College of Continuing and Professional Studies
Dr. Brenda Callahan, assistant professor of community counseling, hosted the annual site supervisors conference for the College of Continuing and Professional Studies graduate program on April 24 at the Atlanta Administration and Conference Center on the Cecil B. Day Graduate and Professional Campus. The conference supports the relationship between the Counseling Program and area counseling agencies that host Mercer students for practicum and internship field experiences and was attended by agencies from around the metro Atlanta area.
Dr. Lynn Clemons, assistant professor in the Department of Counseling and Human Sciences and program coordinator for Organization Leadership, and Maryellen Potts, assistant professor in the Department of Liberal Studies, presented at the North Carolina State Undergraduate Assessment Symposium April 25-27 in Cary, N.C. The presentation, “Culture of Success: Assessing Working Adult Students,” chronicled the development, implementation, and use of results of assessment methodology to improve student writing, deepen student learning and encourage student success in the College of Continuing and Professional Studies.
College of Liberal Arts
Dr. Craig Byron, assistant professor of biology, reviewed a grant proposal for the National Science Foundation.
Dr. Kevin Bucholtz, assistant professor of chemistry, and four undergraduate students presented their research at the 2008 Herty Medalist Undergraduate Research Symposium at Morehouse University, on March 28. Emilianne McCrannie and Alex Ford presented their research poster, “Development and Automation of a Synthesis of Potential PPAR delta Ligands,” and Ross Terrell and Jancy Parkerson presented their work, “Conformational Analysis and /in silico/ Docking of Trilostane and Analogs with 3b -HSD1.” Terrell and Parkerson were awarded honorable mention for their poster.
Dr. Heather Bowman Cutway, assistant professor of biology, attended the Georgia Botanical Society Annual Spring Wildflower Pilgrimage in Statesboro, Ga., April 4-6. Cutway also attended the annual meeting for the Georgia chapter of the American Chestnut Society on April 19 to gather information about Mercer becoming a chestnut demonstration site.
Dr. Jeff Denny, associate professor of mathematics, gave a talk, entitled “Using Programming to Complement the Teaching of Proofs in a Discrete Mathematics Course,” at the Mathematical Association of America Southeastern Section Meeting at The Citadel on March 28.
Dr. Linda Hensel, associate professor of biology, received a $37,654 grant from LI-COR Biosciences Genomics Education Matching Funds program for an automated DNA sequencing system and supplies. The system will be used in undergraduate laboratory courses and research programs.
Dr. John Marson Dunaway, professor of French and interdisciplinary studies and director of Mercer Commons, organized a lecture, hosted and co-sponsored by the CLA Department of Art, on campus by well-known painter Jonathan Green on April 2. Dunaway delivered a paper, entitled “Mother Teresa’s Darkness and God’s Silence in Simone Weil,” at the American Weil Society’s annual colloquy at the University of Toronto on April 26. He hosted a lecture on the Macon campus by Navajo Code-Talker Keith Little on April 18, as a part of the 10th Annual Ethnic Awareness Events. Dunaway chaired a session at the Southeastern Conference on Christianity and Literature at Wingate University (N.C.) on April 12. The national Conference on Christianity and Literature also appointed him a member of the Nominating Committee.
Dr. Tia L. Gafford, assistant professor of English, had three entries accepted in the Oxford Encyclopedia of African-American History 1896 – Present, including “Margaret Murray Washington,” “Leontyne Price” and the “Albany (Georgia) Civil Rights Movement.” She also lectured at Wal-Mart’s diversity training on the “Origins of African American Women’s Literature in the 19th Century.” She was guest lecturer via Web cam at Washington State University in Vancouver, Wash., on “Incidents in the Life of A Slave Girl,” by Linda Brent Jacobs.
Dr. Jonathan C. Glance, professor of English and director of the First Year Seminar Program, represented Georgia at the annual National Conference of Bar Examiners in Portland, Ore., April 3-6. He attended as a member of the Supreme Court of Georgia’s Board to Determine Fitness of Bar Applicants, which screens aspiring lawyers for issues of character and fitness to practice law.
Dr. Robert Hargrove, professor of chemistry, attended the 40th Annual meeting of the Liberian Studies Association at the University of Toledo, March 27-29. He presented an oral presentation, “The Challenges of Teaching Chemistry in Post-War Liberia: 1981 Versus 2006-07.”
Dr. Curtis Herink, professor of mathematics, presented “A Combinatorial Interpretation of a Modified Version of the Fibonacci Polynomials” at the 87th Annual Meeting of the Southeastern Section of the Mathematical Association of America, held March 28-29, at The Citadel in Charleston, S.C. He was also a participant in the short course “Mathematics and Social Justice” offered in conjunction with the meeting.
Dr. Keith Howard, associate professor of mathematics, was selected to serve on the advisory panel for the Interdisciplinary Training of Undergraduates in Biological and Mathematical Sciences Panel 2008, which met April 30-May 1 at the National Science Foundation. The official appointment is to a three-month term beginning two months before the panel date and ending one month after the panel.
Dr. Janell Johnson, assistant professor of Christianity, presented a paper, “The Pedagogical Possibilities of The Prophetic Imagination by Walter Brueggemann,” for the Society of Biblical Literature at the Southeastern Commission for the Study of Religion in Atlanta, in March 2008.
Dr. Ajaz Karim, assistant professor of earth and environmental science, published a paper, “Net Ecosystem Production in the Great Lakes Basin and its Implications for the North American Missing Carbon Sink: A Hydrologic and Stable Isotope Approach,” in the March 2008 issue of Global and Planetary Change. This volume is a special issue titled “Carbon Cycling and Hydrology in the Paleo-terrestrial Environments.”
Dr. Eric Klingelhofer, professor of history, has published a chapter, “Geophysics and the Search for Raleigh’s Outpost on Trinidad,” in Archaeology and Informatics: Case Studies from the Caribbean, University of Alabama Press, published in 2008.
Dr. Achim Kopp, associate professor of Latin and German, attended the 32nd Annual Symposium of the Society for German-American Studies in Williamsburg, Va., April 17-20. He presented a paper entitled “‘Wie soll mer’s s(c)hreiwe’: Three centuries of Pennsylvania German Orthography.” He also participated in the celebrations commemorating the 400th anniversary of the arrival of the first Germans at Jamestown, sponsored by the embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany and attended by Ambassador Klaus Scharioth.
Dr. Paul Lewis, associate professor of Christianity, attended the Integrative Designs for General Education and Assessment Conference, in Boston February 21-23. The American Association of Colleges and Universities organized the conference.
Dr. Mary Alice Morgan, director of Women’s and Gender Studies and professor of English, led a faculty development workshop on service-learning at Georgia College and State University on March 14. She also sponsored six WGS majors’ participation in the Southeastern Women’s Studies Association conference in Charlotte, N.C., April 3-5.
Dr. Randall Peters, professor of physics and chair of the Physics Department, published the first chapter, titled “Building on Old Foundations with New Technologies,” of Nova Publishers’ book, titled Science Education in the 21st Century (2008). Peters gave an invited paper with John Lee at the 4th International Conference and Exhibition on Device Packaging held by the International Microelectronics and Packaging Society at Scottsdale/Fountain Hill, Ariz.. The paper “A variant of the first fully-differential capacitive sensor for use in scanning probe microscopy applications to nano-fabrication” was presented in a micro-electro-mechanical session.
Dr. Yosálida C. Rivero-Zaritzky, assistant professor of Spanish and affiliated faculty of Women’s and Gender Studies, read the paper “The Feminine World in Almodóvar’s Volver” after the movie’s screening as part of the “Reel to Real – MAGA Film Series” that took place at the Cox Capitol Theatre, Macon, on March 2. She served as discussion leader of the paper “Diversity – A Challenge to the Nordic Care Regime?” presented by Stina Johansson from Umea University, Sweden, at the Oxford Round Table, United Kingdom, on March 24. She also presented the paper “Cultural Identities in Diaspora: Considering the Hispanic Case,” co-authored with Aaron L. Zaritzky, at the Oxford Round Table, United Kingdom, on March 26.
Dr. Anya Silver, associate professor of English, has published two poems: “Canticle of the Washing Machine” in the journal America on April 28 and “Good Friday” in Anglican Theological Review, Winter 2008.
Dr. Eric Spears, senior lecturer of geography and director of International Education, will publish a book review of Brett Benjamin’s Invested Interests: Capital, Culture, and The World Bank in the November 2008 issue of The Professional Geographer, the journal of the Association of American Geographers.
Dr. Margaret Symington, associate professor of mathematics, wrote two Teacher Quality Grants that were funded. Each grant supports a weeklong professional development workshop for teachers in Coffee County, which Symington will develop and facilitate in collaboration with Marsha Sanders-Leigh, an educator from Georgia Institute of Technology’s Center for Education Integrating Science, Mathematics and Computing. While on a trip to Cape Town, South Africa, to collaborate with a colleague, Symington gave a talk, titled “Exploiting Symmetry: The geometry of linkages and the spherical pendulum,” at the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences.
Dr. Richard F. Wilson, Columbus Roberts Professor of Theology and chair of the Christianity Department, gave the April 2008 Political Science Lecture: “Imagining a (Baptist) Theology of Creation Care.” He also offered a symposium at Carlyle Place in Macon, “Does this Tail Have a Dog? Searching for what Moves Politics and Religion.” Wilson participated in his first National Network Board meeting of the Lilly Fellows Program in Humanities and the Arts in Chicago, April 5-6. He was elected to the Program’s board in October 2007. Mercer is one of nearly 90 schools in the LFP network. The board includes a dozen members.
Marian Zielinski, professor of communication and theatre arts, won a second place award at the 2008 Middle Georgia Art Association’s Annual 2-D and 3-D juried show for her piece, titled “A Street in Rovereto.” She is also opening a one-person show featuring this work and other pieced, painted, quilted, and screen printed fiber works at the Art Gallery at Theatre Macon, April 11-26.
College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences
Dr. Martin D’Souza, professor, and Dr. Ravi Palaniappan, assistant professor, received a Collaboration Planning Grant from the Georgia Research Alliance for the “Evaluation of an Oral Encapsulated Melanoma Tumor Vaccine.” The $50,000 grant received by Mercer and Emory University, of which Mercer will receive $35,000, will enable the collaborators to develop and test the efficacy of melanoma vaccine formulations by a novel method of administering vaccines by oral route.
Dr. Michael W. Jann, professor; Dr. Chad M. VanDenBerg, clinical associate professor, along with G. E. Tsai, et. al., co-authored “Disposition of D-serine in healthy adults” in the Journal of Clinical Pharmacology, 2008; 48: 524-527.
Dr. Nader H. Moniri, assistant professor, presented “beta2-adrenergic receptor mediated generation of reactive oxygen species is a component required for signal transduction, desensitization, and homodimerization” at the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics - Experimental Biology Meeting in San Diego, Calif., April 6. Moniri also co-authored “Androgens transduce the G alpha-S-mediated activation of protein kinase A in prostate cells,” published in Cancer Research, May 2008, 68(9):3225-31.
Dr. Ravi Palaniappan, assistant professor, received a three-year National Institutes of Health R-15 grant totaling $291,315 to formulate oral vaccine and study the mucosal immune response and adjuvant effect of microspheres. The NIH funded Pneumonia vaccine formulation: PsaA and PspC protein vaccines, which are developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the University of Alabama-Birmingham and are currently in Phase I clinical trials, are formulated using microspheres for oral vaccines.
Georgia Baptist College of Nursing
Dr. Helen F. Hodges, professor; Ann C. Keeley, assistant professor, and Dr. Patricia J. Troyan, associate professor, wrote an article, entitled “Professional Resilience in Baccalaureate-Prepared Acute Care Nurses: First Steps,” for the March /April issue of Nursing Education Perspectives.
Dr. Julie Jones, instructor; Daphnee Stewart, instructor, and Dr. JoEllen Dattilo, associate dean for the Undergraduate Program and professor, have a paper accepted for presentation at the 2008 NLN Education Summit.
McAfee School of Theology
Dr. Alan Culpepper, dean, delivered the inaugural Ray Frank Robbins Lecture in New Testament at Samford University on March 27, on the topic, “The Death of Jesus in the Gospel of John.”
Dr. David P. Gushee, Distinguished University Professor of Christian Ethics, and the Rev. Charles F. Johnson, visiting instructor in preaching, were inducted into the Martin Luther King Jr. Collegium of Scholars on April 3 at the Martin Luther King Jr. Chapel at Morehouse College in Atlanta.
School of Engineering
Dr. Donald Ekong, assistant professor of computer engineering, published and presented a paper at the American Society for Engineering Education, Southeastern Section Conference in Memphis, Tenn., April 7. The paper was entitled “Cell Phones As Tools For Learning, Information, and Security on Our Campuses.”
Dr. Hodge Jenkins, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, published and presented a paper at the American Society for Engineering Education, Southeastern Section Conference in Memphis, Tenn., April 7. The paper was entitled “Hands-on Learning with Computer Simulation Modules for Dynamic Systems.”
Dr. Richard Kunz, associate professor of mechanical engineering, published and presented a paper, entitled “Connecting Industry Experience with Classroom Instruction,” at the American Society for Engineering Education Southeastern Section Conference in Memphis, Tenn., April 8.
Dr. Richard Kunz, associate professor of mechanical engineering, published and presented a paper entitled “The Influence of Women Engineers at Mercer University,” at the American Society for Engineering Education Southeastern Section Conference in Memphis, Tenn. Kunz wrote the paper with co-authors Dr. Monika Bubacz, assistant professor of mechanical and industrial engineering; Dr. Joan Burtner, associate professor of mechanical and industrial engineering; Dr. Laura Lackey, associate professor of environmental engineering, and Dr. Laura Moody, associate professor of mechanical and industrial engineering.
Dr. Scott Schultz, associate professor of industrial engineering, published and presented a paper at the American Society for Engineering Education, Southeastern Section Conference in Memphis, Tenn., April 8. The paper was entitled “Navigating the realities of textbook edition management.” This paper was co-authored by Dr. Laura Lackey, associate professor of environmental engineering.
School of Medicine
Dr. Claudia O. Arumala, PG3 Resident in Family Medicine, gave a presentation on “Alcohol Screening and Brief Intervention in Residency Programs” at the annual meeting of the American Association of Addiction Medicine in Toronto, April 10-13. She also led a discussion group of physicians in training at the meeting.
Dr. John M. Boltri, professor, Dr. Monique Davis-Smith, associate professor; Dr. J. Paul Seale, professor; Dr. Sylvia Shellenberger, professor; Dr. Ike S. Okosun, adjunct professor, and Monica Cornelius, research coordinator, co-wrote an article, entitled “Diabetes Prevention in a Faith Based Setting: Results of Translational Research,” for the Journal of Public Health Management and Practice, 2008; 14(1), 24-27.
Dr. David Burtner, professor, will be visiting professor at Kurobe City Hospital, Kurobe, Japan, Macon’s sister city, June 1-14. Kurobe City Hospital residents rotate one month at the Medical Center of Central Georgia in this program.
Dr. Kerry Coburn, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences; Dr. Samuel Shillcutt, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, and Dr. Edward Lauterbach, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, co-authored an article “Neuroanatomy of Pathological Laughing and Crying,” which has been accepted for publication by the Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences. Coburn also has been invited to be a speaker at a joint meeting of the 10th Argentinean Congress of Neuropsychiatry, the 6th Latin American Congress of Neuropsychiatry, and the 11th Argentinean Alzheimer’s Disease Meeting, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Sept. 3-5.
Dr. Ike S. Okosun, adjunct professor, and Dr. John M. Boltri, professor, wrote an article, entitled “Abdominal Obesity, Hypertriglyceridemia, Hypertriglyceridemic Waist Phenotype and Risk of Type 2 Diabetes in American Adults,” published in Diabetes & Metabolic Syndrome: Clinical Research & Reviews 2008.
Dr. Janet F. Piskurich, associate professor of microbiology, will present a poster, entitled “Positive Regulatory Domain I-Binding Factor 1/B Lymphocyte-Induced Maturation Protein-1 regulates amino peptidases associated with antigen processing in multiple myeloma cells,” at ISEH-The International Society of Experimental Hematology 37th Annual Meeting, July 9-12, Boston, Mass. Poster co-authors include Vladimir I. Mayorov, Carolyn A. Gilbert, Amy Luce, Mei Hong and Han Chen.
Dr. Michael J. Russell, assistant professor of physiology, presented a poster, titled “Edema formation is reduced by hydrogen sulfide inhibition in perfused rat lung,” at the Experimental Biology 2008 meetings in San Diego, Calif., April 5-9. Robert L. McClain, a medical student and summer scholar working with Russell, presented a poster, entitled “Effects of protein kinase C and NADPH oxidase on hypoxic vasoconstriction in lamprey dorsal aortas,” at the Experimental Biology meeting.
Dr. Sylvia Shellenberger, professor, and co-investigators from Mercer’s National Institutes of Health-Funded Georgia-Texas “Improving Brief Intervention” Project presented a workshop, entitled “Team Learning: An Innovative Method for Medical Education,” at the annual Society of Teachers of Family Medicine meeting in Baltimore, Md., April 30-May 4.
Dr. Mike U. Smith, director of AIDS Education and research professor, co-authored an article with L.C. Scharmann, entitled “A Multi-Year Program Developing an Explicit Reflective Pedagogy for Teaching Pre-service Teachers the Nature of Science By Ostention,” for Science & Education, a special issue on instruction in the nature of science, 17(1-2):219-248.
Rita Smith, outreach and education coordinator at the Medical Library, has been named a Distinguished Member of the Medical Library Association’s Academy of Health Information Professionals. AHIP is a peer-reviewed professional development and career recognition program that credentials information professionals based on their academic preparation, professional experience, and professional accomplishments.
Dr. Melton Strozier, chair of Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, presented a six-hour workshop April 17 on “Ethical and Professional Issues in Caring forChronically and Terminally Ill Patients.” The workshop was co-sponsored by Hospice of Central Georgia and the Medical Center of Central Georgia. More than 150 health care professionals attended this conference on appropriate care for the emotional needs of medically ill patients and their families.
Dr. Qian Wang, assistant professor of anatomy, delivered an invited talk entitled “Biomechanics of the primate craniofacial skeleton and its relevance to human evolution” at the Experimental Biology 2008 annual meetings, San Diego, Calif., April 7. He and his collaborators also presented a poster, entitled “Modeling the elastic properties of sutures in finite element analysis,” at the American Association of Physical Anthropologists 2008 annual meetings, Columbus, Ohio, April 12.
Staff and Administration
Richard V. Swindle, senior vice president - Atlanta, was a delegate in Gov. Sonny Purdue’s recent mission to China. Representing Mercer, Swindle, along with other higher education delegates and members of the state’s business community, traveled to China to develop Georgia relations with Chinese universities and businesses. The mission included the inaugural Atlanta-to-Shanghai Delta Flight, special cultural programs, the opening of the Georgia Business Advisory Center of Beijing, as well as events sponsored by Coca Cola.
President William D. Underwood co-authored an article, entitled “Straight from the Horse’s Mouth: Judicial Observations of Jury Behavior and the Need for Tort Reform,” which was published in Volume 59 the Baylor Law Review. The article evaluates the results of a recent empirical study of jury behavior conducted by Underwood and his co-authors.
Student Affairs
Michael Bond, director of Recreational Sports and Wellness, was named Director of All-Tournament Staff by the ACIS Nationals Staff and Officials.
Beth Evans, assistant director for campus life, published an article, entitled “5 Steps of Creating a Leadership Program,” in National Programming Magazine, a publication of the National Association for Campus Activities, March 2008.
Diane Lang, administrative assistant to the vice president and dean of students, was awarded Staff Member of the Year by the Student Government Association.
Dr. Douglas R. Pearson, vice president and dean of students, was named Administrator of the Year by the Student Government Association.
Tift College of Education
Dr. William Lacefield, associate professor of mathematics education, presented “Fractions Don’t Have to Cause Frenzy: Using Performance Tasks to Strengthen Conceptualization in the Primary Grades” at the annual conference of the United Kingdom’s Association of Teachers of Mathematics, held in April at Keele University in Staffordshire, England. Lacefield also presented “Preparing Teacher Candidates to Analyze their Students’ Mathematics Learning” at the annual meeting of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, held in April in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Dr. Dana H. Lilly, professor of early childhood education, delivered a presentation, entitled “Using Multimedia Book Reviews to Build A Community of Readers and Writers,” at the International Reading Association’s 53rd Annual Convention in Atlanta in May 2008.
Dr. Peter Ross, associate professor of education, was named to the Executive Editorial Board of the Intellectbase International Consortium. As part of this board, research papers and potential publications are reviewed from all academic disciplines.
Townsend School of Music
Dr. Carol S. Goff, associate professor of music, has been selected as a Stern Fellow pianist for SongFest, “The Complete Recitalist.” This professional program is limited to 10 pianists and 22 singers and will be held at Pepperdine University in Malibu, Calif. One of SongFest’s greatest strengths is its small size, which allows the participants to have maximum interaction with the distinguished faculty and participants. In this three-week intense program, Goff will work each day in master classes and private coachings with a faculty that include world renowned collaborative artists Martin Katz and Graham Johnson; distinguished American composers John Harbison and John Musto, and lyric tenor Paul Sperry, recognized today as one of the leading interpreters of American song. Works studied will include German lieder, French melodié, and American art song; as well as Opera arias and Bach cantata arias. Goff will perform in four public recitals as well as the world premiere of John Musto’s “The Book of Uncommon Prayer.”
Dr. Douglas Hill, professor of music, adjudicated orchestras, bands and jazz ensembles at Music In the Parks, Chapel Hill High School in Douglasville, Ga. Students came from Alabama, North Carolina, Tennessee, Louisiana, Florida, South Carolina and Ohio on for the events held April 25-26 and May 2-3. Hill also performed as a member of Colony IV Brass Quintet at Sacred Heart Catholic Church, Warner Robins, May 24. He also performed at First Presbyterian Day School Commencement with Colony IV Brass Quintet at Ingleside Baptist Church, Macon, May 24.
University Libraries
Susan Broome, associate director for technical services, Tarver Library; Linda Chen, library systems coordinator, Tarver Library; Louise Lowe, circulation librarian at Swilley Library; Theresa Preuit, associate director for public services at Tarver Library, attended the Innovative Users Group in Washington, D.C., April 27-30.
Louise L. Lowe, assistant professor and public services librarian at Swilley Library, presented a poster, entitled “Seamless Workflow: Managing Exhausted Item Records,” and co-presented a poster, entitled “Using Social Tools for Collaboration,” with Linda Chen, systems coordinator for Mercer University Libraries, at the 16th Annual Innovative Users Group Conference in Washington D.C., April 28.
Walter F. George School of Law
Jim Fleissner, professor of law, made a presentation to the faculty of the Charleston School of law in South Carolina on April 4. The presentation was entitled “An Enigma Deciphered: Justice Powell’s Concurring Opinion in Branzburg v. Hayes.” On April 22, at the 2008 Law School Senior Dinner, Fleissner delivered an address, entitled “Turning Back the Clock to 1908,” in which he compared the law school experience of today to a century ago.
Michael Sabbath, The Southeastern Bankruptcy Law Institute/W. Homer Drake Jr. Endowed Chair of Bankruptcy Law, was a speaker at the 34th Annual Southeastern Bankruptcy Law Institute, held April 3-5 in Atlanta. He presented papers on “The Intersection of State Law Remedies and Bankruptcy” and “Student Loans in Chapter 13 and Chapter 7.” Sabbath also spoke on April 18 in Savannah at the Coastal Bankruptcy Law Institute concerning the treatment of student loans in bankruptcy and certain ethical issues facing attorneys practicing bankruptcy law.