Scholarly Reassignment Awards
Scholarly reassignment allows full-time faculty members relief from normal duties to pursue significant projects designed to promote their professional development and increase their scholarly contribution to the University.
Learn more about Scholarly Reassignments
- Fall 2024 Scholarly Reassignments
- Spring 2024 Scholarly Reassignments
- Fall 2023 Scholarly Reassignments
- Spring 2023 Scholarly Reassignments
- Fall 2022 Scholarly Reassignments
- Spring 2022 Scholarly Reassignments
Fall 2024 Reassignment Awards
13 recipients were selected from 17 eligible applicants
Yvette Arendt, Associate Professor of Visual Arts
Dr. Arendt’s research will investigate issues surrounding the parenting of a transgender child, changes in identity and the increased regulation of the transgender community in the United States. She will research concepts of gender identity, including cultural expectations and regulation, transition, fear and acceptance, and gender expression. Her practice will be expanded through acquiring new technical skills at Yestermorrow Design/Build School located in Vermont.
Jeremy Brooks, Associate Professor of Ceramics and 3D
Dr. Brooks will focus on the production of new artwork that utilizes an innovative material of his own design: elastic clay. He will develop a new series that is vastly different in form and subject matter, while aiming to explore aspects of gender and sexual identity by drawing parallels to the intrinsic materials qualities of elastic clay. The idea of “kink” will also be explored through object-based subject matter.
Andrew Busch, Professor of Sustainability
Dr. Busch will complete final components of his book: High Tech Texas: Public Institutions, Regional Economic Development, and the Myth of the Free Market. The book is a broad political-economic history of postwar Texas that emphasizes the role played by government and state institutions (especially universities) in the development of high technology. It will make three main contributions to scholarship. First, it will demonstrate the importance of government and public institutions in urban and regional economic development. Second, a comparative scalar and regional prospective will be incorporated to look at how different levels of government work together to create economic policies and programs. Lastly, the book contributes to the history of neoliberalism by emphasizing the on-the-ground practices that helped to transform economic practices in the 1970s and 1980s.
Corinne Dalelio, Professor of Communications
Dr. Dalelio will complete her book manuscript while continuing to work on her ongoing funded research projects. Her research focuses on exploring the ways in which online communication and technology can impact learning, collaboration, media, and civic discourse. Dr. Dalelio’s book aims to delineate and provide a set of principles for living a more authentic and human existence amidst confusing times and bring clarity to our understanding of the role of technology in our lives.
Carolyn Dillian, Professor of Anthropology
Dr. Dillian will author a scholarly book on the Waccamaw Indian People. Her research illuminates a complex picture of early historical contact, dispersal, and cultural resilience, within the context of competing racial, economic, and political interests between tribes, states, and the U.S. government. Her book brings to light the contentious issues facing all non-recognized Native American tribes, and their efforts to gain indigenous rights under federal law.
Menassie Ephrem, Professor of Mathematics and Statistics
Dr. Ephrem will conduct research on labeled graphs and their C* - algebras where he will compute the possible algebras for different labeled graphs. He will further study the effects of changing some aspects of the graphs and/or changing the labeling of a given graph and observe the change on the algebra. Upon completion, Dr. Ephrem plans to submit his results for publication in a peer-reviewed journal.
Joseph Fitsanakis, Professor of Intelligence
Dr. Fitsanakis will continue to work on the draft of his book entitled Cyber Threat Intelligence: Understanding the Human Intelligence Factor. The book will serve as the main conduit of deep scholarly engagement with a niche aspect of CTI, and Dr. Fitsanakis will use the textbook in his instruction at CCU.
Jeffry Halverson, Professor of Philosophy
Dr. Halverson will propose a book concept, Across the Grant Sea, to the University of South Carolina Press. The manuscript will be a vast expansion of his published article from 2016 in the Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs entitled “West African Islam in Colonial and Antebellum South Carolina.” The book, which will incorporate extensive archival research of records from South Carolina plantations, including Bonny Hall, Hobcaw Barony, Jehosse Island, Longwood, will contribute to a variety of academic disciplines and area studies.
Tiffany Hollis, Associate Professor of Education Studies
Dr. Hollis will conduct research exploring how the creation of counter spaces for Black women pre-service teachers at a predominantly white institutions support their development as educators and serves as a buffer to gendered and racialized interactions. Dr. Hollis’s research will also provide qualitative data that can support the creation of teacher preparation curriculum, policies and practices. Her research will result in the dissemination of data in an article, book proposal, and at conferences and a model which will serve as a “blue-print” for other EPPS.
Bong Jeong, Professor of Management
Dr. Jeong will pursue multiple research projects: (1) fear appeal in anti-piracy communication, (2) voting behavior, (3) the effect of informational, normative, deterrence communication on intellectual property rights compliance, and (4) bankruptcy prediction of financially distressed firms and a reexamination of IT investment announcements on the market value of hospitality firms. Dr. Jeong will also submit a grant proposal for the Student-Faculty Fellows Program (SFF) at ASIANetwork. The SFF program supports faculty-led student summer projects in Asia emphasizing fiver core ideas under the broader theme of engaging Asia.
Fang-Ju Lin, Professor of Biology
Dr. Lin will continue her research on the function of Lactate Dehydrogenase (LDH) in Atopic Dermatitis (AD) pathogenesis, along with additional research on other candidate genes from the same screening. During her sabbatical, she will submit manuscripts and write grant proposals to in support of her research.
Joseph Oestreich, Associate Dean and Professor of English
Dr. Oestreich will complete the first draft and revisions of The Transplants, a novel that will constitute his fifth book-length work of creative writing since 2008. The Transplants is a about a Cincinnati photographer named Tim Whitney.
Hongxia Wang, Professor of Finance
Dr. Wang will continue to work on eight separate empirical studies using real company data in preparation for publication in high quality journals. She will also expand her research on corporate governance and finance in the banking industry. Lastly, she will review various Harvard case studies on corporate finance and banking for incorporation in her classes in order to enhance her teaching effectiveness.
Spring 2024 Reassignment Awards
12 recipients were selected from 15 eligible applicants
Thomas Castillo, Associate Professor of History
(leave start deferred to Fall 2024) Dr. Castillo will continue writing his book exploring how employers and workers struggled over the nature of work and the meaning of happiness in capitalist America. It will evaluate this history through a close analysis of the contested meaning of the term “right to work” from the 19th century through the mid-twentieth century.
Suheir Daoud, Professor of Politics
Dr. Daoud will research and write two articles. The first will explore the impact of the lack of a written constitution in Israel on the democratic nature of the state and examine its effect on the relationship between the state and its Palestinian citizens. The second article examines Islamism in Israel, the challenges and contradictions required for survival, and the joining of the Islamic Movement as part of the far-right Zionist coalition.
Christopher Ferrero, Associate Professor of Intelligence and Security Studies
Dr. Ferrero will conduct research exploring Orthodox Christian ethics regarding nuclear weapons. He will investigate Orthodox Christian attitudes toward nuclear deterrence, as well as Russian Orthodox views toward the use of nuclear weapons in defense of Russian civilization.
Erin Hackett, Professor of Marine Science
Dr. Hackett will conduct research on the marine atmospheric boundary layer and its impact on electromagnetic wave propagation. She is developing remote sensing techniques to determine atmospheric conditions in the boundary layer by directly retrieving temperature and humidity vertical profiles over ocean surfaces based on radar measurements.
Till Hanebuth, Professor of Marine Science
Dr. Hanebuth will pursue diverse activities during his scholarly reassignment, including a 6-week research cruise in the Bay of Bengal, two weeks of sampling and geochemical/geophysical core analysis at MARUM/University of Bremen, Germany, and five months as a visiting scientist at the Hanse Wissenschaftskolleg in northern Germany. During this time, he will deepen his research along multiple thematic lines, including quantifying the impact of human land use and river management practices on offshore sediment budgets; and 2) investigating the impact of storm surges and river flooding on the mobilization and concentration dynamics of sediment and anthropogenic contamination.
William Hills, Professor of Psychology
Dr. Hills has received a Fulbright Scholar Teaching Award and will travel to Egypt in Spring 2024 to provide gerontology education and participate in planning for service delivery to older adults. With a relatively small percentage of older adults in its population, Egypt is in a somewhat unique position and has a significant window of opportunity to develop and prepare the next generation of gerontology specialists.
Yun Sil Jeon, Associate Professor of Languages
Dr. Jeon will further develop her ongoing collaborative research in Computational Linguistics and the teaching of Spanish as a Second Language (with Dr. Alejandro Muñoz Garcés, Dr. William Jones from the Department of Computer Science, and Dr. Lindsey Bell from the Department of Mathematics and Statistics). Her goal is to advance the teaching of Spanish as a second language through technological advances based on the frequency of grammar structures found in native speaker utterances.
Anna Oldfield, Associate Professor of English
Dr. Oldfield’s research will investigate the archives of Azerbaijani academic Amina Eldarova, while mentoring women students and scholars. Eldarova was Azerbaijan’s first ethnomusicologist and spent her career from the 1940s to the 1980s researching the ashiq genre, a rare living bardic tradition still practiced in the Caucasus. The archive has not yet been cataloged, and Dr. Oldfield’s ultimate goal is to complete a scholarly monograph on Eldarova’s life and work.
Shari Orisich, Associate Professor of History
Dr. Orisich will explore the theme of race, gender, and national identity in Latin America and the Caribbean by analyzing evidence from two different imperial encounters between Cuba and the United States, The Spanish-American War and the Cuban Revolution. She will conduct interviews and investigate historical sites and museums in Cuba and will conduct archival research in special collections at the University of Miami, with the anticipated result of two scholarly articles and contributions toward a book manuscript.
Cara Lynn Scheuer, Associate Professor of Management
Dr. Scheuer will pursue multiple research areas, including: (1) laying the groundwork for a multi-year project developing and testing an evidence-based leadership intervention for Canadian Soccer to develop coaches’ own mental health literacy, their performance, their leadership behavior toward followers, and their followers’ mental health outcomes, (2) completing multiple papers from a previously awarded Diversity Specific Transformational Leadership Grant, and (3) completing and submitting additional scholarly articles from various projects.
Benjamin Sota, Associate Professor of Theatre
In support of his contribution to a book documenting contemporary physical theatre practices. Dr. Sota will conduct pedagogical interviews with instructors from two seminal physical theatre institutions, the London International Mime Festival and L'École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq in Paris. While there, he has been invited to lead masterclasses and present his new performance, "Moving Mosaics," at various locations in the United Kingdom and France.
Philip Whalen, Associate Professor of History
Dr. Whalen will complete final components of his textbook, Modern France: A Documentary History. The text is a 220,000-word, English language resource for students studying modern French history, literature, and culture from the 1760s to the present.
Fall 2023 Reassignment Awards
12 recipients were selected from 16 applicants
Charles Albergotti, Professor of English
Dr. Albergotti will compose and revise poems for a fourth full-length collection of poetry. This planned publication will join his previous works, The Boatloads, Millennial Teeth, and Candy.
Melissa Clark, Professor of Marketing
Dr. Clark will conduct research and prepare publications/presentations on multiple sustainability issues, including sustainable textiles grown and produced in South Carolina. environmental sustainability in sports; and consumers’ perceptions of green energy.
Derek Crane, Associate Professor of Biology
Dr. Crane will be coordinating a large research project with collaborators from the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources and the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, funded by the US Fish and Wildlife Service. The project will investigate the spatial ecology of the Sandhills Chub, a fish species of special concern that is endemic to the Carolinas. Dr. Crane will oversee all field components and reporting for the project, as well as coordinating outreach and project team meetings and supervising two CCU graduate student theses.
Roi Gurka, Professor of Physics and Engineering Sciences
Dr. Gurka will conduct experiments, prepare a grant proposal and finalize a manuscript, all in relation to his ongoing research on the aerodynamics and aeroacoustics of flying owls. This is part of a collaborative project between investigators from different universities and disciplines spanning biology, psychology and engineering. (Dr. Gurka’s leave has been moved to spring 2024 to accommodate scheduling issues)
Kimberly Hale, Associate Professor of Politics
Dr. Hale will conduct research on Sarah and Angelina Grimke, two of the most important and least studied voices in the American abolitionist movement. She will examine the moral and political arguments posited in their speeches, writings, and correspondences, in order to better understand their arguments against slavery and inequality/women’s rights in the mid-nineteenth century.
Brandon Palmer, Professor of History
Dr. Palmer will research and critically evaluate primary sources in order to complete his peer-reviewed monograph on the security alliance between the United States and the Republic of Korea (South Korea) from 1961 to 2003. The project will examine the evolution of the military relationship as South Korea transitioned from the authoritarian regimes of Pak Chung-hee (1961-1979), Chun Doo-hwan (1980-1988), and Roh Tae-woo (1988-1993) to the democratically elected presidencies of Kim Young Sam (1993-1998) and Dae-jung (1998-2003).
Yoav Wachsman, Professor of Economics
Dr. Wachsman will conduct research to examine university students’ knowledge and perceptions of sustainability, including the influence of prior academic performance and gender, and the impact of specific instructional modules on sustainable behavior patterns and depth of understanding.
Leslie Wallace, Associate Professor of Visual Arts
Dr. Wallace plans to complete a draft of a monograph on Chinese falconry-related visual and material culture, and secure a book contract for its publication. Covering materials from the Eastern Han (25-220 CE) to the early Qing dynasty (1644-1911), the book will examine how falconry-related visual and material culture developed in tandem with the practice of presenting raptors as tribute and their use in imperial synchronized hunts. Designated as an Intangible Cultural Heritage by UNESCO, falconry has a rich history complementing its current roles in nature conservation, cultural heritage, and social engagement.
Lisa Winters, Associate Professor of Sociology
Dr. Winters will complete two manuscripts for peer-reviewed sociology journals related to her interest in using sociological fiction as means to create more engaging and accessible scholarship. She also plans to organize a grant-funded, state-wide creative sociology writing competition.
Min Ye, Professor of Politics
Dr. Ye will conduct a systematic analysis of the structure of states’ decisions regarding their contributions to UN peacekeeping operations, ultimately leading to a multilevel model integrating both the supply and demand side of personnel contributions to these operations. He will conduct in-depth case studies on a small group of key troop providers, with each case leading to a potential conference presentation, journal article, or book chapter. The ultimate objective of this project is a book on UN PKO contributions in the post-cold war era.
Note: Two of the faculty members awarded scholarly reassignment for Fall 2023 were unable to accept their awards which were pending acceptance as a Fulbright Scholar.
Spring 2023 Reassignment Awards
9 recipients were selected from 11 applicants
Drew Budner, Associate Professor of Chemistry
Dr. Budner will be researching the flavor profile and chemical composition of two fermented beverages with increasing consumer demand: gluten-free beer and kombucha. Specific projects include the chemical investigation of specific aroma compounds from various products and production processes and the impact of ionic water chemistry on fermentation.
Jessica Doll, Associate Professor of Management & Decision Sciences
Dr. Doll will conduct data collection, data analysis, and writing and preparation of several manuscripts for publication in academic journals on the effect of varying paternal leave benefits on employee well-being. This will provide additional insight into how gender may affect the ratings of both leaders and employees, thus aiding practitioners and addressing targeted calls for more research on this topic.
F. Eliza Glaze, Professor of History
Professor Glaze will examine the creation and first appearance of a canon of texts known as the Articella, or the Little Art of Medicine. The Articella provided the core curriculum in medicine at Europe’s first medical schools, based largely upon eleventh-century translations into Latin of the recovered writings by Hippocrates and Gale, and of their major interpreters in Byzantine and Islamic realms. This study will help place these early texts within their larger cultural context, providing essential readings for those interested in the transmissions of ideas and the classical past’s enduring legacy.
Vladislav Gulis, Assistant Professor of Biology
Professor Gulis will finalize data analyses and write and submit papers based on his National Science Foundation-funded research on headwater streams and the responses of aquatic microorganisms and ecosystem functioning to predicted temperature increases. This study will use data to parameterize microbial compartments in plant litter decomposition and stream carbon budget models.
Elizabeth Howie, Professor of Visual Arts
Professor Howie will expand her research of late nineteenth and early twentieth-century photographic representation of royal Samoan women into a book proposal. She will analyze the photographs as complex representations and help shed light on the important histories and identities of Samoan women.
Jamie McCauley, Associate Professor of Sociology
Dr. McCauley will examine the community response to flooding in Bucksport, a low-income community in Horry County by analyzing the experiences of flood victims and the impact of the Bucksport Community Partnership. This will help contribute to the broader sociological discourse on disaster vulnerability, recovery, and environmental justice.
Zhixiong Shen, Associate Professor of Marine Science
Professor Shen will collect preliminary data in China to develop a novel method to investigate the hydrology of the middle Yangtze River while integrating different types of geological paeloflood (pre-historical flood event) records. This data will support comprehensive research to build a high-resolution and well-dated long-term paeloflood record in the river.
Jesse Willis, Associate Professor of Music
Dr. Willis will travel to Trinidad and Tobago to perform and conduct research on the development of the steel pan or “steel drum” art form. He has been invited to perform in the 2023 Trinidad National Steel Band Panorama Competition and will spend several weeks during the months of January and February practicing and rehearsing for the competition while researching the rhythms and performance techniques of the “engine room” in Trinidad Panorama music.
Fall 2022 Scholarly Reassignments
11 recipients were selected from 23 applications
Richard Aidoo, Professor of Politics
Dr. Aidoo will work on two main research projects. The first project will be a peer-reviewed journal article entitled “Politics of Corporate Social Responsibility in Ghana's Oil Industry: The West, China, and the Rest." The article aims to explore the distinct approaches that external economic actors are using to engage diverse African economics. The second project is a work of public scholarship that will culminate in a major public exhibition titled, Picturing Progress in an African Oil City- Sekondi-Takoradi in Ghana.
Elizabeth Baltes, Associate Professor of Visual Arts
Dr. Baltes will be working on a book project entitled Portrait Statues in Hellenistic Greece: Spatial Practices and Identity Politics. This book aims to understand how patrons use monument bases, inscriptions, statues, and locations to construct identity within the diverse social topography of Hellenistic Greece.
Adam Chamberlain, Professor of Politics
Dr. Chamberlain will study how voluntary associations and minor political parties in the United States are related to one another. He will focus on how debates over topics are political or not and the type of organizations that need to achieve reform. He aims to create a systemic approach to the interest of the group-party nexus in the United States.
Timothy Fischer, Associate Professor of Music
Dr. Fischer will co-author the second edition of Refining Sound: A Practical Guide to Synthesis and Synthesizers alongside Dr. Brian Shepard. The update of this book will address new trends in music technology as well as incorporate revisions based on peer, instructor, and reader feedback. They also will upgrade the systems to further encourage course adoption in the educational field of music technology.
Bomi Kang, Professor of Hospitality and Tourism
Dr. Kang will be completing four manuscript submissions and two data analyses that will include topics such as (1) in-stadium advertising, (2)travel involvement and destination selected during the COVID-19 pandemic, and (3) digital pirates and understanding of anti-piracy educational campaigns.
Sofia Karatza, Associate Professor of Communication
Dr. Karatza will complete the production of her ethnographic film Refugee Child, Grown. This film's purpose is to re-humanize the generations of Cypriot refugees and to remind post-conflict cultures that refugee children who survive grow up to be adults who deal with trauma throughout their lives. She aspires to contribute to the understanding of refugees' lives for a healthier and more inclusive society.
Jessica Liebeck, Associate Professor of English
Dr. Liebeck will draft a novel that responds to the climate crisis entitled The Openings. The book will emphasize the beauty and danger of language and call for an intimate reckoning with the words that construct it. It will also track the quieting of human voices following major extinctions, particularly of birds.
Gillian Richards-Greaves, Associate Professor of Anthropology
Dr. Richards-Greaves will teach interactive, experiential learning courses that investigate the complexities of ethnicity and race in Africa and its diasporas while spending a semester at the Nnamdi Azikiwe University in Nigeria. She plans to assist NAU with curriculum and program development and the support of using ethnographic research methods, in addition to research projects and publications.
Ina Seethaler, Associate Professor of Women’s and Gender Studies
Dr. Seethaler will be investigating memoirs written by celebrities in her book entitled From Roseanne Barr to Amy Poehler: Women Comedians, Memoirs, and Feminism. This book plans to investigate the vast feminist knowledge-making and diverse feminist topics that the memoirs display.
Clayton Whitesides, Associate Professor of Geography
Dr. Whitesides will research the musk thistle (Carduus nutans), the third most noxious, non-native weed in the United States. He will finalize data collection and compile nearly a quarter-century of spot treatment days with various herbicides to evaluate the efficacy in mountain environments.
Ryan Yoder, Professor of Psychology
Dr. Yoder will be collecting preliminary data for his research on brain development in reptiles. He will collect and analyze the anatomical data as well as train and oversee the students’ work on this project. This project will include the data collection, analysis, conference presentations, and publication of the results.
Spring 2022 Scholarly Reassignments
9 recipients selected from 14 applications
Jonathan Acuff, Associate Professor of Intelligence and Security Studies
Summary Report: Over the last two decades, I have examined a wide variety of subjects, from the relationship between changes in collective identity and state legitimacy to the genesis of terrorist strategy. My research has always been somewhat eclectic. The semester I spent on scholarly reassignment was no exception. Thanks to the generous support of the university, I completed several research projects and delved a little deeper into a new topic. Two of my projects involved collaboration with students Intelligence and Security Studies major Morgan-McKay Hoppmann and I finished the research we began in the summer of 2021. We presented this work in the form of the paper Constructivism and Improving Intelligence Analysis at the annual meeting of the International Studies Association in Nashville in March of 2022. After reviewing the literature on strategic warning in the intelligence analysis literature, we proposed importing the theory of constructivism into the analytic methods of intelligence analysis. Instead of methods that focus exclusively on material metrics such as military order of battle or economic growth, constructivism draws attention to threats and opportunities missed by conventional models, such as the role social movements and identity change play in state destabilization. We have subsequently revised the paper for submission for publication. Part of this work also resulted in a book review in the International Journal of Intelligence and Counterintelligence. My second student collaboration was rendered rather more complicated by the Ukraine War. Senior Hannah Clegg and I had originally planned on writing a paper on Russian information operations or private military contracting. However, the Russian invasion forced a pivot on our part. Instead, we researched and wrote How Does This End?: The Ukraine War and the Future of Russia, which we presented at the meeting of ISA Northeast in Baltimore in November of 2022. We also plan to submit this work for publication soon.
In addition to my ongoing student collaborations, two additional research projects occupied my time, I finished my book manuscript, Generations at War: Cohort Change and the Evolution of Military Doctrine. I argue that generational conflict shapes the construction of military doctrine, with grizzled veterans bent on fighting the last war facing off against younger officers focused on the future. I illustrate my findings with empirical case studies of interwar Germany, the U.S. Army in the two decades following the Vietnam War, and contemporary China, the latter of which was largely completed during my scholarly reassignment. Finally, I read a good deal of literature on psychology and war, military learning, and historical scholarship on the battles of Gettysburg and Kursk. This deep dive was designed to help prepare me as I work to revise a paper I presented last year, The Myth of Decisive Battle, into a book manuscript this year. Consistent with the teacher-scholar model of CCU, this deep dive has also allowed me to significantly revise one of the courses I regularly teach, INTEL 330, National Security, to better reflect the contemporary security studies literature.
Steven Bleicher, Professor of Visual Arts
Summary Report: I was awarded scholarly release for the Spring 2022 term to work on the area of contemporary color. The first and most extensive part of my work was writing a third edition of Contemporary Color, Theory and Use for a new publisher, Routledge Press. The text is the most extensive and comprehensive book on color theory focusing on digital color and its relationship to other new technologies, as well as traditional color theory. Other chapters include color psychology, perception and dimensional aspects of color including chapters on the biology of color, pigments and colorants as well as multiculturalism and global use of color. It also contains chapters on color in fine art and design. Also included in the book are the legal aspects of working with color, which developed out of my continued work as a consultant and expert witness on color and trademark and copyright infringement. The final chapter focuses on the future of color and its use. As a part of this, I designed the cover and worked closely with the graphic design team developing the style and look of the book. This new visual look and style for the book is new for Routledge Press. There is still a little more work to be done including developing the layout and proofing the gallies. The tentative publication date is January 2023. Another aspect of writing a book of this type is obtaining the image rights and permissions. The book contains more than 250 images and illustrations. I corresponded and spoke with numerous artists, designers, illustrators and scientists in obtaining materials. In addition, I developed and created the majority of the pedagogic illustrations. I want to thank the National Gallery of Art, Winsor and Newton and Adobe Inc. as well as the artists, designers and other contributors.
In addition, as part of my scholarly release, I developed a series of paintings, the Pure Color series, which examines the intricate relationship between colors as well as their meditative quality. My artworks are about experiencing color, letting it envelop the viewer. I have already had several exhibitions of this new series of paintings as well as having a number of scheduled solo and group exhibitions for the coming year. Artworks from this new ongoing series can be seen in greater detail on my website.
Paul Clark, Professor of Marketing
Summary Report: My scholarly reassignment was instrumental in allowing me to accomplish multiple goals, including:
- I prepared and submitted (with Dr. Matt Wilkinson, Sociology Professor at CCU) a presentation entitled “Understanding Identity Images to Better Target Promotional Efforts Towards Martial Arts Practitioners” to the American Society of Business and Behavioral Sciences 29th annual conference (presented in March, 2022 in Las Vegas, NV).
- I prepared and submitted a manuscript entitled “The National Hot Rod Association Hits a Coca-Cola Speed Bump” to the Journal of Case Studies. This manuscript made it through 2 rounds of blind peer reviews and was accepted for publication. It will appear in Vol. 40 (2022), Issue 3, in late 2022 or early 2023.
- I revised a manuscript (with co-authors from Indiana State University) entitled “Five Million Tires Gone: Could Five Million More Soon Follow?” that went through multiple rounds of blind peer reviews. It was accepted for publication in the Business Case Journal, with an expected publication date of late 2022 or early 2023. BCJ is the premier journal published by the Society for Case Research, and has an acceptance rate of less than 12%. This manuscript is one of only three cases accepted by BCJ in 2022.
- I revised a manuscript (with Dr. Zhili Tian, former Management Professor at CCU) entitled “Applying Diffusion Theory for Improved Patient Enrollment Prediction and Clinical Trial Management”. This manuscript will be targeted at an A or A* level journal. The manuscript looks at the impact of Covid-19 on clinical trial management and offers a model for more accurate trial participation predictions and test center management. Submission of this manuscript should occur in early 2023.
I greatly appreciate the support I was given at the department, college and university level with regards to my reassignment.
Charles Clary, Associate Professor of Visual Arts
Summary Report: My sabbatical for Spring 2022 was a resounding success. During my scholarly reassignment I created over 120 new paper sculpture works that have been shown widely. Some of the many accomplishments I achieved during scholarly reassignment include: 3rd place in the Florence Peedee Regional Art Competition, 1st place in the Peedee Regional Small Works Art Competition, installing Memento Morididdle, a large 8’ x 145’ art installation at the Jasper Community Art Center in Jasper Indiana; which also coincided with an artist talk at the opening. In February I installed another 8’ x 30’ installation titled Memento Morididdle at the William King Art Museum in Abington Virginia. I was also invited to participate in the Moleskin Foundations ongoing sketchbook project, a worldwide art endeavor to celebrate the art of the sketchbook, and was selected to be included in the exhibition Detour at One World Trade Center in New York City. This exhibition also went on to be exhibited at Harmon Projects in New York City. While in New York for the opening of Detour I was contacted by the Savannah College of Art and Design and invited to submit my dossier for their Alumni Atelier Residency Program, which I was awarded three weeks later. This international residency program lasted three months in Lacoste France where I created 60 new pieces. I was also invited to contribute a chapter titled Transforming Memento Mori: A Contemporary Lens for the Routledge Press’ Museums Heritage and Death, co edited by Dr. Katie Clary and Dr. Trish Biers. Finally, I was nominated for and selected to receive the HTC Distinguished Teacher Scholar Award, the highest award Coastal Carolina University bestows upon a faculty member. This coincided with an exhibition of my sabbatical work in the Rebecca Randall Bryan Art Gallery at CCU and an artist lecture.
This sabbatical has led to many new opportunities for my career. I have recently acquired representation at Artspace 305 in Miami Florida where I participated in their inaugural opening during Miami Art Week. I was accepted into Surreal Salon 15, a national art exhibition at Baton Rouge Gallery in Baton Rouge Louisiana juried by Marco Mazzoni. I am working with Paradigm Gallery in Philadelphia, who currently represents me, for a solo show in 2023 as well as 2 exhibitions in New York in January led by curator Ashley Ouderkirk.
Gibson Darden, Professor of Kinesiology
Summary Report: Dr. Gib Darden (pictured) and his CCU co-author, Dr. Sandra Wilson wrote a coaching education resource book titled From Practice to Competition: A Coach's Guide for Designing Training Sessions to Improve the Transfer of Learning. The book is designed to be a thought-provoking and comprehensive guide to help coaches design and conduct practice activities for increased transfer of learning to the competition. It is part of a book series sponsored by the United States Center for Coaching Excellence (https://uscoachexcellence.org/).
For most coaches, practice time is a valuable and limited resource. Addressing the question of “Will it transfer?” is arguably the most essential element in designing and conducting effective and efficient practice sessions. The book explores key practice concepts that generate increased transfer of learning, and provides guidance for increasing the transfer value of a wide variety of practice activities.
Written for those engaged in purposeful practice of sport skills, the book is a thought-provoking assessment of practice designed for transfer. The reflective reader will appreciate the underlying science woven with recommended practice conditions. Understanding “Why” transfer of learning may or may not occur helps coaches critically evaluate practice activities and conditions across a variety of sports and competitive contexts. The book encourages the reader to pause and reflect on the key concepts and methods that impact transfer. It might encourage coaches to question the role of “traditional” practice methods, adjust their favorite drills, or reinforce coaches to do more of what they already do. The book also features a variety of real-world examples, scenarios, and dilemmas, practical and usable strategies, and summarized “take-home” messages for coaches and coach developers.
The book promotes transfer of learning as a developmental process rather than using a “quick fix” approach to increase practice-to-game transfer. The authors first provide a unique analysis about the nature of learning and skill development, and the true purpose of practice. Recognizing that transfer of learning requires a solid foundation, the authors explore the science of transfer and the key theories that best explain when and why practice transfers. Coaches are also guided to address foundational elements that make practice more conducive for transfer. Since planning is essential for practice effectiveness, the book provides an analysis of design elements that better facilitate positive transfer, and guidance is offered toward the strategic manipulation of the practice environment and planned activities. The book’s final chapters navigate how coaches can better “teach for transfer.” The authors provide instructional concepts that help narrow the gap between what is taught and what is actually learned (and transferred), sharing research-supported concepts and strategies that improve the transfer value of a coach’s instructions. Finally, the authors explore the manipulation of practice repetitions, drills, and games for increased transfer, and they offer guidance for more “traditional” repetitions as well as “games-based” practice conditions that look and feel more like the real game.
Gibson Darden and Sandra Wilson (2023). From Practice to Competition: A Coach's Guide for Designing Training Sessions to Improve the Transfer of Learning. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield (April, 2023 – anticipated publication date).
Mariam Dekanozishvili, Associate Professor of Politics
Summary Report: Dr. Dekanozishvili completed a book manuscript titled: Dynamics of EU Renewable Energy Policy, and a journal article titled: The Green Deal: Implications for EU Actorness in the Eastern Partnership Countries. The manuscript aims to examine the policymaking process of the European Union's secondary legislation on renewable energy. The article's main goal is to examine the implications of the Green Deal and the EU's latest initiative aimed at making Europe the first carbon-neutral continent by 2050. The book is in the final stages of proofreading and will be released early 2023. This book will be published under the imprint Palgrave Macmillan in the prestigious book series Palgrave Studies in European Union Politics.
In a departure from its recent practice, the European Union provided €2 billion in assistance to the Ukrainian Armed Forces through European Peace Facility. The expenditure lifted the long-term taboo that the EU was not providing arms in a war. Furthermore, the EU adopted a Strategic Compass for Security and Defense promising to make the EU more resilient, effective, and stronger security actor. The EU also opened a door of membership for Ukraine and Moldova by granting them a long-aspired EU membership candidate status in June 2022 in response to Russian invasion of Ukraine. Georgia was granted a potential candidate status. Could these EU responses to the crisis in Ukraine signal a major shift in EU's role as a security actor in its Eastern neighborhood? This work examines whether the EU responses to the Russian invasion of Ukraine are closing the expectations-credibility gap in the Eastern neighborhood. Drawing on Cristopher Hill's well-known capability-expectations gap approach, the paper addresses EU's internal ability to achieve consensus, resource availability, and the Common Foreign and Security Policy Instruments at its disposal. The paper also introduces a new concept of normative and strategic credibility, which arguably are crucial elements for bridging EU's capability-expectations gap in its Eastern neighborhood. The paper argues that while EU’s normative credibility has enhanced, as evidenced by the perceptions of EU’s Eastern neighbors, the EU has not yet registered the similar success in strategic credibility among its Eastern partners.
Wanda Dooley, Professor/Director of Nursing
Summary Report: Health assessment, including the art and science of history taking and physical examination, and interpretation of the results, is not only one of the most important skills any healthcare professional can possess, it is the first phase in the dynamic nursing process. The registered nurse (RN) is at the forefront of coordinating and providing holistic care to diverse clients in many venues. As the first step in the nursing process, assessment is an integral nursing function that optimizes patient care, and, with 45 years of personal experience in the profession as both a practitioner and an educator, I believe assessment is the key component because assessment is the foundation for all other care. The first problem identified for the scholarly reassignment was there is no laboratory manual to accompany the textbook currently in use. I made several attempts to contact the publisher of the textbook currently in use, Bates’ Nursing Guide to Physical Examination and History Taking (Wolters Kluwer, 2017) to see how a laboratory manual might be received, in hopes of publishing my work. Unfortunately, I have been unable to have that conversation yet. The completed work will serve as a lab manual for NUR 305L, but I would like to continue to add to it so it can become a free-standing assessment lab manual. I developed a lab assignment or skills checklist for every body system, and that has been incorporated into the Fall 2022 NUR 305L course.
Megan McIlreavy, Associate Professor of Psychology/Associate Dean of HTC Honors College
Summary Report: For most of my time since earning tenure, I have served as an Associate Dean at University College/HTC Honors College. I have carried a significant teaching load throughout this time and have been involved in a lot of different types of university service. My time away from these university commitments was incredibly valuable in making significant progress toward advancing my scholarship. I am pleased to report that I made great strides in planting the seeds for a healthy publication year.
A significant portion of my time away involved working to advance my course prep in an innovative area of study related to my specific discipline of Developmental Psychology. I wanted to learn more about how the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) could enhance my PSYC 302 course offering. As an administrator working in the area of sustainability for the past few years, I could find connections to these disparate areas of study. Importantly, I have always wanted to bring more cross-cultural research into this course as human development should not be exclusively viewed through a westernized lens. This global perspective, particularly within six of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, is directly relevant to my course content. This past spring, I educated myself more in this area and had a poster presentation accepted at the Association for Interdisciplinary Studies conference (Sonoma State University; November 2022). The theme of this conference was Wicked Problems in Interdisciplinarity: Sustainability, Resilience, and Designing the Future. Since presenting, I received great support and encouragement at this conference to continue developing this type of interdisciplinary work.
I had an additional poster accepted for presentation at this conference that outlined the administrative work that took place within our college for building the Sustainability and Coastal Resilience major. I included my colleagues in this poster presentation, as this building of the new major was certainly not done on my own. I look forward to further conversations with our team regarding publishing this work.
Kerry Schwanz, Professor of Psychology
Summary Report: My scholarly interests focus on the important and timely areas of compassion fatigue (CF) and self-care. Compassion fatigue involves experiencing stress from helping/caring for others who are under stress or who have experienced some sort of trauma. It occurs when a helper repeatedly engages empathetically with others and “takes on” some of their suffering. Compassion fatigue has predominantly been studied in professionals such as nurses, doctors, mental health counselors, veterinarians, emergency responders and others who work with clients who are in distress. The recent global pandemic has heightened the risk for compassion fatigue among many, and perhaps not just professionals in the helping fields.
Self-care is one of the most significant preventative measures for CF. However, through my research on compassion fatigue, I discovered that an assessment instrument does not exist to measure self-care beliefs. Beliefs about self-care have rarely been addressed in the literature but they significantly relate to CF and can promote or hinder self-care practices. Additionally, the existing self-care behavior instruments do not have psychometric evidence for using them for CF prevention and intervention. Therefore, my primary objective for my time on scholarly reassignment was to develop a self-care instrument. I developed and field tested the Self-Care Behaviors and Beliefs Scale (SCBBS) to fill an important gap for researchers and practitioners in psychology and related fields. We are currently in the final stage of instrument development and hope to have the completed version of the SCBBS ready for dissemination in fall of 2023. Assessment is a vital tool for developing prevention and intervention initiatives. It also provides data driven evidence for tracking success of interventions and/or modifying them. The SCBBS will be useful for assessing self-care needs and for planning treatment and interventions for clients with compassion fatigue.
My second objective was to use the uninterrupted time to write and submit at least one manuscript from previous data collected for a study of CF in pre-professionals. My colleague Melissa Paiva-Salisbury and I met regularly, analyzed data and collaborated to write one manuscript and revise and resubmit another; both of which were published. For my final objective, I established relationships with individuals in helping professions/roles who are often at risk for developing compassion fatigue including first responders, healthcare workers, animal rescue staff, and mental health professionals through in-person and virtual meetings and focus groups. As a result, I conducted trainings with approximately 800 Horry County Fire and Rescue personnel to increase awareness about CF. Additionally, my colleague Dr. Paiva-Salisbury and I collaborated with HCFR and submitted a NIH grant to seek funding to develop our online intervention for compassion fatigue resilience called “ME FIRST”. We are currently developing the modules for the intervention with plans to pilot them with first responders next year. These professional connections that the time on scholarly assignment allowed me to establish will lead to many future collaborations on research, trainings, and other projects to spread awareness about CF and create access to prevention and resilience building tools for many individuals who are at-risk.
Pavia-Salisbury, M.L., Schwanz, K.A. (2022). Building Compassion Fatigue Resilience: Awareness, Prevention, and Intervention for Pre-Professionals and Current Practitioners. Journal of Health Service Psychologists. 48, 39–46 https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s42843-022-00054-9.pdf
Schwanz, K. A. & Paiva-Salisbury, M. L. (2022). Before they crash and burn (out): A compassion fatigue resilience model in pre-professionals. Journal of Wellness. https://ir.library.louisville.edu/jwellness/vol3/iss3/7/