ICYMI - Faculty and Department Kudos
In Case You Missed It
Fall 2020/Spring 2021
Department of Anthropology
Dr. Keri Brondo, professor and department chair in the Department of Anthropology, was awarded $20,000 from the National Geographic Society for her project "Fishing Livelihoods & Lionfish Markets in Utila Keys."
Biological Sciences
Dr. Thomas Sutter, professor and Feinstone Chairman of Molecular Biology in the Department of Biological Sciences, was awarded $50,000 from the National Institutes of Health for his project “A core transcription factor complex of the aryl hydrocarbon receptor.”
Dr. Duane McKenna, professor in the Department of Biological Sciences, was awarded $271,634 from Texas A&M University with the National Science Foundation (NSF) for his project "Multidisciplinary Approach to Baioacoustics: Integrating phylogenomics, biophysics, and functional genomics to unravel the evolution of hearing and singing in katydids, crickets, and allies."
Center for Earthquake Research and Information (CERI)
Dr. Chris Cramer, research professor in the Center for Earthquake Research and Information, was awarded $94,482 from the U.S. Geological Survey for his project "Alaska Lg Tomography, Ground Motion Intensity Correlation Equation Development, and Subduction and Crustal GMM Alaska Regional Adjustments."
Dr. Thomas Goebel, assistant professor in the Center for Earthquake Research and Information, was awarded $76,642 from the U.S. Geological Survey for his project "Experimental Constraints on Preparatory Processes and Seismic Velocity Changes before Induced Slip: Collaborative Research between the University of Memphis and University of California Berkeley."
Department of Chemistry
Dr. Nathan DeYonker, assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry, was awarded $79,837 from Q-Chem Inc with the U.S. Department of Energy for his project “Online Nexus for Quantum Mechanical Cluster Modeling of Proteins and Enzymes.”
Dr. Tim Brewster and graduate student Malcolm Charles on the published a review on heterobimetallic systems in Coordination Chemistry Reviews.
The Department of Chemistry at the University of Memphis congratulates Dr. Nathan DeYonker on his recently published astrochemistry paper, "Complex Organic Matter Synthesis on Siloxyl Radicals in the Presence of CO" in Frontiers In Chemistry.
Dr. Paul Simone, associate professor and Chair in the Department of Chemistry, was awarded $18,582 from Foundation Instruments, LLC for his project "Development and Evaluation of the TotalTHM-NOW."
The Dept of Chemistry at the University of Memphis congratulates Dr. Nathan DeYonker and his colleague Dr. Ryan Fortenberry (Ole Miss Chemistry) on their inorganic astrochemistry review recently published in Acc. Chem. Res.
Department of Computer Science
New $300K NSF Grant for Computer Science Education
Jan 14: The Department has been awarded a new $299,333 grant from the National Science Foundation for "Improving the Quality of Teaching Assistant Feedback to Undergraduate Students in Introductory Computer Science Courses." The three-year project will be led by PI Prof. Amy Cook, alongside co-PIs Prof. Vinhthuy Phan and Prof. Alistair Windsor (Mathematical Sciences). Visit the Division of Research website for full details.
Criminology and Criminal Justice
Dr. James McCutcheon, associate professor in the Department of Criminal Justice, was awarded $117,650 from the City of Memphis Police Department with the U.S. Department of Justice for his project “Policing Innovation Strategies.”
University of Memphis highest-ranked in Tennessee for 2nd straight year by U.S. News
& World Report
Jan. 26, 2021 — The University of Memphis is the highest-ranked institution in Tennessee
for the second straight year by U.S. News & World Report in its 2021 rankings of online programs.
The Online Criminal Justice (graduate) program was one of the eight UofM Global programs that was ranked nationally and deemed U.S. News Best Online Programs as No. 21 (increased from No. 24 in 2020 and No. 51-67 in 2018).
Department of English
Congratulations to WRTC Professor Dr. Will Duffy for his recent book publication, "Beyond Conversation: Collaboration and the Production of Writing."
Department of Political Science
April: Congratulations to Dr. Dursun Peksen! His article Coercive Diplomacy and Economic Sanctions Reciprocity: Explaining Targets’ Counter-Sanctions," co-authored with Jin Mun Jeong, has been accepted for publication in Defence and Peace Economics.
January: Congratulations to Dr. Sharon Stanley! Her article "The Persistence of Myth: Brazil's Undead Racial Democracy" has been accepted for publication in Contemporary Political Theory. Contemporary Political Theory is among the top ranked, peer reviewed journals in political theory.
January: Congratulations to Dr. Leah Windor (Faculty Affiliate and MA '05)! Two of her articles have been accepted as part of a PS: Political Science & Politics symposium on the status of the profession. The first is "Not a leaky pipeline! Academic success is a game of Chutes and Ladders," co-authored with Kerry F. Crawford (James Madison University) and Marijke Breuning (UNT Denton). The other is "MENtorship: Men in the Middle and their roles as allies in addressing gender bias," co-authored with Cameron Thies (Arizona State). PS is published by the American Political Science Association and is the journal of record for the discipline of political science reporting on research, teaching, and professional development.
School of Social Work
Dr. Seok Won Jin, assistant professor in the Department of Social Work, was awarded $10,000 from the University of Memphis Foundation for his project “Assessing Disparities in Human Papillomavirus (HPV) Vaccination in the Mid-South.”
Department of Psychology
Dr. Deranda Lester, research assistant professor in the Department of Psychology was awarded $2,000 from Psi Chi for her project “Examining Whether Oxytocin Treatment Can Reverse Behavioral and Neurochemical Phenotypes Associated with Drug Abuse.”
World Languages and Literatures
Dr. Diana Ruggiero, Dr. Brianna Butera, and Jonathan Jones-Edwards (UofM WLL MA Grad) served as panelists for “Deciphering Dialects: When Words Vary Amongst Spanish Speaking Populations,” a virtual panel hosted by the Office of Inclusion, Equity, and Diversity at UT Health Science Center on Wednesday, September 22nd for National Hispanic Heritage Month. Professors, physicians, researchers, students and more gathered to learn about important dialectal differences that can occur in clinical encounters which could be a matter of life or death as well as practical strategies for interacting with Spanish-speaking patients.
Dr. Will Thompson presented “Fictional Portrayals of the French Creoles of the Illinois Country” at the annual history conference of the Foundation for Restoration of Ste. Genevieve, Missouri, on September 18.
Dr. Robert Kelz published “Instrument or Inspiration? Commemorating the 1949 Goethe Year in Argentina” in Goethe Yearbook Vol. 28 (2021): 263-284.
Dr. Iván Ortega-Santos presented “Is there variation in the reliability of theoretical syntax data across languages?” at the 30th Colloquium on Generative Grammar, organized by the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona.
Dr. Fatima Nogueira, Professor of Spanish and Portuguese, is this year’s recipient of the College of Arts and Sciences Distinguished Research Award in the Humanities (formally announced at college’s faculty meeting on August 19).
Dr. Vania Barraza Toledo, Professor of Spanish, has obtained a grant from the University of Memphis Campus Community Fund in the amount of $2,500 for the upcoming Hispanic Film Festival.
Our M.A. in Spanish is listed as number nine for “Best 15 Masters in Spanish Programs in 2021 by the bestvalueschools.org website.
Dr. Denis Grélé has been named one of four winners of the University of Memphis Alumni Distinguished Teaching Award.
Dr. Hironori Nishi was named the recipient of the 2021 Service Appreciation Award by the Southeastern Association of Teachers of Japanese (SEATJ) at the association’s 36th Annual Conference on February 27, 2021.
Dr. Diana Ruggiero has received a University of Memphis USRC Grant Writing Award of $1000 for her project “Integrating Diversity and Inclusion through Community Engagement in Online Learning: A Long-Term Research Project Involving University Campus Middle and Latino Memphis.” Dr. Ruggiero has also received a Travel Enrichment Grant from the College of Arts and Sciences.
Dr. Brianna Butera was invited by the Spanish Club as a part of their Meet Your Professor series. She did an interactive presentation on language variation in Spanish. Attendees contributed to the discussion providing the diverse vocabulary they use in Spanish to talk about various foods and household items. They also listened to some clips of native speakers of Spanish and guessed where they were from based on their speech patterns.
Dr. Melanie Conroy gave the keynote lecture “On Networking: Enlightenment-Era French Salons” at the conference “The Salon and the Senses in the Long Eighteenth Century: Interdisciplinary Perspectives” at Rutgers University on March 4, 2021. Dr. Conroy’s tool review “Networks, Maps, and Time: Visualizing Historical Networks Using Palladio” was published in Digital Humanities Quarterly Volume 15 Number 1, 2021.
Dr. Cosetta Gaudenzi has published “Between Reality and Fiction: Ammore e malavita by Manetti Bros,” in L'Avventura: International Journal of Italian Film and Media Landscapes. Bologna: Il Mulino, 2020. 119-130. On January 28, 2021, she participated in a presentation of the special issue of L’avventura at the Italian Culture Institute of Oslo, Norway (via Zoom).
Dr. Yuki Matsuda's article “On Bakhtin's heteroglossia and the Japanese typography in Shonen/ Shojo manga” was published in Nihongo-gaku (Journal of Japanese Linguistics) Vol. 40-1:102-111.
Dr. Diana Ruggiero, Dr. Scott Vann and Dr. Joanne Gikas, presented at the Online Learning Consortium Conference Innovate “Supporting Faculty Through the Transition Online: the Collaborative Creation and Implementation of Faculty Development in Response to Covid-19” in March. At the same conference Dr. Ruggiero conducted a workshop using the latest Kahoot! education tools for formative assessment of intercultural sensitivity in the classroom.
Dr. Denis Grélé, Dr. Diana Ruggiero, and Dr. Lan Zhang are all finalists for the University of Memphis Alumni Association Distinguished Teaching Award. Congratulations on this well-deserved honor!
Dr. Pilar Alcalde has been awarded a Professional Development Assignment for a term in the 2021-2022 academic year.
Ralph Albanese has published two articles in Papers in French Seventeenth-Century Literature, both in volume XLVII, 93 (2020): "Silence et parole dans Tartuffe," and "Monsieur de Pourceaugnac, ou les enjeux d'une crise identitaire."
Ivan Ortega-Santos presented "Educational Interpreting of Oral Languages in the US: Challenges in the Absence of National Standards" at the 2nd International Conference on Literacy, Culture, and Language Education (ICLCLE 2020), organized by Indiana University Bloomington.
Will Thompson's article "Ste. Geneviève National Historical Park Officially Established" has been published in Le Journal of the Center for French Colonial Studies, vol. 37, no. 1 (Winter 2021), pp. 11-14.
Francisco Vivar's article "Conocimiento y vida: "Licenciado Vidriera y Auto de fe" will be published in Studia Iberica et Americana.