Faculty share research in creative ways

The halls were alive with the sound of music and many more scholarly topics during the 25th annual Faculty Research Conference on Thursday.

In all, about 20 faculty and staff members presented current ongoing research for their colleagues and students. Dr. Josh Bowman and Dr. Lucia Palmer were the symposium coordinators this year.

Through performance and discussion, Dr. Carol Dusdieker presented on “The Belle Beckons! Emily Dickinson A Life in Song.” And when we say performance, we really mean it. Carol could be heard throughout Adams Hall singing some of her presentation.

And Stephen Svoboda shared the very personal journey he’s gone down in writing his autobiography. He talked about the differences in writing for the stage vs. the page. “I hope today you’ll inspire me to keep going,” he said to an audience of primarily students. During the Q&A, one student remarked that he sees Stephen every day and learned so much more about him after the presentation. In the end, he was encouraged to keep writing!

In his presentation, “The Emotional Underpinnings of War: An Evolutionary Analysis of Anger and Hatred,” Dr. Aaron Sell shared his research about two types of animal aggression and how it helps understand anger and hatred and their relationship to human warfare.

Also presenting this year were:

• Dr. Heleana Theixos with junior philosophy major Em Swain – “Empathy Engaged Pedagogy in the Ethics Classroom"
• Dr. Laura Johnson – “The Heidelberg Tributary Loading Program: Perspectives from between the Land and Lake”
• Dr. Stacey Pistorova & Dr. Lindsey Haubert – “They Can’t Teach What They Haven’t Experienced: Empowering Elementary Teachers for Pedagogical Shifts and Conceptual Change through STEAM-Driven Professional Development”
• Dr. DoHee Kim-Appel – “The Leader as a Transcendent “Global Citizen”
• Dr. Salil Khetani – “Crowd Control! The Need to Pay Attention to Crowd Size and Crowd Participation for Sourcing New Product Innovation Ideas from the Crowd”
• Faculty Learning Community – Report from the Faculty Learning Community on “Gateway Courses”
• Dr. Marc J. O’Reilly – “Donald Trump’s ‘America First’ Foreign Policy’”
• Paul Stark – “Spirituality, Religious Life, and Religious Literacy in Higher Education”
• Dr. Amy Berger – “In Search of the Ultimate Grading Hack: Reframing Student Goals”
• Dr. Justin Pruneski – “Using a Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Approach to Test the Effectiveness of New Curricular Materials”