Dr. Richard R. Bohannon, visiting assistant professor of organization leadership, was invited to the sixth annual Tropical Institute of Community Health and Development's Scientific Conference in Kisumu, Kenya from April 29 - May 2. The conference theme is “Revitalization of Primary Health Care” and has three sub-themes.  Dr. Bohannon will be the keynote speaker for one of the sub-themes, “Community Strategy: Enhancing Stewardship in Strengthening Health Systems.” The conference has attendees from several universities in Europe, Canada, the United States and Africa, as well as many non-governmental organizations. After the conference has concluded, Dr. Bohannon will remain in Kisumu and teach a course on leadership, strategic planning and human resource development at the Great Lakes University of Kisumu during the month of May.  He will also be the speaker at the graduation ceremony at the University during his visit.

Dr. Caroline Brackette, visiting assistant professor, Dr. Diane Clark, assistant professor and Dr. Karen Rowland, assistant professor, attended the Georgia School Counselors Association Region VI Spring Meeting on March 13. Dr. Rowland also served as a member of the "Think Tank" panel addressing the topic "Advocacy, Assessment and Accountability."

Dr. Lynn Clemons, assistant professor of organization leadership and interim administrative chair for the Department of Counseling and Human Sciences, and Dr. Priscilla Danheiser, dean, served as panelists for the Leadership Douglas Education Day held on March 5 at West Central Technical College.  Dr. Clemons and Dr. Danheiser presented and served on the panel, along with representatives of the University of West Georgia, Strayer University in Douglas and West Central Technical College.

Dr. Tim Craker, associate professor of comparative literature and philosophy, traveled to Guatemala in order to add an extra component to the Mercer on Mission course he is conducting with Dr. Fred Bongiovanni this summer. Dr. Craker also worked to set up connections and develop plans for his forthcoming proposal for Certificates in Transcultural Communication and Transcultural Leadership.

Dr. Karen Lacey, assistant professor of English, received word from the European Association of Teachers of Academic Writing that it had accepted her proposal to research best practices for incorporating strategies for reading pedagogy into the teaching of writing as we make the shift to Online classes. Dr. Lacey will deliver the paper at EATAW's gathering June 28 – July 2 at the University of Coventry, Great Britain.

Dr. Karen Rowland and Dr. Diane Clark, assistant professors, were guest speakers for the Savannah Chatham County Elementary School Counselors' meeting on Feb. 20. The interactive presentation, "RAMPing Up Your School Counseling Program," provided hands-on learning on how to prepare a comprehensive developmental school counseling program based on the American School Counselor Association national model to received recognition as a Recognized ASCA Model Program (RAMP).

Dr. Julie Beier, assistant professor of mathematics, Dr. Jeff Denny, associate professor of mathematics, Dr. Keith Howard, associate professor of mathematics and Dr. Carolyn Yackel, associate professor of mathematics, organized the Third Biennial Mercer University Undergraduate Research in Mathematics Conferences on Feb. 21. The Department of Mathematics hosted the conference. The conference was held in collaboration with the Georgia Mathematical Association of America Luncheon. The conference and state lunch were partially funded by a National Science Foundation grant through the MAA Regional Undergraduate Mathematics Conference program. There were 73 participants including 44 undergraduate students and 29 faculty representing the 14 schools. Seven students presented undergraduate research talks and 12 teams of three participated in a mathematics competition. 

Dr. Jamie Cockfield, professor of history, has been invited to submit two articles for Blackwell’s Encyclopedia of War.  One is the entry on the Russian General A. A. Brusilov and the other is on America’s first Black military aviator, Eugene Bullard. Dr. Cockfield will also be reading a paper at the Southern Slavic Convention, titled "Paul Miliukov, the Union Sacree and the Rebellion of the Left Kadets, 1914-1917.” Dr. Cockfield has been invited to be the guest speaker at the writers' luncheon of the Association of University Women in April.

Craig Coleman, associate professor of art, is exhibiting art in outer space as part of a micro-scale Space Art Exhibition. The exhibition was organized by Tohoku University, Japan, which has developed a small satellite, named SPRITE-SAT, that launched on Jan. 21. The primary mission of the satellite is to collect information on lightening phenomena above the cloud layers, in addition, using this opportunity it was also the first art exhibition in outer space. Forty digital drawings were submitted from artists from 14 countries. These art pieces were miniaturized and fabricated on a silicon wafer using photolithography and dry-etching technology. The art pieces are exhibited in orbit attached on the top of an antenna boom on the top of the satellite. The works are also exhibited on dedicated Web pages:

http://www.astro.mech.tohoku.ac.jp/SpaceArt/spritesat_gallery/spritesat_gallery_e.html

http://www.astro.mech.tohoku.ac.jp/SpaceArt/e/index.html

http://www.astro.mech.tohoku.ac.jp/SPRITE-SAT/index_e.html

Dr. John Marson Dunaway, professor of French and interdisciplinary studies and director of Mercer Commons, organized and presided at the Fifth Annual Building the Beloved Community Symposium, Feb 17-18, with keynote speakers, the Rev. Dr. Emmanuel L. McCall of McAfee School of Theology and Dr. Robert D. Lupton of FCS Urban Ministries. The largest attendance in the event's history included more than 200 Mercer faculty, staff and students, as well as local pastors and religious leaders.

Dr. Tom Glennon, the Reg Murphy Professor of Leadership, delivered a address, titled "Ethics of Service," to the American Society of Military Comptrollers Middle Georgia Chapter at the Museum of Aviation, March 4.

Scot J. Mann, assistant professor and theatre director, served as guest artist at Georgia College and University where he choreographed swordplay for The Rover. In Macon, he staged swordplay and violence for Theatre Macon’s production of Macbeth, directed by Jim Crisp. Mann also traveled to Chicago where he taught a master class in Theatrical Violence at Northwestern University, before returning to Georgia and choreographing Romeo and Juliet for Gainesville State College.

Dr. Gary A. Richardson, Benjamin W. Griffith Jr. Professor of English and chair of the English Department, delivered a paper, titled “Knockabout Nationalism: The Ideological Subtext of Sheridan’s St. Patrick’s Day,” at the annual meeting of the Southeast American Society of Eighteenth Century Studies in Charlotte, N.C., March 7-9.

Dr. Charlotte Thomas, chair of the department of philosophy, chaired a session of the 2009 annual meeting of the Metaphysics Society titled, "The Being of Imagination's Motions in Aristotle and Saussure: Imagining's Way with Words" at Emory University in Atlanta March 13-15.  Dr. Thomas also presented the annual address to the Great Books Seniors titled, "Returning Yourself" at the Great Books Program Junior/Senior Banquet, March 17.

Dr. Carolyn Yackel, associate professor of mathematics, gave two invited talks March 4-5 at St. Mary's College of Maryland, titled "Embroidering Geometry onto a Styrofoam Ball" and "Eight Coloring Pants--Why, How and Will they be Cool or Ugly."

Marian Zielinski, professor of theatre, received a third place award in the Middle Georgia Art Association's Annual Juried 2-Dimensional and 3-Dimensional Show for her fiber piece titled, "Currents," which was on exhibit in the gallery Feb. 20 – March 13.

College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences

Dr. Justine S. Gortney, clinical assistant professor, co-authored with Dr. Julie Kissack, and A. Fagan “Neuroleptic malignant syndrome secondary to quetiapine” in Annals of Pharmacotherapy 2009; 43.

Dr. Diane L. Nykamp, professor, and Allison M. Bell, a student, published “Hypertension: Focus on olmesartan medoxomil” in Clinical Medicine Therapeutics 2009; 1: 1-9.

McAfee School of Theology

Dr. Brett Younger, associate professor of preaching, was a speaker at the conference, "Faith, Doubt and the Media," at Elon University, Elon, N. C., on March 9.  Dr. Younger's presentation was titled "Reel Religion: Faith and Doubt at the Movies."  He also served on a panel that included Leonard Pitts of The Miami Herald and Yonat Shimron of The Raleigh News & Observer.

Donald “Sonny” Johnston, a senior logistician in the Logistics Services Division, recently received his Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM) Level 2 Certification.  This certifies that Sonny may lead or conduct an analysis effort and may train others to conduct RCM analyses. The NAVAIR certification Program is highly recognized in the field of reliability centered maintenance.

Douglas Duston, principal mechanical engineer, was presented an award on Feb. 27 by Major Gen. Polly Peyer, the commander of the Warner Robins Air Logistics Center, for his work in completing the C-130 Propeller Hub process.

Jane Bridges, associate director of the library at the School of Medicine's Savannah Campus published an article, titled "Moving a Hospital Library," in the Spring 2009 issue of Medical Reference Services Quarterly.

Dr. Steven House, assistant professor of family medicine, has been accepted into a palliative medicine mini-fellowship, which will run May to November, at Harvard Medical School.

Dr. Edward C. Lauterbach, founding director emeritus of Mercer’s Center for Translational Studies in Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and Neurodegenerative Disease and professor of psychiatry and neurology, spoke on "The Neuropsychiatry Of Brain Disease" at the Pilot Club International and Disability Connections symposium in Macon on March 18.

Dr. J. Paul Seale, professor in the Department of Family Medicine, Dr. Sylvia Shellenberger, professor in the Department of Family Medicine, and several co-authors, published an article titled, “Applying team-based learning in primary care residency programs to increase patient alcohol screenings and brief interventions,” that was published in the journal Academic Medicine 2009; 84(3):340-6.

Dr. W. Douglas Skelton, dean emeritus of medicine and public health director of Georgia's Coastal Health District, will be the 2009 commencement speaker for the University of Georgia College of Public Health during the May 7 graduation in Athens. Dr. Skelton serves as a member of the College of Public Health Advisory Board.

Dr. Zhongbiao Wang, assistant professor of surgery, and co-investigators Dr. Lingwei Kong, Dr. Jing Kang, Dr. Joe H. Morgan, Dr. Sam D. Shillcutt, Dr. Joe S. Robinson and Dr. Don K. Nakayama, published a research article, titled "Thrombin stimulates mitogenesis in pig cerebrovascular smooth muscle cells involving activation of pro-matrix metalloproteinase-2,"  in Neuroscience Letters Feb. 27; 451(3):199-203.

Dr. Wallace L. Daniel, provost and professor of history, wrote an article, titled "Father Aleksandr Men and the Struggle to Recover Russia's Heritage," which was published in Demokratizatsiya 17, No. 1 (Winter 2009): 73-91. Dr. Daniel also wrote a review of “The Holy Place: Archeology, Ideology, and History in Russia,” co-authored by Konstantin Akinsha and Grigorij Kozlov (with Sylvia Hochfield), Journal of Ecclesiastical History 60, No. 1 (January 2009): 192-93.

Dr. Scott A. Beaulier, chair and assistant professor of economics, was named associate editor of the African Journal of Political Science and International Relations. 

Dr. Linda L. Brennan, professor of management in the School of Business, presented "Is it Social Entrepreneurship?" at the MBAA International Conference in Chicago on March 19.

Dr. Etienne Musonera, assistant professor of marketing, co-authored and presented two papers at the Federation of Business Disciplines Annual Conference held in Oklahoma City, Okla., Feb. 25-28. The first paper titled, “Empirical Analysis of World Class Manufacturing Best Practices in Sub-Saharan Africa”, and the second paper titled, “Out-Shopping Behavior Influences in Emerging Markets: A Review of Literature,” have been published in the Southwest Review of International Business Research (AIBSW Conference Proceedings), Vol. 20, No. 1, February 2009.  Dr. Musonera also co-authored and presented two papers at the MBAA International Annual Conference held in Chicago, March 18-20. The papers, titled “Determinants of Rural Out-Shopping Behavior in Developing Countries” and “Quality in Telecommunications Industries: The Case of Terracom,” have been published in the Academy of International Business-Midwest Conference Proceedings, Vol. XXIII, March 2009.  Dr. Musonera was also elected co-editor of the Journal of International Business Research and Practice, which is the official publication of the Academy of the International Business-U.S. Midwest Chapter and is listed in Cabell’s.

Tift College of Education

Dr. William Lacefield, associate professor of mathematics education, published "The Power of Representation: Graphs and Glyphs in Data Analysis Lessons for Young Learners" in the February 2009 issue of Teaching Children Mathematics, a journal of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.

Dr. Margaret Morris, professor of education, Carolyn Garvin, assistant professor of education and Dr. William Lacefield, associate professor of mathematics education, presented "Broadening the Inclusive Lens through Multiple Experiences" at the annual conference of the Association of Teacher Educators, held in February in Dallas, Texas.

Dr. Peter Ross, associate professor, was invited to present an in-service workshop for faculty at Hopewell Middle School titled, “Instructional and Behavioral Strategies for Students with Problems in Attention, Hyperactivity, and Impulse Control” on Feb. 25.

Dr. Wynnetta Scott-Simmons, assistant professor, recently published a chapter in an edited volume of Research for Social Justice, titled “Personal, Passionate, Participatory: Inquiry into Social Justice in Education.” Dr. Scott-Simmons was invited to present the research from the book chapter, “Self, Other, and Jump Rope Communities: The Triumphs of African American Women” at the latest Gender and Education Association Conference held at the University of London in England.

Amy Schwartz Moretti, associate professor and director of the McDuffie Center for Strings, served as guest concertmaster with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and music director Robert Spano, performing Haydn’s The Creation, in Symphony Hall, Woodruff Arts Center, Atlanta, Feb. 26 and 28.  She also performed for the Georgia Military College Steinway Society Concert Series, Goldstein Center for the Performing Arts, Milledgeville, Feb. 20, with Robert McDuffie, distinguished university professor of music, Elizabeth Pridgen, distinguished artist and piano chair of the McDuffie Center and the Center String Orchestra.  Center students Conrad Thomas, Megan Ganyard, Mariechristine Lopez, Elaine Shin, Lily Squires, Elizabeth Ehrlich, Karl Mitze and Miranda Henne performed in small chamber ensembles.

Laura M. Botts, assistant professor and head of special collections at Jack Tarver Library, presented a paper at the 2009 Georgia Baptist Historical Society meeting at Mercer on March 27.  Her topic was "'A High and Noble Calling:' The Life of Jacob Horace Smith, Jr."

Walter F. George School of Law

Linda Berger, professor, recently launched, along with Jack Sammons, professor, an e-Journal of Law and Rhetoric Abstracts on the Social Science Research Network. Professor Berger’s article "How Embedded Knowledge Structures Affect Judicial Decision Making: An Analysis of Metaphor, Narrative, and Imagination in Child Custody Disputes," is forthcoming. In January, Berger organized the "Law and Rhetoric: Legal Writing through a Rhetorical Lens" workshop held in San Diego in conjunction with the Association of American Law Schools.

Jim Fleissner, professor, was solicited by the editorial board of Judicature magazine to write an editorial for the board concerning the need to reinvigorate the U.S. Department of Justice. The editorial, titled "A Rescue Plan for the Justice Department," was published in the January-February edition of Judicature.

David Hricik, professor, recently presented a live, interactive teleconference on ethical issues arising from technology for the Virginia Bar Association. 

Harold Lewis Jr., professor, recently had an article, "The Contours of a New FRCP, Rule 68.1:  A Proposed Two-Way Offer of Settlement Provision for Federal Fee-Shifting Cases," co-authored with Thomas A. Eaton, published at 252 Federal Rules Decisions 551 (2008). The article appeared in January among the Top 10 downloaded civil litigation pieces on SSRN. It was also the first selection in the Southeast Association of Law Schools' 2009 "Call for Papers" competition.

Jennifer Sheppard, assistant professor, recently had an article, titled "The 'Write' Way: A Judicial Clerk's Guide to Writing for the Court," published in the University of Baltimore Law Review.

Suzianne D. Painter-Thorne, assistant professor, recently had an article, "The Seven Virtues of Appellate Brief Writing: An Update From The Bench," co-written with Harry Pregerson of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, published in the Southwestern Law Review.

Michael Sabbath, professor and the Southeastern Bankruptcy Law Institute/Walter Homer Drake, Jr. Endowed Chair in Bankruptcy Law, presented a paper, titled "Student Loans in Chapter 7 and Chapter 13" at the 15th Annual Mid-South Conference on Bankruptcy Law in Tunica, Miss., on Feb. 6.