College of Education
Dr. Karyn Allee, associate professor of elementary education, with Dr. Nance Wilson of SUNY Cortland and Dr. Brittany Adams of the University of Alabama, presented their work on a new model of reading instruction at the 21st Biennial Conference of the International Study Association on Teachers and Teaching in Glasgow, Scotland, in July. Their session was titled “Harnessing Potential: A Revised Reading Rope Model Emphasizing Strategic, Adaptive and Integrative Literacy Skills.” At the same conference, Dr. Allee; Dr. Annemarie Kaczmarczyk, assistant professor of elementary education; Tift alumna Dr. BryAndra Bell; and Tift Ph.D. candidate Jaleesa Ramsey presented their research in the session “Leveraging Literature Circles for Critical Engagement.”
Dr. Robert J. Helfenbein, professor of curriculum studies, published the co-edited volume Methodology and Praxis: Thinking with Patti Lather.
Dr. Leah Panther, assistant professor of literacy education; doctoral student Kimberly Stephens; and community member Sally Stanhope published “In the shadow of Stone Mountain: Youth participatory action research to expand English language arts” in the National Council of Teachers of English’s English Journal. Dr. Panther was also awarded a Teaching Primary Sources Southern Region grant through the Library of Congress for the project “Our Southern Highlanders: Historical Interpretation for North Georgia’s Appalachians,” with Tyler Osborn, the president of the Towns County Historical Society.
Dr. Katherine Perrotta, associate professor of middle grades and secondary education, and Dr. Franklin Allaire of the University of Houston-Downtown published the article “Considering the Future of Academic Conferences: An Experiment and Analysis of AI-Generated Conference Proposal Submissions” in The Journal of Research in Education.
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Dr. David A. Davis, professor of English, published a review of Dangerous Innocence by Will Murray in Flannery O’Connor Review.
Dr. Clara Mengolini, associate professor of Spanish, published Idiota de tanto quererte, an anthology of love letters written in 1969. The book was released by Futurock Libros in Buenos Aires.
Evey Wilson Wetherbee, assistant professor of practice in journalism, was elected to the board of the National Press Photographers Foundation, which is charged with advancing photojournalism through education and awarding scholarships and fellowships to deserving individuals who have demonstrated ability or promise in the field of visual journalism.
College of Nursing
Dr. Humberto Reinoso, associate professor and nurse practitioner coordinator, and Dr. Stephanie Bennett, clinical assistant professor and graduate clinical coordinator, were guests on the “Peplau’s Ghost” podcast. This podcast features psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioners discussing psychotherapy within their practice. They discussed the launch of the psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioners track at the College of Nursing.
Dr. Sonique Sailsman, assistant professor, was elected to the National League for Nursing Certification Board of Commissioners for the term 2025-28. The independent and autonomous board is responsible for establishing policies and procedures for the Certified Nurse Educator certification, including eligibility standards and assessment tools. The board’s key goals are to recognize the specialized knowledge and skills of academic nurse educators, strengthen their professional development and distinguish academic nursing education as a distinct specialty area of practice
Dr. Linda A. Streit, professor, served as a national on-site program evaluator for the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education and a regional off-site evaluator for the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges, fall semester 2025. She was also reappointed to the steering committee for the American Association of Colleges of Nursing Organizational Leadership Network.
College of Pharmacy
Dr. Clinton Canal, associate professor, co-authored the article “Artificial Brain Extracellular Fluid in Radioligand Binding Assays: Effects on Affinities of Ligands at Serotonin 5-HT7 Receptors,” published in BioRxiv.
Dr. Lydia Newsom, clinical associate professor, was appointed to serve on a national American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy committee as a member of the Emerging Teaching Scholar Award committee. The award recognizes service and outstanding contributions to the academy and pharmacy education.
Dr. Angela Shogbon Nwaesei, clinical professor, was appointed to serve on a national American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy committee as the chair of the Distinguished Teaching Scholar Award committee. The award recognizes excellence of academic pharmacy faculty engaged in and/or supporting scholarly teaching and the scholarship of teaching and learning.
College of Professional Advancement
Dr. Tugba Ertan Bolelli, assistant professor of science, was selected as a Governor’s Teaching Fellow for the 2025-26 academic year. Dr. Ertan Bolelli is one of only 16 faculty members from institutions of higher education across the state to be chosen for this prestigious program, and she attended the program’s first meeting in September. As a fellow, Dr. Ertan Bolelli will participate in six immersive three-day seminars focused on teaching practices, faculty development and course design, while leading a course design/redesign or other instructional improvement project. Held on the University of Georgia campus, the interactive seminars provide fellows with innovative tools and strategies to enhance student learning and engagement.
Dr. Brooke Bullard, assistant professor of biology, served as co-principal investigator with Dr. Jonathan A. Coffman, professor of microbiology and immunology in the School of Medicine, on a grant submission to the Navicent Health Foundation. Dr. Bullard also co-authored two manuscripts in the American Journal of Physiology – Cell Physiology: “Pro-Fibrotic Immune Cells and Fibro-Adipogenic Progenitors Contribute to Skeletal Muscle Extracellular Matrix Remodeling and Fibrosis in Cancer Cachexia” and “Cannabis Improves Metabolic Dysfunction and Macrophage Signatures in Obese Mice.”
Dr. Kristin Robertson, assistant professor of writing and literature, was featured in the article “Resilience 101” in the American Association of Colleges and Universities publication, Liberal Education.
Dr. Dina M. Schwam, assistant professor of psychology and human services, presented the poster “Improving Learning Through the Introductory Psychology Course” at the 2025 American Psychological Association convention in Denver. The poster was developed with co-author, Dr. Cameron Miller, highlighting their continued collaborative work as part of the APA Introductory Psychology Initiative.
Dr. Jacqueline S. Stephen, assistant professor and director of instructional and learning design, with Chantia Daniels and Charlotte Whitehead, students in the Bachelor of Science in human resources administration and talent development program, co-presented “A Combined Approach to Learner-Centered Design for Engagement and Success” at the Atlanta Conference and Expo 2025 on Aug. 14. The interactive presentation explored how integrating multiple instructional design models and frameworks can create flexible, inclusive and impactful learning experiences and provided attendees with practical tools and strategies to enhance learner engagement and success in their own projects. The conference was organized by the Association for Talent Development’s Greater Atlanta Chapter.
School of Business
Dr. Szabolcs Blazsek, professor of economics, with alumnus August Jording, co-published “Systematic risk in publicly listed private equity: An empirical study using score-driven beta models” in Studies in Nonlinear Dynamics & Econometrics. Additionally, Dr. Blazsek, with associate professor Astrid Ayala and alumnus Miguel Ruiz, co-published “Sample selection bias for Jackson Pollock auctions: A case study” in Applied Finance Letters.
Dr. Blake Bowler, assistant professor of accounting, was featured in a WalletHub article about loud budgeting.
Ashley Herman, associate director of career management services, and Dr. Carol Springer Sargent, associate professor of accounting, conducted Mercer’s fourth Annual Accounting, Finance and Risk Management “Meet the Firms” event. All measures of participation were the highest to date, with 143 (133 last year) students practicing professional skills through mock interviews and networking with 30 (24 last year) regional professional firms. The employers’ favorite, the resume book provided to employers before the event, contained 57 (36 last year) resumes. Two other invited schools, Middle Georgia State University and Wesleyan College, also participated.
School of Law
Margie Alsbrook, assistant professor of law, published “Strong Democracies Need Reliable Citations” in the Arizona State Law Journal. She also co-presented “AI, Authorship, Accuracy, and Acknowledgment: Addressing New Challenges in Legal Citation” with Professor Carolyn Williams of the University of North Dakota School of Law at the Association of Legal Writing Directors Conference in Phoenix and co-chaired the first Legal Writing Institute Conference on AI & Legal Skills: Innovation, Impact & Integrity. In August, she participated in nine panels and discussion groups at the Southeastern Association of Law Schools Annual Conference, including organizing a discussion showcasing Mercer Law’s Junior Faculty Colloquium, “Cultivating a Culture of Peer Support for Pre-Tenure Faculty Members.” She also took part in “Reimagining Attorney Competency and Changing Curriculum and Assessments: Exploring the Next Generation Bar Exam” and “Transforming Global Agriculture: Farmers’ Rights, Animal Law, Trade, Sovereignty, Ethics, and Innovation.” In addition, Alsbrook presented the article “A Right to Farm but No Right to Food.”
Kaleb Byars, assistant professor of law, will publish “A Concrete Standard of Judicial Review for Corporate Deferred Prosecution Agreements” in the Florida Law Review, and the article “Kaleb Byars on the Case for Judicial Review of Deferred Prosecution Agreements” appeared in Corporate Crime Reporter.
Timothy W. Floyd, the Tommy Malone Distinguished Chair in Trial Advocacy, received the William Pincus Award in recognition of his extraordinary and lasting contributions to clinical legal education.
Ismael Gullon, associate law librarian for collections and technical services, was a panelist at the Southeastern Chapter of the American Association of Law Libraries annual meeting program “Are Julius Caesar’s Soldiers Burning Our ‘Alexandria Library’ Collections” on March 15. He was also a panelist for the webinar “Journey of Legal Cataloging” hosted by the American Association of Law Libraries Technical Services Special Interest Section Professional Development Committee on April 24.
Jessica M. Herndon, assistant director of career services, and Danielle Taylor, chief data strategist for the National Association for Law Placement, co-presented “Closing the Career Gap: How Career Services Can Champion First-Gen Law and Professional Students” at the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators Conference on Student Success in Higher Education in June. The presentation focused on employment disparities for first-generation law and professional students and the strategies for supporting them as career services professionals.
David Hricik, professor of law, published the second edition of Remedies: An Integrated Approach (Carolina Academic Press, 2025); completed and published the third edition of Mastering Civil Procedure (Carolina Academic Press, 2025); moderated the panel of Northern District of Georgia judges on “A View from the Bench: Balancing Zealous Advocacy with Civility in Complex Cases” in June at the Annual Conference IP Section of the State Bar of Georgia; gave a WebCredenza webcast in June on ethics and technology; co-presented the WebCredenza webcast “Conflics Update” in June; gave a plenary talk on ethics and AI titled “Lawyer Ethics and AI: What to Know and What Not To Do — For Now” at the 23rd annual Rocky Mountain Intellectual Property and Technology Law Institute in May in Westminster, Colorado; and gave a presentation on ethics for IP lawyers to the Arizona State Bar IP Section CLE in the Garden in March in Phoenix.
Meagan Hurley, assistant professor of law, gave several presentations at the annual meeting of the Southeastern Association of Law Schools in Amelia Island, Florida, in July. She served as a panelist for the Professional Responsibility Section of the New Scholars Program, where she presented on a work in progress; served as a discussant for the session “Cultivating a Culture of Peer Support for Pre-Tenure Faculty Members;” served as a panelist for the session “Beyond NextGen: Working Together to Improve Student Flourishing;” served as a discussant for the session “Reimagining Attorney Competency: Exploring the NextGen Bar Exam’s Vision of Competency and Our Own;” and served as the moderator for a section of the criminal law works-in-progress series. She was also appointed as co-chair of the ethics and professionalism committee for the Young Lawyers Division of the State Bar of Georgia. Additionally, the Mercer Habeas Project, which Hurley leads, won a habeas appeal, Akin v. State, in July 2025.
Anne G. Johnson, adjunct professor of law and associate director of academic success, was a co-presenter at the 12th annual Association of Academic Support Educators Conference held at Suffolk Law School in Boston in May. The presentation, “AASE By the Numbers – Live Results of the 2025 AASE Institutional and Individual Survey,” reviewed the data gathered by the association’s assessment committee regarding programming, status and salaries, for academic success programs nationwide. Additionally, Johnson will again serve as chair of the association’s assessment committee for the 2025-26 academic year. Her article “Preparing Students for Legal Research on the NextGen UBE Bar Exam” will appear in Volume 117, No. 4 of the Law Library Journal. The article was funded by an Access Lex/AASE Faculty Scholarship Grant.
Steve Johnson, professor of law, had the article “Ordinary Meaning, Extraordinary Tools: Dictionaries, Corpora and Generative AI” accepted for publication in the Texas Tech Law Review.
Jill Kinsella, associate vice president for university advancement, served on the planning committee and was a featured panelist for the session “The Transition to Major Gifts” at the 2025 American Bar Association/Association of American Law Schools Law School Development Conference, held July 17-18 at New York Law School.
Ishaq Kundawala, professor of law and Southeastern Bankruptcy Law Institute and W. Homer Drake Jr. Endowed Chair in Bankruptcy Law, authored the article “Super-Efficient Breach in Bankruptcy: Recalibrating Remedies for Contract Rejection Damages,” to be published in the Emory Bankruptcy Developments Journal in 2026. The article argues that § 365 of the Bankruptcy Code creates a regime of “super-efficient breach” by allowing debtors to reject executory contracts at disproportionately low cost, thereby distorting contractual rights and reliance interests and proposes a legislative solution to recalibrate remedies and restore fairness in the bankruptcy process.
Gary Simson, Macon Chair in Law and former dean, will publish the article “Our Partisan Supreme Court and an Essential First Step Toward Reclaiming What’s Been Lost” in the University of Virginia School of Law 41 Journal of Law & Politics. He also published the article “The President’s Orders Targeting Law Firms as Unconstitutional Bills of Attainder – Damning Lessons from the Past” in Verdict: Legal Analysis and Commentary from Justia.
Karen J. Sneddon, dean and professor of law, presented “Language Itself Is Poetry: Using Poetry in the Law School Classroom” at the 2025 annual conference of the Southeastern Association of Law Schools, held July 27 in Amelia Island, Florida. She also served as a panelist for “The Advisory Board: Purpose, Goals, Utilization, Engagement, Expectation, and Pipeline” at the 2025 American Bar Association Law School Development Conference, held July 18 in New York. Sneddon also became a member of the 2025-26 Law School Admission Council Assessment Committee.
Scott Titshaw, associate dean for faculty research and development and professor of law, gave the panel presentation “Complex Naturalization Issues” at the American Immigration Lawyers Association annual national conference. He also presented “Comparative Sexual Orientation Law: Data for a Developing Discipline” at the symposium at the Grotius Centre for International Legal Studies at the Universiteit Leiden in the Netherlands.
School of Medicine
Dr. Hana Mohammad Abualadas, assistant professor in the pathology and clinical sciences education department, published the case report “Beyond Sutures: Moist Exposed Burn Ointment (MEBO) and Scar Massage for Anatomical Restoration of Penetrating Upper Lip Laceration at the Vermilion-Cutaneous Junction in Primary Care” in Clinical Medicine Insights: Case Reports in September.
Dr. Yahya A. Acar, assistant professor and director of medical simulation, and Dr. Robert Sarlay Jr., assistant professor and pathology and clinical sciences department vice chair, co-authored the research article “Aseptic Non-Touch Technique Training for Ultrasound Guided Difficult Peripheral Vascular Access: A Prospective Randomized Study,” published in The Journal of Vascular Access. The multi-institutional study, conducted with colleagues Doğan Özen, Gökhan Arkaz, Kürşat Gümüş, Samsun Lampotang, Nikolaus Gravenstein, Chris Samouce, David Lizdas, Arvin W. Trippensee and Yavuz Katirci, evaluated the effectiveness of simulator-based repetitive training on aseptic non-touch IV placement using an ultrasound-guided peripheral vascular access simulator. The findings demonstrated significant improvements in physicians’ vascular access success rates and knowledge acquisition, highlighting the value of simulation-based education in emergency medicine and medical training.
Dr. Jennifer Barkin, professor of community medicine and OBGYN, had her scientific body of work featured in the International Business Times and the Science Times. She will also be featured in a “Top 10 Women Dominating Their Industries” list on MSN.
Dr. Donald E. Carter III, assistant professor of bioethics and professionalism in the bioethics and medical humanities department, was selected as a 2025-26 Hastings Center Sadler Scholar. The scholars are a select group of doctoral students and early-career professionals interested in bioethics research careers. For the 2025-26 cohort, they invited new applications from doctoral students from any field whose bioethics research focuses on the ethical, legal and social implications of human genomics. The Center also created a new opportunity for project-focused mentoring, open to Sadler Scholars from previous cohorts. Dr. Carter was also a 2022-23 scholar.
Dr. Ilana Chefetz, associate professor of pharmacology, presented “How to Win the Ovarian Cancer Stem Cell Battle: Destroying the Roots” as part of the webinar “Advancement in Precision Medicine for Overcoming Cancer Drug Resistance.” Aditya Deveri Vayalapalli, an undergraduate student in Dr. Chefetz’s lab, presented “DAVID Analysis Suggests Novel Chemoresistance Pathways In Ovarian Cancer” as part of the third International Electronic Conference on Biomedicines.
Dr. Raghavan Chinnadurai, assistant professor in the biomedical sciences department, co-authored the article “A Myeloid Lineage Signifying Anti-Tumor Necrosis Factor Resistance in Crohn’s Disease” in Cellular and Molecular Gastroenterology and Hepatology.
Dr. Ahmed Eltokhi, assistant professor in the biomedical sciences department, participated in the Interstellar initiative, where 24 early-career investigators were chosen in a highly competitive process to come together to build scientific projects to foster intercontinental collaboration. The initiative is supported by the New York Academy of Sciences and the Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development. Dr. Altoki was also invited to present “Gating Pore Current in Nav1.2 Mutations: Implications in Autism and Epilepsy” at the International Channelopathy Meeting, held Sept. 23-25 in Tübingen, Germany.
Dr. Edward C. Klatt, professor in the biomedical sciences department, served as a manuscript reviewer in September for BioMedCentral Medical Education.
Dr. Kim Meeks, director of the Skelton Medical Libraries, successfully defended her dissertation, “Factors Affecting Medical Student Attitudes Toward Rural Practice in Georgia,” at Missouri Baptist University. She also earned a Doctor of Education in higher education leadership.
Dr. Loraine Sumner, medical director of Mercer Medicine’s rural clinics, was elected a Fellow of the American College of Physicians, the society of internists. The distinction recognizes achievements in internal medicine, the specialty of adult medical care. Dr. Sumner was elected upon the recommendation of peers and the review of the American College of Physicians’ credentials subcommittee. She may now use the letters FACP after her name in recognition of this honor.
Dr. Yudan Wei, professor of community medicine, published the research article “Decreases in Serum α-Klotho Levels in Association With Levels of Regular Alcohol Drinking and Binge Drinking Among U.S. Adults” in the peer-reviewed journal Alcohol and Alcoholism. Class of 2026 medical students Dylan Fromm and Wonjun Billy Kim, who have worked with Dr. Wei for research since the summer of 2023, are co-authors of the article. Dr. Wei also gave the presentation “A possible link between paraben exposure and skin cancer: a cross-sectional analysis of a national data” at the 2025 Joint Annual Meeting of the International Society of Exposure Science and the International Society for Environmental Epidemiology in August. Class of 2027 medical student Carson Chambers, was a co-presenter of the research.
School of Music
Calista Anne Koch, harp instructor, was selected to co-conduct a 57-member ensemble concert, a collaboration with harpists from across Georgia, on Sept. 21 in Rowsell. “50 Harps in Concert, Celebrating Harmony in Nature” was a statewide project presented by the Georgia chapter of the American Harp Society. Koch serves as an officer for the organization, worked on the planning committee and was instrumental in choosing the music for the program. Two of her ensembles, the Middle Georgia Harp Ensemble and the Mercer Harp Ensemble, performed featured works. Koch not only conducted a portion of the concert but also arranged four of the works performed and adapted more than half of them for the ensemble, which included professionals, amateurs and students from across Georgia.
Dr. Nathan Myrick, assistant professor of church music and director of undergraduate studies, presented “Children, Neurodivergence, and Congregational Music” at the bi-annual Christian Congregational Music Conference in Oxford, England, on Aug. 6. Dr. Myrick also chaired the panel “Pain and Lament” at the same conference.
