College of Education
Dr. Angela Crevar, assistant professor of educational leadership, co-presented a research study with Montana State University Northern’s Dr. Praveen Dubey titled “Changing the Status Quo: Teacher Quality through Students’ Eyes” at the Society for Research on Educational Effectiveness annual conference in Baltimore. She also co-authored a peer-reviewed book chapter titled “Integrating Artificial Intelligence in Higher Education: Enhancing Pedagogy, Instruction, and Administration” in Integrating AI into Pedagogical and Andragogical Education.
Dr. Robert J. Helfenbein, professor of curriculum studies, has been invited to speak at the 2025 Global Forum for Reimagining the Education of Humanity for the Third Millennium at Azim Premji University in Bangalore, India.
Dr. Leah Panther, associate professor of literacy education, and Dr. Katherine Perrotta, assistant professor of middle grades and secondary education, published the book chapter “Academic Language and Historic Linguicism” in the edited volume What Do We Mean by That?: Interrogating Familiar Constructs in Education from Myers Press.
College of Health Professions
Dr. Robert Baeten, clinical assistant professor of physician assistant studies, co-authored an article titled “Patent ductus arteriosus masking cardiogenic shock in an adult” in the journal CHEST.
Dr. Gwendolyn Cattledge, professor of public health practice, has been appointed to the editorial board for the Epidemiology International Journal.
Dr. Hirut Gebrekristos, associate professor of public health, co-authored and presented “The Impact of Social Determinants of Health on Accelerated Lung Function Decline in COPD Patients” at the American Thoracic Society Conference in San Diego. Dr. Gebrekristos was also appointed to the editorial board for the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s Preventing Chronic Disease journal.
Dr. Becky Larson, assistant professor of public health practice, presented “The Educational Experience in Undergraduate and Graduate Public Health Student Outcomes” at the 2024 Georgia Public Health Association annual meeting and conference in Jekyll Island.
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Dr. Thomas Bullington, senior lecturer of English and liberal arts, and his husband, Jeff Whatley, spoke as part of Macon Pride’s “Pioneers and Trailblazers” photo history exhibit on Sept. 25. The exhibit highlighted local LGBTQ+ people who have made significant contributions to the Macon community. Dr. Bullington discussed how he and Whatley were the first openly gay couple to be married at First Baptist Church of Christ in downtown Macon.
Dr. Wallace Daniel, Distinguished University Professor of History and Scholar in Residence, published his latest book titled Freedom and the Captive Mind: Fr. Gleb Yakunin and Orthodox Christianity in Soviet Russia. The book is a biography of Father Gleb Yakunin, the first Orthodox priest to adopt an ecumenical approach to Russian Orthodoxy, earning him the enmity of conservative groups within the Church and gratitude from other religious denominations.
Dr. David A. Davis, professor of English, gave a presentation titled “Faulkner’s Cotton” at the Southern Labor Studies Association conference in Chattanooga, Tennessee, Sept. 20-22.
Dr. Shehnaz Haqqani, assistant professor of religion, published a book titled Feminism, Tradition and Change in Contemporary Islam: Negotiating Islamic Law and Gender with Oneworld Publications. The book explores questions of change and tradition in contemporary Islam, asking what Muslims consider to be the criteria of change as they reflect on new realities.
Dr. Anastasia Kerr-German, assistant professor of biological psychology and neuroscience, and students Parth Patel, Grace Gasaway, Maya Henry, Samuel Patton and Emily Lundstrum attended and presented a talk and three posters at the International Society for Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy in Birmingham, United Kingdom, Sept. 11-16.
Dr. Paul Lewis, professor and chair of religion, published an op-ed piece titled “Seven Deadly Sins of Leaders” with Good Faith Media on Sept. 11 and participated in an interdisciplinary panel titled “Making an Informed Vote: Insights From the Humanities” on Sept. 26. The panel was sponsored by the religion honor society Theta Alpha Kappa and included representatives from media studies, political science and philosophy.
Dr. James Davis May, assistant professor of English and director of creative writing, published two poems in Southern Humanities Review. His second poetry collection, Unusually Grand Ideas, was shortlisted for the Julie Suk Award for Best Poetry Book Published by a Literary Press and named to WABE-Atlanta’s 2024 Summer Reading List.
Dr. Rosalind Simson, associate professor of philosophy, authored an article titled “Transgender Students, Fairness, and the Protection of Female Sports” that will be published in the Spring 2025 issue of The Kansas Journal of Law and Public Policy.
Dr. Jason Smith, assistant professor of religion, published an article titled “Rethinking the Legacy of a Medieval Hindu Commentator” in the Journal of Hindu Studies.
College of Nursing
Dr. Tammy Barbé, dean and professor; Dr. Patricia Troyan, associate professor; and Dr. Ryan Crawford, Ph.D. in nursing graduate, received the 2023 Best of Nursing Education Perspectives Award for the featured article titled “A National Qualitative Study of Work-Life Balance in Prelicensure Nursing Faculty.” The award was presented at the 2024 National League for Nursing Education Summit on Sept. 19.
Dr. Seongkum Heo, professor and Piedmont Healthcare Endowed Chair, published an article titled “Relationships of Multidimensional Factors to Diabetes Complications: A Cross-Sectional, Correlational Study” in the Western Journal of Nursing Research and an article titled “Evaluating Dyadic Factors Associated With Self-Care in Patients With Heart Failure and Their Family Caregivers: Using an Actor-Partner Interdependence Model” in PLOS ONE. Dr. Heo also was a top reviewer for the European Journal of Cardiovascular Nursing and received the Excellent Manuscript Award from the Korean Association of Internal Medicine.
Dr. Justus Randolph, professor, published an article titled “Enhancing Exoplanet Ephemerides by Leveraging Professional and Citizen Science Data: A Test Case with WASP-77 A b” in Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific.
Dr. Sonique Sailsman, assistant professor, co-authored articles titled “Microaggression in Nursing” and “Implicit Bias in Patient Care Assignments” in the American Journal of Nursing. Dr Sailsman also co-authored an article titled “The Use of Collaborative Technology” in the Quarterly Review of Distance Education. Dr. Sailsman will present on the topic of “Implicit Bias in Nursing Care” at the Georgia Association of Nursing Students Annual Convention at Kennesaw State University on Oct. 12 and at the National Student Nurses Association Mid-Year Conference on Oct. 31 in Louisville, Kentucky. Dr. Sailsman also began data collection for a nursing honor society Sigma Theta Tau $1,500 grant titled “Perspectives of Latino Adolescents: Cultural Beliefs and Practices about Health Literacy” on Oct. 1.
Dr. Linda A. Streit, professor, was invited as a panel guest to present at the American Association of Colleges of Nursing Sept. 12 webinar titled “New Knowledge for the Journey: Professional Identity for Nursing Leadership.” The webinar included more than 200 registrants. Dr. Streit also serves as secretary for the association’s Organizational Leadership Network Steering Committee.
College of Pharmacy
Dr. Ajay K. Banga, chair of pharmaceutical sciences, with graduate students Nisha Shrestha and Tanvi Karve, co-authored an article titled “Fabrication of Poly Lactic-co-Glycolic Acid Microneedles for Sustained Delivery of Lipophilic Peptide-Carfilzomib” in Molecular Pharmaceutics. Dr. Banga and Shrestha also co-authored, with graduate student Ariana Radmard, an article titled “Enhancing Topical Delivery of ISRIB: Optimizing Cream Formulations With Chemical Enhancers and pH Adjustment” in the International Journal of Pharmaceutics.
Dr. Clinton Canal, associate professor, and Dr. Nader Moniri, professor and associate dean for research, were awarded $387,750 from the National Institutes of Health National Institute on Drug Abuse for a project titled “Molecular Pharmacology of Xylazine at Adrenoceptors: Relation to Necrotic Skin Lesions Associated With Chronic Intravenous Administration.”
Dr. Mohammad Uddin, associate professor of pharmaceutical sciences, published an article titled “Evaluating Nanoparticulate Vaccine Formulations for Effective Antigen Presentation and T-Cell Proliferation Using an In Vitro Overlay Assay” in Vaccine and an article titled “Vinpocetine: A Potential Hazard for Pregnant Women and Women of Childbearing Age” in EC Pharmacology and Toxicology.
Dr. Kenric Ware, clinical associate professor, co-presented a session with pharmacy student Matina Manandhar titled “Pivoting to Pharmacy: Leveraging Your Personal Experiences in the Admissions Process” at the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy’s Virtual Pharmacy School Fair.
College of Professional Advancement
Dr. Hani Khoury, professor and coordinator of mathematics in the Department of Informatics and Mathematics, served as a conference advisory committee member and moderated a session on medical education at the third international conference, “Uniting Knowledge, Resources and Solidarity: Gaza Health Initiative Conference Amsterdam,” held at the KIT Royal Institute Sept. 12-14.
Dr. Lynn Tankersley, professor of criminal justice, presented a session titled “Efficacy of Reentry Bonds for Justice-Involved Individuals with Substance Use Problems” at the Southern Criminal Justice Association’s annual conference in Greenville, South Carolina, Sept. 10-14.
School of Business
Dr. Carol Springer Sargent, associate professor of accounting, and Ashley Herman, associate director of career management services, led Mercer’s third annual Accounting and Finance “Meet the Firms” event where more than 120 students learned professional skills through mock interviews and networking with 26 regional professional firms.
School of Medicine
Dr. Caroline Anglim, assistant professor of bioethics and professionalism, published a manuscript titled “The Predictive Value of Moral Diversity in Bioethics” in the American Journal of Bioethics with co-authors Dr. Bharat Ranganathan and Dr. Brian Childs, professor and chair of the bioethics and medical humanities department on the Savannah campus. Dr. Anglim also presented research on a collaborative interprofessional education program between the School of Medicine and College of Nursing titled “Interprofessional Ethics Education: A Virtual Approach” at the American Society of Bioethics and Humanities in St. Louis on Sept. 21. Her co-principal investigator on the project was Dr. Jennifer Bartlett, associate dean and associate professor with the College of Nursing.
Dr. Christy Bridges, interim chair and professor of biomedical sciences, was recognized as a Fellow of the Academy of Toxicological Sciences. Fellows must have an exemplary record of professional accomplishment as well as extensive evidence of recognition by peers of competency and sound scientific judgment in toxicology.
Dr. Brian Childs, professor and chair of the bioethics and medical humanities department on the Savannah campus, served on a panel for three virtual discussions on religious attitudes toward organ donation and transplantation sponsored by the Transplantation Alliance and the Association of Organ Procurement Organizations. He also presented “Controversies in Abdominal and Thoracic Normothermic Regional Perfusion: Ethical and Legal Considerations” at the Association for Multiculturalism in Transplantation annual meeting in San Diego and presented “Identity Defined: Exploring the Formation of Professional Identity in Clinical Ethics” at the annual meeting of the American Society for Bioethics and Humanities in St Louis. Dr. Childs also published with Dr. Caroline Anglim, assistant professor of bioethics and professionalism, a commentary on a target article titled “The Predictive Value of Moral Diversity in Bioethics” in The American Journal of Bioethics
Dr. Ahmed Eltokhi, assistant professor of biomedical sciences on the Columbus campus, published a book chapter titled “Overactivation of Microglia as a Shared Pathophysiology in Different Neuropsychiatric Disorders” in the book titled PsychoNeuroImmunology, Volume 2: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Diseases.
Dr. Edward C. Klatt, professor of biomedical sciences on the Savannah campus, served as a reviewer in August and September for educational content submissions in technology, instruction, cognition and learning to the American Educational Research Association 2025 annual meeting. Dr. Klatt also served as a manuscript reviewer in September for the journal Archives of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine.
Dr. Yudan Wei, professor of community medicine, presented research titled “Cigarette Smoking and Increased Serum Neurofilament Light Chain Levels Among U.S. Adult Participants” at the 36th annual conference of the International Society for Environmental Epidemiology in August. Medical students Wonjun Billy Kim, Class of 2026, and Gunnar Preston Rogers, Class of 2025, were co-presenters.
School of Theology
Rev. Dr. David P. Gushee, Distinguished University Professor of Christian Ethics, published his 29th book titled The Moral Teachings of Jesus: Radical Instruction in the Will of God on Sept. 10. The book is a work of biblical interpretation.
Staff and Administration
Dr. Stefanie Swanger, director of the Center for Career and Professional Development, was elected president of the Georgia Association of Colleges and Employers for the 2024-2025 term. Dr. Swanger has served in various capacities on the association’s board of directors since 2017, including leading the statewide career fair, annual conference and technology efforts.
