Profiles in Excellence ACADEMIC YEAR 2019-2020 Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affair’s Report for Faculty Publications, Presentations, Performances, Exhibitions, and Grants Contents Award Recipients .................................................. 2-8 Publications and Presentations at Professional Meetings ........................................ 9-24 Grants and Awards............................................29-31 Artistic Performances and Exhibits ...................32-33 The University of North Alabama is an innovative, dynamic, and evolving institution with an engaged, Dr. Ross Alexander committed, and high- performing faculty that is committed to the tripartite missions of teaching, research, and service. Profiles in Excellence showcases and highlights the accomplishments of our faculty members in the areas of research and creative activities in particular, where many have cultivated and earned national and international reputations as scholars, researchers, and artists. The scholarly books, peer-reviewed articles, funded grants, academic presentations, and creative/artistic accomplishments detailed in this publication exemplify the professionalism, creativity, and dedication of our faculty members. As a maturing and growing institution, the University of North Alabama takes great pride in its commitment to discovery, creative inquiry, and research innovation. I offer my gratitude and thanks to all the faculty members featured in Profiles in Excellence and hope all the friends and supporters of UNA enjoy reading the accomplishments and activities highlighted here. Sincerely, Ross C. Alexander, Ph.D. Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs Professor of Political Science UNA 2019 - 2020 Profiles in Excellence • Page 1 OUTSTANDING TEACHING a university faculty member and to share my passion for Computer Science and being informed. Q: What prompted you to establish the Math/ Computer Science Undergraduate Research Team? How do you see it evolving? A: It’s an opportunity for students and faculty to get together and talk about their research projects. Each week, the students stand up in front of each other and discuss what their research has been, what they have done in their research, and what they plan to do over the next week. It’s an opportunity for faculty and students to hear about the other research projects and help each other. It’s important for students to be able to distinguish themselves and go above and beyond the standard undergrad curriculum. Q: Why is STEM education such a vital part of Dr. James Jerkins the curriculum, particularly at the P-12 level? A: First I want to be clear that STEM is not more important, Dr. James Jerkins joined the UNA computer science faculty or less important, than other disciplines or subjects that in the spring of 2007. Some of the courses he has taught include students should be exposed to. They’re all super important. introductory computing, computer programming, information Students need to be exposed to all of them so they can be security, cryptography, and artificial intelligence. Dr. Jerkins is a informed and engaged and influential members of their Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP). communities. Lots of difficult, thorny problems are left to He worked in the entertainment industry for several years as solve, and, for those problems, you need strong analytical a theatrical technical director and designer. He also has several skills, strong reasoning skills, and the ability to generalize, years’ experience as a broadcast engineer and hosted his own to abstract, and to use science and reasoning. All of those commercial radio talk show. In 2008, Dr. Jerkins took a sabbatical skills and attributes are essential. It is the key way to do at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center and worked with the that. For that, it is important we expose those P-12 students team developing the flight software for NASA’s Space Launch to these principles throughout their education life cycle. (SLS) vehicle. Dr. Jerkins says that teaching happens both inside and Q: How does UNA allow you to incorporate your passion outside of the classroom. He believes that undergraduate research for undergraduate research into your academic career? equips UNA students with a competitive edge in both industry A: The University is primarily a teaching university; we’re not and graduate studies. Dr. Jerkins has also been instrumental in primarily a research university, so we really don’t have the several undergraduate research initiatives at UNA, including types of resources typical research universities have. So I co-founding and co-sponsoring the Math/Computer Science don’t have money or course releases to support the research Undergraduate Research Team. for the students. We don’t have those types of things to support research students, but I do have the support Q: You have a strong philosophy when it comes from my colleagues, my department chair, and my dean. to undergraduate research. How has this been The University is allowing me to incorporate my belief a part of your own academic career? that undergraduate research is important for students by A: I think undergraduate research is a way that students can allowing me to do it. distinguish themselves. It’s something above and beyond what Q: Finally, what does it mean to you to have been they have to do to complete their degree, so it’s more than honored with this award? just the minimal requirement. It also shows that they have participated in a project where they had to use the scientific A: It is an honor. The reason I joined the University faculty method and apply what they learned in their undergraduate was so that I can share my passion about computer science program in order to carry a research project to completion. with the next generation of computer scientists. It’s always It’s something nice they can talk about in an interview with nice to be recognized by your peers, colleagues, and prospective employers. Working with students in undergrad your supervisors for doing good work. It feels nice to be research projects is one of the reasons I chose to become recognized. Page 2 • UNA 2019 - 2020 Profiles in Excellence Phi Kappa Phi Eleanor P. GaunderOUTSTANDING • EXCELLENCE SCHOLARSHIP/RESEARCH IN T E AC H I N G AWA R D A: Our department’s approach to student-faculty research really transformed the way I approach student mentorship. For most projects, I incorporate several undergraduate students using a team-based approach. Under my guidance, upper-level students with prior research assistant experience take the lead on the study and help mentor other team members. This approach had increased my ability to work on multiple projects simultaneously and provided numerous students—almost 75 in the last five years—the opportunity to gain valuable research skills while actively contributing to the development of new knowledge in the field. As I transition into a new role as an associate dean for the College of Arts and Sciences, my goal is to keep an active research agenda and continue to aid our students’ development as future scientist- Dr. Ryan Zayac practitioners. Q: What are some of the most compelling research topics A native of Parma, Ohio, Dr. Zayac earned a Bachelor you’ve worked on with students? of Science degree in psychology from Allegheny College in Pennsylvania. He received his Ph.D. in experimental psychology A: One of the most enjoyable projects that I have recently at Auburn University with a concentration in applied behavior worked on combined several of my passions: teaching, analysis. Participating in Auburn’s Teaching Fellows program quickly research, and travel. During an education abroad program solidified his desire to pursue a career in academia. focused on the history of psychology to Germany, Austria, After a brief stay at Central Washington University, Dr. Zayac and Switzerland, my students and I conducted a study was excited to return Alabama, accepting an assistant professor examining the impact of a cultural scavenger hunt on the position at UNA in 2010. It was here that his love for student-faculty development of intercultural competencies. During the research collaboration truly blossomed. As a teacher-scholar, his focus cultural scavenger hunt, UNA students were given a series has always been to improve individual’s lives, especially his students. of questions focused on the host city/country and were asked to find the answers using local resources, such as “In my opinion, my research agenda does have a unifying and speaking with residents or visiting culturally/historically singular focus: to promote undergraduate participation in research significant sights. The immersion process was also by making myself available and open to my students’ interest and facilitated by having local university students and faculty ideas,” he said. “I have found that when students have ownership serve as guides during the activity. When compared to in a particular topic, they are more than motivated to put forth a control group, our findings suggest that the use of a the sustained effort necessary to see a research project through to cultural scavenger hunt may assist participants in actively completion.” engaging in the local culture and facilitate the initial Dr. Zayac’s recent research has focused mainly on the development of intercultural competencies. Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL), and in the last five years under his mentorship, Dr. Zayac’s students were awarded : What do you enjoy about teaching and guiding student almost $20,000 in internal and external research grants, co-authored Q research at UNA? more than 25 international/national/regional presentations, and published five articles. A: It certainly sounds cliché, but sharing in a student’s excitement when they present our research at conferences Q: At what point in your career did you realize that student- for the first time or watching them smile with pride as they faculty research was a passion of yours? turn the pages of their first publication are what really motivates me as a mentor.