Brooks College of Health
Dr. Corinne Labyak, associate professor in the Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, was appointed to the Alzheimer’s Disease Committee for Florida in March by Gov. Ron DeSantis. Labyak also serves as President of First Coast Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and is a member of the Alzheimer’s Association International Society to Advance Alzheimer’s Research and Treatments.
From the School of Nursing, Dr. Li Loriz, professor; Dr. Pat Richards, assistant professor; and Dr. Julie Baker-Townsend, clinical associate professor; in collaboration with Dr. Catherine Saenz from Jacksonville University; had a podium presentation “Your Patient tells you they are going on a thru-hike, now what?” at the 2022 Southern College Health Association Conference March 16-18.
Coggin College of Business
Diane Denslow, associate instructor of management, received a second-place award at the Small Business Institute Conference held in Charleston, South Carolina, for her submission to the Experiential Learning Project of the Year Competition.
Dr. Gregory Gundlach, professor of marketing, with Riley Krotz, published “Anticompetitive Challenges in America's Food Retail Industry: The Power of Category Captains,” in Reforming America’s Food Retail Markets, 2022; sponsored by the Thurman Arnold Project, the Information Society project, and the Yale Sustainable Food Program, Yale Law School, March 22.
College of Arts and Sciences
School of Communication
Interns for the School of Communication under the supervision of Ken Thomas, senior broadcast engineer technician and instructor, produced live coverage of the School of Communication Internship + Job Fair as well as live remote news, weather and sports updates from The Players Championship in March. See the interns’ presentation-newsreels.
English
Mark Ari, assistant professor of creative writing, published “Electricity in this Dehydrated Landscape: A Conversation with Vi Khi Nao” in Heavy Feather Review in February.
Dr. Jennifer Lieberman, associate professor of English, published “The Problem with Pain” in Honey Literary in February.
Dr. Maureen McCluskey, instructor of English, curated the “Hamlet” exhibit at the Thomas G. Carpenter Library in February.
Dr. Donald Moore, writing program instructor, presented “Cultural-Historical Activity Theory and the Transformation of Writing Center Space” at the Southeastern Writing Center Association in February.
History
Dr. Denise I. Bossy, associate professor of history, in collaboration with her colleague Andrew K. Frank, edited the “Special Issue: Indigenous Florida of the Florida Historical Quarterly” in March.
Physics
Dr. Dewki N. Talwar, visiting instructor of physics, published the following articles: “Assessing site selectivity of Si-Ge in GaAs by isotopic dependent vibrational modes.” Devki N. Talwar, Hao-Hsiung Lin, Materials Science & Engineering B, Vol. 279, p. 115568, February 2022; and “Impact of stacking sequence on the tight-binding electronic band structures of (BeX)m/(ZnX)m, X = S, Se and Te superlattices.” Devki N. Talwar, Computational and Theoretical Chemistry, Vol. 1210, p. 113642, February.
Political Science and Public Administration
Dr. Joshua C. Gellers, associate professor of political science, gave a talk titled, “Rights for Robots” at Science on Tap-Jacksonville, held at Lemonstreet Brewing in Jacksonville in February.
Psychology
Dr. Elizabeth R. Brown, associate professor of psychology, together with her students, presented three poster presentations at the 23rd annual meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology in February. With R. Bissainthe and J.E. Graham, Brown presented “How perceptions and interest in careers differ by LGBTQ status.” With J.E. Graham, Brown presented “STEM inqueery: The role of femininity in communicating that LGBTQ folks belonging in STEM.” And with S. Mukundan and X. Miller, Brown presented “The impacts of goal fulfillment and STEM experiences on STEM interest.”
UNF’s project " OspreyPERCH: Prevention, Early Intervention and Resiliency through Counseling & Holistic Health an Integrative Behavioral Health Clinical Training Program” was selected to receive the 2022 Excellence in Interprofessional Education (IPE) Collaboration National Award from the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Officers Foundation for the Advancement of Public Health and the Interprofessional Education Collaborative. Using previously produced video/audio clips and interviews with key faculty and graduate students involved in the PERCH program, Lauren Sapp, a UNF senior majoring in communications, edited a new video presentation highlighting the collaborative aspects of PERCH, which accompanied the IPEC application.
Mathematics and Statistics
Dr. Michelle DeDeo, associate professor of mathematics, with her colleagues C. White-Williams, M. Bagwell, et.al., co-authored an article “Demographics and surgery-related complication rates among knee arthroscopic procedures” in Knee Surgery, Sports Traumatology, arthroscopy, (KSSTA), in February.
College of Education and Human Services
Michelle Drinks, director of development for UNF’s College of Education and Human Services, has been named a “40 Under 40” honoree by the Jacksonville Business Journal for her business success, leadership skills and outstanding professional achievement. Drinks oversees development efforts for the college, including alumni engagement and community partnerships. Learn more about her work and award.
Dr. Jen Kilpatrick, assistant professor of deaf education, presented findings from a longitudinal study (four years) of outcomes of the UNF Deaf Education Pen Pal program at the Association of College Educators – Deaf and Hard of Hearing Conference. In her presentation, "Lessons Learned: Teacher Candidate Take-aways from Participation in a Pen Pal Program," she shared how she significantly revised an undergraduate language assessment and instruction course to provide teacher candidates with ongoing, authentic opportunities for application of skills through a virtual pen pal experience with deaf K12 students and how this revision impacted the teacher candidate outcomes.
Megan Lynch, postdoctoral fellow, co-authored the article “Family engagement and conflict about teaching for social justice,” which was recently published as a featured article in Phi Delta Kappan’s special issue on family engagement. She supported a former teacher candidate, now second grade teacher, to reflect on family pushback when teaching for social justice. Read the article online.
Dr. Tara Rowe, associate director of Student Accessibility Services (SAS) and director of THRIVE, recently published the paper “Mentoring University Students with ASD on Campus: A Supplemental Program Model,” in the Journal of College Reading and Learning, detailing how the University of North Florida’s THRIVE program has helped students with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) successfully navigate their college careers through peer mentoring and other specialized accommodations.
Read the article online.
Gladys Prior Awards for Career Teaching Excellence were announced Thursday, March 31. These awards are among the largest monetary awards for teachers in the nation, with each winner awarded $15,000. Gilchrist Berg, founder and president of a Jacksonville investment company, established the awards in 1998 to honor his 4th grade teacher at Ortega Elementary School, Gladys Prior.
Here are the 2022 winners: Meshellia Hughes — Andrew Robinson; Crystal Parker — Ed White; Sara Henry Blaylock — Upson; and May Hotard — Bishop Kenney.
The COEHS Sport Data Analytics Lab and Sportsmedia Technology hosted an event where sport management students got a firsthand look at the latest in sports technologies and available job opportunities. Students studying sport management had the opportunity to receive valuable feedback on their resumes from SMT hiring managers and see firsthand the types of job opportunities that are available to them with a focus in sport and data analytics. Learn more about the lab and sports technology program.
MOCA Jacksonville
Caitlín Doherty, executive director of MOCA Jacksonville, and Louise Freshman Brown, UNF Distinguished Professor Emerita, opened their co-curated exhibition “FIFTY: An Alumni Exhibition” at MOCA. The exhibition features the works of 50 practicing artists who graduated from UNF’s Department of Art, Art History & Design from 1985 through present day. Working across a breadth of media — from photography to painting, film to ceramics, and sculpture to printmaking — the diversity of work on display is reflective of the variety of art disciplines taught at UNF, as well as the wealth of career opportunities that UNF alumni choose to explore. The first exhibition of its kind, “FIFTY” demonstrates the strength of art and creativity at UNF, as well as its continued impact and reach in Jacksonville, across the nation, and around the world. The exhibition is on view at MOCA Jacksonville through Feb. 12, 2023.
Department of Recreation and Wellness
Ashley Ballard, senior director, was invited to join an exclusive group of 40-plus leaders from across the country at this year's Higher Education Recreation Summit, which will be held July 27-29 at the Marriott Lincolnshire Resort near Chicago. This summit will tackle topics such as staff recruitment and retention, alternative and innovative ways to source and generate funding, digital forms of recreation, strategic planning for facility maintenance and upgrades, and much more. Learn more about the summit.