College of Education
Dr. Karyn Allee, assistant professor of elementary education, presented “The Climb Model of Reading: Applying Strengths-Based Metaphors to Build Critical Readers” with colleagues Brittany Adams, University of Alabama, and Nance Wilson, SUNY Cortland, at the virtual Journal of Literacy Innovation 2025 Conference on Feb. 15.
Dr. Mary Kay Bacallao, presented a paper titled “Federal Funding Case Law” at the Education Law Association Conference on Nov. 7, 2024. The paper outlined the history of the federal government’s involvement in education.
Dr. Angela Crevar, assistant professor of education leadership, presented two research studies at the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management: “Endorsements: Economic Mobility Gains and Gaps in the Texas Foundation High School Program” and “Exploring Equity and Opportunity: The Impact of the Public Service Endorsement Pathway on High School Student Long-Term Outcomes.” Dr. Crevar also shared her research at the Hawaii International Conference on Education with her study titled “From Classroom to Career: Exploring Endorsements, Industry Alignment, and Wage Outcomes for Texas High Schools.” Dr. Crevar also co-authored a peer-reviewed book chapter titled “Artificial Intelligence and the Transformation of Career Technical Education,” which has been accepted for publication in the book Transformational AI Tools for Use in Education and Learning.
Dr. Susie Morrissey, associate professor of mathematics education, presented a paper titled “Analysis of imprecise language in university students’ trigonometry solutions” with colleagues Dr. Ozgul Kartal, University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, and Dr. Gorjana Popovic, Illinois Institute of Technology, at the Psychology of Mathematics Education North American conference in November. The corresponding paper was published in the conference proceedings.
Dr. Katherine Perrotta, assistant professor of middle and secondary education, and Dr. Brittny Johnson, curriculum and instruction doctoral student, presented a research paper titled “Beyond Pedagogy: Preliminary Findings of a Literature Review on Historical Empathy” at the International Society for the Social Studies International Annual Virtual Conference.
Dr. LaTeshia Warren, clinical assistant professor of elementary education; Dr. Annemarie Kaczmarczyk, assistant professor of elementary education; Dr. Karyn Allee, assistant professor of elementary education; Dr. Lucy Bush, professor of education; Dr. Nancy Atchison, clinical assistant professor of elementary education; Dr. Toni Bailey, visiting clinical assistant professor; Dr. Hank Samuels, assistant professor of elementary education; and Dr. Kara Cowdrick, adjunct professor, presented “Getting ‘Onboard’ with Co-Teaching: A Strategic Approach to Welcoming New Faculty” at the 2025 Eastern Educational Research Association Annual Conference, held Feb. 20–21 in Hilton Head, South Carolina.
College of Health Professions
Dr. Gwendolyn Cattledge, professor of practice in public health, was appointed associate editor of the editorial board for the Journal of the Georgia Public Health Association.
Dr. Becky Larson, assistant professor of practice in public health, presented “Youth education and engagement using American Public Health Association’s climate and health youth education toolkit” and “Food skills and nutrition education for youth with intellectual and developmental disabilities” at the American Public Health Association 2024 Annual Meeting and Expo in Minneapolis on Oct. 28-29, 2024.
Dr. Deborah Wendland, professor of physical therapy, co-authored an article titled “Diabetic foot ulcer beyond wound closure: Clinical practice guidelines” published in Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Journal and “Beyond the case study: Laboratory activities to complement integumentary education” published in Advances in Skin and Wound Care. Dr. Wendland also presented “Wound care workshop: Developing and delivering integumentary curriculum in your entry-level DPT program” at the American Physical Therapy Association Combined Sections Meeting in Houston held Feb. 13-15. Dr. Wendland also received the Award of Excellence in Academic Education and the Distinguished Service Award from the American Physical Therapy Association Academy of Clinical Electrophysiology and Wound Management.
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Dr. Ben Greulich, assistant professor of biology, submitted a peer-reviewed paper on his cancer research to the Journal of Biological Chemistry, where it is currently in revision. Dr. Greulich’s research focuses on a signaling pathway called TGF-Beta, which is implicated in many types of human cancers and associated with the risk of them spreading from their original location to other parts of the body (metastasis). Dr Greulich is working with undergraduate research students Kaitlyn Eidson, Hannah Fitzgibbons, Rachel Garver and Huy Lam. The research is supported by the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Greulich is collaborating with Dr. Jeremy Rae, visiting lecturer of biology, on writing news articles and briefs about his findings intended for a broader audience.
Dr. Shehnaz Haqqani, assistant professor of religion, received the Visiting Faculty Fellowship at the Fox Center for Humanistic Inquiry at Emory University for the 2025-2026 academic year.
Dr. Gordon Johnston, professor of English, served as writer-in-residence for Bill King Writers Week at Davis & Elkins College in Elkins, West Virginia. He offered three workshops, led a student group on an ecological writing hike, gave a public poetry reading and exhibited 14 of his clay pages in the college’s art gallery in a show titled “Your Time and Mine” after a poem by the late Bill King. A silent auction of the clay pages raised more than $1,200 for the Bill King Writer’s Week endowment. Also, Dr. Johnston’s short story collection Seven Islands of the Ocmulgee — River Stories was named a finalist for the Townsend Prize in Fiction, awarded every two years by the Atlanta Writers Club and the Georgia Writers Museum. Dr. Johnston also wrote the text for Mercer Illustrated: The People, Places and Experiences of a Uniquely Impactful University published by Mercer University Press. The book is a large-format collection of photographs of the University’s campuses and its communal and academic life. Dr. Johnston was also the featured reader on Dec. 6, 2024, at Athens Word of Mouth, a poetry performance series in Athens, Georgia.
Dr. Chinekwu Obidoa, associate professor of global health studies and Africana studies, delivered a virtual co-authored presentation titled “Resilience of Rural Women Amidst Conflict and Political Insecurity in Northern Igboland, Nigeria” at the 12th Iberian Congress of African Studies in Barcelona, Spain, held Jan. 29-31. Dr. Obidoa and Dr. Eimad Houry, professor emeritus of political science, co-edited a book titled “How Studying Abroad Changed My Life.” The book, published by Mercer University Press, is a collection of essays/stories of Mercer alumni and faculty and their experiences through study abroad.
Dr. Adrian Vasquez, assistant professor of biology, was a keynote speaker at the Vector-Borne Disease Kickoff 2025: Advancing Research, Training and Innovation conference. The annual conference, hosted by the Southeastern Center of Excellence in Vector-Borne Diseases, was held Jan. 16-18 at the Whitney Marine Laboratory in St. Augustine, Florida. Dr. Vasquez is a member of the SECVBD cohort of researchers who are on the forefront of vector-borne disease research in the Southeast. With funding from the SECVBD and the Centers for Disease Control, Dr. Vasquez participated in tick surveillance and public education tick awareness in Bibb County and surrounding counties. Dr. Vasquez also spoke on the topic “Public education campaign on tick-borne disease awareness in Middle Georgia: From classroom to field to bench to public health.”
College of Nursing
Dr. Jennifer L. Bartlett, associate dean of the Macon campus and associate professor, served as the lead co-chair on the 50-person revision panel for the newly published American Nurses Association 2025 Code of Ethics for Nurses, a document that is used by nurses nationwide.
Dr. Seongkum Heo, professor and Piedmont Healthcare Endowed Chair, co-authored an article titled “Relationships of psychosocial factors to diabetes self-efficacy: A cross-sectional, correlational study” published in the Journal of Cardiovascular Nursing. Dr. Tammy Barbé, dean and professor, was one of the co-authors.
Dr. Justus Randolph, professor, co-authored an article titled “Prevalence of Rouvière’s sulcus and its anatomical variations: our experience and systematic review/meta-analysis” published in EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA.
Dr. Linda A. Streit, professor, co-authored an article titled “Perceptions of Empathic and Compassionate Healthcare Encounters: An International Exploratory Qualitative Descriptive Study in the Scandinavian Journal of Caring Sciences.
College of Pharmacy
Dr. Ajay K. Banga, chair of pharmaceutical sciences and professor, and graduate students Tanvi Karve, Nisha Shrestha and Thomas Kipping co-authored an article titled “Development of buspirone hydrochloride-loaded long-acting microneedles for management of anxiety disorders” published in Drug Delivery and Translational Research. Dr. Banga and graduate student Hiep X. Nguyen co-authored an article titled “Advanced transdermal drug delivery system: A comprehensive review of microneedle technologies, novel designs, diverse applications, and critical challenges” published in the International Journal of Pharmaceutics. Additionally, Dr. Banga received $56,396 in funding from the National Institutes of Health for a project titled “Ionic liquid-based nanoemulsion containing combination antiretroviral drugs for the transdermal treatment of pediatric HIV infection.”
Dr. Lori Dupree, clinical associate professor, co-led a webinar session titled “LabSIG Looping Session — Competencies” on Dec. 3, 2024. She was invited to lead the calculations portion of the webinar due to her involvement with the Skills Lab Special Interest Group, Research and Assessment Team, which is part of the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy.
Dr. Raquibul Hasan, assistant professor, and Dr. Nader Moniri, professor and associate dean for research, received $2,976,629 in National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute/National Institutes of Health funding for their research “Arterial contractility and blood pressure regulation by statins.”
Dr. Renee Hayslett, associate professor of pharmaceutical sciences, and Dr. Leisa Marshall, clinical professor of pharmacy practice, published an article titled “Management of Dry Mouth” in The Senior Care Pharmacist.
Dr. Kenric Ware, clinical associate professor, co-authored an article titled “From classroom to community: A college of pharmacy’s faculty and student participation at a harm reduction coalition” published in Currents in Pharmacy Teaching and Learning. Dr. Ware, also co-authored an article titled “Development of a curriculum to improve PrEP awareness and counseling at a national pharmacy chain” published in JAPhA Practice Innovations.
School of Business
Dr. Astrid Ayala, associate professor of management science and analytics, and Dr. Szabolcs Blazsek, professor of economics and chair of the Department of Economics, Business Analytics and Supply Chain Management, published an article titled “Exogenous, observable, and endogenous switching models of industrial production in the United Kingdom” in Applied Economics.
John Wilson Gordon, Macon operations director and lecturer of finance, was featured in a WalletHub’s article about Cheapest Cars to Insure.
Dr. Geoffrey M. Ngene, associate professor of financial economics, co-authored an article with Salome Oyuga and Dr. Edward Ochieng titled “Effect of sovereign risk and debt-side governance on cross-border infrastructure risk premium in a developing nation: A Case of Kenya” published in the Development Policy Review. Dr. Ngene also served as the faculty advisor and mentor for the CFA Institute Southern Classic Research Challenge team of four students whose written 20-page report ranked in the top five among the participating universities in Georgia, Alabama and South Carolina. The championship oral presentation and defense competition was held on March 1 at Kennesaw State University, and for the third time in six years, Mercer won the competition.
Dr. Carol S. Sargent, associate professor of accounting, co-authored an article titled “Artificial Intelligence: Ethical concerns, trust, and risk” and an article titled “Students’ perceptions of benefits and opportunities of artificial intelligence (AI),” both published in Issues in Information Systems.
Dr. Briana Stenard, associate professor of entrepreneurship, presented two research presentations at the United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship Annual Conference in Las Vegas in February. While there, Dr. Stenard won an award for Excellence in Online Entrepreneurship Education. Also, Dr. Stenard, Dr. Faye A. Sisk, professor of management, and adjunct professor Dr. Linda Brennan completed a study of artificial intelligence integration in the MBA capstone course. The paper titled “Leveraging Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Strategic Management: Integrating Simulations and Generative AI for Deeper Learning in an MBA Capstone Course” was selected for publication in the Social Science Research Network research series.
School of Engineering
Dr. Philip B. Gallagher, assistant professor of technical communication, and student Sanaa Strickland, presented research titled “UX Literacy and Methods for the Communication Job Market” at the Georgia International Conference on Information Literacy in Savannah. The student-led presentation defined UX literacy and how UX methods are essential for information design and communication students entering today’s competitive job market.
School of Law
David Hricik, professor of law, authored and published a second edition of his book titled Remedies: An Integrated Approach and authored new editions of his books Agnor’s Georgia Evidence (2024-2025 edition) and Georgia Law of Torts (2024-2025 edition).
David Oedel, professor, was featured in the WalletHub article titled “Cheapest Car Insurance in Georgia.”
Scott Titshaw, professor, is presenting “‘New Frontiers’ in Property in the Time of A.I.” at the University of Washington School of Law’s Symposium on March 7.
Pam Wilkins, associate dean of academic affairs and professor of law, published an article titled “Premises Liability and Third-Party Attacks: A Path Forward,” focused on Georgia tort reform as it relates to premises liability for third-party criminal attacks, in December 2024.
School of Medicine
Dr. Hana M. Abualadas, assistant professor in the pathology and clinical sciences education department, has accepted the role of associate editor for Clinical Medicine Insights: Case Reports, an open-access journal published by SAGE Publications Ltd.
Dr. Keisha Callins, professor, received the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Public Health Alumnus/Alumna of the Year Award. The award recognizes an established graduate who completed their degree 10 or more years ago and has made significant contributions in the field of public health at either a local, statewide, national or international level.
Dr. Raghavan Chinnadurai, assistant professor in the Department of Biomedical Sciences, co-published with two School of Medicine students an article titled “Human cornea-derived mesenchymal stromal cells inhibit T cells through indoleamine 2,3 dioxygenase” in Cytotherapy, the official journal of the International Society for Cell and Gene Therapy.
Dr. Ahmed Eltokhi, assistant professor, co-published an article titled “Two pores instead of one: Gating pore current and the electrical leak in autism and epilepsy” in Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry. Dr. Eltokhi also received an Autism Science Foundation $35,000 one-year grant and a Sophion Research grant to work on electrophysiology experiments at the research facilities in Bedford, Massachusetts.
Dr. Tony Gryffin, associate professor of community medicine, presented a seminar titled “Tai Chi and Mindful Exercise for Chronic Pain” for the College of Health Professions clinical psychology department’s chronic pain management program. As part of Dr. Gryffin’s ongoing “Rural Health Green Book” project, rural health doctoral students Nicole Wanty and Kendra Jenkins and medical students Tahiya Anwar and Brett Davis presented their research collaborations targeting older adult rural health to the North Central Health District board of health members, which involves developing and collating resources for promoting and motivating positive health behaviors from a theory and evidence-based approach.
Dr. Edward C. Klatt, professor, served as a manuscript reviewer in February for the Journal of Pathology Informatics.
Dr. Seong Won Lee, assistant professor, and Dr. Young Mi Oh, assistant professor, received a $100,000 research grant from the Hereditary Disease Foundation with the opportunity to apply for renewal for an additional $100,000. This funding will support their collaborative work on the neuroprotective role of TET1 in Huntington’s Disease.
Dr. Chefetz Menaker, associate professor of pharmacology in the department of biomedical sciences, published a paper titled “Risk factors for blood transfusion in patients undergoing hysterectomy for stage I endometrial cancer” in Langenbeck’s Archives of Surgery. Earlier studies showed that blood transfusion was independently associated with decreased five years of progression-free survival and overall survival rate. As such, Dr. Menaker would like to look into blood transfusion and chemoresistance next.
Dr. David Parish, professor, co-authored an article titled “Development of Pericarditis Following Implantation of Micra Leadless Pacemaker” published in Cureus and an article titled “Complexities of Physician Workforce Projection: Call for a Unified National Healthcare Workforce Policy” published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine.
Dr. Eric Shaw, professor, with lead author student Priya Arya co-authored an article titled “Differentiated thyroid cancer in adolescents – does extent of disease at presentation differ with age?” in the Journal of Pediatric Endocrinology and Metabolism.
Dr. Yudan Wei, professor of community medicine, published an article titled “Current cigarette smoking and decreased serum levels of α-Klotho, an anti-aging hormone, in U.S. adult participants” in Nutrition, Metabolism and Cardiovascular Diseases. Class of 2026 medical students Wonjun Billy Kim and Dylan Fromm, who have been working with Dr. Wei for research since the summer 2023, co-authored the article.
School of Music
Katie Rios, associate professor of music history, presented papers at the American Musicological Society-South conference and the Southwest Popular/American Culture Association conference in February. She was also elected to serve on the executive board as abstracts editor for the American Musicology Society’s Southern chapter.
Staff and Administration
Rick Cameron, the Voice of the Bears, called his 1,000th radio broadcast for Mercer Athletics on Jan. 25 against Furman at Hawkins Arena. A 2019 Mercer Athletics Hall of Fame inductee, Cameron has been the voice behind some of the most iconic moments in Mercer athletics history over his 20-year stint in Macon.
Tony Kemp, associate vice president for events and special programs, joined more than 6,000 attendees for this year’s Georgia Thespian Conference held in Columbus Feb. 6-8. Kemp interviewed scholarship finalists as part of the three-person team to assist in distributing more than $26,000 to high school seniors during the three-day event. He also adjudicated student performances and offered workshops for the 600 middle school students attending the Junior Georgia Thespian Conference held on Feb. 22 on the campus of Georgia Military College in Milledgeville.
