Faculty and Staff Achievements

Dr. Prasenjit Ghosh, Assistant Professor of Ag Business, has been selected by the Southern Agricultural Economics Association for the 2021 Outstanding Dissertation Award. This is the highest level of recognition extended by the SAEA for graduate students, and Dr. Ghosh's achievement will be formally recognized at the upcoming SAEA national meting.

Dr. Prasenjit Ghosh, Assistant Professor of Ag Business, recently published two articles with moneygeek.com, a website that provides articles written by experts in various financial topics. Ghosh's two articles provide expert insight and information focused on finding the right hotel rewards credit card and finding the right low-interest credit card.

Dr. Leigh Anne Howard, Professor of Communication Studies, edited "Home and Away: Lived Experience in Performative Narratives," which was recently published by Routledge. By combining aesthetic expression and inquiry with critical reflection, the contributors in this volume use a variety of narrative strategies—autoethnography, mystoriography, creative cartography, the lyric essay, fictocriticism, collage, the screenplay and poetics—to position place as the starting point for the aesthetic impulse. The anthology showcases the power and potential of performative writing to illustrate the ways we interact with and in place; provides examples of the ways one can express lived experience; and demonstrates the ways discourses overlap while extending our understanding of identity and place, whether one is home or away. Although the chapters are fixed by their literary form in this volume, many of chapters are best realized in a performance or shared publicly via an oral tradition.

Dr. Srishti Srivastava, Assistant Professor of Computer Science, has been named in the Rotary Club of Evansville's 20 Under 40 Class of 2021 Exemplary Leaders Award winners. This award recognizes individuals in the Evansville community who are younger than 40 years of age and have exhibited leadership qualities and characteristics in their various roles throughout the community.

Dr. Daria Sevastianova, Associate Professor of Economics, recently presented at Indiana Council for Economic Education's Econ Camp, an annual professional development event for high school teachers. The camp provides an opportunity for those teachers to learn and network with fellow economic educators in a relaxed and engaging environment. University of Southern Indiana Center for Economic Education partnered the program along with the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, Indiana Council for Economic Education, Purdue University Department of Agricultural Economics and Purdue University Center for Economic Education.

Sevastianova also was a part of presentations during USI Women's Entrepreneurship Week in October. She presented "Women in Economics" to USI students and those from the community who attended.

Dr. Jason Fertig, Associate Professor of Management, along with fellow article authors, the paper "Who They Are Versus What They Want: How DISC Profiles Can Aid in Developing Student Employability" at the 64th annual Midwest Academy of Management Conference October 14-16, 2021. Those presenting with Fertig were Bonnie O'Neill of Marquette University, Pamela Wells of San Jose State University, Carelle Bassil of Baruch College and Alex Fryer and Mike Ortega of Indaba Global. Fertig also served as a reviewer of work submitted to the conference.

Dr. Jinsuk Yang, Assistant Professor of Finance, has co-authored the research article "'Fix it with Green': The Valuation Impact of Green Retrofits on Residential Transaction Price" in the Journal of Housing Research in October 2021. The article "uses consistent controls and methods to investigate the valuation implication of green retrofits (renovations or remodeling of housing that includes green housing features) on residential transaction prices. Yang co-authored the article with Ramya Aroul and J. Andrew Hansz of the University of Texas, Arlington.

Dr. Nick Rhew, Assistant Professor of Management, has co-authored the research article "Lessons on the Resource-Based View and Generic Competitive Strategies from Kinky Boots: The Musical." The article "explains how strategic management instructors may use the film [Kinky Boots: The Musical] to discuss sustainable competitive advantage through the resource-based view and generic competitive strategies, while organizational behavior instructors may use the film to illustrate concepts such as managerial roles, diversity, conflict management and more." Rhew co-authored the article with Lucy Arendt of St. Norbert College.

Dr. Xue Han, Assistant Professor of Computer Science, has co-authored a research article titled "Effective fault localization and context-aware debugging for concurrent programs" published in the Journal of Software: Testing, Verification and Reliability on October 13, 2021. The article discusses an approach to "automatically generate interthread control flow paths that can link memory access patterns that occurred most frequently in the failing executions [of concurrent programs] to better diagnose concurrency bugs." Han co-authored the article with Justin Chu and Jane Huffman Hayes of the University of Kentucky, Tingting Yu of the University of Cincinnati and Yu Zhao of the University of Central Missouri.

Dr. Prasenjit Ghosh, Assistant Professor of Ag Business, recently published a research article "Crop insurance premium subsidy and irrigation water withdrawals in the western United States" in the The Geneva Papers on Risk and Insurance—Issues and Practice journal. The article discusses an estimate of "the effects of the federal crop insurance premium subsidy on freshwater withdrawals for irrigation among U.S. counties to the west of the 100th meridian. Ghosh co-authored the article with Ruiqing Miao of Auburn University and Emir Malikov of University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

Dr. Denise Lynn, Professor of History, Director of Gender Studies and Director of the Africana Studies Program, recently had her piece "When it comes to activism, law enforcement has always had a double standard" published in The Washington Post. Lynn's piece was included in the "Made By History" section, a section dedicated to offering historians the opportunity to provide "historical analyses to situate the events making headlines in their larger historical context."

Dr. Erin Gilles, Assistant Professor of Advertising and Public Relations, won the Harlan Hamm Award for Service to the Organization from the Kentucky Communication Association (KCA). Named for Harlan Hamm of Morehead State University, this award is given to a member with sustained service to KCA above and beyond what was expected of her or him. 

Dr. Stephanie Young, Associate Professor in Communication Studies and Director of Basic Course, received the Undergraduate Mentor Award from the Kentucky Communication Association (KCA). This award is given for outstanding support of undergraduate scholarship and participation. It recognizes the important role faculty members play in supporting undergraduates’ academic, personal and professional growth through meaningful interactions related to academic advising, research and creative endeavors. Nominees will have a consistent record of successful outcomes with students such as advising student groups, coordinating presentations at professional conferences, including students in publications, guidance for academic progress and admission to graduate/professional school, etc. Faculty members will also exemplify a high level of integrity and maintain active and continued mentorship as students move through their academic and professional careers.

Iris Williamson, Manager of the New Harmony Gallery of Contemporary Art, presented "Building a New Art World: Alternative & Artist-Run Spaces" on October 14 at the Indiana Arts Homecoming 2021, the state of Indiana's annual arts conference. This presentation touched on histories and examples of alternative spaces and artist-run spaces, offering attendees a chance to imagine ways in which they could take the development of their art ecosystem into their own hands. The session showed the value of starting projects and spaces "by explaining what an alternative or artist-run space is, sharing exciting examples of interesting or exciting experimental projects and through Williamson's personal experience starting three different alternative spaces (and supporting the development of other arts organizations)."

Dr. Urska Dobersek, Assistant Professor of Psychology, published "Meat and mental health: A meta-analysis of meat consumption, depression, and anxiety" in October 2021. The meta-analysis examines the quantitative relation between meat consumption, avoidance, depression and anxiety. 

Dr. Sima Fortsch, Assistant Professor of Management, has published an article with fellow authors Jeong Hoon Choi, Associate Professor and CBT Graduate Program Chair at the University of Nebraska at Kearney, and Elena Khapalova, Assistant Professor of Business at Canton State University of New York, titled "Competition can help predict sales." Appearing in the Journal of Forecasting, the article "develops linear and nonlinear forecasting models to propose a sophisticated and accurate forecasting method in a fiercely competitive environment, such as the U.S. auto industry."

Dr. Zhe Li, Assistant Professor of Finance, published a research article, "Are social connections of independent directors all the same? Evidence from corporate monitoring" on August 17, 2021, in the International Journal of Managerial Finance along with fellow authors Emre Unlu, Associate Professor of Finance, and Julie Wu, Assistant Professor of Finance, both of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln College of Business. In this article, "the authors note that social connections of the independent directors (of company boards) are of a different nature and thus should not be treated as a homogeneous group; that is, the nature of connections among directors can be quite different from that between the CEO and directors, which is the primary focus of previous studies."

Dr. Arthur Chlebowski, Assistant Professor of Engineering; Dr. William Hawkins, Assistant Professor in the Kinesiology and Sport Department; Josh McWilliams, Instructor in Computer and Information Systems, and Stephanie El Tawil with the Growth Alliance for Greater Evansville recently collaborated on an article published in Volume 33, Issue No. 1 of Metropolitan Universities. Titled "Cultivating Innovation Capacity of Undergraduates in Technology Commercialization Academy in Midwest America," the article discusses the Technology Commercialization Academy, which was formed to promote the identification, assessment and exploitation of economically viable innovations by undergraduates and retain those graduates in the southwest Indiana region. The full article can be read online here.

Dr. Xue Han, Assistant Professor of Computer Science, published a research article titled "A Study of Performance Testing in Configurable Software Systems" in September 2021 in the Journal of Software Engineering and Applications. The study "aims to stimulate research interest in performance testing in the context of configurable software systems by answering three research questions"—why it is necessary to conduct research in performance testing; what are the state-of-the-art techniques and how do we conduct performance testing research in configurable software systems. The full study is available to read online here.

Dr. Curtis Price, Associate Professor of Economics, published an article titled "Do women shy away from competition? Do men compete too much?: A (failed) replication" in Volume 40, Issue 2 of the Economics Bulletin. The article addresses a study conducted at Purdue University in 2008 that fails to replicate the results of a study previously done by Muriel Niederle and Lise Vesterlund in 2007, documenting the differences between male and female choices in payment scheme in a simple addition task. Read the full article online here.

Dr. Nick Rhew, Assistant Professor of Management in the Romain College of Business, recently published "'We Didn't Start the Fire:' What Can Billy Joel Teach Us About External Environment" in the Management Teaching Review journal along with Arlise McKinney, associate professor of management and decision sciences from Coastal Carolina University. According to the article, piece facilitates "analysis of the general environment through a popular song from the 1980s." The article can be read online here. Rhew also presented this article during the virtual Management and Organizational Behavior Teaching Society conference June 16-19, 2021.

Rhew also was apart of a virtual workshop, "Building Community around Self-care: Restorative Spaces and Faculty Well-Being" along with representatives from University of Glasgow, St. John's University, Newcastle University Business School, Max Stern Jezreel Valley College and The York Management School during the 81st Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management between July 29 and August 4, 2021. The presentation acted as a guide for a refreshed, professional perspective culminating in a collection of narratives around the concept of restorative spaces to facilitate discussion with other colleagues, inions and employers as to how the well-being of academics might be better supported.

Dr. Oana Armeanu, Chair of Political Science and Associate Professor of Political Science in the Political Science, Public Administration and Philosophy Department, participated in the international conference "Two Democratic Societies in Transition: Exploring the Dynamics of a Post-COVID World," hosted by the Danubius University in Galati, Romania with a group of USI students in September 2021.

Josi Barscz (biochemistry major), Lee Moore (psychology major) and Hortensia Almanza Guizado (radiology major) talked about the concerns of the younger generation and shared their hopes for the future with Romanian and American students on a panel moderated by Professor William B. Harvey, Rector of the Danubius University. In her presentation on institutional trust, Armeanu discussed how a decline in government trust has increased social and political divisions in both societies, contributing to social unrest and political violence. Among the factors responsible for the decline in government trust, Armeanu highlighted corruption, political polarization and the adverse consequences of economic mismanagement for the job market.

Dr. Andrew J. Hill, Associate Professor of Engineering, along with USI students Zenia Adames and Hilda Magallon traveled to the University of Colorado Boulder for the annual Engineers in Action Builder Conference from September 24-26. "Zenia and Hilda did a great job representing the chapter," says Hill. "We received one of only three awards at the final ceremony." The award was the EIA Bridge Builder Safety Award and comes with a $1,000 prize that will be deducted from future projects fees. "The director said we were 'by far the best chapter' with regard to proper PPE and adherence to OHSA safety protocols," adds Hill. "That was a pleasant surprise. It was a sold team effort." To learn more about the Engineers in Action Builder Conference, visit eiabridges.org/bridge-builder-conference.

Dr. Sung Lee, Professor of Criminal Justice, presented September 23 and 24 at the Midwestern Criminal Justice Association annual conference held in Chicago, Illinois. His presentation was titled "impact of Propensity to Trust on the Perception of Police: An Integrated Framework of Legitimacy Perspective."

Dr. Jason Callahan, Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice, presented "Law and Disorder: Assessing Conflicting News Coverage of Police Use of Force" in June at the American Association of Behavioral and Social Sciences annual conference. Callahan presented with Whitney Hayes of Virginia Tech. 

Dr. Caroline Jalain, Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice, presented September 8 through 11 at the Southern Criminal Justice Association annual conference held in Daytona Beach, Florida. Jalain presented with USI undergraduate student Alice Wickliffe. Their presentation was titled "Examining Veterans Treatment Courts Operations during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Preliminary Results."

Dr. William Elliott, Chair of Geology and Physics Department, co-authored a research paper titled "Homeostatic response of Aptian gymnosperms to changes in atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations." This study aids in understanding the impact of increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide on continental forest ecosystems. The article appeared in the June issue of Geology, an internationally-recognized journal ranked by the Web of Science as the #1 geology journal for 12 years in a row.

Dr. Laura Soderberg, Assistant Professor of English, had her book, Vicious Infants, published by University of Massachusetts Press. 

Childhood as scholars often recognize it—innocent, vulnerable and above all, precious—is anchored in the cultural imagination of the early nineteenth-century United States, when an attitude of child worship drove sentimental politics and literature. But, not all childhoods were defined by love, education and nurture. Singled out by nineteenth-century legal and medical establishments, children already marginalized by slavery, ethnicity and poverty were increasingly branded as “incorrigible," delinquent and antisocial.

Vicious Infants offers a counter history of literary childhood as both perceived social threat and site of resistance, revealing that many children were not only cut off from family and society, they were also preemptively excluded from the rewards of citizenship and adulthood. Turning to prison documents, medical journals, overlooked periodical fiction and literary works from William Apess, Harriet Wilson, Herman Melville, Susan Paul and Harriet Beecher Stowe, Soderberg recovers alternate narratives of childhood and provides an important window into the cultural links between race, reproduction and childhood in the antebellum period.

Amy Montz, Associate Professor of English, published an article included in the Women's Studies journal titled "Fashion and the Female Gothic, Or, What to Wear to a House-Burning Party" on August 30, 2021.

Yu-Li Shen, Instructor in English, was awarded honorary mention for the Judith Royer Excellence in Playwriting Award for her original full-length play "Image May Contain." The play is a dark comedy based on Shen's experience returning to Taiwan to perform Buddhist funeral rituals for her late father, and it was honored at the Association of Theatre in Higher Education and Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival in August 2021. 

Rosalie Moffett, Assistant Professor of English, was recently featured in Narrative Magazine for her poem "Resolution." The poem was featured as "Poem of the Week" by the magazine on August 23, 2021. Moffett is also the author of "Nervous System" and "June in Eden."

Karla Diekemper, Instructor in Gerontology, has passed the Indiana Health Facility Administrator exam and is now a licensed nursing home administrator in in both Illinois and Indiana. Before joining the USI Geriatrics Workforce Enhancement Program team, she worked in the long-term industry for more than 32 years as a physical therapy assistant and nursing home administrator. At USI, her area of focus is the long-term care industry, more specifically, the field of gerontology and the administrator-in-training (AIT) program.

Dr. Norma Rosas-Mayén, Associate Professor of Spanish, has recently had her book, "Afro-Hispanic Linguistic Remnants in Mexico. The Case of the Costa Chica Region," published by the prestigious editorial house Iberoamericana/Vervuert housed in Germany and Spain. The book analyzes "the current speech of the Afro-Mexicans of the Costa Chica region, one of the largest Afro-Mexican enclaves." Rosas-Mayen's investigation also examines the current linguistic characteristics and sociolinguistic status of this speech area on the brink of extinction. It advocates on the behalf of those Costa Chica Afro-Mexican communities that have been stigmatized and customarily ignored in Mexico's nation-state politics.

Rosas-Mayén also earned her second master's degree in Judaic Studies (online format) from the Universidad Hebraica de Mexico with academic excellence. She received her diploma in May 2021.

Finally, Rosas-Mayén also published her first article in her new area of research (Judaic Studies). Titled "The Judeo-Spanish Dirges in the Northern of Morocco: A Semiotic Analysis," the article was published in ""Figuras Revista Académica De Investigación" earlier this year. It is meant to offer a semiotic analysis of the dirges (songs of the dead) that were transmitted orally and intergenerationally among the Sephardic Jewish communities that settled in northern Morocco after their expulsion from Spain in 1492.

Rosas-Mayén holds a PH.D. in Spanish Linguistics from Purdue University. She also studied Arabic language at the Al Akhawayn University of Ifrane, Moracco; Sanskrit language and literature at Delhi University, India and French phonetics at the Université de la Sorbonne-IV, France.

Dr. Thomas G. Noland, Professor of Accounting and Chair of Accounting and Finance, has been presented the Journal of Accountancy's Lawler Award by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) for the article "Why Risk Assessment Merits Increased Auditor Focus," published in 2020. Noland and his co-authors Dr. Tristan B. Johnson and James Rich, assistant professors in the Department of Accounting at the Mitchell College of Business at the University of South Alabama were recognized in June 2021.

The award is named for the former Journal of Accountancy editor and AICPA senior vice president John L. Lawler. The winner is chosen each year by the board of editorial advisers for the journal.

Noland graduated from the University of Kentucky with a bachelor's degree before serving as an active duty Army officer station in Hawaii and serving in Korea and Thailand. He earned a master's degree in accounting and finance from the Scheller College of Business at Georgia Tech and pursued his doctorate at the University of Mississippi.

Dr. Crystal N. Steltenpohl '11, Assistant Professor of Psychology, has published "Improving the Credibility of Empirical Legal Research: Practical Suggestions for Researchers, Journals and Law Schools" in the journal "Law, Technology, and Humans." This publication is an international, open access, peer-reviewed journal publishing original, innovative research concerned with the human and humanity of law and technology. It publishes collections of articles in special issues and symposiums, and individual articles.

Steltenpohl was one of eight other educators from universities around the world to contribute to the article. The piece addresses empirical legal research and how to evaluate credibility indicators in the practice. The article can be viewed on the "Law, Technology, and Humans" website.

Steltenpohl earned her bachelor's degrees in English and psychology from the USI. She holds a master's degree in applied psychology from Southern Illinois University Carbondale and a doctorate in community psychology from DePaul University. As a scholar, gamer, and participant in online worlds, her major research interests revolve around how we interact with various technologies, especially those that house online communities.

Dr. Cathy Carey, Dean of the Romain College of Business and Professor of Economics, as been named the 2021 Kentucky Distinguished Economist Award by the Kentucky Economic Association. The award, which has been in given out since 1975, was announced at the KEA annual conference. In a press release about the award, the KEA stated, "As an economist, Dr. Carey has been published in multiple peer-reviewed academic journals, and she has made numerous presentations to local and regional organizations."

Carey served as program chair and president of the KEA, which identifies and studies the economic problems in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and stimulates closer ties among economists in government, business, labor and education. She also served as an ex officio member of the KEA Board of Director for 12 years and was the editor of the Journal of Applied Economics and Policy for five years. She currently serves on Kentucky's Consensus Forecasting Group, which is a nonpartisan team of seven economists from across Kentucky that develops projects used for state budget development and long-range planning.

Dr. Kevin Celuch, Professor of Marketing and Blair Chair of Business Science; Dr. Jack Smothers, Associate Professor of Management and Masters of Business Administration Director, and Dr. Kevin Valadares, Professor of Health Services and Chair of Health Administration have published a research article in the Journal of Theoretical Social Psychology discussing supervisor and employee identity coalescence and normative unit commitment. The article's abstract states, "This research examines how supervisor-subordinate relational dynamics influence how individuals become bound to their work unit."

The article is available online here.

Dr. Matthew J. Hanka, Associate Professor of Political Science, has published What is Happening in Your Community? Why Community Development Matters, which is available for purchase beginning May 15, 2021.

With a forward by Sue Ellspermann, former Indiana Lt. Governor and current president of Ivy Tech Community College of Indiana, the book explores how community development changes a community and why that change matters, while also examining the relationship between community development and social capital. The book also looks at comprehensive community development and collective impact models and several case studies that utilize these models. And it looks at how the transformation and revitalization of a neighborhood through new housing creates opportunities for people everywhere, and how effective placemaking strategies empower diverse groups of people in a community to reimagine their public spaces and the built environment to be more livable, walkable, creative and sustainable while fostering greater connections with people in their community.

The book includes contributions from Dr. Trent A. Engbers, Associate Professor of Political Science and Director of the Master of Public Administration Program; Dr. Mohammed Khayum, USI Provost and Professor of Economics, and Dr. Anne Statham, Professor Emerita of Sociology.

Brett Anderson, Associate Professor of Art and Director of the Kenneth P. McCutchan Art and Palmina F. and Stephen S. Pace Galleries at USI, is the featured artist at the Thyen-Clark Cultural Center in Jasper, Indiana, during May and June 2021. Anderson's work is primarily with relief printmaking. "For me, engraving and carving are an honest extension of drawing," he said in a press release from the Jasper Community Arts department. "I see the use of color in the work as both a joyful formal exercise and saccharine flavoring to make the content more palatable."

Anderson is a native of central Missouri and earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Missouri and his Master of Fine Arts from the University of South Dakota.

The galleries at the Thyen-Clark Cultural Center, 100 Third Ave., Ste. A, Jasper, IN, are open to the public from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, 10 am. to 2 p.m. Saturday and Noon to 3 p.m. Sunday. School groups, clubs and students are welcome. Admission is free but donations are appreciated.

Dr. Thomas E. Rodgers, Adjunct Professor of History, has published "How Northern Democrats Perceived the Civil War: The Standard Family of Fulton County, Illinois," in the Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society 113 (Fall/Winter 2020), 121-159. 

The article analyzes a series of letters written by a Democrat soldier and his wife to understand how local Democrats viewed the Civil War. Rodgers drew on psychology, political science and current campaign techniques as well as social, political, military and women's history to probe the values, beliefs and mental processes of the couple who produced the letters. 

The article is available online through the David L. Rice Library. 

Dr. Melanie Lee, Associate Professor of English, will present on an Indiana College English Association panel on April 9 at Beyond Boundaries: Indiana Academies Symposium, a collaborative effort between Indiana University and numerous academic and professional societies based in Indiana. Dr. Lee will present "Bridging the Gap through Rhetoric of Distance on Conversing as Scholar-Teachers: Pedagogical Reflections in Composition, Rhetoric, Graphic Novels and Analytical Reading."

Dr. Susanna Hoeness-Krupsaw, Associate Professor of English, will present on an Indiana College English Association panel on April 9 at Beyond Boundaries: Indiana Academies Symposium, a collaborative effort between Indiana University and numerous academic and professional societies based in Indiana. Dr. Hoeness-Krupsaw will present "College English in Indiana: Knowing Our Past, Present and Future."

Dr. Kristin LaFollette, Assistant Professor of English, was selected as the winner of the Harbor Editions Laureate Prize. Her full-length poetry manuscript, Hematology, was chosen by Missouri Poet Laureate Karen Craigo. The prize includes publication of her manuscript by Harbor Editions. As a collection, Hematology is at the intersection of medicine and the humanities. With a focus on bodies, genetics and trauma, the poems outline family relationships and experiences with illness, recovery and grief.

Dr. Laura Soderberg, Assistant Professor of English, has a forthcoming book, Vicious Infants: Dangerous Childhoods in Antebellum U.S. Literature.

Vicious Infants offers a counter history of literary childhood as both perceived social threat and site of resistance, revealing that many children were not only cut off from family and society, they were also preemptively excluded from the rewards of citizenship and adulthood. Turning to prison documents, medical journals, overlooked periodical fiction and literary works from William Apess, Harriet Wilson, Herman Melville, Susan Paul and Harriet Beecher Stowe, Soderberg recovers alternate narratives of childhood and provides an important window into the cultural links between race, reproduction and childhood in the antebellum period.

The book can be purchased from the University of Massachusetts Press online.

Dr. Clarissa Willis, Associate Professor of Education, had her book, Critter Invasion, published by Young Dragons Press. It is available for purchase online.

Early childhood anxiety and nightmares are more common today than ever before. Corban has nightmares, and the worst one is about creepy, crawly, slimy critters invading his house. He talks to his mom, his teacher and even his best friend Jax, and their advice only makes the nightmares worse. It is only when he learns to use his mind tools that he can overcome his fears and get rid of the critters once and for all.

Connie Stambush, illume Editor/Senior Writer, independently published her book, Untethered: A Woman's Search for Self on the Edge of India - A Travel Memoir. It is available for purchase online.

Unthethered is a bold and honest memoir of a woman’s solo, 7,000-mile, five-month motorcycle journey on the edge of India seeking to discover her true self. The end of an editorial position in New Delhi led to the beginning of an impossible journey for Stambush, and a last chance to break free from a confining identity. 

Jaclyn Dumond, Assistant Director of Lifelong Learning in Outreach and Engagement, was elected to and took position as President-Elect of the National Alliance of Concurrent Enrollment Partnerships (NACEP) Board of Directors in November 2020. She will hold the position for two years before beginning a two year term as Board President in November 2022. As the sole accrediting body for concurrent enrollment partnerships, NACEP helps programs adhere to the highest standards so students experience a seamless transition to college, and teachers benefit from meaningful, ongoing professional development.

Lorinda Coan, Associate Professor of Dental Hygiene, has been selected to participate in the 2021 NEXUS Innovative Challenge, an annual project supported through the National Center for Interprofessional Practice and Education (NCIPE). The goal of the National Center Nexus is to bridge the gap between health professions education and health care delivery in the United States. Coan has been put into a team with others from across the country in differing specialties to identify a challenge, an opportunity or ongoing project that requires new thinking.

Dr. Denise Lynn, Associate Professor of History and Director of Gender Studies, had her book, Where is Juliet Stuart Poyntz? Gender, Spycraft, and Anti-Stalinism in the Early Cold War, published by the University of Massachusetts Press. It is available for purchase online.

In June 1937, Juliet Stuart Poyntz went missing, never to be seen again. Poyntz was an American citizen working as a Soviet spy so her friends believed she had been killed in the Soviet purges. Poyntz’s suspected abduction and murder was never proven but became a foundational narrative in American anticommunism.

Dr. Darrin Sorrells, Learning Specialist in Academic Skills and Adjunct Instructor for the Psychology and Kinesiology and Sport departments, and Christine Wittmer, Learning Specialist and Adjunct Instructor in Academic Skills, co-authored an article published in a special issue of the peer-reviewed journal, The Learning Assistance Review, responding to COVID-19. The Learning Assistance Review is a publication of The National College Learning Center Association. 

Dr. Xue Han, Assistant Professor of Computer Science, presented "Reproducing Performance Bug Reports in Server Applications: The Researcher's Experiences" at the 35th IEEE/ACM International Conference on Automated Software Engineering in September 2020.

Dr. Susan Seibert, Instructor in Nursing, was appointed to serve as a member of the National League for Nursing’s Constituent League Leadership Committee for a two-year term, ending September 2022.The National League for Nursing is a national organization for nurse educators offering professional development, teaching resources, research grants, testing services and public policy initiatives to its 40,000 individual and 1,200 institutional members. Members are from nursing education programs across higher education and healthcare.

Allison Grabert, Director of the Southwest Indiana Science, Technology, Engineering and Math Resource Center (SwISTEM), led the virtual 2020 Tri-State Science and Engineering Fair in March. In its new format, which relied on Zoom and electronic materials, the fair was successful and was recognized in the June 2020 Biophysical Society newsletter. The Biophysical Society aims to lead "the development and dissemination of knowledge in biophysics." 

Dr. Jessica Wood, OTD, OTR/L, BCP, Assistant Professor of Occupational Therapy, earned specialty practice recognition as a Board Certified Specialist in Pediatrics (BCP) by the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA). She is currently the only occupational therapist in Indiana with this specialty, which demonstrates her ongoing professional development and desire to improve outcomes for pediatric populations.

Dr. Brett Bueltel, Assistant Professor of Accounting, and Dr. Mark McKnight, Associate Professor of Accounting, co-authored "The Impact of the Facebook Court Order & CCPA 2020: Helping Businesses and Accountants Meet the Challenge of the New Era of Privacy Compliance" published in the Journal of Accounting, Ethics and Public Policy.  

Dr. Adam Tennant, Assistant Professor of Engineering, and Dr. Chase Smith, Assistant Professor of Kinesiology and Sport, along with USI student Jotam Chen, published the paper, "Who was the greatest of all-time? A historical analysis by a complex network of professional boxing," in the Journal of Complex Networks. 

The paper uses a computational approach to attempt to determine the greatest boxer of all time. 

Brad Kicklighter, Clinical Assistant Professor of Advanced Manufacturing, presented the paper, "Design and Development of a Sensor/Actuator Module to Enhance Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) Laboratory Activities," at the ASEE Virtual Conference.

The paper documents his design and implementation of lab class equipment that supercedes typical PLC classroom equipment by involving multiple interacting sensors and moving parts.

Amy Wilson, Chair and Clinical Associate Professor of Diagnostic Medical Sonography, has been elected to the board of directors for the Society of Diagnostic Medical Sonography (SDMS), the largest society of sonographers and sonography students in the world. Wilson was one of three chosen in an international election process to fill open seats on the six-person board. Her term will be two years. Wilson will give two webinar presentations during the 2020 SDMS Annual Conference – Virtual Edition in September.

Dr. Urska Dobersek, Assistant Professor of Psychology, along with an interdisciplinary team, published "Meat and mental health: A systematic review of meat abstention and depression, anxiety, and related phenomena" in the nutrition journal Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition. 

Joy A. Cook, Associate Professor and Chair of the Radiologic and Imaging Sciences Program, has been appointed magnetic resonance (MR) representative for the American Society of Radiologic Technologists (ASRT) Practice Standards Council. She will serve as the national representative for the MR discipline for three years. In her role, Cook will chair the MR Practice Standards Subcommittee, where she will lead a group of individuals within this discipline to review and revise MR practice standards.

Cook is a graduate of the University of Southern Indiana, having earned an associate degree in radiologic technology in 1995, bachelor’s degrees in health services and radiologic and imaging sciences in 2003, and a master’s degree in education in 2009. She is currently pursuing a doctorate in educational leadership from USI.

Peter Whiting, scholarly communication librarian, and Andrea Wright, assistant director of David L. Rice Library, presented "Upcycling a Schol Comm Unit: Building Bridges with Creativity, Reallocations, and Limited Resources" at the 2019 NASIG conference in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Their work was published in The Serials Librarian, a peer-reviewed journal, in January 2020. The Serials Librarian is an international journal focusing on scholarly communication and all aspects of serials and other continuing resources.

Dr. Jinsuk Yang, assistant professor of finance, presented "Informativeness of Sell-Recommendation" at the Academic Business Research (ABR) Conference.

Rosalie Moffett, assistant professor of English, was recognized in the December 10, 2019 issue of The New York Times. Her work, Nervous System: Poems, was included in the publication's "New and Noteworthy" section.

"Even as they consider snails and spiders, trees and dreams and weather, tracing the world's intricate connections, the poems in Moffett's second collection grapple with the brain injury that has diminished her biologist mother," the Times says. 

Jaclyn Dumond, assistant director of Lifelong Learning, co-presented "NACEP Accreditation: Tips and Tricks" at the National Alliance of Concurrent Enrollment Partnerships (NACEP) National Conference in Salt Lake City, Utah, in October 2019. 

Dr. Thomas Weber, assistant professor of management, received the Best Reviewer Award at the Academy of International Business - U.S. Southeast Annual Conference in October 2019. He also presented "Caring Organization and Innovation" at the conference.  

Dr. Cathy Carey, dean of the Romain College of Business, was a keynote speaker at the Southwest Indiana Chamber’s 2019 Economic Outlook Luncheon presented by Fifth Third Bank on November 12, 2019. This annual event features professionals who predict what they feel the economic future holds for the world, country, state and region. In attendance were Chamber members, elected and appointed officials, key community leaders and other strategic partners.

Dr. Belle Cowden, executive director of Online Learning, Larissa Cremeens, senior instructional designer, Christine Nelson, instructional designer, and JD Weagley, instructional designer, were recognized with the Excellence in Instructional Design Award by the University Professional and Continuing Education Association Central Region for the Online Course Development Prgram (OCDP) in October 2019. The award recognizes a program which serves as a model of instructional design excellence.

The OCDP is a professional development program that supports faculty in the design and development of quality online courses. The program is facilitated by the University’s team of instructional designers in an online course format placing the faculty in the student role as online learners while they are guided through the process of the development of their online courses. Since the inception of the OCDP in 2015, there have been 132 faculty participants that have developed more that 170 online courses that have successfully completed a Quality Matters course review. 

Dr. Daria Sevastianova, associate professor of economics, helped organize Economics Camp South, an event co-sponsored by USI's Center for Economic Education and the Indiana Council for Economic Education at Purdue University to serve local high school economics teachers. During the event, held in September 2019, Sevastianova delivered the keynote speech, "Brexit and EU: Why It Matters to You," served on the discussion panel, "Cost of Higher Education and Free College Proposals," and moderated a discussion panel, "Where Can Economics Take You?"

Sevastianova also participated in a Federal Reserve "Women in Economics" podcast in September 2019.

Dr. Quentin Maynard, assistant professor of social work, co-authored the article "Qualitative research skills acquisition within social work doctoral education using project-based learning" that was published in the research journal Qualitative Social Work in October 2019.

Cindi Clayton, instructor in business communication, co-presented "The iGen at Work- an interpretation of data collected in the classroom regarding workplace values" at an Evansville Human Resources Association monthly meeting with student Mollie Knight ʼ19, management, as part of Knight's honors project. More than 400 USI senior business majors were asked to rank their "work values" from a list of 10. The presentation covered the results of that study, as well as offered additional information about how to recruit and retain the talent of the future.

Clayton also participated in two panels at the annual conference of the Organization for Communication, Language and Gender in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Dr. Katie Ehlman, professor of gerontology and director of the USI Center for Healthy Aging and Wellness, presented "USI Geriatrics Workforce Enhancement Program" at meetings of the Indiana Commission on Aging (COA) and the Indiana CHOICE Board. Both meetings were held in Indianapolis in September 2019. Ehlman's presentations focused on the efforts of the Geriatrics Workforce Enhancement Program (GWEP), which aims to improve health outcomes for older adults in underserved communities of southwest Indiana by developing a workforce to maximize patient and family engagement and integrate geriatrics into primary care.

The program was implemented at USI through a $3.7 million grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.  

Dr. Srishti Srivastava, assistant professor of computer science, had her article, "Assessing the Integration of Parallel and Distributed Computing in Early Undergraduate Computer Science Curriculum Using Unplugged Activities," published by the IEEE Technical Consortium on High Performance Computing (TCHPC).

Srivastava also presented "Building a Pipeline of Future Coders" to the Evansville Information Executives Group (EIEG). The presentation included information about Girls Who Code, an activity Srivastava is involved with, along with Allison Grabert, director of the Southwest Indiana STEM Resource Center, and Paige Walling, SwiSTEM services coordiator, that develops interest in computer science among K-12 students, and the educational computer science camp they helped organize for elementary school teachers. The meeting was attended by CIOs from local companies, EVSC officials and USI colleagues.

Dr. Dawn Worman, assistant professor of nursing, presented "Preparing Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) Students to Reduce Hospital Readmissions and Improve Patient Outcomes" at the 46th annual Professional Nurse Educators Group Conference hosted by Cleveland Clinic in October 2019.

Dr. Jamie Seitz, assistant professor of accounting, presented "Exploring the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 Whistleblower Provisions and Intentions to Blow the Whistle on Financial Statement Fraud: An Empirical Examination of the Factors that Influence Intent Using the Theory of Planned Behavior" at the Institute of Management Accountants annual conference and expo in San Diego, California. 

Dr. Leigh Anne Howard, professor of communication studies, and Dr. Susanna Hoeness-Krupsaw, associate professor of English, edited the first edition of Performativity, Cultural Construction, and the Graphic Narrative, published by Routledge. The work draws on performance studies scholarship to understand the social impact of graphic novels and their sociopolitical function.

Dr. Melissa Stacer, associate professor of criminal justice, had her article, "Inmate Attitudes about Prison Tours for Students," accepted for publication in The Prison Journal. It will be published in December 2020. Stacer's research interests include institutional corrections, justice-involved veterans, and criminal justice education, as well as reentry initiatives, including faith-based programs and ban the box policies.

Chris Wittmer, learning specialist for reading and supplemental instruction within University Division, will receive the 2019 College Reading and Learning Association's Distinguished Teaching Award at the organization's annual conference in New Orleans, Louisiana, in October 2019. This award recognizes a single member of the association who exemplifies teaching and learning as a lifelong journey. 

Dr. Cristina Gilstrap, assistant professor of business communication, and Dr. Curt Gilstrap, assistant professor of business communication, co-authored the article, "Stress in International Work: Stressors and Coping Strategies of RNGO International Directors," which was published in the journal Communication Quarterly. Dr. Cristina Gilstrap also presented "Organizational Sensegiving in Family-Centered Care: How NICU Nurses Help Families Make Sense of the NICU Experience" at the 69th annual International Communication Association Conference in Washington, D.C. 

Dr. Brooke Mathna and Dr. Martin Koen, assistant professors of criminal justice, co-authored the paper, "Body-Worn Cameras and Internal Accountability at a Police Agency," which has been accepted at the American Journal of Qualitative Research.

Dr. Elissa Mitchell, assistant professor of social work, had her article, "Using Debate in an Online Asynchronous Social Policy Course" published in the 2019 OLC Conference Special Issue of the Online Learning Consortium Journal in September 2019. 

Dr. Todd Nelson, assistant professor of engineering, co-authored the article, "Normalized Coordinate Equations and an Energy Method for Predicting Natural Curved-Fold Configurations," published in the ASME Journal of Applied Mechanics. Nelson's research focuses on origami-inspired mechanisms and compliant mechanisms. His research has applications ranging from medical implants, surgical tools, aerospace applications, automotive airbags and deployable structures.

Dr. Jack Smothers, associate professor of management, Jeanette Maier-Lytle, instructor in accounting, Dr. Manfen Chen, associate professor of finance, and Dr. Kevin Celuch, professor of marketing, co-authored the article, "Engaging Students Through Activity Design: A Service-Dominant Logic Perspective," which was published in the Journal of the Academy of Business Education.

Dr. Mary Rock, clinical associate professor of nursing, received the Nursing Professionalism and Practice Award at the annual meeting of the Indiana State Nurse Association (ISNA) on September 20, 2019. A member of the State Board of Nursing, Rock is the lead instructor for USI’s Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) and Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) health policy courses. She promotes political activism by engaging nursing students and nurse leaders. She leads by example and has inspired many to investigate legislation and ways to promote nursing excellence through policy.

Dr. Kristalyn Shefveland, associate professor of history, is currently serving as an executive officer for the American Society for Ethnohistory (ASE). Shefveland helped organize and participated in sessions at the 2019 ASE Annual Meeting in September 2019. The American Society for Ethnohistory is the preeminent international organization in its field. Representing multiple disciplines—cultural anthropology, history, American Indian studies, archaeology, ecology, linguistics and related fields—the Society is committed to creating a more inclusive picture of the histories of native groups.

Shefveland also participated in the OpEd Project with other scholars working on indigenous history. The OpEd Project is a program that works with universities, think tanks, foundations, nonprofits, corporations and community organizations across the nation to scout and train under-represented experts (especially women) to take thought leadership positions in their fields.

Dr. David O'Neil, assistant professor of English, had his article, "The Ear, the Foot, the Gut: The Metaphoric Body of the Timer Tradition of Old English Metrics," published in the peer-reviewed journal, Essays in Medieval Studies. He also co-edited the book,"Proceedings of the Third Purdue Linguistics, Literature, and Second Language Studies Conference." The article and book were published in the summer of 2019.

Dr. Mikel Hand, associate professor of nursing, received the USI Tenured Faculty Grant to conduct a pilot study, "Death and Dying: Nurses' Role in Correctional Healthcare," concerning death and dying and advance directives in correctional healthcare. This collaborative study examines the knowledge, attitudes, experience and confidence of correctional registered nurses in caring for inmate patients and addressing issues related to advanced healthcare directives. This pilot study involves correctional nurses practicing in New York and California and will serve as the basis for future research at a regional and national level. The United States has the largest population of incarcerated adults in the world with over two million individuals in state and federal correctional custody (International Center for Prison Studies, 2015). Advance directives are an important part of care delivery and the protection of inmate autonomy in determining what kind of healthcare they do and do not want to receive.

Dr. Brian Routh, instructor in accounting, co-authored the article, "Bank Failures: A Study of Georgia Banks," which was published in the Journal of Accounting and Finance. He also spoke at the Course Hero Education Summit in Redwood City, California in July 2019.

Dr. Sang Choe, professor of marketing, co-authored "A New Investment Mecca: North Korea for Global Enterprises," which was published in The Journal of International Business Research and Practice in July 2019. 

Dr. Stephen Zehr, professor of sociology, organized three panels on the topic "How has climate change reshaped scientific expertise and the expert?" at the Society for Social Studies of Science Annual Meeting in New Orleans in September 2019. Zehr's presentation argued for the need to understand climate change journalism as a means for building expertise.

Dr. Melinda Roberts, associate professor of criminal justice, and USI alumna Melanie Belarmino, had their article, "Japanese Gender Role Expectations and Attitudes: A Qualitative Analysis of Gender Inequality," published in the Journal of International Women's Studies in August 2019. 

Rosalie Moffett, assistant professor of English, was named the winner of the seventh annual Loraine Williams Poetry Prize by The Georgia Review. Her poem, "Giving Away the Dental Hygienist's Idea for a Patent," will appear in the publication's Spring 2020 issue.

Dr. Xue Han, assistant professor of computer science, co-authored the article "Reproducing performance bug reports in server applications: The researchers' experiences" published in the Journal of Systems and Software.

Dr. Glenna Bower, professor of kinesiology and sport and associate dean of the Pott College of Science, Engineering, and Education, completed the 2019 HERS (Higher Education Resource Services) Institute at the Colorado School of Mines. The HERS Institute is a leadership development program created to "proactively fill the higher education leadership pipelines across the United States with dynamic women" and help participants develop their leadership strengths. Bower was one of 64 women from the US and Canada selected to attend. 

Joy Cook, associate professor and program director for the Radiologic and Imaging Sciences program, has been appointed chair of the Bylaws Committee for the American Society of Radiologic Technologists (ASRT) by the ASRT Speaker of the House. Cook's one-year term began September 1, 2019, and will end August 31, 2020. As chairperson, Cook will be responsible for facilitating all meetings of the Committee on Bylaws and is required to attend the 2020 Annual Governance and House of Delegates meeting at ASRT headquarters in New Mexico.

Dr. Jason Fertig, associate professor of management, was quoted in the USA Today article, "Why quitting tech and social media is harder than quitting cigarettes," in August 2019.

Yu-Li Alice Shen, instructor of English, won STAGEtwo Productions' Summer Playwriting Workshop original play award for her full-length play, Image May Contain. The award entails the script receiving a world premiere production. The show, directed by Katy Haun, featured performances by USI theatre student Sarai Dinkens Agalaba and local thespians Daryl Fink, Jared Brosmer, Aaron Stofleth, Mikayla Robledo and Diane Marie-Louise. Partially inspired by Shen's time in Taiwan performing Buddhist funeral rituals for her late father, the play is a darkly comic exploration of racial identity, "life-share" culture and the families we choose. The show took place July 12-14, 2019 after being workshopped at STAGEtwo's Summer Playwriting Workshop in July 2018 and at the 40th Annual Mid-America Theatre Conference in Cleveland, Ohio, in March 2019.

Dr. Jinsuk Yang, assistant professor of finance, received approval for his USI Early Career Faculty Grant proposal, "Does Credit Rating Attenuate  Corporate Earning Management?" The proposal received the recommendation of the Faculty Awards for Service, Teaching and Research Committee (FASTRC). 

Shannon Hoehn, applications administrator in the Information Technology Department, adjunct faculty member in Communication Studies and Gender Studies and UNIV 101 instructor, offered the presentations "Using OneDrive to Modernize the Classroom" and "First Year Experience Courses: Hands-On Demos Make Students Happy and Get Institutions the Data They Want" at Blackboard World, an annual conference hosted by Blackboard. This year's conference was held in Austin, Texas.

Dr. Melinda R. Roberts, associate professor of criminal justice; Dr. Wendy Turner, associate professor of social work; Dr. Leigh Anne Howard, professor of communication studies; Dr. Erin Gilles, assistant professor of advertising; and Dr. Anne Statham, professor emerita of sociology, had their article, "Gender and Social Justice: An Examination of Attitudes and Behaviors Among Undergraduate Liberal Arts Students" published in Affilia: Journal of Women and Social Work. 

Dr. Elizabeth Bonham, associate professor of nursing, is guest editor of the special issue on infant mental health published in June 2019 by the peer reviewed journal, Archives of Psychiatric Nursing. The special issue is an outcome of the first Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing Symposium at the 2016 annual conference of the International Society of Psychiatric Mental Health Nurses (ISPN) in Minneapolis. The symposium was conceptualized and implemented by Dr. Bonham to offer evidence based content about infant mental health to various practitioners.

Dr. Urska Dobersek, assistant professor of psychology, and her students presented their research, "Are levels of testosterone, willingness to cheat and exercise motives related?" and "The relationship between facial asymmetry and exercise" at the North American Society for the Psychology of Sport and Physical Activity national conference in Baltimore, Maryland.

Dobersek also received a $10,555 grant from the National Cattlemen's Beef Association to conduct a systematic review on "Beef for a Happier and Healthier Life."

Dr. Crystal Steltenpohl, assistant professor of psychology, received the Innovative Research on Aging Bronze Award from Mather LifeWays Institute on Aging for the article she co-authored titled "Me time, or we time? Age differences in motivation for exercise." Mather LifeWays Institute on Aging was created to conduct research for senior living and community-residing older adults. 

Dr. Jamie Seitz, assistant professor of accounting, was invited to present "Exploring the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 Whistleblower Provisions and Intentions to Blow the Whistle on Financial Statement Fraud: An Empirical Examination of the Factors that Influence Intent Using the Theory of Planned Behavior" to a University of Mobile auditing class via Zoom. Additionally, Seitz's USI Early Career Faculty Grant proposal "The Impact of Employee Loyalty on Potential Whistleblower's Intent to Externally Report Financial Statement Fraud," was approved. Her publication "Exploring International Whistleblower Behaviors and Legistlation," co-authored by Dr. Brett Bueltel, assistant professor of accounting, was accepted by the Global Journal of Contemporary Research in Accounting, Auditing and Business Ethics.

Dr. Srishti Srivastava, assistant professor of computer science, presented the paper, "A Container-Based Framework to Facilitate Reproducibility in Employing Stochastic Process Algebra for Modeling Parallel Computing Systems" at the 33rd IEEE International Parallel and Distributed Processing Symposium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

She also presented "Evaluating Student Engagement towards Integrating Parallel and Distributed Computing (PDC) Topics in Undergraduate Level Computer Science Curriculum" at the ACM Technical Symposium for the Special Interest Group on Computer Science Education (SIGCSE 2019).

Her book chapter, "Scheduling in Parallel and Distributed Computing Systems," was published as the 11th chapter in the textbook "Topics in Parallel and Distributed Computing." This is the first initiative taken by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the IEEE Technical Committee on Parallel Processing (TCPP) towards standardizing text for undergraduate computer science curriculum on topics in parallel and distributed computing.

Dr. Casey Pycior, assistant professor of English, received a $2,000 Indiana Arts Commission Individual Advancement Program Grant to help fund research for his in-progress novel. His essay, "Fear Fact(or), Fear Fiction," was published by the Eckleburg Review, and another essay has been accepted by The Laurel Review. Additionally, his short story, "Remittance," has been accepted for publication by the literary journal Exit 7. 

Dr. Julia Galbus Kiesel, associate professor of English, had her article "Working (with) History: Marlene Kadar and Louise DeSalvo" published in the journal Auto/Biography Studies. 

Dr. Brett Bueltel, assistant professor of accounting, received the 2019 JLTR Outstanding Paper Award for his article, "A Legal Analysis of State Tax Policy for Online Sales: The Recipe from Direct Marketing," published in the ATA Journal of Legal Tax Research (JLTR). He was recognized at the 2019 American Accounting Association Annual Meeting in San Francisco.

Dr. Abbas Foroughi, professor of computer information systems and chair of the Management and Information Sciences Department, had his paper "Psycho-Social Aspects of Learning in MOOC Courses," published in the Journal of Management Science in June 2019. 

Dr. Silvia Rode, chair of the World Languages and Cultures Program and professor of German, was nominated as Southwest Regional Leader for the Indiana Language Roadmap Project, School of Global and International Studies/Center for the Study of Global Change Indiana University, Bloomington and the State of Indiana, 2018-2019.

Dr. Daniel Bauer, associate professor of anthropology, presented the paper "Crafting Justice and Inclusion: Chambira Weaving in Amazonian Peru" at the 2019 International Congress of the Latin American Studies Association in Boston, Massachusetts. 

Dr. Daria Sevastianova, associate professor of economics, presented "The Global Economy—Why It Matters to You" to 26 high school students at Evansville's Randall T. Shepard Leadership and Law Academy.  

Dr. Laura Lutgen, assistant professor of criminal justice, presented her work "Recidivism and Drug of Choice for Individuals in a Jail-Based Treatment Program" at the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences conference in Baltimore, Maryland. The Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences (ACJS) is an international association established to foster professional and scholarly activities in the field of criminal justice. ACJS promotes criminal justice education, research and policy analysis within the discipline of criminal justice for both educators and practitioners.

Dr. Todd Schroer, chair of the Criminal Justice Program and associate professor of sociology and criminal justice, has been selected as a fellow for the Holocaust Educational Foundation's Summer Institute on the Holocaust and Jewish Civilization at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. The Institute is comprised of intensive seminars on Holocaust studies and related topics conducted by some of the field's top experts.

Marna Hostetler, director of Library Services, has been elected to serve a two-year term as president of the Academic Libraries of Indiana (ALI). ALI represents all academic libraries in accredited, nonprofit institutions of higher education in Indiana. Its 72 members include major research libraries, law and medical libraries, theological school libraries and undergraduate libraries. Hostetler has served two terms as an ALI board member. 

Dr. Adrian Gentle, associate professor of mathematics, and Dr. William Wilding, associate professor of mathematics, received the Outstanding Paper Award at the American Society of Engineering Education's 2019 Illinois-Indiana Section Conference at the University of Evansville for their paper, "Student-Faculty Connection and STEM Identity in the Flipped Classroom."  

Jane Friona, executive director of Southwest Indiana Area Health Education Center (AHEC), has been named the recipient of the 2019 Behind the Scenes Award from the Emergency Nurses Association (ENA). This national award recognizes an individual who has made significant contributions to promote ENA’s mission of advocating for patient safety and excellence in emergency nursing practice. Friona will receive the award October 1, 2019, during the Emergency Nursing 2019 conference in Austin, Texas.

David O'Neil, assistant professor of English, presented the paper, "Continuity and Bifurcation: A Metrical Study of Piers Plowman and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight," at the 54th International Congress on Medieval Studies at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo. The panel, The Places and Spaces of Alliterative Verse, was jointly sponsored by the International Piers Plowman Society and the Pearl-Poet Society.

Dr. Sang Choe, professor of marketing, presented "A New Investment Mecca: North Korea for Global Enterprises" at the MBAA International Conference in Chicago, Illinois. 

Dr. Trent Engbers, assistant professor of political science and director of the Master of Public Administration program, was selected as one of two Youth Resources' Outstanding Alumni for 2019. This award recognizes Engbers' involvement in Youth Resources and the organization's broader contribution to the community. Youth Resources is a local youth-serving nonprofit that encourages responsible decision-making and positive life choices.

Dr. Srishti Srivastava, assistant professor of computer science, was named USI's "Student Organization Adviser of the Year" for her work as a faculty adviser for the student organization, Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). 

Brian Routh, instructor in accounting, and Dr. Mark McKnight, associate professor of accounting, along with Alyssa Moore, graduate assistant, co-authored "Disclosing Tax Consequences of a LIFO Repeal: Considerations Toward an Ethical Decision-Making Model Based on Potential Convergence of IFRS and U.S. GAAP", which was published by the Journal of Theoretical Accounting Research.

Dr. Melinda Roberts, associate professor of criminal justice and assistant dean of the College of Liberal Arts, and Dr. Marthinus Koen, assistant professor of criminal justice, along with Gabrielle Wy '19 and Dr. Bryce Newell of the University of Kentucky, presented "A Case Study of Administrator Perceptions and Experiences with the Implementation of Body-Worn Cameras" at the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences conference in Baltimore, Maryland. Koen and Wy also presented "Making Sense of Body-Worn Cameras: An In-Depth Examination of Special Units Across Two Agencies."

Dr. Curt Gilstrap, assistant professor of business communication, had his research paper "Exploring m-leader affordances: team leaders and mobile technologies" published by Emerald Insight. The paper aims to examine how mobile technologies impact virtual team leaders and provides insight into how mobile technologies afford leaders varied capacity to accomplish their team work.

Dr. Melissa Stacer, associate professor of criminal justice, presented "Students Touring Prisons: An Examination of Inmate Attitudes" at the North Central Sociological Association conference in Cincinnati, Ohio. States/provinces represented by the NCSA include: eastern Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, western Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ontario, Canada.

Dr. Leigh Anne Howard, professor of communication studies, published the article, "Performance, Pedagogy, Potential: Utopian Performance as Community-Based Education," in the Winter 2019 volume of Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning. The article discusses a research project based on a student service learning project in Howard's performance studies courses.

John Morris, instructor of radio/tv and general manager of WSWI (95.7 The Spin), will retain his position as president of College Broadcasters, Inc. (CBI) following CBI board elections. CBI is a member-driven organization serving students and advisers of college and high school electronic media outlets. 

Amy Montz, associate professor of English, had her article, "Unbinding the Victorian Girl: Corsetry and Neo-Victorian Young Adult Literature," published in Children's Literature Association Quarterly.

Dr. Jack Smothers, associate professor of management and Masters of Business Administration director, received the 2018 Best Paper Award from the Journal of Management History for his co-authored piece, "Social Enterprise in Antebellum America: The Case of Nashoba (1824-1829)."

Oana Popescu Sandu, associate professor of English, wrote the article "Staging the Postsocialist Woman: Saviana Stanescu's Alternative Transnations" which appeared in the journal Twentieth Century Literature (Vol. 65, Numbers 1-2, March 2019), published by Duke University Press. The article is part of a special issue entitled "Postsocialist Literatures in the United States." 

Dr. Doris Mohr, associate professor of mathematics, recently published an edited book for K-8 teachers entitled Mathematical Thinking: From Assessment Items to Challenging Tasks. The book is available from the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM). Dr. Mark Creager, assistant professor of mathematics, served as a chapter editor and author of several activities. Dr. Mohr and her colleagues were also featured in an Author Talk webinar about the book hosted by NCTM.

Crystal Steltenpohl, assistant professor of psychology, presented a webinar on open science to Philippine Researchers for Open Science at University of the Philippines Diliman Department of Psychology in Manila, Philippines.

Dr. Darrin Sorrells, learning assistance specialist and adjunct instructor of psychology, was recognized as a Distinguished Educator by Phil Delta Kappa. Sorrells is among more than 70 initial educators from across the nation this year to receive the honor based on his years of service to the education profession and his commitment to the Phi Delta Kappa Association’s core values of research, service, and leadership.

Tim Bryan, instructor in accounting, discussed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act with the Evansville Area Fundraising Council. His presentation focused on changes with standard deduction and itemized deductions and their potential impact on charities receiving donations. He also expanded into strategies to mitigate any negative impact.

Dr. Virginia Weiler, instructor in marketing, presented "The Good, The Bad and the The Ugly: Marketing in the Global Space" at USI's Global Salon Series.

Dr. Alyssa Weatherholt, assistant professor of exercise science, presented her research project, "Cardiovascular responses to light-intensity exercise with and without blood flow restriction in healthy 30-60 year olds" at the annual American Physical Therapy Association's Combined Sections Meeting. 

Dr. Jennifer Evans, assistant professor of nursing, and Dr. Susan Seibert, instructor in nursing, will offer the podium presentation, "Bridging the Gap: Linking Academia and Practice," at Sigma's 45th Biennial Convention in Washington, D.C., in November 2019. Their presentation will be one of three at a symposium highlighting nursing research outcomes from the Healthcare Research Consortium, an academic-collaborative partnership involving schools of nursing and healthcare organizations within the Tri-State. More than 2,000 Sigma members and global leaders in nursing are expected at the convention.

Marthinus Koen, assistant professor of criminal justice, co-authored the peer-reviewed article, "Making sense of body-worn cameras in a police organization: a technological frames analysis" which was published in Police Practice and Research: An International Journal. 

Dr. Abbas Foroughi, professor of computer information systems and chair of the Management and Information Sciences Department, Dr. Jack Smothers, associate professor of management and director of the Master of Business Administration program, Dr. Dinko Bačić, assistant professor of computer information systems, and Dr. Mohammed Khayum, provost and professor of economics, co-authored the article, "Launching an Accelerated Online MBA Program: Assuring Quality with Scale, Based on Principles of Effective Course Design," which was published in the Journal of Higher Education Theory and Practice, Volume 18(6), 2018.

Dr. Austin Anderson, associate professor of kinesiology and sport and program director of sport management, was presented the 2019 NIRSA Research and Assessment Award at the NIRSA Conference in Boston, Massachusetts in February 2019. The award recognizes NIRSA members who have made extraordinary contributions towards advancing research and assessment initiatives on their campus and/or for NIRSA. The award is based on significant personal advocacy, development or implementation of assessment efforts. 

Dr. Melanie Lee, assistant professor of English, co-authored the chapter, "Towards a Researcherly Ethos: Building Authority with Inquiry in Information Literacy and Writing," published in Purdue University Press's Teaching Information Literacy and Writing Studies: Vol. 2, Upper-Level and Graduate Courses, an edited collection that is part of Purdue’s Information Literacy Handbook Series.

Dr. Elizabeth Bonham, associate professor of nursing, presented "Using Online Wikis for Assessment Transforms Student Articulation of Learning" at the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) Master's in Education Conference on February 22, 2019, in Tampa, Florida. Bonham teaches in USI's online graduate nursing program.  

Dr. Perry Burnett, associate professor of economics, presented "Welcome to the Bubble Age: Asset Collapse, Fake News and Euphoria" at a luncheon for the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA).

Dr. Melissa Stacer, associate professor of criminal justice studies, and Lydia Moll '18, criminal justice and sociology, presented "'I expected something different...': Students' perceptions and realizations after correctional tours" at the Western Society of Criminology conference in Honolulu, Hawaii, in February 2019. Dr. Stacer and Moll, who is pursuing her master's degree in social work at USI, have been conducting research on the impact a prison or jail tour has on students and student learning for several years.

Dr. Todd Nelson, assistant professor of engineering, co-authored the article "Developable Mechanisms on Developable Surfaces" which was published in Science Robotics, a leading academic journal for research related to the field of robotics. Dr. Nelson's research focuses on origami-inspired mechanisms and compliant mechanisms. His research has diverse applications including medical implants, surgical tools, aerospace applications, automotive airbags and deployable structures. 

Drs. Brett Bueltel and Jamie Seitz, assistant professors of accounting, co-authored the publication "Exploring International Whistleblower Behaviors and Legislation" which was accepted by the Global Journal of Contemporary Research in Accounting, Auditing and Business Ethics.

Dr. Dinko Bacic, assistant professor of computer information systems, co-authored a publication which has been accepted by the AIS (Association for Information Systems) Transactions on Human-Computer Interaction journal. The publication is titled "Task-Representation Fit's Impact on Cognitive Effort in the Context of Decision Timeliness and Accuracy: A Cognitive Fit Perspective."

Tim Bryan, instructor in accounting, presented his dissertation proposal, "Accounting Conservatism or Earnings Manipulation: A Study of the Allowance for Doubtful Accounts and Bad Debt Expense," at the Engaged Management Scholarship Conference at Temple University in Philadelphia, PA, as well as at the conference poster session.

Dr. Timberly Baker, assistant professor of teacher education, presented her co-authored paper "Continued disparate discipline: Theorizing state takeover districts' impact on the continued oppression of Black girls" at the International School Choice and Reform Conference is Lisbon, Portugal, on January 12, 2019. The goal of the conference is to connect scholars who engage in rigorous research about school choice in ways that illuminate current policy debates. 

Dr. Srishti Srivastava, assistant professor of computer science, presented "An Analysis of Stochastic Process Algebra Models of Resource Allocations in Parallel and Distributed Computing" at the Computer Science and Engineering Department at the Indian Institute of Technology (IITK), an esteemed research institution in Kanpur, India. 

Rob Millard-Mendez, professor of art, won a Juror's Award on January 10, 2019, at the Regional Juried Exhibition at ArtLink Gallery in Fort Wayne, IN. The competitive exhibition includes work from Indiana and its neighboring states. Millard-Mendez has shown work in more than 510 professional exhibitions. He has won more than 80 awards for his art, teaching and university/community service.

Dr. Casey Pycior, assistant professor of English, published "On Being Red Assed," a creative nonfiction essay about baseball, potential, failure and taking a ground ball to the face (!) in BULL: Men's Fiction in December 2018

Dr. Khaled Elkhal, associate professor of finance, presented "Resurrection of Capital Asset Pricing Models: A Practical Test with Active Management Approach" at the Financial Management Association conference, in San Diego, CA.

Dr. Jill Oeding, assistant professor of business law, presented the ethics session for the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA)-Evansville Chapter. Attendees earned continuing professional education (CPE) credit.

Dr. Gabriela Mustata Wilson, chair of the Health Informatics and Information Management Department and associate professor, was recently featured in the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) online series, "Women in Health IT" and "The Digital Healthcare Podcast." 

Lenny Dowhie, professor emeritus and founder/director of the New Harmony Clay Project (NHCP), has been selected as a recipient of the 2019 National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts (NCECA) Excellence in Teaching Award. This award is presented to individuals who have demonstrated excellence in teaching as well as in their own creative work, have previous recognition for and a history of awards in teaching and have highly visible former students in the field. 

Andrea Wright, assistant director and head of public services in the David L. Rice Library, co-authored a chapter in the new book "OER: A Field Guide for Academic Librarians", published in December 2018. The chapter, Interinstitutional Collaborations to Forge Intracampus Connections: A Case Study from the Duke Endowment Libraries, was co-authored with Sarah Hare (Indiana University), Christy Allen (Furman University), Geneen E. Clinkscales (Johnson C. Smith University) and Julie Reed (Central Piedmont Community College) to share their experience designing a multi-campus awareness campaign on Open Education Resources (OER). 

Cindi Clayton, instructor in business communication, presented “Examining the Marginalization of the Birth Mother in Adoption Narratives” during the Organization for the Study of Communication, Language, and Gender Annual Conference in South Lake Tahoe, CA, on October 5, 2018.

Chris Wittmer, reading instructor, and Lori Saxby, reading specialist, in Academic Skills presented the roundtable session "En Route to Online Academic Reading Success" at the College Reading and Learning Association Conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico on October 26, 2018. CRLA is a group of student-oriented professionals active in the fields of reading, learning assistance, developmental education, tutoring, and mentoring at the college/adult level. 

Dr. Sudesh Mujumdar, chair of the Economics & Marketing Department and professor of economics, was a panelist at the Indiana Chamber of Commerce Economic Outlook Luncheon, an annual event where an invited group of panelists discusses the economic outlook for the global, national, Indiana, and Evansville economies.

Dr. Jamie Seitz, assistant professor of accounting, successfully defended her doctoral dissertation, entitled *Exploring the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 Whistleblower Provisions and intentions to blow the whistle on financial statement fraud: An empirical examination of the factors that influence intent using the theory of planned behavior*.

Dr. Linda L. M. Bennett, professor emerita of political science and president emerita, will be named a laureate of the Evansville Regional Business Hall of Fame at a breakfast held at 7 a.m. Thursday, March 14, 2019 at the Old National Events Plaza in downtown Evansville.

Dr. Srishti Srivastava, assistant professor of computer science, has had the article “PEPA Based Performance Modeling for Robust Resource Allocations Amid Varying Processor Availability” published in IEEE Xplore in Proceeding of the IEEE International Symposium on Parallel and Distributed Computing (ISPDC).

Lori Saxby, reading specialist, was named the 2018 recipient of the Robert Griffin Award from the College Reading and Learning Association (CRLA). This prestigious award recognizes a current CRLA member with at least ten years of membership in CRLA with service at the state/regional level or national/international level. 

Dr. Melissa Stacer, associate professor of criminal justice, and Lydia Moll (current MSW student) presented their research titled "Dirty and smelly: Student expectations of jails and prisons" at the annual meeting of the Indiana Academy of Social Sciences held at Indiana University Southeast in New Albany, IN.

Dr. Melinda Roberts, associate professor of criminal justice and assistant dean of the College of Liberal Arts, along with Melanie Belarmino ’17, recently had "Japanese gender role expectations and attitudes: A qualitative analysis of gender inequality'" accepted for publication by the Journal of International Women's Studies.

Dr. Todd Schroer, associate professor of sociology & criminal justice and chair of Criminal Justice, presented his research titled "The Effects of the Charlottesville Killing on the Alt-Right" at the Indiana Academy of Social Sciences annual meeting held at Indiana University Southeast in New Albany, IN. 

Dr. David O'Neil, assistant professor of English, presented the following research during the month of October: "The Space in the Middle: An Argument for Continuity in the English Alliterative Tradition" at the Medieval Association of the Midwest Conference, "Medieval Problem, Digital Solution" at Writing Research Without Walls: A Symposium for Interdisciplinary Writing and Collaboration, and "The Poets are Revolting: Scholarly Identity in the Field of Old English Metrics" at the Indiana College English Association Conference.

Dr. Andrew Dill, assistant professor of accounting, presented "The Theory of Unintended Amoral Behavior: The Effect of Bounded Ethicality on Managerial Decision-Making Under System 1 and System 2 Thinking" at the 2018 American Accounting Association Annual Conference.

Dr. Linda L. M. Bennett, professor emerita of political science and president emerita, will present "Higher Education: America’s Troubled Dream Machine" as the 2018 Stephens-Otterson Lecture at 2 p.m. Sunday, October 14 at Trinity United Methodist Church in Evansville. Bennett's presentation will use Frank Bruni’s book Where You Go Is Not Who You’ll Be as a foundation for analysis of the relationship between higher education and the American public.

Dr. Dinko Bačić, assistant professor of computer information systems, will have his article "Task-representation fit’s impact on cognitive effort in the context of decision timeliness and accuracy: a cognitive fit perspective" published in the AIS Transactions on Human-Computer Interaction journal.

Dr. Khaled Elkhal, associate professor of finance, presented "When Business Risk is High, Managers Want to Borrow, Creditors Refuse to Lend?" at the Academy of Finance, MBAA International Conference in Chicago.

Dr. Marie Bussing, contract assistant professor of economics, was named to the Federal Reserve Educational Advisory Board, Louisville Branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. Members of the Educator Advisory Board strengthen economic education specialists' connections to schools and universities through contact with teachers, administration, professors, and department of education representatives.

Amy Wilson, clinical associate professor of diagnostic medical sonography and chair of the Diagnostic Medical Sonography Program, presented a new webinar for the international Society of Diagnostic Medical Sonography (SDMS) to serve as a "clinical refresher" on the SDMS website. In her presentation, "Lower Extremity Venous - Femoral," she summarizes the protocols for performing ultrasound on the femoral vein, a large vein in the thigh which is responsible for returning venous flow from the lower extremity to the heart.

Dr. Daria Sevastianova, associate professor of economics, presented "Trade War: What is it Good For?" as the keynote speaker for Camp Economics, a workshop for high school economics teachers in Santa Claus, Indiana sponsored by the Indiana Council for Economics Education.

Jennifer Palmer, nurse planner in College of Nursing and Health Professions Lifelong Learning, served as the program planning committee chairperson for the 27th Annual Academy of Medical Surgical Nurses (AMSN) Convention in Orlando, Florida.

Doug Goeppner, ADA coordinator in Human Resources, has been selected to serve as one of the presenters at the “Accessible Health Care for All Training Workshop” being held at the Deaconess Health Sciences Building in Evansville on September 20th, 2018. The event is sponsored by the IU Center for Health Equity and supported by the Indiana Department of Health. He will be leading a session titled "Accessibility 101 for Healthcare Providers: A Quick Introduction to Accessibility in Healthcare Facilities."

Dr. Curt Gilstrap, assistant professor of business, had his article, "Exploring M-Leader Affordances: Team Leaders and Mobile Technologies" formally accepted (in late August) for publication in the impact factor journal Team Performance Management.

Dr. Gabriela Mustata Wilson, chair of the Health Informatics and Information Management Program at USI, was recently elected a member of the TIGER International Taskforce, which includes 58 members and liaisons representing 25 countries.

TIGER (Technology Informatics Guiding Education Reform) is part of HIMSS (Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society), a global, cause-based, not-for-profit organization focused on better health through information and technology. 

She has served HIMSS in numerous leadership positions with the Indiana Chapter, including president and director of the board; past Chair of the Sponsorship Committee; and member of the Scholarships and Speakers Committee. Under her leadership as president, the Indiana Chapter received the 2018 HIMSS Chapter of the Year Award.

Dr. David O’Neil joined USI as an assistant professor of English in August. His paper, “English as the Lingua Franca of International Publishing," was published in the June issue of World Englishes.

Dr. Dinko Bačić, assistant professor of computer information systems, presented a paper at the Americas' Conference on Information Systems, a leading conference for presenting the broadest variety of research done by and for IS/IT academicians in the Western Hemisphere. The work will be published in AMCIS 2019 Conference Proceedings.

Dr. Casey Pycior, assistant professor of English, was a Visiting Writer for Murray State University's MFA Summer Residency, where he gave a reading and delivered a craft talk called, "Dear Fiction Editor: A Primer on Submitting."

Dr. Crystal Steltenpohl, assistant professor of psychology, co-authored the article “Do Others Understand Us? Fighting Game Community member perceptions of others’ views of the FGC,” which was published in Global Journal of Community Psychology Practice.

Dr. Brett Bueltel, assistant professor of accounting, had his article “A Legal Analysis of State Tax Policy for Online Sales: The Recipe from Direct Marketing” published in the ATA Journal of Legal Tax Research which is an American Accounting Association journal.  

Dr. Daniel Bauer, associate professor of anthropology, had his book, Identity, Development, and the Politics of the Past: An Ethnography of Continuity and Change in a Coastal Ecuadorian Community, published by University Press of Colorado. It is available for purchase online.

Dr. Virginia, Weiler, instructor in marketing, presented, "Going Paperless and Increasing Retention in University Undergraduates: Blackboard as a Retention Tool in a Traditional Classroom Setting," at the BbWorld 2018 Conference in Orlando, which is Blackboard's annual conference.

Dr. Casey Pycior, assistant professor of English, is a finalist in the Short Story category of the 2018 American Book Awards for his book, The Spoils.

Dr. Dinko Bačić, assistant professor of computer information system, had his article ““Biometrics & Business Information Visualization: Re-search Review, Agenda & Opportunities” accepted to a leading Human-Computer Interaction conference (HCI International) and will be published in Springer Computer Science Lecture Notes.

Dr. Rick Hudson, associate professor of mathematics and chair of Mathematics Department, recently co-authored two papers and presented at the 10th International Conference on Teaching Statistics in Kyoto, Japan that took place July 8-13. The titles of the papers were “Developing E-Modules to Support Preservice Secondary Mathematics Teachers’ Statistical Thinking” and “Students' Reasoning about Association of Categorical Variables.” Both papers are products from a National Science Foundation grant entitled “Enhancing Statistics Teacher Education with E-Modules,” or ESTEEM. He is also a co-PI on the grant with collaborators at North Carolina State University, Eastern Michigan University, and the Concord Consortium.

Matthew Graham, professor of English, has had three new poems, “Dick and Jane,” “Oh, Baltimore” and “The Sadness of Dogs,” published in the summer issue of the Free State Literary Review.

Dr. Mary Ann Shifflet, assistant professor of economics, presented her paper titled, "Improving Quality Improvement in Public Health" at the 12th International Conference on Health Care Systems at Harlaxton College in Grantham, England.

Dr. Sarah Wannemuehler, director of Early Field Experience, in the Teacher Education Department, recently gave two presentations at the 16th Annual Education Law Symposium held in Louisville, Kentucky.   Dr. Wannemuehler is a national lecturer on the topic of Education Law and is considered an expert on the topic of educational policy and school handbooks.

Dr. Crystal Steltenpohl, assistant professor of psychology, co-authored the article “The Psychological Science Accelerator: Advancing Psychology through a Distributed Collaborative Network,” to be published in Advances in Methods and Practices in Psychological Science.

Dr. Tamara Hunt, professor of history and director of the Master of Arts in Liberal Studies program, wrote a winning grant proposal to the Institute for Museum and Library Services that garnered nearly $100,000 for projects that linked USI and the Evansville African-American Museum in 2011. Her co-authored article, "Rediscovering 'Baptistown': A Historical Geography Project on Local African-American History," which describes one of the projects funded by the grant was published by the peer-reviewed journal, The History Teacher.

Dr. Sherif Rashad, associate professor of computer science, had his paper titled “Behavior-Based Security for Mobile Devices using Machine Learning” accepted for publication in the International Journal of Artificial Intelligence & Applications.

Dr. Kenneth Shemroske, associate professor of computer information systems, gave a presentation about USI's Cyber Security Certificate program at the Indiana Chamber’s Cybersecurity Conference.

Dr. Urska Dobersek, assistant professor of psychology, had her manuscript, “Self-Objectification in the Fitness Center Environment: A Qualitative Perspective,” published in the Pamukkale Journal of Sport Sciences.

Dr. Guoyuan Huang, professor of kinesiology and sport, co-authored a study, "Living High-Training Low" improved weight loss and glucagon-like peptide-1 level in a 4-week weight loss program in adolescents with obesity: A pilot study” that was published in the Journal of Medicine.

Dr. Jill Raisor, assistant professor of education, will be serving as the interim chair of teacher education.

Ms. Christy Baker, associate professor of social work, has been appointed chair of the Social Work Department.

Dr. Jack Smothers, assistant professor of management, co-authored an article "Social enterprise in Antebellum America: the case of Nashoba (1824-1829)," The article was published in Emerald Insight.

AL Holen, associate professor of ceramics, was invited to participate in American Pottery Festival. Her artwork also appeared on the cover of their catalog.

Dr. Thomas Weber, assistant professor of management, co-authored the article “Institutional origins of WOFS formal contracting: A Judicial arbitrariness perspective.” The article was published in the International Business Review.

Dr. Urska Dobersek, assistant professor of psychology, had her manuscript, “Self-Objectification in the Fitness Center Environment: A Qualitative Perspective,” published in the Pamukkale Journal of Sport Sciences.

Wes Phy, chair of the Respiratory Therapy Program, has given three presentations at USI since the beginning of 2018. In January, he gave a podium presentation, “The Effects and Outcomes on Low Fidelity Clinical Simulation for Respiratory Therapy Students,” at the USI Teaching and Learning Symposium. His poster, “The Effects and Outcomes on Low Fidelity Clinical Simulation for Respiratory Therapy Students,” was part of the 22nd Annual Research, Evidence-Based Practice and Performance Improvement in Health Care Conference in April. In May, he gave a podium presentation, “Imaging the Intubated Patient,” at the Regional Conference on Thoracic Disorders and Imaging, an interprofessional collaboration conference with the Indiana Society of Radiologic Technologists.

Dr. Melinda Roberts, associate professor of criminal justice, co-authored the paper, "Japanese women and critical feminism: A qualitative study" with Melanie Belarmino, a USI alumna. The paper was published in the Social Science Review, an international journal.

Dr. Crystal Steltenpohl, assistant professor of psychology, had her paper titled “Justify Your Alpha” published in Nature (International journal of science.) Her article received coverage in NOVA Next, Science Alert, Science Magazine, and Nature News. Her article is available online.

Dr. Amie McKibban, associate professor of psychology, and Dr. Crystal Steltenpohl, assistant professor of psychology, presented “Three years later: Reflections on Map Evansville and LGBTQA inclusivity” at Midwest Eco in East Lansing, Michigan.

Dr. Mark McKnight, associate professor of accounting, and Shawn Robey, adjunct professor, co-authored the publication, “Spending Surges: Considerations Toward a Proposed Model for Explaining Budgetary Slack in Expiring Budgets.” It was published in the International Journal of Accounting and Financial Reporting.

Dr. Crystal Steltenpohl, assistant professor of psychology, has presented her research at the following conferences this past year:

“Gamers as individuals and communities: Perspectives of fighting game players,” presented at the Midwestern Psychological Association Annual Meeting in Chicago, Illinois.

“Obstacles and solutions to emerging challenges in qualitative research,” a roundtable presentation at the Midwestern Psychological Association Annual Meeting in Chicago, Illinois.

“Community psychology online: Virtual sense of community among gamers.”symposium presented at Midwest Eco in East Lansing, Michigan.

Dr. Jennifer M. Williams, assistant professor of health services and administration, served as chair and moderator for a national conference in Washington, D.C. with guest from the Department of Justice -Deputy Assistant Attorney General.

This conference convened and brought Industry Leaders together from the healthcare sector to include: academia, industry, government, and regulatory agencies from across the nation. Some of the topics covered included misbranding and adulteration as it relates to pharmaceutical companies and medical device companies and to include the opioid crisis. Dr. Williams chaired day two of the program and presented information on misbranding and providing solutions to remain compliant. She also served on two panels - one with Eli Lilly attorney John Paul Benitez.

Cindi Clayton, instructor in business communication, was the recipient of the Spirit of the Eagle Award in the alumni category from the Student Government Association

This award is presented to a USI student, student organization, alumni, and faculty or staff. The recipients of each of these awards are dedicated to creating a better USI; be it in national recognition, community service, school spirit, or campus leadership.

Matthew Graham, professor of English, has had his fourth book of poetry, The Geography of Home, accepted for publication by the Galileo Press. Publication date is January 1, 2019.

Dr. Perry Burnett, associate professor in economics, had his article, "Overpopulation, Optimal City Size and the Efficiency of Urban Sprawl," ranked in the Review of Urban & Regional Development Studies as one of the journal’s top 20 most downloaded papers.

Burnett also received the Dean’s Award for Excellence in Teaching this year.

Dr. Cristina Gilstrap, assistant professor of business communication, received the Dean’s Award for Excellence in Research.

Dr. Lionel Phelps II, adjunct professor in psychology, presented "Adverse Childhood Experiences: Relationship to Substance Abuse and the Family" at Kentucky Rehabilitation Association Annual Conference in Owensboro, Kentucky.

Dr. Daria Sevastianova, associate professor of economics, received the Dean's Award for Excellence in Service.

Dr. Julie Evey, adjunct professor of psychology, received the Peer Reviewer Extraordinaire Award for Merlot Psychology Editorial Review Board Member. 

Dr. Jennifer M. Williams, assistant professor of health administration, was appointed to the Journal of Health Administration Education Reviewer Panel by the Leadership Development Committee of the Association of University Programs in Health Administration. Her term of service begins on July 1, 2018 and runs through June 30, 2021.  

The Association of University Programs in Health Administration (AUPHA) is a global network of colleges, universities, faculty, individuals and organizations dedicated to the improvement of health and healthcare delivery through excellence in healthcare management and policy education. Its mission is to foster excellence and drive innovation in health management and policy education and promote the value of university-based management education for leadership roles in the health sector. It is the only non-profit entity of its kind that works to improve the delivery of health services – and thus the health of citizens – throughout the world by educating professional managers.

Williams’ global healthcare experience encompasses leading and working within various healthcare organizations in a number of professional capacities over the course of her career, she has gained invaluable experience within hospital organizations, regulatory agencies, academic institutions and the pharmaceutical and medical device industry.

Dr. Urska Dobersek, assistant professor of psychology, had the following articles published over the past academic year:

“A meta-analysis of mental imagery effects on post-injury functional mobility, perceived pain, and self-efficacy,” co-authored by Dobersak for the Psychology of Sport and Exercise. Available online.

“Examining shyness and self-esteem in athletes and non-athletes,” co-authored by Dobersak for the American Journal of Psychological Research. Available online.

Dr. Amie McKibban, associate professor of psychology, and Alex Kessler, USI alumnus presented “Transgender awareness: obstacles and opportunities in the Evansville area” for the community Cultural Conversations lecture series at the Evansville Museum of Arts, History, and Science.

Dr. Srikanth Dandotkar, assistant professor of psychology, to present his paper, "Role of Students’ Epistemologies in Evaluation of Arguments" at the 28th Annual Meeting of the Society for Text and Discourse in Brighton, UK.

Dr. Crystal Steltenpohl, assistant professor of psychology, had her paper “Me Time, or We Time? Age Differences in Motivation for Exercise,” accepted to The Gerontologist. It is available online.

Nick Bebout, systems administrator in Information Technology will be giving a presentation "SSH Authentication Using GPG Smart Cards" at the SouthEast LinuxFest in Charlotte, North Carolina in June.

Dr. Martin Koen, assistant professor of criminal justice, recently had an article accepted at Policing and Society, a journal published by Taylor and Francis. The article is titled "The Effects of Body-Worn Cameras on Police Organization and Practice: A Theory-Based Analysis." The co-authors are James J. Willis and Stephen D. Mastrofski, professors at George Mason University.

Dr. Todd Schroer, associate professor and chair of criminal justice, has been accepted to attend the 2018 Curt C. and Else Silberman Faculty Seminar in Washington, D.C. June 4-15, 2018. The seminar this year is titled "Racial Practice: Theory, Policy, and Execution in Nazi Germany and the Jim Crow South." Seminar participants will be introduced to Holocaust-related sources in the Museum’s unique film, oral history, testimony, recorded sound, archival, and photography collections, and the International Tracing Service Digital Archive. They will also meet staff scholars with expertise in various Holocaust-related topics with whom they can discuss their work.

Dr. Clarissa Willis, associate chair and associate professor of Teacher Education, co-wrote a curriculum with Lui Tong and Walter Gilliam of Yale University. She launches it as the keynote speaker at the Shanghai Early Childhood Conference in China.

Doug Goeppner, ADA coordinator in Human Resources, has been selected to serve as a presenter at the 18th Annual Multiple Perspectives Conference on Access, Inclusion, and Disability being held at the Ohio State University campus in Columbus, Ohio during the week of April 16th. He will be leading a 90 minute interactive session titled "Who Wants to be a Disability Expert?"

Dr. Becky Sparks-Thissen, assistant professor of biology, was awarded the 2018 Indiana Branch of the American Society for Microbiology (IBASM) Academic Scientific Achievement Award for Excellence in Teaching.

Heidi Gregori-Gahan, assistant provost for International Programs and Services, co-facilitated a workshop hosted by the Fulbright Commission in Finland.

Dr. Stella Ress, assistant professor of history, presented her co-authored work, "'Beam Us Up, Scotty!': Using Pop Culture to Discover User-Friendly Hand Gestures and Body Movements for Embodied Interaction" at the 2018 National Conference for the Pop Culture Association in Indianapolis, Indiana. The individuals who comprise the PCA are a group of scholars and enthusiasts who study popular culture. The Popular Culture Association (formally the Popular Culture Association / American Culture Association) is a 501c3 which offers a venue to come together and share ideas and interests about the field or about a particular subject within the field. It also provides publication opportunities and sponsors the PCA Endowment.

Ress has presented and published in the area of popular culture since 2008. Her latest research on the topic is a collaborative effort with faculty at the School of Informatics and Computing at IUPUI in which researchers identify familiar gestures from popular culture in order to facilitate full body interactive displays at museums.

Joan DeJong, assistant dean of College of Liberal Arts and professor of art, and John McNaughton, professor emeritus of art, collaborated on a sculpture remembering the 1937 Ohio River flood. This work was recently unveiled and can be seen at 220 S. Fulton Avenue next to the Levee Authority Office in Evansville.

Dr. Melissa Stacer, associate professor of criminal justice, and Lydia Moll, criminal justice and sociology major at USI, had an article published in The Journal of Criminal Justice Education. The pair collaborated on the article “New opportunities or closing doors? How correctional facility tours impact students’ thoughts about careers.”

Dr. Rocco J. Gennaro, professor and department chair of philosophy, served as editor for the newly published book. The Routledge Handbook of Consciousness (Routledge Press, 2018) including an introductory essay and two of the 34 chapters.

Book summary: There has been an explosion of work on consciousness in the last 30–40 years from philosophers, psychologists, and neurologists. Thus, there is a need for an interdisciplinary, comprehensive volume in the field that brings together contributions from a wide range of experts on fundamental and cutting-edge topics. The Routledge Handbook of Consciousness fills this need and makes each chapter’s importance understandable to students and researchers from a variety of backgrounds.

This anthology also contains a chapter by Dr. Chad Gonnerman, assistant professor of philosophy, titled "Consciousness and Experimental Philosophy."

Dr. Veronica Huggins, along with collaborator Dr. Nubian Sun from Tennessee State University, presented their paper "E'tru Most: Exploring Linguistic Cultural Self-Efficacy Among Gullah Speaking People of Charleston, South Carolina," at the International Journal of Arts and Sciences Multidisciplinary Conference, Las Vegas, Nevada.

Tim Bryan, instructor in accounting co-authored a publication titled, "Effects of Absenteeism on Company Productivity, Efficiency, and Profitability. View his video that provides background information on the project, and read his publication online in the Journal of Business & Economics Research.

Dr. Kara Garcia, contract assistant professor of engineering, had her article, “Dynamic patterns of cortical expansion during folding of the preterm brain,” was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. More information on Garcia’s research is available online.

Dr. Timberly Baker served as the keynote speaker for the East Carolina University, COE Speaker Series: Diversity, Equity, and Social Justice.

Baker is currently an executive board member of the Critical Race Studies in Education Association. Her scholarship and accomplishments are centered on the improvement of educational outcomes for African American P-16 students through examinations of disproportionality in discipline, disproportionality in special education, representation in curriculum, and preparation of teachers in urban spaces. She has served as a Research Associate for the Equity Project at IU Bloomington and with the African American Male Equity Project at IUPUI. She is currently working on a community report for the city of Evansville on the School-to-Prison Pipeline and on the Charter School Case Law Database.

Dr. Brett Bueltel, assistant professor of accounting, and Ms. Jamie Seitz, assistant professor of accounting, co-authored a publication titled, "When Terminable Interests Prevent the Marital Deduction in Estate Disputes," in Trust & Estates. Article may be viewed online.

Dr. Linda L. M. Bennett, president, received the Lifetime Achievement in Education award from Leadership Evansville at the 2018 Celebration of Leadership on Thursday, March 15.

Dr. Timberly L. Baker, contract assistant professor of education, will serve as the keynote speaker for the East Carolina University, COE Speaker Series: Diversity, Equity, and Social Justice. Baker's presentation, "The School to Prison Pipeline and its Impact on School Communities," will be delivered on Tuesday, March 20 at the East Carolina Heart Institute in Greenville, North Carolina.

Doug Goeppner, ADA Coordinator in Human Resources, has been selected by the Fishers Advisory Council on Disability to present a session on accessibility in the built environment as part of their month-long celebration of disability awareness. His session will occur on March 19 at Launch Fishers in Fishers, Indiana. (March 2018)

Dr. Oana Popescu-Sandu, associate professor of English, had an article, "Translingualism as Dialogism in Romanian-American Poetry" published in the Journal of World Literature, Volume 3, issues 1, 2018.

The article examines how translingual poetry by immigrant Romanian writers who live in or travel to the United States requires a transnational community framing rather than a national one and raises new questions about cultural and linguistic identity formation that reflect on both national and world literature issues. This analysis of the Romanian-American contemporary poets Mihaela Moscaliuc, Andrei Guruianu, Claudia Serea, and Aura Maru uses literary and rhetorical translingual theory to show that the “national literature” framing is no longer sufficient to address works created between two languages in a globalized world—Romanian and English, in this case. Born between two cultures and languages, their poetry does not belong entirely to either. In its turn, the national framing—both the Romanian and the American one—can become more porous and inclusive if read through a sociolinguistic mobility lens that gives a more powerful voice to migrant writers. (The article can be accessed online.)

Dr. Melissa Stacer, associate professor of criminal justice, has been published in Critical Military Studies, (a peer-reviewed journal through Taylor and Francis.) She co-authored the article, “Justice-Involved Veterans: A Critical Review and Future Research" with Dr. Monica Solinas-Saunders from Indiana University Northwest. (The article can be accessed online.)

Dr. Elizabeth Bonham, associate professor of nursing, had an article “Mental health needs of youth in juvenile justice: An executive summary” published in the Elsevier Journal, Archives of Psychiatric Nursing.

Bonham's clinical and research focus is the mental health of youthful offenders. She initiated the first position paper on Mental Health Needs of Youthful Offenders for the International Society of Psychiatric Mental Health Nurses. The first Position Statement was revised in 2016 and the Executive Summary of the revision is now published.

Dr. Guoyuan Huang, professor of exercise science, had their article, "Effects of high-intensity interval versus mild-intensity endurance training on metabolic phenotype and corticosterone response in rats fed a high-fat or control diet,” published in PLoS One, 2017.

Dr. Colleen Walsh, contract assistant professor for nursing, presented at the Orthopaedic Value Based Care Conference in Newport Beach, California. She serves on the advisory board of the American College of Perioperative Medicine which is very involved in the Enhanced Recovery after Surgery (ERAS) model of care. (February 2018)

Dr. Daniel Bauer, associate professor of anthropology, had an article, "Home Garden Diversity of the Tahuayo Region, Peru," published in the Journal of Ecological Anthropology. The article was co-authored by Duncan Taylor and Nelly Pinedo Alvarado. The article is based on field research conducted with former student Duncan Taylor in the summer of 2014.

Lori E. Saxby, reading specialist in Academic Skills, had her article, “Efficacy of a college reading strategy course: Comparative study," published in the Journal of Developmental Education.

A new published article, "The Potential of Student Co-Creation in Extracurricular Experiences," is co-authored by Dr. Kevin Celuch, Dr. Dinko Bačić, Dr. Manfen Chen, Ms. Jeanette Maier-Lytle, and Dr. Jack Smothers.

Dr. Andrew Buck, associate professor of sociology, and a co-author had their article, "Coalitional Configurations: A Structural Analysis of Democratization in the Former Soviet Union," published in Demokratizatsiya: The Journal of Post-Soviet Democratization, 26, 1 (Winter): 25-54, 2018.

Dr. Matt Hanka has been named an administrator for the Commission on Homelessness for Evansville and Vanderburgh County. In this volunteer role, Hanka will provide leadership for the Commission, a group of area government and community leaders working together to prevent and end homelessness in the region. More information is available online.

Dr. Colleen Walsh, contract clinical assistant professor for Graduate Nursing, presented at the Orthopaedic Value Based Care conference in Newport Beach, California, February 9-11, 2018. She serves on the advisory board of the American College of Perioperative Medicine which is very involved in the Enhanced Recovery after Surgery (ERAS) model of care.

Dr. Jennifer Williams, assistant professor of health services and administration, has been invited to present at the 2018 Off-Label Compliance Congress as an industry leader. She will be presenting on a variety of topics. Presentations include: “Develop a Compliance Program that Includes Off-Label Communication,” “Introduction to the Guidelines and the Roadmap for Success,” “Identify and Implement Measures that Reduce Risk,” and “Establish a framework of internal reporting and grow shareholder value.” More about the conference is available to view.

Dr. Gongjun Yan, assistant professor of computer science, had an article he co-authored published in Wireless Personal Communications.  The article, “A Cross-Layer and Optimized Privacy Method in Vehicular Ad-Hoc Networks” is available for viewing online.

Dr. Mustafa Oz, instructor of communications, had a paper, “Twitter versus Facebook: Comparing incivility, impoliteness, and deliberative attributes" published at the New Media & Society Journal. The article is available online.

Dr.  Andrew Buck, associate professor of sociology and chair of the Department of Sociology, had his article, “The Corporate Networks and Symbolic Capital of British Business Leaders," published in Sociological Perspectives.  

Dr. Jill Raisor, assistant professor of education, recently led a collaborative project with the Vanderburgh County Health Department to create lessons plans for regional K-12 students.  The lessons incorporate injury data from county hospitals and promote injury prevention and making safe choices among students.

Stacy Keown and Moriah Smothers, instructors in teacher education, presented The Development of Higher Education Students’ Self-Efficacy Beliefs this month at the Lily Conference on College and University Teaching and Learning in Austin, Texas. (January 2017)

Dr. Thomas Weber, assistant professor of management, presented "Development of a Caring Manager Scale" at the 2017 Academy of International Business - US Southeast Annual Conference.

Dr. Chen Chen’s article "Epithelial Ovarian Cancer Mortality among Hispanic Women - Sub-Ethnic Disparities and Survival Trend across Time: An Analysis of SEER 1992-2013," was published in the journal, Cancer Epidemiology.

Dr. Elizabeth Bonham, associate professor in nursing, had an article, "A Theory of Hoping for a Better Life Grounded in Youthful Offender Experiences," published online in the Medical Research Archives.

Dr. Melissa Stacer and Dr. Melinda Roberts recently had their paper "'Reversing the trend': The role of mentoring in offender reentry" accepted for publication at the Journal of Offender Rehabilitation.

Dr. Casey Pycior’s book, The Spoils, appears on this year's 35 Over 35 List. A summary of his book is available online.

Southern Indiana Review Press publication, Into the Cyclorama by Annie Kim, was named one of year's best independently published books of poetry by Kirkus Review. Kim was the winner of Southern Indiana Review’s 2015 Michael Waters Poetry Prize for this book. Ron Mitchell, instructor in English is the editor of Southern Indiana Review.

Dr. Curt Gilstrap, assistant professor of business communication, had his article “The Ethical Frameworks of Social Media Policies Among U.S. Nonprofit Organizations: Legal Expectations, Dialogic Prescriptions, and a Dialectical Model” published in the Journal of Nonprofit and Public Sector Marketing.

Dr. Tamara Hunt, professor of history and director of the Master of Arts in Liberal Studies program, has an article "Servants, Masters and Seditious Libel in Eighteenth-Century England," published in Book History vol. 20 (2017): 83-110. Book History is the journal of the Society for the History of Authorship, Reading and Publishing.

Hunt has studied and taught about the history of printing, publishing and the social interaction of text and the public. Her first book, Defining John Bull: Political Caricature and National Identity in Late Georgian England (2003) argued that political caricature (the forerunners of modern political cartoons) both shaped and were shaped by public opinions and beliefs during the reign of George III (1760-1820). Her current work moves backwards in time and now focuses on early eighteenth century printing and publishing. This period saw an explosive growth in the quantity of text produced, creating a vibrant and tumultuous era for both men and women engaged in the publishing trades.

Dr. Tamara Hunt, professor of history and director of the Master of Arts in Liberal Studies program, presented her paper "'Fake News,' Commerce and Seditious Libel in Early 18th Century England" at the conference "'Fake News!' An Historical Perspective." The conference was held at Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom and sponsored by the Newspaper and Periodical History Forum of Ireland. (November 2017)

Hunt’s research focus is publishing in early eighteenth-century London, and she's currently working on a book about two women who were prominent newspaper and pamphlet sellers in the 1720s and 1730s. These two women were repeatedly arrested on charges of seditious libel, which has led Hunt into an exploration of how seditious libel impacted the publishing industry.

Dr. Vaughn DeCoster and Professor Bonnie Rinks presented a paper, “Interprofessional practice: Closing the health gap for underserved adults and veterans,” at the Council on Social Work Education's Annual Program Meeting held in Dallas, Texas. Dr. DeCoster also served on a panel discussion with social work educators from other universities on supporting student veterans' within higher education.

Dr. Norma Rosas Mayén will be presenting her paper, “A Linguistic Analysis of the Afro-Mexican and Afro-Dominican Spanish” (Un análisis lingüístico del español afromexicano y afrodominicano) at the IX International Afro-American Colloquium in Mexico City. (December 2017)

Dr. Norma Rosas Mayén will be a guest speaker at the Historic Synagogue Justo Sierra of Mexico City, the title of her speech is: “Sephardic Songs and Mourning Poetry of Northern Morocco” (Cantos y poesía luctuosa sefardí del Norte de Marruecos). She will also perform 11 Sephardic songs. (December 2017)

Dr. Martin Koen presented his work "Coming to Terms with Body-Worn Cameras: A Technological Frames Perspective" at the American Society of Criminology annual conference in Philadelphia, PA November 15-18.

Dr. Brooke Mathna, assistant professor of criminal justice, presented her research titled "An Empirical Analysis of Hirschi's Self-Control Theory (2004) and Its Measurements" at the American Society of Criminology annual conference in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (November 2017)

Dr. Melissa Stacer, associate professor of criminal justice, and Lydia Moll, senior criminal justice major, presented a paper at the annual meeting of the American Society of Criminology in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The paper is titled "They are people like you and me: Student perceptions of inmates.” The paper is co-authored with Dr. Monica Solinas-Saunders at Indiana University Northwest.

Dr. Gabriela Mustata-Wilson, associate professor of Health Informatics, and chair of USI’s Health Informatics and Information Management program, has achieved HIMSS Fellow member status. She is president of the Indiana Chapter of HIMSS (Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society). As a Fellow member, Mustata-Wilson will be recognized at the HIMSS annual conference and will be invited to participate in special task forces or workgroups. HIMSS advancement criteria is based on professional capability, experience, leadership and service.

Greg Carlisle has been promoted to Copy Services Supervisor. Greg is a USI alumnus and has worked full time in the Copy Center since 1998 as a production assistant and as manager of the campus copier fleet.

Dr. Tamara L. Hunt, professor of History, gave a presentation at the international conference "'Fake News!' An Historical Perspective," held at Newcastle University (U.K.) November 10-11, 2017. Her paper "Fake News, Commerce and Seditious Libel in early 18th-Century England" examined concerns about (and reactions to) reporting based on rumor, misleading statements, and outright lies. Political and commercial upheavals led to calls for more accuracy in the press, while the press fought back, asserting that the "Liberty of the Press" gave newspapers the right to print and comment upon stories that were widely believed, even if they turned out to be false. 

Dr. Timberly Baker and Dr. Joy Howard of the USI Teacher Education Department, presented on Thursday Nov. 2, 2017 at the annual meeting of the American Educational Studies Association Conference in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Their presentation “The Place of Racial Re-membering: Pre-service teachers and high school students learning to re-member side-by-side;” discussed their conceptual framework for using space as curriculum and their special project that brought USI and local Bosse students together to complete a unit of instruction on race. The special project took place in Spring 2017 and helped both groups of students create a story of race that affirmed and contradicted their own experiences to promote a more humanizing framework for teaching and learning in racially diverse spaces.

Patty Marcum was the recipient of the 2017 Indiana Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance (AAHPERD) Pathfinder Award. The Pathfinder Award was established to honor a member who has and/or continues to advocate, recruit and enhance opportunities for girls and women in sport and sport leadership. (November 2017)

Kathy Weinzapfel, career coordinator in Career Services and Internships, has completed Experiential Education Academy Certification. This professional development program within the National Society for Experiential Education provides educators with a foundation in theory and practice of experiential education; support members as they assess their institutional experiential programs; and create opportunities for professionals to develop the knowledge, skills, and competence that will strengthen experiential education within their institutions.

Weinzapfel participated in the program during the last two years which included training in experiential education assessment, legal issues, ethical practice and strategic planning. She also co-presented a session at the organization's annual Experiential Leadership Learning Institute, along with Dr. Ethel Elkins, College of Nursing and Health Professions, in Park City, Utah in June 2017.

Dr. Sukanya Gupta, associate professor of English, has been appointed as Director of the International Studies Program, effective January 2, 2018.

Dr. Marthinus Koen, assistant professor of criminal justice, presented a paper on body-worn cameras and police perceptions at the Western Association of Criminal Justice Conference. He teaches courses in research methods, statistics, victimology, and criminal justice technology. His research interests lie in social control, crime policy, police organizational change, and police technology. Most recently, he has completed his dissertation research on the implementation of body-worn cameras at a police organization. His research focused on how the adoption of body-worn cameras shaped key structures and practices and how officers belonging to different organizational groups made sense of the technology over time. (October 2017)

Larissa Cremeens and Laura Cole, instructional designers in Online Learning, presented a breakout session “Welcome to Pasta 401: Bring your appetite for creating course alignment”, and a poster session “Integrating Quality Matters into University of Southern Indiana’s Online Course Development Program” at the QM Connect Conference in Fort Worth, Texas on September 25, 2017.

Dr.  Wendy G Turner had two pieces of artwork accepted at the Ohio Valley Art League’s 7th Annual Art of Recycling juried exhibition: The 79 Cent Epiphany and The Real Bad Monkey: Lessons from Harambe. 

The 79 Cent Epiphany was given the top award of the show, the Henderson Breakfast Lions Club Award of $500. The assemblage art piece is a visual representation of the discrepancy in pay between males and females in the United States. The second work, The Real Bad Monkey: Lessons from Harambe is a critical look at who is ultimately responsible for the damage done to captive animals.
Both works will be on display at the Preston Arts Center in Henderson, KY through November 30.

Dr. Daniel Bauer, associate professor of anthropology, had his article, "From Plague to Profit: Chambira Weaving in Amazonian Peru," published in the Fall 2017, Volume 59, Number 2 edition of Expedition. Bauer conducts ethnographic research in Ecuador and Peru.

Dr. Sarah Wannemuehler, director of Early Field Experience, in the Department of Teacher Education traveled to Washington D.C. as the invited speaker to address the Principals Leadership Academy.  Dr. Wannemuehler is recognized across the nation as a leading authority on legal issues affecting schools. (October 2017)

Dr. Tom McDonald, associate professor of engineering, received an honorable mention for the Distinguished Paper Award from the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineering (IISE) at the 2017 Engineering Lean Six Sigma Conference. The IISE is the world's largest professional society dedicated solely to the support of the industrial engineering profession and individuals involved with improving quality and productivity. (October 2017)

Dr. Melissa Stacer, associate professor of criminal justice, recently had two manuscripts accepted for publication. The first is called “Fighting labor market discrimination with Ban the Box (BTB): Are there racial implications” at Sociology Compass. The second is called "Criminal thinking among men beginning a Batterer Intervention Program: The relevance of military background" at the Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment, and Trauma. Both articles were co-authored with Dr. Monica Solinas-Saunders from Indiana University Northwest. (October 2017)

Cole Collier will be presenting at the Apple Campus Conference in Austin, Texas, on April 11 and April 12, 2018. The company selects presenters from its top-performing campus stores across the country and invites them to share best practices.

Dr. Kevin Celuch, Blair Chair of Business Science, was the recipient of the 2017 Faculty Recognition Award. His active engagement approach to teaching has been recognized for innovation in business undergraduate and graduate education. Celuch is the co-creator of the Entrepreneurship Minor at the University of Southern Indiana, which has been internationally recognized as an emerging undergraduate program, and is a presenter on such topics as critical and creative thinking, collaborative learning, change and innovation.

Celuch has been actively involved in marketing communication, market information, customer engagement, and organizational partnering-related research. He has held Affiliated Faculty/Research Staff status at the Carl Gunnard Johnson Research Center, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, for his work on management issues in the metal processing industries. He has worked with numerous profit and nonprofit organizations.

Dr. Joy Howard was appointed as a co-chair for URBAN educational node. The URBAN Education node is comprised of scholars and practitioners from across the United States whose work cuts across disciplines and methodologies to address issues related to educational equity. For more information, visit http://urbanresearchnetwork.org

Howard’s research and teaching focuses specifically on issues of race and equity in education. In 2017, she was recognized with the "Excellence in Teaching" award from the Pott College of Science, Engineering and Teacher Education.

Dr. Timberly Baker was appointed secretary of the Critical Race Studies in Education Executive Board during the 2017 Critical Race Studies in Education Association Annual Conference.

The Critical Race Studies in Education Association (CRSEA) is an interdisciplinary consortium of experts who recognize global implications of race and education for minoritized people. Through scholarship, we identify and expose inequities for the ultimate eradication of white supremacy. As a community, we are committed to (1) countering and combating systemic and structural racism with scholarship and praxis, (2) recognizing the multiple locations of oppression and the myriad manifestations and effects of their intersections and (3) co-constructing liberating knowledge that facilitates collective agency to transform schools and communities. 

Dr. Paul Doss will be delivering an invited presentation in a "Geology and the Law" session at the Annual meeting of the Geological Society of America in October. The presentation examines the potential implications of students completing professional internships in geology, and the "Professional Practice of Geology" as defined by geological licensure. (October 2017)

Dr. Perry Burnett’s article, co-authored with H. Cutler, “The Transitional Impacts of Material and Service Offshoring” was published in the Journal of Policy Modeling.

The Journal of Policy Modeling (JPM) is an internationally recognized journal that “focuses upon the economic, social and political developments that now shape the world economy and the policies needed to improve them”.  It is ranked just outside the top quartile “Q1” of over 900 journals in the area of Economics, Econometrics and Finance. (September 2017)

Dr. Mary Ann Shifflet's case study in the Health Care and Quality Improvement Series, titled, “Improving Patient Satisfaction” has been published on the JMP website. The Series is designed for instructors teaching statistics for health care providers – doctors, nurses, administrators, etc. and has been piloted with an MBA class of physicians. (October 2017)

Dr. Stephen Spencer has published "Narrative Process and Cultural Identity in Leslie Marmon Silko's Ceremony," in the book Narrative, Race, and Ethnicity in the United States, available through The Ohio State University Press. The essay combines narrative and postcolonial theories to explore the ways Silko's work demonstrates a resistance to colonial constructions of identity. According to the editors at OSU Press, the collection is the "first book-length volume of essays devoted to studying the intersection of race/ethnicity and narrative theories. (September 2017)

Steven Stump, assistant director for the Center for Applied Research in Outreach and Engagement, was named one of Evansville Business Journal's "20 Under 40." (September 2017)

Joyce Rietman, director of Advanced Clinical Experiences and Co-Teaching, will be serving on the selection committee for Indiana’s 2018 Teacher of the Year. As part of that committee, she and other members will interview finalists and observe them teaching in their classrooms. (September 2017)

Dr. Jill Raisor spearheaded a sub-award with the Evansville County Health Department. She and Dr. Jeff Thomas developed lessons for the Health Department on childhood injury prevention. (Summer 2017)

Dr. Kevin Valadares, Dr. Katie Ehlman and Dr. Marie Pease have received a three-year grant from the Indiana State Department of Health (ISDH) to develop and implement a health care quality improvement project on advance care planning at 15 nursing homes in southwest Indiana. Details of the grant were announced during the conference, “Sharing the Experience: Advance Care Planning in the State of Indiana,” held September 27 at The New Harmony Inn Conference Center. (October 2017)

Darla Perigo, administrative assistant in Romain College of Business; Shannon Hudson, instructor in business law; and Dr. Jill Oeding, assistant professor of business law, had an article titled “An Assessment of High Deductible Health Plans and Affiliated Savings Accounts in the Current Market” in the International Journal of Healthcare Management. (June 2017)

Dr. Leigh Anne Howard and Dr. Erin Gilles accompanied numerous students and alumni to the Kentucky Communication Conference, sponsored by the Kentucky Communication Association in Carrollton, Kentucky. Students and alumni presented work they completed in the Master of Arts in Communication Program. Funding for the trip was made possible by the USI Graduate Studies Research and Travel Award. Students who presented: Thawn Khai, Dilek Ocak, Shannon Hoehn, Mary Beth Reese, Ben Luttrull, Coralie Lowicki, Lorena Banquerizo-Gellibert and Serge Pre. Alumni who presented: Michelle Duran, Andrew Bolin, Theresa Ohning. (September 2017)

Dr. C. Elizabeth (Beth) Bonham, associate professor of nursing, has been selected to join the prestigious Fellows of the American Academy of Nursing (FAAN). She is one of 173 nurse leaders to be inducted into the 2017 class during the Academy’s annual policy conference in Washington, D.C., October 5-7, 2017.

Dr. Wendy Turner and Dr. Veronica Huggins presented their paper, Standing in the Gap:Benefits of Cross-racial and Interracial Mentoring, at the Seventeenth International Conference on Diversity in Organizations, Communities & Nations: Urban Diversity and Economic Growth, 26-28 July 2017 at University of Toronto-Chestnut Conference Centre, Toronto, Canada. (September 2017)

Dr. James Dickerson was recently elected President of the Vanderburgh County Community Corrections Board. He is serving a three-year term on this board. (September 2017)

Dr. Thomas and Mrs. Julie Bordelon presented their paper, A Distance Learning Model for Rural Native American Students to Access a Public Mainstream University, at the 42nd National Institute on Social Work and Human Services in Rural Areas last July in Jackson, TN. (September 2017)

Angel Nelson, assistant registrar, received the Enrollment Management Innovation Award. The award recognizes an individual or team whose innovative work or suggestions significantly improve operational efficiencies, introduces a new or modified business practice or improves work process, workflow or customer service. (August 2017)

Laura McDaniel, data manager, received the Enrollment Management Knowledge for Life Award. The award recognizes an individual who has made outstanding contributions beyond his or her position to professional development, thereby enhancing the quality of professionalism in Enrollment Management. (August 2017)