FACULTY AND STAFF ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND BEST PRACTICES // March 2025

A chapter by Terry Lindvall and Batten Honors Student Christian Palmisano, "The Wheel of Gelastic Fortune: The Turnings of Monastic Mirth," was published in "Sacred Laughter: An Exploration of Humor and Laughter in Religious, Mythic, and Cultural Traditions," edited by Michael Cundall (Lexington Press, 2025).

Taryn Myers, along with Shantanu Tilak and Mindy Gumpert, published "Effects of technology-mediated professional development on special education teacher collective efficacy" in Education and Information Technologies. The article was the result of work at the Center for Educational Research and Technological Innovation at Chesapeake Bay Academy.

President Scott D. Miller serves as executive editor for the President to President thought leadership series. The eighth chapter of the 2024–2025 series is now available online. In “Athletics as a Strategic Investment: Playing for the Public Good,” University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire Chancellor James Schmidt makes a strong case for viewing athletic programs not as a budget line item, but as a critical campus connection point that provides opportunities for support, belonging, and engagement for all students. Schmidt also emphasizes the need to build robust, student-centered athletic programs so that universities can continue developing the critical thinkers in demand by employers. His daily blog, Dialogue, can be found at prezscottmiller.blogspot.com.

Proposals from six members of the faculty were accepted for the Conference on Higher Education Pedagogy at Virginia Tech. Due to a severe winter storm which hindered travel, posters by Denise Wilkinson, Phil Guilfoyle, and Kathy Stolley, “Making Connections: Organically-driven Approaches to Celebrating Faculty Success,” and Derek Eley, “Avoiding the Technological Chasm in Academia,“ were submitted electronically for participant viewing. Terry Lindvall presented his session “Enjoying the Future of Learning: The Practice of Pedagogy and Laughter” virtually to a crowded room of participants at the conference. Drian Glyde presented “Co-Creation in Education: Enhancing Learning and Engagement through Collaborative Strategies” at the conference.

Tyler A. Lehrer presented a paper, "Moving Monks: Buddhist Maritime Diplomacy in 18th Century Sri Lanka and the Indian Ocean," at Movement Rhizome: Quillian International Symposium on Sri Lanka held at Randolph College in Lynchburg, VA.

Leslie Caughell and Kellie Holzer presented their paper, "Debate as a Tool for Enhancing Critical Thinking and Civic Skills," at the annual American Political Science Association's Teaching and Learning Conference in Alexandria, VA.

Ben Haller presented a paper titled "Then came the Amazon, the Daughter of Great-Souled Ares, the Slayer of Men: Patty Jenkins, Wonder Woman and the Classical Greek Amazon" at the 46th annual meeting of SWPACA in Albuquerque, NM, where he chairs the Classical Representations in Popular Culture Area. Haller was also chair of the panel.

Doug Kennedy was part of a panel addressing plaintiff treatment at the annual conference in New Orleans of the Trial Lawyers of Mass Torts organization. He also addressed a bankruptcy class of the University of Georgia School of Law.

Michelle Albert Vachris recently visited the College of Charleston in her capacity as a

Research Fellow at their Center for Public Choice and Market Process. During her visit she gave a research seminar for student Market Process Scholars, participated in a class session for Comparative Economic Systems, and met with School of Business student ambassadors and faculty.

Jennifer Slivka presented her research in a roundtable titled, "Teaching and Reading Sally Rooney," at the national meeting of the American Conference for Irish Studies in Savannah, GA, hosted by Georgia Southern University.

OTHER

Benjamin Dobrin was once again in charge of all in-water safety assets for the Special Olympics Polar Plunge. He oversaw 120 people from 15 local, state and federal agencies who kept thousands of Polar Plungers safe.

April Christman completed James Madison University's professional program, "ECHO for Campus Suicide Prevention of Virginia."

GRANT

Tyler A. Lehrer was awarded a 2025 fellowship from the American Institute for Sri Lankan

Studies to support two months of archival and site-based research this summer in Colombo and Kandy, Sri Lanka, as he redevelops and expands his dissertation into a book manuscript.

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

Allied Health and Nursing majors in BIO 202 Human Nutrition, led by Joyce Easter, learned about food insecurity by researching food access in a local neighborhood and community agency addressing food access. They each created a nutritious recipe to feed a family of four with only $10, then assembled meal kits to donate to Thrive Peninsula.

Malcolm Lively's EDUC 321 students served as facilitators for Tidewater Collegiate Academy's (TCA) Book Club. The aspiring teachers gained valuable experience working with TCA students in the reading of two books: "The Raven Riddle," with mid-to-later elementary readers and "Charlie Thorne and the Last Equation," with older elementary and middle-school-aged students, over a five-week period.