College of Health Professions
Dr. Ellen Perlow, clinical assistant professor of physical therapy, co-authored “The use of an anti-gravity treadmill gait training program to improve functional mobility of an 89-year-old female in a skilled nursing facility setting: A Case Study” in GeriNotes. 2016;23(5):16-19
Dr. Jimmie Smith Jr., assistant professor of practice and liaison for the Academic Health Department, presented two posters, in collaboration with 2016 Master of Public Health graduates Isioma Houenou and Briana Weaver, on Oct. 18 at the fifth annual Georgia State of Public Health Conference in Athens. Both projects were initiated and presented through the Academic Health Department. The titles of the projects were “A Retrospective Analysis of Service Delivery by the North Central Health District Oral Health Program, FY2013-FY2015” and “Georgia Tobacco Quit Line Data Analysis for the North Central Health District within the Georgia Department of Public Health 2013-2015.”
Dr. David Taylor, clinical assistant professor of physical therapy, received the Merit Award for Exceptional Service and Achievement in Education from the Physical Therapy Association of Georgia for October.
College of Liberal Arts
Dr. John M. Dunaway, professor emeritus of French and interdisciplinary studies, published a memorial note honoring Notre Dame colleague Bernard Doering (1924-2016) in The Maritain Notebook, vol. 24, issue 2, fall 2016, p. 3. He also organized the Beloved Community Paired Clergy's sixth semiannual communitywide Unity Service at Bethel Christian Methodist Episcopal Church. President William D. Underwood served as guest speaker.
Dr. Sarah E. Gardner, professor of history, presented “Rebecca Harding Davis and Postwar Fiction” Sept. 9 at the Waging Peace Conference sponsored by the Dale Center for War and Society in New Orleans, Louisiana. She also presented “William Gilmore Simms and the Art of Literary Criticism” Sept. 24 at the meeting of the William Gilmore Simms Society in Atlanta. Dr. Gardner presented “Literary Radicalism, Political Uncertainty, and the Print Work of Reconstruction” Oct. 7 at the Porter Fortune Jr. Symposium on Reconstruction and the Making of Postwar America at the University of Mississippi. She also participated on a roundtable on the 40th anniversary of Roots Oct. 15 at the Society for U.S. Intellectual History Conference at Stanford University. Dr. Gardner recently received a Cay Visiting Scholar Grant from the Southern Historical Collection at the University of North Carolina.
Dr. Paul Lewis, professor of religion, participated in the Mercer Law Review Symposium, titled “Educational Interventions to Cultivate Professional Identity in Law Students,” as well as the National Institute for Teaching Ethics and Professionalism fall workshop held Oct. 6-18. He also moderated a session on “Perspectives from Moral Psychology and Clergy Education” that was part of the symposium. His article, “Reading H. Richard Niebuhr through Aristotelian Eyes: Pointers toward a Christian Practical Reason” was published in the fall 2016 issue of Perspectives in Religious Studies, the journal of the National Association of Baptist Professors of Religion.
Dr. Chinekwu Obidoa, assistant professor of global health, presented two posters at the Forum on Population Health Equity held Oct. 17-19 at the T.H. Chan School of Public Health at Harvard University. Kolo Gana, a graduate of Mercer's Global Health Program and current Master of Public Health student at the University of Georgia, as well as a former research assistant for Dr. Obidoa, was co-author of one of the studies, titled “A Geographical Analysis of Concentrated Disadvantage and HIV Sexual Risk.” The forum also selected Dr. Obidoa as a Population Health Equity Fellow. This recognition is geared towards mid-career public health professionals addressing population health equity issues based on their ongoing academic and professional achievements. Dr. Obidoa is one of five fellows selected from a competitive pool of international candidates. She is also the only professor (of any rank) selected within the United States in this inaugural cohort. She and other recipients were honored at a reception during the forum. Dr. Ichiro Kawachi, John L. Loeb and Frances Lehman Loeb Professor of Social Epidemiology at Harvard, presented the award.
Dr. Bridget Trogden, associate professor of chemistry and director of QEP, gave a presentation in October at the 2016 Assessment Institute at Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis. The presentation was with collaborator Dr. Julia Metzker of Stetson University and was titled “Holistic Student Development Through Community Engagement.”
College of Pharmacy
Dr. Kevin S. Murnane, assistant professor and principal investigator, and Dr. Martin D'Souza, professor and principal investigator, were awarded $440,108 from the National Institutes of Health/National Institute Neurological Disorders and Stroke to conduct a project titled “A Novel Neuropeptide Brain Delivery System for Epilepsy.”
Eugene W. Stetson School of Business and Economics
Dr. Lynn Comer Jones, associate professor of accounting and taxation, co-authored a manuscript, titled “Church Politicking Post-Johnson Amendment,” with Dr. M. Catherine Cleaveland of Kennesaw State University, that was published in the Oct. 10 edition of Tax Notes.
Dr. Antonio Saravia, assistant professor of economics, was interviewed on Oct. 11 by CNN Espanol regarding the recently announced Nobel Prize in Economics.
Georgia Baptist College of Nursing
Dr. Helen Hodges, professor, presented “Disrupting the Traditional: Technology, Messy Classrooms, and Active Learning” on Oct. 1 at the Teaching Professor Technology Conference.
Dr. Lanell Bellury, associate professor, presented “10 Things You Need to Know about Evidence-based Practice” on Sep.16 at the Bedside Nurses Conference.
Dr. Laura Kimble, professor and Piedmont Healthcare Endowed Chair in Nursing, presented “10 Statistical Pearls for Evidence-based Practice” on Sept. 16 at the Bedside Nurses Conference.
Dr. Ruth McCaffrey, professor and Doctor of Nursing Practice coordinator, was the Mary Fauccet Speaker and Lecturer Sept. 21-23 at Mayo Clinic in Minnesota.
Dr. Linda Streit, dean and professor, presented “So you are graduating… and you want to go back to school” Oct. 7 as the invited speaker at the Georgia Association of Nursing Students Conference in Athens.
James and Carolyn McAfee School of Theology
Dr. Loyd Allen, professor of Baptist history, was presented the 2016 W. O. Carver Distinguished Service Award by the Baptist History and Heritage Society.
Dr. Nancy L. deClaissé-Walford, Carolyn Ward professor of Old Testament and Biblical Languages, traveled to South Africa where she presented a paper, titled “The Importance of 'Place' in Book Five of the Psalter,” at a conference on “Land: Texts, Narratives and Practices” at the University of Pretoria. She then traveled to Stellenbosch, where she co-convened a Psalm section and presented a paper, titled “Let the Floods Clap Their Hands: The Enthronement Psalms and All Creation,” at the triennial meeting of the International Organization for the Study of the Old Testament. Dr. deClaissé-Walford also chaired a Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges “Substantive Change” visit to Welch College in Nashville.
Dr. Karen G. Massey, associate dean for master's degree programs and associate professor of Christian education and faith development, was asked to prepare the worship materials for the 2017 Baptist World Alliance Day in February.
Dr. Chanequa Walker-Barnes, associate professor of practical theology, was an invited speaker at North Carolina State University's African American Cultural Center, where she presented a lecture on her book, titled Too Heavy a Yoke: Black Women and the Burden of Strength.
Mercer Engineering Research Center
Ed Irwin, principal biomedical engineer, presented a paper, titled “Risk for first responders due to cognitive workload and communication loss,” at the seventh International Conference on Applied Human Factors and Ergonomics (AHFE2016) held July 27-31 in Orlando, Florida. The paper was co-authored by Robbie Guest, senior electrical engineer, and Moin Rahman.
Kristin Streilein, senior biomedical engineer, presented “Mapping psychophysiological surrogates of cognitive processes” at the seventh International Conference on Applied Human Factors and Ergonomics (AHFE2016) held July 27-31 in Orlando, Florida.
Penfield College
Dr. Richard H. Martin, professor of criminal justice and homeland security, reviewed an article, titled “Examination of Relationship between Attachment Dimensions and Teaching Profession Attitudes of Preschool Teacher Candidates,” in October for the Journal of Education and Training Studies. He also had a manuscript, titled “Selected Levels of Significance of Essential Attributes in Florida for Police Recruit Success in Training and Career,” accepted for publication in the Law Enforcement Executive Forum Journal.
Dr. Robin Mathis, assistant professor of organizational leadership, and Dr. Greg Baugher, assistant professor of mathematics, recently 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. Kevin Williams, assistant professor of healthcare leadership, was invited by the Pan American Health Organization and World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) to participate in a technical meeting on ethnicity and health in the United States held Oct. 19-20 at the PAHO Headquarters in Washington, D.C. The purpose of the meeting was to learn about PAHO's activities in the field of ethnicity and discuss possibilities for collaborations in the U.S. with key organizations; to share experiences and highlight advance, challenges and opportunities in the field of ethnicity and health and to discuss next steps towards a strategy and plan of action on ethnicity and health for the Americas. His trip to the technical meeting was funded by the PAHO/WHO Unit on Gender and Cultural Diversity.
School of Engineering
Dr. Jennifer Goode, professor of technical communication, presented “Creating and Managing Successful Online Faculty Learning Communities” on Oct. 2 as part of the Teaching Professor Technology Conference in Atlanta. She was also the featured guest on the Oct. 21 episode of the Professional Adjunct Podcast, during which she spoke on faculty learning communities.
School of Medicine
Carolann Curry, library assistant professor and reference and outreach librarian, and Anna Krampl, library assistant professor, reference librarian and head of public services, delivered a four-hour continuing education class, titled “Open Access Publishing Models and Predatory Journals: PubMed and Beyond,” on Oct. 2 at the Southern Chapter of the Medical Library Association's annual meeting in Greenville, South Carolina. In September, Curry presented a guest lecture on “Open Access and Predatory Publishing” to the Valdosta State University Master of Library and Information Science Program.
Dr. Alice House, dean of the Columbus campus and professor of family medicine, was appointed to serve on the United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) Step 2 Clinical Skills Test Material Development Committee, as well as on the National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME) Internal and Family Medicine Subject Test Committee. The quality of the examination system depends upon the validity of the measuring instrument for its intended purpose. An essential mechanism for assuring the content validity of examinations is the careful selection of the persons who are responsible for developing test content. Each examination is created by specially appointed committees and task forces of experts, highly qualified in a specific subject matter, working with staff skilled in the principles and techniques of educational measurement.
Carolyn Klatt, library assistant professor, reference and electronic resources librarian and associate library director, Kim Meeks, library assistant professor and medical library director, and Wanda Thomas, instructor and clinical reference librarian, presented a poster, titled “Designing Library Spaces: Creating the 'Right Sized' Library to Meet the Needs of Many Different Users,” Oct. 4 at the Southern Chapter of the Medical Library Association's annual meeting in Greenville, South Carolina. Thomas also presented a second poster, titled “In the Spirit of Inquiry,” on Oct. 5 at the meeting.
Dr. Edward C. Klatt, professor of biomedical sciences and program director of biomedical problems, had two textbooks, the Robbins and Cotran Review of Pathology and Atlas of Pathology, published in the Spanish language.
Richard Marcum, serials assistant, attended the 49th Georgia Archives Institute, co-sponsored by the Georgia Archives, the Society of Georgia Archivists and the Friends of Georgia Archives and History, in June. This two-week program served as an introduction to archival theory and practice, included sessions on preservation and concluded with an internship at an Atlanta-area archive.
Dr. Mike U. Smith, professor of medical education and director of AIDS education and research, co-authored “The GAENE–Generalized Acceptance of EvolutioN Evaluation: Development of a new measure of evolution acceptance,” in the Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 53(9)577-582.
Tift College of Education
Dr. Geri Collins, associate professor of education, and Dr. William Lacefield, professor of mathematics education, delivered three presentations at the annual conference of the Southeastern Regional Association of Teacher Educators held Oct. 13-15 in Reston, Virginia. The presentations were titled “Nurturing Teacher Candidates' Readiness for edTPA,” “The Power of Grit: Inspiring Teacher Candidates to Develop and Nurture Problem Solving Abilities” and “Comparative Mathematics Education in England and the United States: Implications for Teacher Preparation.”
Townsend School of Music
Amy Schwartz Moretti, associate professor and director of the Robert McDuffie Center for Strings and Caroline Paul King Chair in Strings, was featured at the international premiere of Grammy® Award-winner Matt Catingub's composition written for her, titled “Three Shades of Blue, Concerto for Violin, Jazz Trio and Orchestra.” The composition was part of the “Classically Jazzed” concert held Oct. 8 at the Hyogo Performing Arts Center Grand Hall in Kobe, Japan. Moretti also appeared with Cortona Trio Sept. 27 in the Atlanta Chamber Players season-opening concert at the New American Shakespeare Tavern in Atlanta. The trio performed Beethoven's Piano Trio No.7 in B-flat major, Op.97, known as the “Archduke Trio.” The Cortona Trio is composed of McDuffie Center for Strings distinguished artists Elizabeth Pridgen, who serves as G. Leslie Fabian Piano Chair in Music, Julie Albers, who serves as Charles and Mary Jean Yates Cello Chair, and Moretti. The trio was formed in 2012 at the Rome Chamber Music Festival in Italy, where McDuffie Center students have studied abroad the trio first performed in concert at Palazzo Barberini. Pietro da Cortona's magnificent ceiling fresco from the 1600s, “The Triumph of Divine Providence,” located in the Grand Salon performance hall, was the source of inspiration for naming the trio.
University Libraries
Rebecca Engsberg, research services librarian and assistant professor, presented Oct. 5 during a panel, sponsored by the Georgia Library Association Reference and Instruction Services Interest Group, at the Georgia Council of Media Organizations (GaCOMO 2016) in Athens. Her presentation was titled “Let's Play: Using Games in Instruction.”
Louise L. Lowe, associate professor, and Arlene Desselles, assistant professor, presented “Demonstrating Your Professional Value” Oct. 7 at the 28th annual conference of the Georgia Council of Media Organizations in Athens. Lowe also co-presented “Surveying the State of Library Assessment” at the conference.
Walter F. George School of Law
David Hricik, professor of law, celebrated 10 years of co-authoring, along with Karen Sneddon, professor of law, the column “Writing Matters” in the Georgia Bar Journal. He also published two chapters in books by the American Bar Association. “The Ethics of Client Development Using Technology and the Internet” appeared in The Lawyer's Guide to Marketing on the Internet, and his updated chapter “Combining Prosecution with Other Forms of Representation” appeared in Drafting Patents for Litigation and Licensing. Three book updates are currently in pre-publication with other publishers. Additionally, he gave presentations on legal ethics and patent law to national and state organizations in Nashville, Boston, Richmond, San Antonio and Atlanta. Sneddon and Hricik also presented Oct. 20 at the 2016 National Association of Bar Executive Communication Section (NABECOMM) meeting in Savannah. NABECOMM is an organization composed of communication professionals who work with and for bar associations across the country.
Mark L. Jones, professor of law, moderated a panel on “Professional Identity Formation and Assessment in Legal Education” at the Mercer Law Review Symposium on “Educational Interventions to Cultivate Professional Identity in Law Students” held Oct. 7 at Mercer Law School. He also served on the planning committee for the symposium. Additionally, Jones participated in a National Institute for Teaching Ethics and Professionalism (NIFTEP) Workshop on “Cultivating Professional Identity” that was held at Mercer Oct. 8-9 immediately following the symposium. His article, titled “Developing Virtue and Practical Wisdom in the Legal Profession and Beyond,” was accepted for publication in the Cleveland State Law Review. However, given the article's subject matter fit with the theme of the Mercer Law Review Symposium on cultivating professional identity, the article will appear instead in the Lead Articles Issue of the Mercer Law Review, which publishes the papers generated by the symposium.
