Faculty Achievements

Stephen Bismarck (Education) authored “Concrete-Representational-Abstract (CRA) Instructional Approach in an Algebra I Inclusion Class: Knowledge Retention Versus Students’ Perception” in the journal Educational Sciences. He also authored “Analyzing Unexpected Data After a Novel Mathematics Lesson Using the Critical Friend Process” in the journal Educational Research Quarterly.

Logan Camp-Spivey, Vera Bratnichenko and Ryan Crawford (Nursing) presented the poster “Bringing Next Generation NCLEX Case Studies to Life Through Simulation: Enhancing Students’ Clinical Judgment” at the National League for Nursing education summit at National Harbor, Maryland.

Vincent Connors (Biology, emeritus) co-published a paper on “Epibiosis and parasitism of coquina clam Donax spp.: location, location, location!” in the journal Invertebrate Biology.

Kara Davis (Community Health) presented her research on the impacts of a medical-legal partnership on health care utilization and costs at the 2023 American Public Health Association annual meeting. She will also lead part of the evaluation of food access and equity in Greenville County as part of a five-year REACH grant awarded by the CDC to LiveWell Greenville.

Bridget Ford (Nursing) is the author of a new book, “The Blind Judge: The Discrimination of African Americans Continues.”

Brooke Hardin (Education) co-authored the book chapter “Increasing the Impact of Professional Development in Writing: Application of a Constructivist Apprenticeship Model” in “Instructional Leadership Efforts and Evidence-Based Practices to Improve Writing Instruction.” She also presented “The ‘Art’ of Language Arts: Using Multimodal Writing to Create Digital Reader/Writer Notebooks” at the 2023 Conference of the Association of Literacy Educators & Researchers in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Teri Harmon and Kristi Miller (Nursing) received the 2023 Lectureship Award for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Sustainability in Nursing Education for public colleges/universities from the American Association of Colleges of Nursing. In addition to presenting their diversity work to the Mary Black College of Nursing and the wider community, they also spoke at the Diversity Symposium in New Orleans.

Araceli Hernández-Laroche (Modern Languages) was recognized by SC Biz News as one of its 2024 Women of Influence—Greenville Award Winners. She also co-presented a three-hour professional development workshop, “Using Social Media to Advocate for Your Programs,” at the Modern Language Association meeting in Philadelphia in January.

Tina Herzberg (Visual Impairment) presented two breakout sessions and a poster that focused on literacy options for individuals who are blind or visually impaired during the Getting in Touch for Literacy Conference in St. Pete Beach, Florida. She also co-published four articles in the Journal of Visual Impairment & Blindness, including “Experiences of Teachers of Students with Visual Impairments in Learning and Teaching a New Braille Code for Mathematics and Science.”

Lisa Johnson (Women’s and Gender Studies) presented the paper "Emotions Matter in Higher Ed: Making Borderline Personality Disorder a Feminist Public Health Issue” as part of a panel at the National Women's Studies Association in October 2023. She also concluded a two-year term on the board of the nonprofit organization Emotions Matter.

Polinpapilinho Katina (Informatics and Engineering Systems) published the article “Systems Theory as a Conceptual Foundation for Advanced Manufacturing Management” in the journal Advanced Manufacturing. He also co-authored the textbook “Gamification for Resilience: Theory, Application, and Research Directions.”

Colby King (Sociology) recently published a brief essay in the Everyday Sociology blog on the power and benefits of USC Upstate’s sociology program with its Community Development Studies focus.

Bridget Kirkland (Graphic Design) presented “The Creative Process: Designing Infographics for Community Awareness” at the 2024 Southeastern Immigration Studies Association conference at Wofford College.

Walter Lee (Education) was an opening speaker at the TEDx Unity Park event in Greenville, South Carolina, in February.

Benjamin McCraw (Philosophy) published "Social Epistemology and Epidemiology" in the journal Acta Analytica, and has another paper forthcoming for publication: "Quasi-Doxastic Propositional Faith" in the journal Faith and Philosophy.

Ann Merryman (Library) was co-recipient of the David B. Gracy II Award for the best article this year to appear in the journal Provenance. The article stemmed from a previous presentation given at the Society of Georgia Archivists annual conference titled “You’ve Never Had It So(lo) Good: Managing Sustainability and Scalability with Successful Archival Collaborations.”

Rebecca Mueller (Education) co-authored the article "Zoom in, Focus, and Take the Shot: Reflections on Teaching Inquiry," published in the journal Social Education and included in the book “Revolution of Ideas: A Decade of C3 Inquiry.”

Tammy Pike (History) invited notable women in South Carolina to speak to her Unruly Women in the 20th Century class. Guest speakers including Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette, state Sen. Mia McLeod, civil rights activists Dr. Millicent Brown and others.  She also spoke about the class on the WSPA show "Your Carolina,” hosted by Megan Heidlberg.

Matthew Placek (Political Science) published the article “Social Media, Quality of Democracy, and Citizen Satisfaction with Democracy in Central and Eastern Europe” in a special edition of the Journal of Information Technology and Politics. The articles in the special edition are slated to be republished as an edited book volume.

Refika Turgut and Rebecca Mueller (Education) co-presented their research study "Transforming Mainstream Classrooms: Exploring the Impact of a Graduate-Level Course on Teachers' Understanding and Implementation of Translanguaging Pedagogy" at the Eastern Educational Research Association conference in Clearwater, Florida.

Laura Rikard (Theatre) spoke at the Berlin Film Festival on intimacy coordination. She was the first individual at the festival to speak on this topic.

Ginny Webb (Microbiology) and Justin Travis (Psychology) co-published “Knowledge and Identity Antecedents of COVID-19 Vaccine Status: A Study of South Carolina Residents” in the Journal of Preventive Medicine and Hygiene.