Education
Faculty and Staff Briefs October 2026
Florida State University’s distinguished faculty are central to the mission of the university. Faculty excellence in scholarship, research and creative activity is critical to the quality of student learning and makes a difference in the lives of others.
Throughout the year, honors and recognitions are awarded to individual faculty and staff members across campus. Faculty and Staff Briefs are produced monthly to recognize accomplishments and provide a space where honors, awards, bylines, presentations, grants, service and any other notable items can be showcased.
HONORS AND AWARDS
Erica Harbatkin, Ph.D. (Anne’s College) has received the 2026 Early Career Award from The Society for Research on Educational Effectiveness. The award recognizes emerging scholars who have demonstrated exceptional promise and impactful contributions early in their professional journey within the field of educational research.
Unnikrishnan Sasidharan-Nair, Ph.D. (FAMU-FSU College of Engineering) has been selected as a 2027 AIAA Associate Fellow by The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), the world’s largest aerospace professional society.
Qianwen (Vivian) Guo, Ph.D. (FAMU-FSU College of Engineering) has been named a 2026 ASEMFL Rising Star in Engineering.
Rachel (Ward) Boatwright, MA (Advising First, College of Music) was awarded Best in Region for her presentation “Stop ‘Shoulding’ on Yourself and Others; Rethinking Expectations in the Advising Office and Beyond” at the NACADA Region 4 Conference and selected to present at the NACADA National Conference.
Chongyu Wang, Ph.D., Jingfang Wang, Ph.D., and Tingyu Zhou, Ph.D. (Wertheim College of Business) won the Corporate Real Estate Award from the 2026 American Real Estate Society (ARES) for their manuscript “2026 – Disrupted Spaces: How Automation and Artificial Intelligence Reshape Corporate Real Estate Demand.”
Evan M. Eastman, Ph.D., Chongyu Wang, Ph.D., and Tingyu Zhou, Ph.D. (Wertheim College of Business) won the Real Estate Finance Award and the Sustainable Real Estate Award from the 2026 American Real Estate Society (ARES) for their manuscript “2026 – Climate Risk and Commercial Property Insurance.”
Chongyu Wang, Ph.D., and Tingyu Zhou, Ph.D. (Wertheim College of Business) won the Real Estate Investment Award from the 2026 American Real Estate Society (ARES) for their manuscript “2026 – Are Mass Shootings a Risk Factor? Evidence from Commercial Property Markets.”
Daniel Broxterman, Ph.D., Mariya Letdin, Ph.D., Chongyu Wang, Ph.D., and Tingyu Zhou, Ph.D. (Wertheim College of Business) won the Real Estate Portfolio Management Award from the 2026 American Real Estate Society (ARES) for their manuscript “Commercial Mortgage Debt Overhang and Intent to Default.”
Stacy Sirmans, Ph.D. (Wertheim College of Business) won the Innovative Thinking Award from the 2026 American Real Estate Society (ARES) for his manuscript “2026 – Eye in the Sky, Value on the Ground: AI-Derived Visual Cues and CRE Cap Rates.”
Bobby Sprinkle, MS (Information Technology Services) received the 2026 Info-Tech Award, in the IT Transformation category. The IT Transformation Award recognizes IT leaders who have successfully implemented strategic IT initiatives aligned with organizational goals and have achieved measurable results. This award celebrates IT advancements based on Info-Tech’s CIO Playbook, a structured, 12-step framework designed to help CIOs systematically improve and transform IT performance.
Rima Nathan, J.D. (College of Law) recently received the Association of American Law Schools Aging and Law Section’s Emerging Scholar Award. She will be recognized at the AALS Annual Meeting in New York City.
Tom Flanigan (WFSU Public Media) and Alan Hanstein (Challenger Learning Center) have been honored by The Holocaust Education Resource Council. Flanigan received the Community Leadership Award and Hanstein was recognized with the Steve Uhlfelder Humanitarian Award.
Lisa Hightow-Weidman, MD, MPH (College of Nursing) has been elected to the board of the Academy of Science, Engineering and Medicine of Florida (ASEMFL). The academy brings together leading researchers and experts to address critical challenges facing Florida through scientific collaboration, research and policy guidance.
Lucinda Graven, Ph.D., APRN, FHFSA, FAHA, FAAN (College of Nursing) has been elected as a Fellow of the Heart Failure Society of America (FHFSA), a multidisciplinary organization of physicians, scientists, nurses, pharmacists and patients dedicated to improving heart failure care through collaboration, education, research, innovation and advocacy.
Steven J. Palazzo, Ph.D., MN, RN, CNE, ANEF (College of Nursing) has been elected to the National League for Nursing (NLN) Board of Governors.
Kaylee Webb (Career Center) was nominated by FSU’s Student-Athlete Academic Services and participated as an honorary football guest coach at the FSU vs. University of Virginia game. She gained insight into the student-athlete experience and FSU Football program.
Sonia Hazard, Ph.D. (Department of Religion) had her book, “Empire of Print: Evangelical Power in an Age of Mass Media,” receive an honorable mention from the American Academy of Religion for the Best Work in Textual or Historical Studies award.
Kathleen Powers Conti, Ph.D. (Department of History) received the 2026 Best Essay in an Edited Volume award from the Southeast Chapter of the Society of Architectural Historians for her chapter, “Beyond the Absence: Recovering the Architectural Imprints of Slavery at Virginia’s Berkeley Plantation,” published in “Architectures of Slavery: Ruins and Reconstructions.”
Annie Wofford, Ph.D. (Anne’s College) is a recipient of the 2026 Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE) Early Career Award.
Shengli Dong, Ph.D. (Anne’s College) received the 2026 Bobbie Atkins Research Award from the National Association of Multicultural Rehabilitation Concerns.
Allison Justice, Ed.D., PA-C (College of Medicine) was accepted as a Distinguished Fellow of the American Academy of Physician Associates, formerly known as physician assistants. Historically, fewer than 2% of PAs achieve the rank.
Alexandra Nowakowski, Ph.D. (College of Medicine) recently was named a co-editor-in-chief for The Qualitative Report, after serving on the Editorial Board in progressively more senior roles over the past decade.
Charles Hinnant, Ph.D. (School of Information) has been selected as co-chair for the ALISE Council of Deans, Directors, and Program Chairs.
Laura Ballard Bell, Ed.S. (Anne’s College) led FSU’s English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) Community Tutoring Program where Anne’s College received the Sunshine State TESOL Institutional Effectiveness Award. The program provides more than 230 multilingual learners with free tutoring while offering future educators valuable, hands-on teaching experience.
Nica Cota, Steven High and Meg Hausberg (The Ringling) were recognized at the Florida Association of Museums’ annual conference. Cota was named the 2026 Emerging Museum Professional of the Year. High won the 2026 Lifetime Achievement Award, and Hausberg was named the 2026 Outstanding Trustee.
GRANTS
Henry Zhuhao Wang, S.J.D., J.D., LL.M. (College of Law) has been selected by the Administrative Conference of the United States (ACUS) to lead a research project titled, “Discovery in Agency Adjudication.” Wang will also undertake a comparative study of discovery and related procedural practices in other common-law jurisdictions, including the United Kingdom, Canada and Singapore, which examines discovery practices in federal agency adjudication. Wang will be awarded $25,000 to conduct the research.
Ibrahim Yigit, Ph.D. (College of Nursing) received a $154,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for the project “Combined Effects of PrEP and HIV Stigma on PrEP Adherence: Psychosocial Pathways among Youth at Risk for HIV.” Yigit serves as principal investigator alongside co-investigator Henna Budhwani, Ph.D., MPH (College of Nursing). The project examines how stigma surrounding pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) affects medication adherence among youth, with the goal of informing strategies to improve HIV prevention and reduce transmission.
Ana Marty, Ph.D. (Learning Systems Institute) will serve as PI on a $1.6M grant to strengthen secondary education in Belize. LSI is partnering with School-to-School International on the Equipping Secondary Educators Program Partnership, a five-year $21.7M project. Melba Marin-Velasquez, Ph.D. (LSI) will serve as the project’s co-PI with support from Stephanie Simmons Zuilkowski, Ph.D. (LSI).
Chris Martin, Ph.D. (Department of Psychology) earned a $301,998 grant from the National Institute of Mental Health for his research project, “Effects of Memory Reactivation on Episodic Recall and Brain Function.”
Adam Dewan, Ph.D. (Department of Psychology and Program in Neuroscience) and Roberto Vincis, Ph.D. (Department of Biological Science and Program in Neuroscience) earned a $423,500 grant from the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders for their research project, “A Novel Approach to Study the Neural Mechanisms of Flavor.”
Joseph Watso, Ph.D., and Andrew Koutnik, Ph.D. (Anne’s College) received a $218,937 NIH grant to investigate whether a time-efficient breathing exercise approach can improve cardiovascular function in adults with type 1 diabetes. Their project will examine inspiratory muscle strength training, which targets the muscles used to inhale.
BYLINES
Changhyun (Lyon) Nam, Ph.D. (Jim Moran College of Entrepreneurship) had his article, “Single-crystalline Ge/GaAs p-i-n heterojunction Photodiodes on Recycled Polypropylene Substrates,” published in the Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Electronics.
Henry Zhuhao Wang, S.J.D., J.D., LL.M. (College of Law) has a forthcoming publication in Volume 32 of Harvard Negotiation Law Review titled “Mediation’s Missing Privilege,” co-authored with 3L Gino Cerrone.
Justin Sevier, A.B., J.D., M.S., M.Phil. (College of Law) published “The Underexplored Psychology of the Excited Utterance and Present Sense Impression,” in Volume 53 of the Fordham Urban Law Journal as part of a symposium contribution.
Brian Slocum, B.B.A., J.D., M.A., Ph.D. (College of Law) recently published “The Normative Canons of Criminal Law” in Volume 79, Issue 5 of the Vanderbilt Law Review.
Henry Zhuhao Wang, S.J.D., J.D., LL.M., and Justin Sevier, A.B., J.D., M.S., M.Phil. (College of Law) have a forthcoming publication in the 42nd issue of the Berkeley Technology Law Journal titled, “The Authentication Illusion: Synthetic Evidence and the Limits of Human Judgment,” co-authored with 3L Gino Cerrone.
Amanda Gabster, Ph.D., Ibrahim Yigit, Ph.D., MA, Artur Queiroz, Ph.D., BSN, MS, Umed Ibragimov, MD, Ph.D., MPH, Lisa Hightow-Weidman, MD, MPH, Casey Xavier Hall, Ph.D., MPH, Frank “Frankie” Wong, Ph.D., Eugenia Millender, Ph.D., RN, PMH-APRN, FAAN, FAANP, Isaac Payton, Ph.D., MBA, MSN, PMHNP-BC, Crim Sabuncu, Ph.D.(c), Eduardo De La Vega, MS, Ph.D., Shermeeka Hogans-Mathews, MD, FAAFP; Liying Wang, Ph.D., Adam Tratner, Ph.D. (College of Nursing) co-authored “Exploratory Multidimensional Cardiovascular Health-related Profiles Among People Living with HIV Who Attend Two Urban Antiretroviral Clinics in Panama,” published in Discover Public Health.
Rahim Miller, MSMS, EMT-B, Zoë Njemanze, MPH, Miles Perry, MPH, Adrian Williams, MS, Judah Dean, MSW, Anderson Schlupp, MS, Kathryn Muessig, Ph.D., Lisa Hightow-Weidman, MD, MPH (College of Nursing) co-authored “From Youth Advisory Boards to Subject Matter Research Consultants: Transforming Youth Participation in Research Advising And Practice,” published in Springer Nature.
Kristy Anderson, Ph.D., Michael Killian, Ph.D., and Melissa Radey, Ph.D. (College of Social Work) co-authored the article, “Preventable Hospitalizations During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Patients with Autism and Without Autism,” published in the journal Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities.
David Newheiser, Ph.D. (Department of Religion) had his co-authored paper, “Indigenous Eco-Ethical Knowledge and the Reimagining of Nature,” published in Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science, an open-access, peer reviewed academic journal published by the Open Library of Humanities.
Barbara Hamby, M.A. (Department of English) had her poem, “Ode to Being Born with Teeth and Sharpening Them Every Day,” published in The New Yorker.
Charles Upchurch, Ph.D. (Department of History) had his article, “‘Called It Macaroni’: A British Queer History of the American Revolution,” published in the Journal of British Studies as part of its forum, “1776. Views from the British World,” a series of articles placing the American revolution within the context of the larger British world.
Andrew Frank, Ph.D. (Department of History) had his article, “In the Present Tense: A Historian reflects on why Americans struggle to see Native people as contemporaries,” published in FORUM Magazine, a statewide magazine published by Florida Humanities.
Nicole Bentze, D.O. (College of Medicine) was part of a team focused on supporting students through the Supplemental Offer and Acceptance Program (SOAP) for finding residency matches, and they published “Faculty Development through SOAP Advising” in the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine’s journal, PriMER.
Jack Rizzo, MFA (College of Medicine) authored the article, “More Than Medicine: How FSU’s HEAL Journal Connects Students, Faculty, and the Communities They Serve,” published in the Council for Advancement and Support of Education’s CASE Currents magazine.
Angelina Sutin, Ph.D., Martina Luchetti, Ph.D., Jarrod Mousa, Ph.D., Antonio Terracciano, Ph.D. (all College of Medicine) and a research colleague from University of Montpelier in France published “Purpose in life and shingles vaccination and infection” in the journal Vaccine.
Enrique Urrea Mendoza, M.D. (College of Medicine) and then-medical student Manasicha Wongpaiboon (M.D. Class of 2026) were two of the authors of “Challenges in the diagnosis of functional movement disorders in old adults in Latin America,” published in Acta Neurologica Colombiana, the journal of the Colombian Association of Neurology. The study was also accepted as a poster presentation at the International Congress of the Movement Disorder Society in Korea.
Annie Li Zhang, Ph.D. (School of Communication) co-authored “Modern Science Outreach: A Guide for Scientists” in Cell Journal, outlining practical strategies for scientists to engage audiences through new media channels.
Patrick Merle, Ph.D. (School of Communication) co-authored “The Impact of Infographics and Numerical Framing on Health Risk Perceptions and Behaviors: A Study of Ticks and Lyme Disease,” published in the Journal of Health Communication.
Eundeok Kim, Ph.D. (College of Entrepreneurship) published her collaborative paper “Bridging Skills Gaps: How Micro-credentials Reshape Sustainable Development Learning in higher education,” in Smart Learning Environments.
Eundeok Kim, Ph.D. (College of Entrepreneurship) coauthored a book titled “Teaching Sustainability Competencies Across the Disciplines: A Guide for Instructors (3rd ed.),” published by the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE).
PRESENTATIONS
Brooke Keller, Ph.D., MA (The Ringling) presented “Soaring Beyond the Fieldtrip: Elevating K-12 Teacher Support,” at The Florida Association of Museums Conference in West Palm Beach, FL in September.
Isabelle Austin, M.S. (Student Athlete Academic Services) co-presented “Empowering Transfer Student-Athletes Through Student-Centered Academic Advising” at the 2026 NACADA Annual Conference in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
Erin Verity, Ed.D. (Office of Admissions) presented “Reading Between the Lines: The Changing Role of School Context in Admissions” at the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC) annual conference in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Bret Keating, M.S. and Emily Fiore, Ed.S. (Advising First) co-presented “Why Learners Choose and Earners Settle: A Need-Supportive Advising Approach” at the National Academic Advising Association: The Global Community for Academic Advising Annual Conference in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Their session was also honored as one of only two sessions sponsored by the Undecided and Exploratory Students Advising Community.
Kim Barber, Ph.D. (Office of the University Registrar) and Robin Queen, MS (Office of the University Registrar) attended the first ACC Registrar workshop in Syracuse, New York, where Barber presented “Landscape of Higher Education.”
Jessica Childress, M.Ed., Hannah Recinella, M.S.W. and Alayna Williams (Center for College Life Coaching) presented “Oy with the Analogies Already! A Gilmore Girls’ Guide to Meaningful Student Conversations” at the 2026 NACADA Annual Conference.
Mirine Richey, DrPH, MPH, IBCLC (Center for Prevention & Early Intervention Policy) participated on the AHCA’s “From the Start Initiative – Simply Healthcare Plans Roundtable” in Collier County. Led by Simply Healthcare, the discussion included leaders from area health and hospital systems, University of Miami, and March of Dimes, and was attended by health and policy leaders from around the state. Richey spoke on the importance of community engagement, enhancing perinatal training and services for doula care, lactation, and mental health support to improve outcomes for women.
Elyse Budkie, MST (Undergraduate Studies/Academic Center for Excellence) presented: A Pre-conference Intensive Workshop – “From Awkward to Awesome: Innovative Activities that Elevate Tutor Training”; “Climb Your Mountain of Stress to Success”; “Data to Dialogue: Using ALEKS to Elevate Tutoring and Learning Connections”; “Persistence-Focused Teaching: Meeting Students Where They Are to Keep Them Moving Forward”; and an “Elevating Academic Success Together” poster at the ICLCA (International College Learning Center Association) conference in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Alexander Tsesis, J.D. (College of Law) presented a keynote address at the North Carolina Law Review Volume 105 Symposium: AI and Constitutional Values.
Alexander Tsesis, J.D. (College of Law) co-organized and participated in the Declaration of Independence Conference at Florida State University College of Law. The conference brought together leading scholars from across the country to examine the Declaration’s historical significance, its promises of equality and individual rights, and its continuing influence on American constitutional law and government.
Jake Linford, J.D. (College of Law) participated in the 17th Annual Trademark Scholars Roundtable with other legal scholars from the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand. The event was hosted by the New Zealand Centre for Intellectual Property at the University of Auckland Law School in Auckland, New Zealand.
Andrew Brady, Logan Poland and Gene Cilluffo (Institutional Research) and Caitlyn Jessee (Institutional Performance and Assessment) presented two workshops, “Power BI Introduction: Getting Started with Power BI Dashboards” and “Power BI Intermediate: Enhancing Power BI Dashboard Development Skills,” at the 2026 Southern Association for Institutional Research (SAIR) Conference in Little Rock, Arkansas.
Heather Epstein-Diaz (Institutional Research) co-presented “Data Governance and Relational IR: Building Trust, Collaboration, and Shared Understanding” and joined Shalinee Chikara and Asna Nayani to present “Data Governance as a Service: Strategic Governance Through Embedded Data Partnerships” at the 2026 SAIR Conference.
Gene Cilluffo (Institutional Research) presented “Applying WCAG: Accessibility in Power BI,” exploring strategies for making Power BI dashboards accessible to all users, at the 2026 SAIR Conference.
Claire Hickey (School of Teacher Education) presented “From Hidden Variables to Actionable Data: Measuring Trauma and Neurodiversity in Institutional Research” at the 2026 SAIR Conference.
Linh Hoang (Institutional Research) presented “Who Gets Hired? A Data-Driven Look at Master’s Graduate Employment Outcomes” at the 2026 SAIR Conference.
Abigail Jonckheere-Paul (Institutional Research) presented “When You Give a Mouse a Cookie – Bringing Practitioner Experience to Data Analytics,” highlighting a dashboard developed to support academic advisors during New Student Orientation, at the 2026 SAIR Conference.
Katherine Gipalo (Institutional Research) presented “Debugging the Department: CS Resource Allocation with ‘Start, Stop, Grow,’” examining resource allocation and opportunities to expand course offerings in FSU’s Department of Computer Science, at the 2026 SAIR Conference.
Logan Poland, James Hunt, Ph.D., and Andrew Brady (Institutional Research) presented “Giving 40 Whacks to ACTS – An American Horror Story,” a Florida Association for Institutional Research highlight session, at the 2026 SAIR Conference.
Caitlyn Jessee (Institutional Performance and Assessment) presented “Scaling Quality: A Comprehensive Framework for General Education Assessment” at the 2026 SAIR Conference.
Katherine Gipalo and Samantha Nix, Ph.D. (Institutional Research) joined a colleague from Georgia Tech to present “How Do I Say No? Discussing Strategies for Saying No to Stakeholders” at the 2026 SAIR Conference.
Casey Xavier Hall, Ph.D., MPH (College of Nursing) presented “Feasibility of a digital decision aid for safety planning with LGBTQIAPN+ people exposed to gender-based violence in Brazil” at the Sexual Violence Research Initiative (SVRI) Forum in Bangkok, Thailand.
Melissa Ace, DNP, RN, Amber Lattimore Ed.D., M.Ed. and Laura Redfern DNP, APRN, CHSE (College of Nursing) co-presented “Virtual Patients, Real Priorities: Learning Prioritization Through Virtual Reality” at the Florida Nursing Students Association Annual Convention in Palmetto, FL.
Lucinda Graven, Ph.D., APRN, FHFSA, FAHA, FAAN (College of Nursing) presented “Under Pressure: Relieving Anxiety and Depression” at the Annual Scientific Conference of the Heart Failure Society of America in Phoenix.
Lucinda Graven, Ph.D., APRN, FHFSA, FAHA, FAAN, Laurie Abbott, Ph.D., RN, DipACLM, CNE, PHNA-BC, FAAN (College of Nursing) and Tom Ledermann, Ph.D. (Anne’s College) co-presented “Supporting Health in Rural Veterans with Heart Failure” at the Annual Scientific Conference, Heart Failure Society of America in Phoenix.
Jennifer Schnippert, DNP, APRN, FNP-BC (College of Nursing) presented “Turning Inquiry Into Impact: Advancing Nurse Scholarship with EBP, QI, or Research” at the Florida Organization for Nursing Leadership and Panhandle Nursing Leadership as the keynote presenter.
Delaney W. La Rosa, Ed.D., MSN Ed, RN (College of Nursing) presented “Workshop on advanced AI use in research, data visualization, and administrative support” at the Villanova University Office of Nursing Research and Innovation Faculty Workshop: AI For Research Productivity in Villanova, PA.
Delaney W. La Rosa, Ed.D., MSN Ed, RN (College of Nursing) presented “Leading Academic Nursing in the AI Era” at the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) Academic Nursing Leadership Conference (ANLC) in Washington, D.C.
Delaney W. La Rosa, Ed.D., MSN Ed, RN (College of Nursing) presented “The Nurse’s Guide to AI: From Foundations to Fluency,” an interactive workshop exploring the responsible and effective use of artificial intelligence in nursing education, practice and research, at the New England League for Nurse Educators (NELNE) Annual Fall Conference and Meeting in Newport, Rhode Island.
Delaney W. La Rosa, Ed.D., MSN Ed, RN (College of Nursing) presented “Centering Nursing in the AI Era” at the American Nursing Informatics Association (ANIA), Central Florida Chapter Faculty Development Session virtually.
Jake Czaplicki (New Student & Family Programs) participated in a panel discussion “Publishing as a Practitioner: Insights on Why, How, and Where” at the Southern Association for College Student Affairs annual conference.
Shamra Boel-Studt, Ph.D. (College of Social Work) delivered, “A Decade of Quality Therapeutic Residential Care: Innovations, Evolving Standards, and Future Considerations,” the keynote presentation at What Constitutes Quality in Children’s Residential Care: Measuring What Matters to Children and Their Families, International Workgroup for Therapeutic Residential Care and The Association for Children’s Residential and Community Services, University of Sussex, Brighton, United Kingdom.
Marcia Hently, MSW, Katerina Manias, MS, PMP, and Kristina Finch, MS (Florida Institute for Child Welfare) represented the Florida Institute for Child Welfare and Florida State University’s partnership with Accenture’s AVENUES team at their APHSA IT Solutions Management for Human Services (ISM) Conference in Spokane, Washington. The recognition highlighted FICW’s leadership and investment in innovative, immersive learning that prepares professionals for complex practice situations, and FSU/FICW will receive an award and a commemorative banner in acknowledgment of this contribution.
Jessica Pryce, Ph.D., Lauren Stanley, Ph.D., and Chelsea Brass, Ph.D. (College of Social Work/Florida Institute for Child Welfare) presented, “Beyond Self-Care: Leadership, Power, and Organizational Responsibility for Workforce Resilience,” at the 2027 Council on Social Work Education Annual Program Meeting in Atlanta, Georgia.
Zach Cooper, Ph.D. (College of Social Work) presented, “A Scoping Review of Solution-Focused Measures: Mobilizing Strengths and Resilience in Social Work,” at the 2027 Council on Social Work Education Annual Program Meeting in Atlanta, Georgia.
Lauren Stanley, Ph.D., and Chelsea Brass, Ph.D. (College of Social Work/Florida Institute for Child Welfare) presented, “When the System Is Personal: A Comparison of Child-Welfare Workers’ Experiences by Maltreatment History,” at the 2027 Council on Social Work Education Annual Program Meeting in Atlanta, Georgia.
Shalay Jackson, D.P.H., and Lauren Herod, M.S.W. (College of Social Work) presented “Partnership Session: Organizing for Resilient Communities: Celebrating the Past, Present, and Future” at the 2027 Council on Social Work Education Annual Program Meeting in Atlanta, Georgia.
Michaé Cain, Ph.D. and Malika Samples, Ph.D. (College of Social Work/Florida Institute for Child Welfare) presented, “Student Perspectives on the Child Welfare Immersive Collaborative Simulations (CWICS): Key Insights,” at the 2027 Council on Social Work Education Annual Program Meeting in Atlanta, Georgia.
Bruce Thyer, Ph.D., and Jeffrey Lacasse, Ph.D. (College of Social Work) presented, “Heterodoxy as Resilience: Honoring Diverse Perspectives in Social Work Education,” at the 2027 Council on Social Work Education Annual Program Meeting in Atlanta, Georgia.
Lauren Stanley, Ph.D. and Trechaun Anderson, MSW (College of Social Work) presented, “Building Trauma-Informed Evidence Behind Bars: Flexible, Multi-Year Implementation of STAIR in a County Jail,” at the 2027 Council on Social Work Education Annual Program Meeting in Atlanta, Georgia.
Lisa Schelbe, Ph.D., Shalay Jackson, M.P.H., and Rosalyn Deckerhoff, M.S.W. (College of Social Work) presented, “The Power of Paid Internships: Funding Promotes BSW and MSW Student Well-Being,” at the 2027 Council on Social Work Education Annual Program Meeting in Atlanta, Georgia.
Oluwaseun Jegede, M.S.W. and Pooja Ichplani, Ph.D. (College of Social Work/Florida Institute for Child Welfare) presented “Survivor-Centered Safety Engagement: A Child Welfare Framework for Domestic Violence-Affected Families,” at the 2027 Council on Social Work Education Annual Program Meeting in Atlanta, Georgia.
Robert Hanna (Learning Systems Institute) presented “Using AI to Be Transformative in a Science Classroom” at the Florida Association of Science Teachers (FAST) 2026 Conference in Orlando, FL.
Rabieh Razzouk, MBA (Learning Systems Institute) delivered the keynote address, “Lessons from leading complex projects and multidisciplinary teams across the United States and around the world,” at the October Project Management Institute Tallahassee Chapter meeting.
Rabieh Razzouk, MBA (Learning Systems Institute) and Dina Vyortkina, Ph.D. (Anne’s College) presented virtually at the “AI and Cybersecurity GCC Forum” hosted by the American International University, Kuwait.
Vilma Fuentes, Ph.D. (Learning Systems Institute) was a featured speaker at the Local Colleges Visioning Summit hosted by the University of Philippines Open University and sponsored by the Commission on Higher Education.
Stephane Simmons Zuilkowski, Ph.D. and Kate Schell, Ph.D. (Learning Systems Institute) presented “Measure What Matters: Choosing the Best-Fit Evaluation Approach” at the 2026 Florida After School Conference in Kissimmee, FL.
Carrie Meyers and Jim Reynolds (Learning Systems Institute) presented at “Teaching and Learning with AI in Europe” at Breda University for Applied Sciences in the Netherlands. The pair also served as keynote speakers at the Southwest Florida AI in Education Symposium.
Rafe Blaufarb, Ph.D. (Department of History) presented his paper, “The Career of the Officer and Military Regeneration, 1750-1789,” at the Ecole de Guerre in Paris, France in September. The event was organized by the Association des Anciennes Ecoles Royales et Militaires de France and was attended by the French Minister of the Armed Forces, Catherine Vautrin.
Nilay Özok-Gündoğan, Ph.D. (Department of History) presented her paper, “Extracting Kurdistan: Mining Silenced Histories across Ottoman Archives,” at the Digital Archive of the Middle East conference, “Beyond Boundaries: Border-Crossings in Archives and Research on the Middle East,” at the University of Exeter in Exeter, U.K.
Suzanne Sinke, Ph.D. (Department of History) presented her paper, “Seeking Sanity through Connections: The Hasterlik Descendants in Flight,” at Georgetown University in October as part of, “Flight, Exile, and Emigration in Germany’s Age of Extremes: Biographical Perspectives,” aworkshop sponsored by the German Historical Institute and the German Academic Exchange Service.
Dean Falk, Ph.D. (Department of Anthropology) delivered the virtual keynote address, “Reading Ancient Brains from Skulls: What Paleoneurology Can—and—Cannot—Tell Us” as part of “The World of Attila: Brain, Skull, Behaviour and Society,” a public event at the Semmelweis Museum, Library and Archive of the History of Medicine in Budapest, Hungary.
Andrew Frank, Ph.D. (Department of History) presented, “Relations Between Spain and Native Peoples,” at the Queen Sofía Spanish Institute’s America&Spain250 Symposium in New Orleans, which was attended by Queen Sofía of Spain.
Elizabeth Doud, Ph.D. (The Ringling) presented “From France’s Performing Arts Ecosystem to Sarasota,” at Villa Albertine, the French Institute for Culture and Education, a division of the French Embassy in the United States.\
Katie Nickel, Ed.D. (The Ringling) presented “The WOW Factor: How Wonder Shapes Visitor Experiences and Communities” at the Florida Association of Museums Conference.
Caitlyn Shanely, Bianca Selket Clyburn, Fabi Carillo (The Ringling) presented “Inspiring Wonder: Insights from Ringling Teaching Artists” at The Ringling’s third annual Wonder Symposium on The Wonder of Arts Work.
Skyler Dunbar, MA, the 2026—2027 Eleanor Merritt Fellow (The Ringling) presented the poster “Looking Back to Move Forward: The Wonder of Arts Work in the Eleanor Merritt Fellowship” at The Ringling’s third annual Wonder Symposium on The Wonder of Arts Work.
Bethany Ritz, MFA, presented “The Stakes of Wonder for Culture Workers” at The Ringling’s third annual Wonder Symposium on The Wonder of Arts Work.
Jane Harris, MA (The Ringling) presented “Wonder in Action: Experiencing Active Gallery Engagement” at The Ringling’s third annual Wonder Symposium on The Wonder of Arts Work.
Courtney Hicks, MLIS, MFA (The Ringling) presented “Wonder in the Stacks: Inventory at The Ringling’s Art Library” at The Ringling’s third annual Wonder Symposium on The Wonder of Arts Work.
Ivan Balan, Ph.D., and Onna Brewer, Ph.D. (College of Medicine) presented “iMI4HIV Interactive motivational training for HIV counselors” at the Motivational Network of Trainers (MINT) Annual Forum in Lisbon, Portugal.
Enrique Urrea Mendoza, M.D. (College of Medicine) was invited to deliver two lectures at the 7th Annual All-Community Virtual Multiple System Atrophy (MSA) Conference.
Hugh Catts, Ph.D. (School of Communication Science and Disorders) gave an invited talk, titled “Perspectives on the new IDA definition of dyslexia in English,” as the opening session for the 2nd International Conference on Evidence-Based Teaching, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Sladjana Lukic, Ph.D. (School of Communication Science and Disorders) gave a poster presentation at the Society for Neurobiology of Language titled Theory-Driven AI: Exploratory Speech Metrics Detecting Agrammatism in Aphasia using NLP/LLMs.
Sladjana Lukic, Ph.D. (School of Communication Science and Disorders) gave an invited psycholinguistic talk at the University of Geneva, titled “Toward Theory-Driven, Objective Dimensional Measurement of Aphasia.”
Dawn Sowers, Ph.D. (School of Communication Science and Disorders) presented her research, “When Movement has a Voice: Exploring Communication Possibilities with a New AI-Driven Communication Tool,” at the 58th Annual Gatlinburg Conference on Research and Theory in Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities.
Felicia Williams, Ph.D. (Student Engagement) and Andy Johnson, MPA, MSP (Student Engagement) presented “Keep Them Honest: An Innovative Gamified Approach to Build Trust and Emotional Intelligence in Public Leadership” at the 28th International Leadership Association Global Conference in Toronto, Canada.
Felicia Williams, Ph.D. (Student Engagement) co-facilitated “Leading Human Systems: A Signature Leadership Experience” at the 28th International Leadership Association Global Conference in Toronto, Canada.
SERVICE
Todd Adams, Ph.D. (Department of Physics) was elected to serve a 2-year term as the Deputy Chair of the USCMS Collaboration Board. The Collaboration Board represents all of the US researchers who work on the CMS experiment at CERN, the European particle physics laboratory. The USCMS Collaboration includes more than 1400 researchers from over 50 institutions.
Michael Elwardany, Ph.D. (FAMU-FSU College of Engineering) has been selected as an Associate Editor for the Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, IJPE and AM3P.
Rachel (Neale) Neuhart, MA, CCEP (Office of Compliance and Ethics) was selected to serve as an applicant reviewer in the areas of public policy and international affairs for the Fulbright Ukraine national selection process.
James Hunt, Ph.D. (Institutional Research) completed seven years of service on the Southern Association for Institutional Research (SAIR) Board of Directors, including serving as vice president and conference chair in 2024, president in 2025, and immediate past president in 2026.
Lucinda Graven, Ph.D., APRN, FHFSA, FAHA, FAAN (College of Nursing) has been appointed to the American Heart Association Clinical Cardiology in Older Populations committee as the Council on Cardiovascular and Stroke Nursing (CVSN) Liaison to provide a nursing perspective and voice in support of older adults with cardiovascular disease.
Jake Czaplicki (New Student & Family Programs) has been asked to serve as a faculty member for the NODA: Association for Orientation, Transition, and Retention in Higher Education Graduate Student Symposium (GSS).
Nell Robinson (University Health Services) was reappointed as a Commissioner on the Tallahassee-Leon County Commission on the Status of Women and Girls for a two-year term. This appointment marks her fourth term.
Jake Czaplicki (New Student & Family Programs) served as a presentation reviewer and awards review committee member for the NODA: Association for Orientation, Transition, and Retention in Higher Education 2026 Annual Conference.
Rob Schoen, Ph.D. and Shelby McCrakin (Learning Systems Institute) traveled to Minnesota to lead professional development workshops as part of the STEPPS project funded by the American Statistical Association.
Lyndsay Jenkins, Ph.D. (Anne’s College) was appointed managing editor of the Journal of School Psychology.
Becky Greenhill, Ph.D. (School of Communication Science and Disorders), Catherine Johnson, Ph.D. (School of Communication Science and Disorders) and Selena Snowden, Ph.D. (School of Communication Science and Disorders) led the FSU Speech & Hearing Mobile Clinic on its first community outreach event at the FSU Health Expo in Gadsden County, where they coordinated student volunteers to provide speech and hearing screenings for community members.
Sladjana Lukic, Ph.D. (School of Communication Science and Disorders) and Kaitlin Lansford, Ph.D. (College of Communication and Information) hosted research tables at the FSU Health Expo in Gadsden County, showcasing their active grant-funded projects and inviting visitors to learn about opportunities to participate.
Karen Geletko, MPH (College of Medicine) was appointed to the Florida Tobacco Education and Use Prevention Advisory Council, which provides guidance to Tobacco Free Florida and the state surgeon general on statewide prevention and control efforts.
George Bernardo, M.D., Danielle Carter, M.D., and Christy Cavanagh, M.D. (all College of Medicine) were among the Florida Academy of Family Physicians representatives attending the American Academy of Family Physicians’ Congress of Delegates in Nashville, Tennessee.
Faye Jones, Ph.D. (College of Communication and Information) led a team of student presenters, which included Tanya Raphael, Courtney Stokes, and Ellie Webb, to the STARS Equinox Conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
EXHIBITIONS AND PERFORMANCES
Geoffrey Deibel, DMA (College of Music) recently completed a four-concert tour of the East Coast with Trio Nebbia, featuring world-renowned percussionist Ji Hye Jung and lauded pianist Winston Choi. The group performed on the Bowerbird Concert Series in Philadelphia, premiering a newly commissioned work from Pulitzer Prize winner and MacAuthur Genius Tyshawn Sorey. The trio also gave concerts and masterclasses at Manhattan School of Music in NYC, Hartt School of Music, and Boston Conservatory.
NOTABLE
Shannon Hall-Mills, Ph.D. (College of Communication and Information) and Danielle Brimo, Ph.D. (‘11) were invited by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association to present “Syntax: A Pathway to Comprehension and Composition” for the Annual Convention of the Speech-Language-Hearing Association in Indianapolis in November.
Jessica Schilling, Editor in Residence (College of Motion Picture Arts) worked on the project “Surviving Alaska: Women of the Wild,” which is out this month on NatGeo, Hulu, and Disney+. She worked on the docu-follow series earlier this year and was one of the editors for episodes 5, 6, and 7.
EmilyFaye Cobb, Head of Set Operations (College of Motion Picture Arts) worked as a gaffer on the short film “Inheritor,” which won the Night Mare Award for Best Cinematography in a Short at Nightmares Film Festival.
Michael Morley, J.D. (College of Law) submitted two amicus briefs for the U.S. Supreme Court, one with Dean F. Andrew Hessick for Apple Inc. v. Epic Games, Inc., No. 25-1311, and another brief with the FSU Election Law Center for the Republican National Committee v. Mi Familia Vota, et al. Both briefs were submitted in support of neither party.
Andrew Frank, Ph.D. (Department of History) led the University College London’s Commonwealth Fund Committee sponsored roundtable, “The United States at 250: Reflections on Empire, Conflict, and Diplomacy,” on the legacy of the American Revolution at the 2026 annual conference of the British American Nineteenth Century Historians at the University of Warwick in Warwick, U.K. He is also the lead scholar for the Smithsonian Institution’s traveling exhibit, “Americans,” that opened in September and will travel across Florida over the next year in partnership with Florida Humanities and the Seminole and Miccosukee Tribes.
Gary Taylor, Ph.D. (Department of English) had his reconstruction of “The History of Cardenio” — the partially-lost play based on the first translation of Cervantes’s Don Quixote in 1612 which was co-written by Shakespeare and his younger contemporary John Fletcher —receive its first all-professional production in North America by Resurgens Theatre Company in Atlanta in September, as part of its “Shakespeare’s Apocrypha Now” biennial conference. He also had a Spanish translation of his reconstruction premiere at the Teatro Calderon in Valladolid, Spain, and had the first translation of his text published in Portuguese and launched at the XII Jornada de Estudos Shakespeareanos conference, both in September. Taylor presented about the technical and creative processes that produced his restoration of this play at the premieres in Atlanta and Valladolid.
Johnna Wallace, M.A. (College of Medicine) earned certification in Adult Mental Health First Aid from the National Council for Mental Wellbeing.
Please send items for Faculty and Staff Briefs to tfordyce@fsu.edu. We publish monthly.