROPHYSIOLOGY: Neural Control of Airway Smooth Muscle,” in the Encyclopedia of Respiratory Medicine, 2nd Edition Medicine, edited by Dr. Samuel Janes, Elsevier Ltd.

Dr. Francis M. Kirera, assistant professor of anatomy, was awarded this year’s Anna Walker Excellence in Education Award by the School of Medicine.

Dr. Robert J. McKallip, interim chair and professor of immunology, served as mentor for Master of Science in Biomedical Sciences student Jessica S. Hall, who defended her thesis “Understanding the Nature of Glycyrrhizic Acid in Breast Cancer Treatment” on April 14, as well as MSBMS student Adir Mohaban, who defended his thesis “Targeting Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia with Imatinib and Glycyrrhizic Acid Combination Therapy” on April 21.

Dr. Amber Schmidtke, assistant professor of microbiology, was invited to join the Georgia COVID-19 Geospatial Data Analysis Response Team in late April at the request of the Georgia Department of Public Health. This is a volunteer group of scientists and modelers from respected institutions throughout the state and country to provide the public with meaningful data related to the COVID-19 pandemic in coordination with state and federal agencies. Additional partners include faculty from Georgia Tech, Emory University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. State and federal agencies include the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Georgia Department of Public Health, Georgia Geospatial Information Office, Georgia Department of Community Affairs, Georgia Emergency Management Agency, Georgia National Guard and the City of Atlanta. Dr. Schmidtke has participated in three recorded interviews with Macon television stations and two print articles in the Georgia Department of Agriculture’s Market Bulletin since March on the effects of COVID-19.

Dr. Andrea S. Meyer Stinson, associate director of the Master of Family Therapy Program and associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences and pediatrics, participated in the first roundtable discussion of Resilient Georgia’s Mental Fitness for Resilience Initiative, which aired on Georgia Public Broadcasting on May 8.

Dr. Peter N. Uchakin, associate professor of immunology, served as mentor for Master of Science in Biomedical Sciences student Sydney E. Andrzejak, who defended her thesis “Methamphetamine Induced Immune Dysregulation” on April 30.

Dr. Jacob Warren, Rufus C. Harris Endowed Chair and director of the Center for Rural Health and Health Disparities, and Dr. Bryant Smalley, associate dean for research, received a $20,000 grant from The Commonwealth Fund focused on COVID-19 response. The project will create timely, accessible and applicable guidance on ensuring state COVID-19 response efforts are responsive to both the ongoing mental health needs of residents and the unique needs that emerge as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The series of guidance pieces will draw upon existing best practices as well as highlighting innovative strategies being employed by states during the COVID-19 pandemic. Recommendations for state legislators and other leaders will be provided to help ensure response efforts are inclusive of mental and behavioral health needs.

Dr. Han-Rong Weng, associate professor of neuroscience, served as mentor for Master of Science in Biomedical Sciences student David J. Christy, who defended his thesis “LANCL2: A Potential Target for the Treatment of Neuropathic Pain” on April 28.

Dr. Zhi-Qing Zhao, director of the Cardiovascular Research Laboratory and professor of physiology, served as mentor for Master of Science in Biomedical Sciences student Trenton E. Banks, who defended his thesis “Reduction of Angiotensin II Induced Hypertension and Cardiac Fibrosis with GLP-1 Receptor Agonist and DPP-4 Inhibitor via Decreasing NADPH Oxidase Expression” on April 23.

Dr. Nathan Myrick, assistant professor of church music, signed a contract with Oxford University Press to publish his book, Music for Others, which is due out in April 2021.

The Rev. Paul Knowlton, principal – marketplace initiative for the Center for Theology and Public Life, signed a publishing contract with Wipf and Stock for a manuscript in progress, titled Partnership Economics: Adam Smith, Ayn Rand, and Jesus on moving from plantation economics to a better capitalism. The co-author on the project is fellow McAfee alumnus Aaron E. Hedges, who earned his combined MBA/M.Div. in 2014.

Amber Pritchett, employment specialist in human resources, co-presented a webinar on May 12 with PageUp, a talent management software company, titled “Building an Employee-centric Talent Management Framework” on delivering great business outcomes and creating an outstanding employee experience.