Congratulations to the following recipients of the 2023 Hand Awards for Distinguished Faculty Achievement.
Since 1988, the Hand Awards for Distinguished Faculty Achievement are made possible through the continued generosity of trustee emeritus and alumna Dolly Hand and her late husband, Homer Hand. Through their support of excellence in higher education, Stetson University is honored this year to recognize one outstanding facultymember for the Hand Award for Research, Creative, and Professional Activity.
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This teacher-scholar was invited to join the faculty corps at Stetson University six years ago and has engaged in an expansive scope of high-quality research and professional activity with penetrable national and international implications. As a recognized expert in development economics, their work has easily transcended academic boundaries by making practical global impact, particularly on women in agriculture in rural regions and in developing countries.This expertise is sought after by global organizations such as the World Bank, the UN Development Programme, and USAID. This work significantly contributes to Stetson’s vibrancy and vitality, especially on students in upper-level economics courses.
This faculty member has acquired a prolific record in their short time here. One nominator wrote, this faculty member “has developed an impressive scholarly record during their time at Stetson. Their expertise in development economics has been recognized and sought after on campus, nationally, and internationally, and they have published their work in high-impact venues.”
Therefore, it gives me great pleasure on behalf of the faculty and staff at Stetson University to present the 2023 Hand Award for Research, Creative, and Professional Activity to Associate ProfessorDr. Khushbu Mishra for her stellar, established, and sustained record of scholarly achievement.
Presented by Dr. Rosalie Richards, Associate Provost for Faculty Development and Professor of Chemistry and Education on May 10, 2023 at the 2023 Academic Awards and Recognition Ceremony
Congratulations to the recipient of the 2022 William Hugh McEniry Award for Excellence in Teaching
Established in 1974, the McEniry Award for Excellence in Teaching is considered to be Stetson University’s most prestigious award based on the highest attainment of teaching excellence as personified by the former Dean of the University, William Hugh McEniry. Exceptional teaching in the classroom is at the heartbeat of this award, along with intellectual growth, professional competency, academic activities outside of the classroom, and meaningful service to students and the University as a whole.
This year’s McEniry selection committee had an incredibly challenging job. Stetson is a community full of highly deserving teacher-scholars. This year’s awardee stood out as an exceptionally impactful educator at Stetson and within their field. There is a clear record demonstrating that this faculty member is a phenomenal teacher. Thoughtfully written nominations demonstrated a deep commitment to high-quality teaching.
A nomination by a fellow faculty member notes: “This professor is a star at everything he does. He is electric in the classroom. A superb intellect. A fine writer. His scholarship is set to do groundbreaking work in broad cultural fields”.
A student nomination states: “This professor really pushed all his students to achieve academic excellence. He maintained a very high standard in class and promoted a higher level of thinking. This professor was always very accessible and open to help students outside of class hours.”
A second student nomination states: “This professor effortlessly explains all of the information. I personally look up to him as an ACADEMIC GIANT.”
Yet, a third student nomination states: “This professor has found a way to make his students enjoy taking his classes while also keeping us on our toes.”
I am delighted and honored to announce this year’s award winner! For the first time in the history of Stetson University, the McEniry Award for Excellence in Teaching will be presented to the winner of the Hand Award for Research, Creative, and Professional Activity. Please join me in wishing heartfelt congratulations to the recipient of the 2022 William Hugh McEniry Award for Excellence in Teaching.
Professor of Music.
Dr. Daniil Zavlunov!
Presented by Dr. Hala El Arag, Professor of Computer Science, on May 6, 2022 at the 2022Academic Awards and Recognition Ceremony
Congratulations to the following recipients of the 2022 Hand Awards for Distinguished Faculty Achievement.
The Hand Award for Distinguished Faculty Achievements are made possible through the continued generosity of trustee emeritus and alumna Dolly Hand and her husband, Homer Hand. Through their support of excellence in higher education, we are honored to recognize outstanding faculty. The awards have been presented to faculty since 1988, with recipients whose names many in the audience will recognize as faculty who have been transformative to this institution—Michael Rickman, Karen Kaivola, and Leonard Nance to name a few.
This year, we recognize the professional achievements of two outstanding faculty members in two primary areas: Research, Creative, and Professional Activity and Community Impact. Historically, there have been Hand awards that recognized the stellar work of faculty who have been at Stetson for a short period of time, and then go on to do great things at Stetson. Some examples include then-Assistant Professors Terri Witek, Stephen Robinson, Sue Ryan, and Isabel Botero, who all received the Hand recognition just a few years after they joined the University. Both recipients of this prestigious recognition were invited to join the faculty in 2014. In sum, during their short tenure at Stetson University, they have made significant contributions to their fields, to Stetson’s vibrancy and vitality, to our academic culture, and to the world beyond this campus.
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The first 2022 Hand Award honors a faculty member whose quality of research and writing has had a transformative impact on the School of Music and on Stetson University. As a musicologist, he is a scholar of Music History with many interests including Russian, French and Italian opera of the 19th century, Russian and Soviet music, music and politics and theories of musical form. His research into music censorship in 19th century Imperial Russia, specifically during the reign of Tsar Nicholas II, is groundbreaking and of significant interest to students of opera worldwide. His command of both musicology and theory demonstrates a latitude of expertise comprising individual composers, genres, and time periods.
Furthermore, he maintains an impressive publication record in high impact academic readership sources including the Journal of Music Theory, the Journal of Musicology, and in the Cambridge and Oxford University presses. The variety, breadth, scope, cross-disciplinarity, and international appeal of his repertoire has positioned his body of work as important and valuable beyond the world of music. To that end, this scholar ranks among the top music historians in the nation and abroad.
One nominator wrote, “Twelve publications (and others already underway) are many for any discipline at Stetson where research and publications are a measure of contribution.” Another wrote, “My career in all facets – including performance, teaching, and administration – has well prepared me to understand and appreciate exceptional individuals such as [this professor]”.
Therefore, it gives me great pleasure on behalf of the faculty and staff at Stetson University to present the 2022 Hand Award for Research, Creative, and Professional Activity to Associate Professor Daniil Zavulov for his professional commitment, and in recognition and celebration of his substantial scholarly contributions.
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This year’s second 2022 Hand award honors a faculty member who has accomplished an extraordinarily impactful breadth and scope of timely work within the eight years of her tenure at Stetson University. A scholar, teacher, and practitioner, she rapidly compiled a distinguished record of community service, becoming a key force in Stetson’s relationship with the broader community. Her special focus has been on the health needs of underserved communities including the Spring Hill community of southwestern DeLand. In collaboration with various community partners, she has initiated or supported multiple studies and programs. This work included comprehensive needs assessments of all African American communities to demonstrate the need for improved public health and nutritional resources and an Oral History of the James W. Wright building in DeLand, research that resulted in grant funding awarded and the building being placed on the National Register of Historic Places.
In 2016, she received an Exceptional Community Partner Award from the Spring Hill Neighborhood Association for her exemplary work. And with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, she provided vital community support by serving as staff epidemiologist with the Florida Department of Health.
One nominator wrote, “In my entire time directing community engagement efforts for the university, [this professor] stands out for being the most consistent and effective faculty collaborator with our non-profit partners in the greater Spring Hill community. Truly, I believe that no faculty member epitomizes the connection of our institution’s academic and civic missions as strongly as [this professor]”.
For her professional commitment and in recognition and celebration of her substantial contributions to the Stetson community and the greater DeLand and Volusia communities, it gives me great pleasure on behalf of the faculty and staff at Stetson University to present the second 2022 Hand Award for Community Impact to Associate Professor Asal Mohammadi Johnson.
Presented by Dr. Rosalie Richards, Associate Provost for Faculty Development on May 6, 2022 at the 2022 Academic Awards and Recognition Ceremony
Two Stetson University School of Business Administration professors have been recognized by two separate international organizations for outstanding achievements.
Isabel Botero
Isabel Botero, Ph.D., assistant professor of family enterprise and entrepreneurship, was awarded the Advanced Certificate in Family Wealth Advising (ACFWA) and honored as a Fellow of the Family Firm Institute (FFI) at the 2018 FFI Global Conference held in London, England.
To be named a fellow honoree, Botero had to achieve comprehensive professional knowledge and significant expertise over the past 10 years that may now be shared and used by family business owners and family wealth management clients. The Family Firm Institute (www.ffi.org), an international professional membership organization of more than 1,800 individuals and organizations across 88 countries, provides interdisciplinary education and networking opportunities for family business and family wealth advisors, consultants, educators and researchers.
“Becoming a Fellow for the Family Firm Institute is an honor for me because it highlights my collaborative work to help family enterprises around the world become better,” explained Botero. “It also acknowledges the importance of education and research in the field.”
Jennifer Foo
Jennifer Foo, Ph.D., professor of finance, also has been honored as a member of the Jewish National Fund’s Winter 2018-2019 Faculty Fellowship Program in Israel. This competitive academic fellowship gives full-time higher education faculty members the opportunity to participate in a 12-day all-expenses-paid academic trip to Israel. The program strives to link scholars from diverse disciplines with their Israeli counterparts at major universities to initiate collaboration and exchanges, and to give participants an opportunity to explore Israel’s history, politics, culture and economy. Foo is the first Stetson University faculty member to receive this fellowship.
“This fellowship is an invaluable and exciting opportunity for me to learn about Israel,” said Foo. “I look forward to learning how an entrepreneurial and innovative business spirit can be born out of a necessity to grow and survive, as it did in Israel.”
Neal Mero
“This recognition of Dr. Botero and Dr. Foo highlights the quality of faculty who serve in the Stetson School of Business Administration,” said Neal P. Mero, Ph.D., dean and professor of management. “In addition to bringing global recognition to Stetson for their work, my colleagues leverage that expertise through their service as incredible teachers and scholars delivering a world-class education to our students.”
The Faculty Fellowship Program in Israel seeks to link scholars from diverse disciplines with their Israeli counterparts at major institutions for the purpose of initiating exchanges and collaborations. Past faculty fellows at Stetson are Professors Jennifer Foo (Winter 2019) and Ronette Lategan-Potgieter (Winter 2020).
Full-time university and college faculty members are invited to participate in a 12-day, all-expenses-paid academic trip to Israel. The program covers the cost of flight to Israel from New York City, as well as all in-country room and board expenses. If selected for this competitive academic fellowship, WORLD: Rinker Center for International Learning will cover the cost of roundtrip airfare between Orlando and New York.
The Office of the Provost and Academic Affairs is pleased to congratulate our Stetson teacher-scholar faculty on the submission of proposals for innovative scholarship, research and creative inquiry. The following Summer Grants Program projects were recommended by the Professional Development Committee to the Provost for their outstanding potential and dedication to Stetson’s mission of teaching, research, and artistic development:
Tony Abbott, Creating a Web Map of William Bartran’s Travels in Florida
Robert Askew, Validation and Replication for Textual Scholarship: Cluster Analyses of Variation in Extant Copies of the Elizabethan Sonnet Sequence Astrophil and Stella
Nicole Banton, Why We Choose; Strong support from chair
Teresa Carmody, Body, Archive, Essay;
Su Young Choi, Should I Post as an Activist or an Influencer?
Rachel Core, Respiratory Disease and Social Change in China
Sarah Cramer, Cultivating experiental learning and food democracy in carceral spaces
Joel Davis, Validation and Replication for Textual Scholarship: Cluster Analyses of Variation in Extant Copies of the Elizabethan Sonnet Sequence Astrophil and Stella
Kristine Dye, Elucidating the mechanisms of cellular transformation and tumorigenesis by MCPyV ST necessary for the development of Merkel cell carcinoma
Mayhill Fowler, Comrade Actress: Soviet Ukrainian Women on the Stage and Behind the Scenes
Tandy Grubbs, Modified-Lorenz computational simulations to assess the severity of atmospheric climate fluctuations within a warming planet
Sean Kennard, Video Recording of Beethoven’s ‘Pathetique’ Sonata and Chopin’s ‘Heroic’ Polonaise
Eric Kurlander, A Global History of the Nazi “Jewish Question”: Three Territorial “Solutions” and the Role of Great Britain
Alexander Martin, Toward a New Approach to Text-Music Relationships in Song
Michael McFarland, Discourse Strategies in Sudden Change Rhetoric: Argument and Invention in Evangelical Preaching
Kushbu Mishra, Investor Sophistication and Retirement Planning
Luca Molnar, The Tragedy of Men
Hunter Murphy, Analyzing the Correlation between Pedagogy and Outreach in the Academic Library
Erin Nickell, More Than Just a Name: The Impact of a Star-Quality Rating System for Audit Partners on Investor Decision Making
Elizabeth Plantan, State-Society Relations under Authoritarianism
Yohan Ripert, Sustainable Independence: Rewriting African Freedom with Eloquence and Diplomacy, 1956-1977
Joshua Rust, Enactivist Social Ontology
Amy Smith, Mapping Children’s Conceptions of Duration as an Attribute of their Lived Experiences: A Comparative Case Study
Congratulations to the recipients of the 2022-2023 Sabbatical Awards:
Benjamin Tanner, Associate Professor and Chair of Environmental Science and Studies, “Is Water Lettuce a Native Aquatic Plant in Florida?”
Christopher de Bodisco, Assistant Professor of Economics, “Expert Judgement, Meta Analysis and the Development of Conservation Planning Priorities”
Dengke Chen, Assistant Professor of Digital Arts, “Digital Preservation of the Endangered Tujia Cultural Heritage”
Hala ElAarag, Professor of Computer Science, “Using Extended Knowledge Graph for Detection of Non-Conventional Information Pollution.”
Hari Pulapaka, Associate Professor of Mathematics, “Graph Theoretic Properties of the Flavor Network.”
Holley Lynch, Assistant Professor of Physics, “Edge Effects on Tissue Spreading in Amphibians”
Jason Evans, Associate Professor of Environmental Science and Studies, “Operationalizing Resilience Metrics for Climate Adaptation and Ecosystem Restoration in the Southeast Atlantic Coastal Region.”
Kathy Jo Piechura-Couture, Professor of Education, Nina B. Hollis Institute of Educational Reform, “L.I.F.E (Learning Incredible Skills for Everyday Curriculum”
Mary Ellen Oslick, Associate Professor of Education, “Enhancing the Science of Reading with Dyslexia Training”
Michael Eskenazi, Professor of Psychology, “The Creation of An Open-Source Eye-Tracking Corpus with Reading Skills Measures”
Randall Croom, Professor of Management, “The Interesection of Organizational Behavior”
Ranjini Thaver, Professor of Economics, “The Relationship Between Economic Growth and Financial Depth in India, Brazil, and South Africa Alliance.”
Robert Sitler, “Professor of World Languages and Cultures, Director of Latin American and Latino Studies Program. “
Ron Hall, Professor of Philosophy, “Language and Love”
Steven Smallpage, Assistant Professor of Political Science, “Excavating the Concept of Political Romanticism”
Susan Peppers-Bates, Associate Professor of Philosophy, “Christianity, Hermeneutical Injustice, and Epistemic Vice”
Tim Peter, Professor of Music, “Singing in South Africa: Opportunities for Field Studies, Musical, Educational, and Cultural Immersion”
William Andrews, Associate Professor of Management, “Transforming the Political Economy: Prioritizing Change in Developing Economies”
Congratulations to the recipient of the 2019-2020 Sabbatical Awards:
Mayhill Fowler,Associate Professor; Director of SPREES, Stetson’s Program in Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies: Theater on the Frontlines of Socialism: The Military-Entertainment Complex in Ukraine, 1940s-2000s
Mary Pollock, Professor of English: Theater on the Frontlines of Socialism: The Military-Entertainment Complex in Ukraine, 1940s-2000s
Christopher Bell, Associate Professor of Religious Studies: Dorje Shugden and the Yellow Book
Judith Burnett, Associate Professor of Counselor Education: Panua Partners in Hope: Curriculum Development and Expansion of Psychosocial Programs in Naivaisha, Kenya
Pamela Cappas-Toro, Associate Professor of World Languages and Cultures: Co-Teaching Spanish with Incarcerated Instructors in a Men’s Maximum Security Prison: Using Communicative and Critical Pedagogy Approaches to Language Acquisition
Roslyn Crowder, Assistant Professor of Biology: Confirming Yaupon Holly Anticancer Properties
Chris Ferguson, Professor of Psychology: Cross-National Predictors of Violent Crime
Jennifer Foo, Professor of Finance, School of Business: Scholarly Research and Fulbright Teaching (Poland)
Krista Franco, Associate Professor of Theatre Arts: Endstation Theatre Company: An Oral History Project
Ten years ago, we introduced an annual recognition for outstanding faculty advisors – the Faculty Advisor of the Year Award. In addition to teaching students to navigate their academic success, faculty advisors play a critical role in helping students explore, develop and achieve their academic and career goals. Students were invited to show their appreciation for their advising experience by nominating faculty advisors for the Faculty Advisor of the Year Award. This year we received a record number of nominations indicating how heavily students have leaned on their advisors.
The 2021-2022 recipient has been nominated numerous times over the years including multiple nominations this year. The nominators have shared that this faculty advisor is very patient, attentive, kind, and knowledgeable. This person also shows their advisees that they care about their personal and professional growth. One nominator shared that “it’s been a privilege working closely with my advisor throughout the last year and she never fails to impress me with her dedication and genuine care about her students. She had pushed me to pursue my interests and regularly checks in on me and my progress. I am grateful to have her!” Another student stated that, “there were several times that I felt overwhelmed and wanted to quit, but she talked through the challenges I was having and helped me to unpack solutions. She treated me with respect and dignity and helped me to see that she genuinely cares about me as a person..” These students’ statements are a testimony to the powerful relationships being developed in the faculty advising process at Stetson, as well as this particular advisor’s commitment to supporting students.
In recognition of her exemplary leadership and service to students and the university, I would like to recognize Dr. Jelena Petrovic as Advisor of the Year.
Jelena Petrovic
Associate Professor of Communication and Media Studies
Dr. Petrovic is one of the co-founders of Community Education Project, a higher education in prison program in Tomoka Correctional Institution, in Central Florida.
The grant, Seeding Justice: Collaborative Learning Landscapes in Carceral Spaces, was made possible by the foundation’s The Future of Higher Learning in Prison initiative. CEP is the first recipient at Stetson to receive a grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
In 2015, a Journal of Critical Scholarship on Higher Education and Student Affairs research article titled “Higher Education in an Era of Mass Incarceration: Possibility Under Constraint” by Erin L. Castro, PhD, et al, showed that among the more than 2.2 million individuals behind bars in the United States, only 6% have access to formal postsecondary educational opportunities.
Since its inception in 2015, CEP has been committed to offering high-quality liberal-arts education to incarcerated students, and for the past three years has been teaching incarcerated students credit-bearing courses and providing them with additional learning, research and teaching opportunities.
Pamela Cappas-Toro, PhD
“The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation grant will benefit incarcerated students by providing them with an opportunity to be more fully engaged in food studies, learn about planting and harvesting produce in an outdoor classroom,” said Pamela Cappas-Toro, PhD, who is one of CEP’s co-directors and associate professor of world languages and cultures at Stetson.
Besides Cappas-Toro, CEP is led by co-directors Andy Eisen, PhD, visiting assistant professor of history; Melinda Hall, PhD, associate professor of philosophy; and Jelena Petrovic, PhD, associate professor of communication and media studies.
The grant will allow CEP to offer five new courses, including two food studies classes on sustainable food production that explore race, class and gender in the food system, two humanities courses that are aimed toward food studies, and a special topics class on race, food and nation in the Americas.
The grant also will provide CEP with an opportunity to create the garden, an outdoor classroom, and employ a garden manager and postdoctoral fellow in the humanities.
Both positions will have an integral part in the outdoor classroom component, which will include collaboration with CEP faculty and students and a community garden learning landscape with heirloom or historically significant crops such as Seminole pumpkins, Everglades tomatoes, sweet potatoes, cowpeas, Alabama red okra, African runner peanut and Florida broadleaf mustard greens.
Sarah Cramer, PhD
“A food studies education is wonderful because it allows the Community Education Project students at the Tomoka Correctional Institution to develop the skills and access the resources to analyze and critique something as fundamental in our lives as food,” explained Sarah Cramer, PhD, visiting assistant professor in sustainable food systems at Stetson, who is teaching two of the grant-funded food studies courses.
The grant monies also will be used for a second edition of CEP’s literary journal More Than Our Blues, which is edited by Denise Yezbick, PhD, who taught two courses at TCI before CEP’s program became accredited, and data analysis and assessment conducted by Steven Smallpage, PhD, assistant professor of political science at Stetson.
Steven Smallpage, PhD
“My job is running the data analysis and assessment to translate all of the excellent, hard work that the Community Education Project’s faculty, staff and students have contributed to the program into a language that helps everyone better visualize its return on investment,” said Smallpage. “By doing that, we will understand which interventions and initiatives work and which ones need to be tweaked along with the process for making those adjustments.”
CEP will be collecting a steady stream of student survey responses and reports from its faculty and staff on activities, perceptions and overall satisfaction. CEP students also will be continuously updated on the program’s progress.
