College of Continuing and Professional Studies

Dr. Lynn Clemons, assistant professor of organization leadership and administrative chair for the Department of Counseling and Human Sciences, led the College of Continuing and Professional Studies' Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Leadership Development Series Certificate Ceremony held on Oct. 17 on Mercer's Atlanta campus. Dr. Clemons and Dr. Richard Bohannon, visiting professor and coordinator for the Organization Leadership Program, served as faculty for the series.

Dr. Priscilla Danheiser, interim dean and professor of psychology, is serving as guest reviewer for Innovative Higher Education, a publication of the University of Georgia's Institute of Higher Education. The journal, in its 33rd year of publication, is a refereed scholarly publication that presents descriptions and evaluations of innovations and provocative new ideas with relevance for action beyond the immediate context in higher education and that focuses on the effect of these innovations on teaching and students.

Dr. Clemons and Dr. David Lane, counseling program coordinator, led their respective programs as they hosted the National Wellness and Writing Connections Conference at the Administrative and Conference Center on the Atlanta campus on Oct. 10 and 11. More than 100 people from all over the country attended the conference that explores the connection between writing and wellness in the fields of medicine, psychotherapy, nursing, pastoral care, grief and healing.  Keynote addresses were delivered by two nationally know figures: Dr. Luciano L'Abate, and Margaret Edson, author of the Pulitzer Prize winning play "Wit."

Dr. Lane, and Dr. Donna Lane, adjunct faculty member in the College of Continuing and Professional Studies, presented "Writing as an Expression of Grief: A Faith-Based Experiencing" at the National Wellness and Writing Connections Conference on the Atlanta campus on Oct. 10 and 11. The presentation focused on how every individual experiences grief in his or her own way. For individuals of Christian faith, the grieving experience can be aided or hampered by their faith beliefs, depending on what those beliefs are. The presentation proposed writing as an expression of grief toward three parameters of surrender: letting go of the outcome, letting go of my will, and letting go of the individual.

College of Liberal Arts

Dr. Craig Byron, assistant professor of biology, organized a symposium with Kris Carlson at the 2008 meeting of the Society for Comparative and Integrative Biology.  The symposium was titled "Building a Better Organismal Model: The Role of the Mouse." The current issue of Integrative and Comparative Biology (48:3, September 2008) contains contributions to the symposium.  Dr. Byron was the lead author of one contribution (pg. 338-344) and the co-author of the introduction to the symposium (pg. 321-323).

Dr. Heather Bowman Cutway, assistant professor of biology, presented the "Introduction to Ecology" section of the Georgia Master Naturalist program in September.  The program is sponsored by the UGA Bibb County Cooperative Extension office.

Dr. John Marson Dunaway, professor of French and interdisciplinary studies and director of Mercer Commons, attended the conference of the American Literary Translators' Association in St. Paul, Minn., Oct. 16-18.  Dunaway also wrote a devotional published in "Monday Ministry Minutes," a weekly resource published online at http://www.facultylinc.com/local/mmm.nsf/.  The weekly publication is circulated via e-mail to Christian professors across the United States.  It is catalogued as No. 7 "The Death of A Vision."

Dr. Gordon Johnston, professor of English, wrote a poem titled "The Morning After Running the River."  The poem was featured on the Matthew's House Project Web site in September.  In early October, Johnston completed a poem, titled "102 America Street," that was commissioned by Mercer student Anitra Simmons. Simmons won the poem at the Empty Bowls benefit for local hunger relief in November 2007. The Empty Bowls project was organized and run by Mary Ann Drake's First Year Seminar class.

Dr. Eric Klingelhofer, professor of history, has published some results of his search for clues to Sir Walter Raleigh’s “Lost Colony" in an article with Ralf Birken and Uzi Baram titled, "Finding Lost Settlements with Multi-channel 3D GPR[ground penetrating radar]: Examples from North Carolina and Florida," pp. 42-50 in FastTimes 13: 3 (Sept. 2008). FastTimes is the peer-reviewed newsletter of the association of remote-sensing geophysicists.

Scot J. Mann, associate professor of communication and theatre arts, directed William Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” for Mercer Theatre. Presently, he is serving as fight director and guest lecturer for Georgia Perimeter College’s production of “Jekyll and Hyde.”  Mann has recently been chosen to serve on the Theatrical Firearms Safety Instructor Qualification Committee with The Society of American Fight Directors.

Dr. Andrew Silver, associate professor of English, gave a presentation on documentary theatre at the Crossroads Writers Conference in Macon on Oct. 4.

Dr. Anya Silver, associate professor of English, published a poem, titled "In the Eye of the Sparrow," in A Cup of Comfort for Breast Cancer Survivors (Adams Media 2008). Dr. Silver has also published a poem, "Blush," in the literary journal Crab Orchard Review (Summer/Fall 2008).  In October, she gave a poetry reading at the Crossroads Writer's Conference in Macon.

Dr. Bryan J. Whitfield, assistant professor of Christianity, published a chapter, titled "Pioneer and Perfecter: Joshua Traditions and the Christology of Hebrews," in A Cloud of Witnesses: The Theology of Hebrews in its Ancient Contexts, edited by Richard Bauckham, Daniel Driver, Trevor Hart and Nathan MacDonald (Library of New Testament Studies 387; London: T & T Clark, 2008).

Dr. Richard F. Wilson, Columbus Roberts Professor of Theology and chair of The Roberts Department of Christianity, participated in the Fall 2008 National Network Board meeting of the Lilly Fellows Program in Humanities and the Arts at Seattle Pacific University, Oct. 9-10. Dr. Wilson is in his first year of a four-year term as a national board member for the Lilly Fellows Program, a consortium of 90 church-related schools now in its 19th year.  The ninth annual workshop for Senior Administrators was held concurrent with the national board meetings, "Campus Diversity and Institutional Mission." Wilson attended plenary sessions of the workshop. Following the national network board meetings, Dr. Wilson participated in the 18th annual national conference: "Beauty: What's Justice Got to Do with It?" hosted by Seattle Pacific University. Wilson was an active participant in the plenary sessions and the discussion groups at the national conference.  For seven weeks in September and October, Dr. Wilson has been conducting an Adult Education Seminar, titled "An Overview of the Old Testament," at Vineville Baptist Church in Macon. The 14-hour seminar has included about 50 participants each week.

Dr. Fletcher Winston, assistant professor of sociology, accompanied six sociology majors to the Georgia Sociological Association Annual Meetings in St. Simons. Three of these students presented their research in paper sessions.  At the conference, ,Winston also participated in a panel discussion, "Experiential Learning: Best Practices, Novel Challenges, and Helpful Practices."

College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences

Dr. Lisa M. Lundquist, clinical assistant professor, and Justine S. Gortney, clinical assistant professor, published “Classroom incorporation and students’ perceptions of preparedness for oral examinations in a therapeutics course” in International Journal of Pharmacy Education and Practice 2008;4 (2):1-8. 

Dr. Leisa L. Marshall, clinical associate professor, published “OTC product: AcetaDrink” in Pharmacy Today.

Dr. Susan W. Miller, associate dean, and Dr. Hewitt W. Matthews, dean, published  “Overseeing the Accreditation Processes: ACPE and Regional Accreditation,” Chapter 15 in The Dean’s Compass, Practical Advice for Achieving Excellence, Chase, P.A., Hayes, B.E. and Yanchick, V.A., editors, American Association Colleges of Pharmacy, Alexandria Va., 2008.  Dr. Miller also published, “Developing Effective Communication Strategies,” Chapter 7 in The Dean’s Compass, Practical Advice for Achieving Excellence.

Dr. Nader H. Moniri, assistant professor, received a grant of $10,000 from the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy New Investigators Program for “Uncovering the molecular mechanisms behind 2-adrenergic receptor mediated generation of reactive oxygen species”.  Dr. Moniri also received a grant of $15,000 from the Diabetes Action Research Foundation for "The role of omega-3 fatty acids in regulation of GPR120 expression."  Dr. Moniri and Ph.D. student Rebecca L. Neal received a grant of $6,000 for “Pharmacological characterization of the recently discovered proinsulinotropic free fatty acid receptor GPR120,” from the American Foundation for Pharmaceutical Education.

Dr. Ravi Palaniappan, assistant professor, co-authored a paper, titled “Down regulation of anti-apoptotic protein and induction of cell death in radioresistant Human prostate adenocarcinoma cell line (PC-3) by methyl jasmonate,” for Cancer Letters 270 (2008) 277–285.

Dr. Gina Ryan, clinical assistant professor, Dr. Lynette Jobe, assistant professor, and Tim A. Briscoe published a paper, titled “Review of pramlintide as adjunctive therapy in treatment of type 1 and type 2 diabetes,” in Drug Design, Development and Therapy 2008:2 203-214.

Bradford W. Schwarz, director of the physician assistant program, published “A PA’s Expression of Gratitude” in Advance for Physician Assistants, April 2008.vol.16, no.4.

Dr. Chalet Tan, assistant professor, received a grant of $10,000 from the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy New Investigators Program for “Micellar Nanocarriers for targeted cancer therapy.”

Georgia Baptist College of Nursing

Mary Beerman, instructor and alumni board member, served as the program planning committee chair for the annual Alumni Day at Georgia Baptist College of Nursing on Oct. 17. The program was titled “Navigating Ethical and Legal Issues in a Changing Health Care Environment.”

Dr. Tanya Sudia-Robinson, professor, served as one of the featured speakers at the annual Alumni Day at Georgia Baptist College of Nursing on Oct. 17.  Robinsons’s presentation was titled "Exploring Ethical Dimensions of Nursing in the Current Morass of Health Care".

James and Carolyn McAfee School of Theology

Thomas B. Slater, professor of New Testament language and literature, had an article that first appeared in Notes on Translation 12 (1998), pp. 31-33, on how best to translate a phrase that recurs in Revelations 19:11, 21:5 and 22:6, was translated into French and has been included on the CD-ROM "Le pupitre du traducteur."  The CD-ROM is a non-commercial tool for Bible translators.  It includes Bibles, commentaries, dictionaries and various articles for translators working in French-speaking Africa. 

MERC

Dr. David Barwick, executive director, Paul Westcott, director of engineering, Dayton Operation, F. M. Barron, acting director of applied sciences, and Jim Hundley, manager of advanced programs, attended the Association of Old Crows International Symposium and Convention in Reno, N.V., Oct. 19-23.  Barron presented a paper at the poster session titled “Novel Signal Processing Solutions to EW Problems”.  The Association of Old Crows is an international professional organization headquartered in Alexandria, Va., specializing in electronic warfare, tactical information operations and related topics.

Gregory Todd, junior mechanical engineer, received an award from the Tennessee Section American Institute of Aeronautic and Astronautics for the USLI rocket launch competition he participated in last year with the Vanderbilt Aerospace Club. The AIAA Special Award was presented Oct. 23^, at the Arnold Lakeside Club, Arnold Air Force Base, Tennessee.

School of Engineering

Dr. Monika Bubacz, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, will be the principal investigator for an initial planning grant from the National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance to support the Mercer Entrepreneurship Engineering Education Program under the supervision of the Department of Mechanical Engineering. The planning grant could lead to a significant grant for the Schools entrepreneurship program.

Dr. Marjorie T. Davis, professor of technical communication, was a keynote speaker at the International Symposium on Assessment in Science and Engineering Education held at the University of Aizu, Japan. Her topic was "Integrating Technical Communication into Engineering Education." Mercer and Aizu University are in the process of establishing a partnership to allow students and faculty to study or teach abroad, participate in international projects or collaborate on research.

Dr. George Hayhoe, professor for technical communication and director of the MSTCO program, published "Why You Should Care About the New ISO User Documentation Standard," the cover story in the November 2008 issue of Intercom, the magazine of the Society for Technical Communication. Hayhoe served as the co-editor of ISO 26514, Requirements for Designers and Developers of User Documentation, published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) last June. He is a member of the ISO working group responsible for developing standards for systems and software engineering documentation that will meet in Nanning, China, Nov. 4-6.  Hayhoe also presented "Knowledge Management 101" at the Oct. 21 meeting of the Atlanta chapter of the Society for Technical Communication. The session explored the basic concepts and methods of knowledge management, concentrating on organizing and leveraging communities of practice, creating organization "yellow pages" and implementing best practices systems.

Dr. Scott Schultz, associate professor of industrial engineering, and Dr. Paul MacNeil, associate professor of software engineering, co-authored and presented a paper, titled "Scheduling Radar Warning Receivers using Simulation and Meta-Heuristics,” at the 2008 Huntsville Simulation Conference.  Master's students Eric Mullenax, Dontel Newton and Michael Swift were also co-authors on this paper, which presented parts of their research. 

School of Medicine

Dr. Daniel V. Hagan, professor of anesthesiology, who was recently elected president of Mercer's Chapter of Sigma Xi, scientific research society, published an invited research paper "Bionomics of bloodsucking midges (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae: Culicoides) in the coastal plain of Georgia, USA.”  The paper was co-authored with Deborah S. Brickle and Sturgis McKeever and originally published in the Russian Entomological Journal, volume 17(1): pp. 41-61, 2008.  The paper was published in a Festschrift volume in honor of the life and research contributions of Dr. Valentina M. Glukhova (1928-2007) world-renowned scientist with the Zoological Institute, St. Petersburg, Russia.

Dr. Harold Katner, professor of internal medicine and chief of infectious diseases, received the first "Dr. Harold P. Katner AIDS Hero Award,” presented by the Association of Informed and Dedicated Sisters (AIDS) Organization. This was an organization inspired and promoted by Eclameus Ricks, the Bibb County Health Director.

Dr. Steve Livingston, director/associate professor of the Family Therapy program of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, co-presented "Utilizing Decision-making Models to Solve Ethical Dilemmas" at the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy Annual Conference in Memphis, Tenn., Oct. 31.  Dr. Livingston also co-presented "Dealing with the Stress and Emotional Reactivity of Patients and Families", at the Piedmont Healthcare's Orthopeadic Conference "A Mixed Bag of Bones 2008" on Oct 24.

Dr. Sylvia Shellenberger, of the department of Family Medicine, and Argentine colleagues, gave seven presentations to medical students, residents and practitioners in family medicine and general medicine in Argentina in September. She gave three of these presentations at the national family and general medicine conference in Santiago Del Estero, Argentina. Other presentations were at medical schools and training programs in Buenos Aires, Argentina.  Topics included screening and brief intervention for alcohol abuse, suicide evaluation in primary care, motivational interviewing in a case of substance abuse and a brief model for assisting primary care patients with their personal difficulties.

Dr. Robert D. Shuman, clinical associate professor of community medicine; Dr. Alan Dever, former chair of community medicine, and Dr. W. Patrick Roche, associate professor of family medicine, co-authored a paper, titled “Understanding Intimate Partner Violence Against Women in the Rural South.”  The article was published in Violence and Victims in October.  Research for the article was supported in part by the Medcen Foundation in Macon.  Former medical students Lauri Wilkes (EGR ’04) and Amy Moore (EGR ’06) contributed to the project, which involved shelters in Macon.

Dr. Qian Wang, assistant professor of anatomy, along with Dr. Craig Byron, assistant professor of biology in CLA, and other collaborators, published “Surface strain on bone and sutures in a monkey facial skeleton: an in vitro approach and its relevance to Finite Element Analysis”, and “Craniofacial strain patterns during premolar loading: Implications for human evolution”, in book “Primate Craniofacial Function and Biology, Development in Primatology Series,” Springer, N.Y.

Staff and Administration

Michelle Currie, director of Federal TRIO programs and doctoral student in Mercer's Educational Leadership program, received a graduate student travel grant to attend the 2008 Southern Association of Colleges and School Commission on Colleges annual meeting in December.

Tony Kemp, associate director of academic and advising services, was elected for another four-year term as grand vice president of Phi Eta Sigma National Honor Society at the organization's national workshop in Louisville, Ky.  Along with other members of the executive committee, Kemp works to promote the honor society and support the organization's college/university chapters across the United States. 

Dr. C. Jay Pendleton, vice provost of academic services and director of the Office of Academic and Advising Services, presented a paper, titled "Academic Preparation Programs," at the National Academic Advising Association’s national conference in October.

Stetson School of Business and Economics

C. Terry Grant, professor of accounting, co-authored an article published in the September issue of Strategic Finance that examines regulatory attempts to curb excessive CEO compensation.  The article illustrates that since 1992 median growth in CEO compensation for S&P 500 companies has far outpaced median growth in both net income and operating cash flows.  Regulatory attempts by Congress and the Securities and Exchange Commission, as well as standard setting by the FASB, have been ineffective in controlling executive compensation.  As a result, corporate governance advocates are trying to get their voices heard by approving non-binding "say-on-pay" votes.

Dr. Arthur Rutledge, associate professor of management, and Dr. Faye Sisk, director of graduate programs and associate professor of management, co-authored "Strategies for Managing Organizational Politics to Optimize the Quality Chain Through Total Quality Management (TQM)," which was published in the September 2008 issue of Ethics & Critical Thinking Journal.

Tift College of Education

Dr. Richard Binkney, assistant professor, and seniors Jennifer Jenkins and Dana Flanagan presented an interactive workshop, titled "Keep the Content Connected," at the Future Educators Association - Georgia 2008 Fall Conference on Oct. 7, at the Classic Center, Athens.  As future Georgia educators, current middle grades and high school students were exposed to the best practices for connecting the content areas into the middle grades curriculum.  Students collaborated in small groups to develop an integrated instructional unit that incorporated diversified instruction and cultural diversity.

Dr. William Lacefield, associate professor of mathematics education, wrote an instructor's guide to accompany the textbook, "Helping Children Learn Mathematics," by Reys, et.al., published by Wiley Publishers.  Lacefield recently attended the "Influential Mathematics Teachers" conference, sponsored by the United Kingdom's National Center for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics, held Oct. 6-7 in London, England.  He was the only mathematics teacher from the United States to attend.  At the conference, Dr. Lacefield presented ideas for using children's literature to teach mathematics concepts.  Additionally, Dr. Lacefield and 16 graduate students presented "Linking the Mathematics Georgia Performance Standards to Literature: A Winning Decision" at the annual conference of the Georgia Council of Teachers of Mathematics, held Oct. 15-17 at Rock Eagle Conference Center in Eatonton.

Dr. Clemmie B. Whatley, assistant professor, was honored with a giving level named for her by the Georgia Tech Black Alumni Organization Scholarship Program.  Whatley was recognized for her leadership as one of the first two black female graduates from Georgia Tech in 1973.

Dr. Dana H. Lilly, professor, Henry County Regional Academic Center, conducted a presentation titled “Using Digital Photography and Technology to Support Early Literacy” at the Georgia Association on Young Children 42nd Annual Conference in Atlanta, Oct. 10.

Dr. Karen H. Michael, associate professor, presented a lecture to the Douglasville community, titled “Why We Teach To Kill a Mockingbird Today?,” at the Douglas County Public Library on Oct. 8.  Dr. Michael also presented two workshops at the Cultural Arts Center in Douglasville for The Big Read. The workshops focused on six activities for high school students reading the book, To Kill a Mockingbird. Teaching artists and high school English teachers attended the workshops to infuse the arts and literacy instruction. The Big Read was established by the National Education Association (NEA), in partnership with the Institute of Museum and Library Services, Arts Midwest, and the National Endowment of the Arts. The Big Read encourages literary reading by asking communities to come together to read a single book.  Modeled on successful "one book, one community" programs, the Big Read was created to address the national decline in literary reading as documented in the NEA's 2004 landmark survey, "Reading at Risk:  A Survey of Literary Reading In America."  The survey showed that less than half the American adult population read literature. 

Dr. Margaret Morris, professor of early childhood education; Dr. William Lacefield, associate professor of Mathematics education and Carolyn Garvin, assistant professor of education, presented "Nurturing Transformation through Comparative Mathematics Education" at the annual conference of the Georgia Association of Mathematics Teacher Educators, held Oct. 15 at Rock Eagle Conference Center in Eatonton.

Townsend School of Music

Andres Diaz, cellist and distinguished artist of the McDuffie Center for Strings, performed with Andres Cardenes, concertmaster of the Pittsburgh Symphony, and Roberto Diaz, violist and president of the Curtis Institute of Music, on the Macon campus, Sept. 29. The three are members of the Diaz Trio. In addition to the recital, the trio gave master classes and coached student ensembles.

Martha Malone, professor, chair of vocal studies and director of Mercer University Opera, performed in “Cabaret: Laughing at Love!” at Cox Capitol Theatre in Macon, Sept. 6.  Malone was assisted by pianist Jean E. Roberts and Marcus Reddick, assistant professor, percussion.  Malone also organized, hosted and performed in “From Bach to Bluegrass: a Concert for the Cure” at Neva Langley Fickling Recital Hall on the Macon campus, Oct. 7. This musical variety show featured Mercer faculty members and other local musicians. All proceeds benefited the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation for breast cancer research and education. On Oct. 18, Malone served as a clinician for an educational workshop, titled “Opera for Young Audiences and Young Performers: Resources for Getting Kids Involved,” for college student members of the Georgia Chapter of Collegiate Music Educators National Conference.  The workshop was part of a one-day conference organized by Mercer professor Dr. Douglas Hill, and held at the McCorkle music building.

Robert McDuffie, Distinguished University Professor of Music, and Lavena Johanson, sophomore and cellist in the McDuffie Center for Strings, performed at Symphony Hall In the Woodruff Arts Center, Oct. 10. McDuffie, who received an encore to his Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto, performed the last movement of Ravel’s Sonata with Johanson. The concert was Johanson's first Introduction to the Atlanta Symphony audience. McDuffie also performed and spoke about the Center for Strings at the Rotary Club of Macon on Sept. 29.

Amy Schwartz Moretti, associate professor of music and director of the Robert McDuffie Center for Strings and Caroline Paul King violin chair, performed with the Center String Orchestra at the Rotary Club of Macon on Sept. 29.

Elizabeth Pridgen, piano chair of the McDuffie Center for Strings, assisted Amy Schwartz Moretti at the Macon Morning Music Club, Oct. 9, with students from the Center. Moretti and Pridgen performed Massenet’s Meditation from Thais.  Pridgen also assisted Moretti and freshman violinist Christie Lopez in their performance of the Bach Double Concerto, II.  Sophomores Lavena Johanson, cellist, and Joelle Arnhold, violist, presented the Rebecca Clarke Duo.

Julie Poole, coordinator of center library services and instructor in the division of Library Services, co-presented a round table discussion, titled "Writing Center/Library Collaboration for Student Achievement," at the 2008 Georgia Council of Media Organizations Conference held in Athens, Oct. 15-17. Her co-presenter was Andrea Stanfield of the University of West Georgia.  Poole will also serve as chair of the Reference Services Interest Group of the Georgia Library Association for fiscal year 2008-2009.