For the third year, University of North Georgia (UNG) President Bonita C. Jacobs has presented awards totaling nearly $300,000 to faculty and staff to support them in pursuing professional development opportunities and research projects.
"This past year's projects resulted in significant professional development experiences around the globe, research, authored books and presentations to professional organizations," Jacobs said. "The impact on our faculty and staff, and, in turn, on our students, has been incredibly meaningful and has moved us forward in a number of ways."
Dr. Jae Wyatt, assistant director of enrollment services, and Dr. Harrison Davis, associate professor of counseling, will use their award to provide National Coalition Building Institute workshops. The workshops, titled "Welcoming Diversity Leadership," will give enrollment management staff and student assistants training in diversity relations for their work with each other and UNG students.
"We want participants to be able to demonstrate a greater level of cultural competence when communicating with students, staff, and others from diverse backgrounds," Wyatt said. "This includes forming successful partnerships with others and identifying group identities while building effective relationships within and across those identities."
Dr. Carly Redding, assistant professor of human services, wants to use her award to positively impact pre-K education in Goa, India with emotional and instructional support for at-risk children.
"This award will allow me the opportunity to take an expert in pre-K special needs with me to India," Redding said. "I hope to provide training opportunities for the local teachers in Birla as well as the director of the local school while we are there this upcoming summer. Desired outcomes include a more orderly structure and predictability in the classroom, more interactions between children, emotional literacy in the classroom, and teacher awareness of concepts such as positive reinforcement and validation. These educational and preventive components appear to be a vital need in this rural area."
In all, 43 presidential awards were presented this academic year and were awarded under three different headings.
Presidential Semester Scholar Awards provide for a full semester release from teaching and service plus funding support of up to $12,000 each to tenured or tenure track faculty members with a minimum of three years employment at UNG. This year's recipients are:
- Dr. Dee Gillespie, "They Walk, Talk, and Act Like New People: Black Women and the Citizenship Education Program, 1957 – 1970."
- Dr. Wenxin Guo, "Cross-Border Mergers and Acquisitions from Emerging-Market Nations: Evidence from Chinese Acquirers."
- Dr. Wendy Kurant, "Mary Boykin Chesnut Book Proposal."
- Dr. Kyounghye Kwon, "Korean Traditional Puppet Theatre: Indigenous Memory Then and Now."
- Dr. Glen Smith, "A Case for Political Tolerance."
Presidential Summer Scholar Awards provide up to $10,000 each to tenured or tenure-track faculty members to support them in focused and meaningful research, or scholarship and creative activities during summer 2016. This year's recipients are:
- Dr. Adam Jordan, "Improving Mental Health Outcomes for Alternative School Students: An Education and Healthcare Collaboration."
- Dr. Steven Lloyd, "High Impact Scholarship in Neuroscience & SoTL and Engaged Undergraduate Research: Collaborative Proposal Part 1."
- Dr. Kelly McFaden and Lauren Johnson, "Investigating Te Ao Māori: Exploring the Impact of Diversity Pedagogies in New Zealand and Their Application for U.S. Teacher Education."
- Dr. Carly Redding, "Linking Mental Health and Education in order to Promote Psychological Well-Being in an Impoverished India pre-school."
- Gina Reed, "Development and Implementation of an Undergraduate Research Quantitative Analysis Resource Workshop."
- Dr. Austin Riede, "Trans-Atlantic Shell Shock: British and American Literatures of World War One Trauma."
- Drs. Miriam Segura-Totten and April Nelms, "Understanding How Undergraduates Read and Analyze Primary Literature."
- Dr. Ryan Shanks, "High Impact Scholarship in Neuroscience & SoTL and Engaged Undergraduate Research: Collaborative Proposal Part 2."
- Dr. Margaret Smith, "Genes Regulating Germ Line Stem Cells Specification and Proliferation in the Wasp Copidosoma Floridanum."
Presidential Innovation Awards provide up to $5,000 each for full-time faculty and staff members for interdisciplinary and/or cross functional collaborations among colleagues or individual pursuits focused on innovations and partnerships to promote implementation of best practice models.
- Ary Malaver Copara, "Public Lecture by performer writer Josefina Báez."
- Dr. Janice Crook-Hill, "Cross-species Responsiveness to Auditory Stimuli: Do Humans and Birds React to Similar Sounds in Similar Ways?"
- Drs. Steven Lloyd and Ryan Shanks, "High-throughput Analysis of ADHD Drug Induced Addiction Susceptibility."
- Dr. Minsu Kim, "Implementing an Integrated Mathematics OER Platform in Blended Learning: Enhancing Student Engagement and Student-centered Learning Opportunities with Technology for UNG Undergraduate Mathematics Students."
- Dr. Margaret Smith, "Using Marine Invertebrates for Undergraduate Developmental Biology Labs."
- Dr. Esther Morgan-Ellis, "Teaching the Music History of Now: An Undergraduate Research Project."
- Dr. Ruben Boling, "Lean Startup Seminars for the North Georgia Region Through Remote Delivery."
- Dr. Joanna Kim, "Adapting Modern Technologies to Restructure Curriculums for MUSC 1321, 1322, 2321 and 2322 – Class Piano Sequence for Music Major Required Courses."
- Drs. Jon Mehlferber and Terrie Millard, "3D Printing of Functional Electrical Stimulation Devices (FES) to Enhance Hand Movement and Function of Neurologically Impaired Children."
- Dr. Hoang Pham and Al Walters, "Adaptation of National Instruments in ENGR 1101 Curriculum and PHYS 2212 Labs."
- Drs. Jae Wyatt and Harrison Davis, "National Coalition Building Institute Welcoming Diversity Leadership Workshop."
- Drs. Paula Nolibos, Andrew Thomas and Tim Howell, "Determination of the Chemical Profile of Extracts from Catalpa Worms."
- Dr. Cathy Whiting, "Biology Boot Camp: The Development of a Comprehensive Learning Module to Increase Student Engagement and Academic Success in Principles of Biology."
- Dr. Erin Barding, "Developing leadership skills and collaborative relationships in a global society."
- Stanley Bermudez, "College Connections - Steffen Thomas Museum of Art."
- Drs. April Nelms and Kelly McFaden, "An International Comparison of the Implementation of Scientific Inquiry Pedagogy in K-12 Schools: A Case Study of Best Practices in New Zealand and the United States."
- Alyson Paul, "Nighthawk Experience."
- Dr. Lance Bardsley and Dan Cabaniss, "Interdisciplinary Course Project: Teaching Smart in a New Century."
- Swapna Bhat and Linda Purvis, "Development of Inquiry Based Labs in Introductory Non- Major Biology Course."
- Alexis Carter and Beth Sale, "Hip Hop as a Healing Practice: Music, Art and Culture Symposium."
- Dr. Jeanelle Morgan, "Development of a Biology Resource Center."
- Dr. Alvaro Torres-Calderon, "Business Practices in Latin-America: A Way to Open Cultural Perspectives."
- Dr. Sanghee Choi, "Fostering Global Competence in Teacher Preparation."
- Drs. Jamie Mitchem, Dwight Wilson and Allison Bailey, "A Multidisciplinary Analysis of College Students’ Attitudes toward Climate Change at UNG."
- Dr. Beth Rauhaus, "Gender Studies Council: Enlightening and Empowering All to Achieve Equality."
- Dr. Andy Robinson and Dobroslawa Bialonska, "Determining Bacteria and Fungi on Wheelchair and Therapeutic Ball Pits: A Survey of Common Microorganisms."
- Dr. Elisabeth Teal, "Harvard University Case Method Teaching Seminars, Part 1 and Part 2."
- Nick Kastner, "Agile Project Management and Marketing."
