During the 2019-20 academic year, we’ve seen a great amount of faculty excellence in the form of published research, presentations, and panel appearances.

We’ve featured a few publications, including Dr. Jason Heaton’s study on the “Little Foot” skeleton, Dr. Duane Pontius ’81’s research on Saturn’s rotation, Dr. Sandra Sprayberry‘s presentation on BSC’s human rights courses, and Dr. Will Hustwit’s book, “Integration Now: Alexander v. Holmes and the End of Jim Crow Education.” We also recently announced Dr. Kayla Kauffman’s selection as one of only 25 professors nationwide to participate in the “Teaching Interfaith Understanding” seminar at DePaul University in June.

Here are a few other updates from our faculty.

From the Department of Religion

In January, Dr. Amy Cottrill, Denson N. Franklin Associate Professor of Religion, attended a conference at the University of Rostock in Rostock, Germany. The conference, titled “Between Endurance and Wholeness: Resilience Narratives in the Old Testament,” brought together an international group of Hebrew Bible scholars who are interested in discussing the texts through the lens of trauma and resilience. Cottrill presented her paper, “Reading the Psalms Through the Lens of Creative Resilience.”

“In many ways, the biblical narrative is a story of resilience. The biblical authors are putting words to profound suffering, naming it, framing it, and also providing a way for their audience to connect the past to a vision of the future. That is difficult work,” Cottrill says. “Trauma and resilience theory helps us understand the ways that encounters with violence and disruption of other kinds disorient people and communities, undermine their sense of stability, and create a crisis of interpretation.”

Her paper examines how the Psalms express and combine both languages of suffering and of hope.

“I think the psalmist is expressing a way to acknowledge the reality of suffering and the reality of agency even in context of suffering that makes endurance possible for individuals and communities. The psalmists really were psychologically and theologically creative in that way.”

In October, Assistant Professor of Religion Dr. Keely Sutton presented her paper, “Ali Converts a Bird: Ambiguity and Subversion in a Twentieth-Century South Indian Folk Song” at the American Folklore Society’s annual conference in Baltimore.

On March 25-27, Sutton and BSC junior Emma Palmer will speak during a panel discussion titled, “Building Community: The Importance of Presence in Community Engagement.” They will join pastor Adam Burns and church member David Peterson from the Church of the Reconciler in Birmingham. The panel will be held at the Gulf-South Summit on Service-Learning and Civic Engagement in Nashville.

“True presence – spending time getting to know a community, listening and learning from community members, and then actively partnering with them – is one of the most important elements in community engagement,” Sutton says. “We are hopeful that we will elicit new ideas from each other and from audience members about how to constructively create community, with implications for community and social justice work, activism, teaching, and even research.”

From the Department of Applied Computer Science

This year, the department welcomed a new faculty member, Dr. Anthony Winchester, who comes to BSC after recently completing his Ph.D. in computer engineering from UAB.

Computer science faculty and students were also selected to participate in the National Center for Women and Information Technology’s Learning Circle to develop a strategy to increase recruitment and retention of underrepresented groups in computer science. Assistant Professor Dr. Amber Wagner reports that the department is planning their own Women in Computing event with more details to come.

100 percent of applied computer science May graduates had jobs before graduation. Two students also have Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REUs) set up for the summer: junior Marlowe McCraney has been selected to participate in an REU at the University of Southern California, and sophomore Andrew Scofield has been selected to participate in an REU at Duke University.

From the Department of Chemistry

In February, Assistant Professor of Chemistry Dr. Kate Hayden, alumna Astha Berawala ’18, and current senior students Lee Bowman and Rachael Motamed published research in BioTechniques. Their paper examines a method to determine pH optimum in a coupled enzyme assay.

“This paper is a direct result of our natural sciences summer research program in which students are able to work side by side with faculty,” Hayden says. “Students who are accepted into the program not only gain invaluable research experience but are also provided a stipend and housing on campus.”

Hayden and these BSC students were also able to collaborate with students and faculty from the UAB School of Medicine and Dartmouth Geisel School of Medicine, Lebanon.

Students interested in summer research with faculty can find applications and more information in Stephens Science Center 128. Applications are due by April 13.

Provost’s Forums

Provost’s Forums give faculty the chance to share their research with the BSC community. The forums are usually held during Common Hour on Tuesdays in Norton Theatre.

So far, four faculty members have presented sabbatical research: Dr. Lynne Trench (“How Have Changing Marijuana Laws Affected Marijuana Use”) and Dr. Richard Rector (“Inclusion Is Not Only a Choice, But a Requirement”) from our psychology department; Dr. Pete Van Zandt (“Using Gut Microbiomes to Determine Moth Diets”) from our biology department; and Dr. Guangjun Qu (“Anticorruption Campaigns: Fight for What?”) from our economics department.

Three more faculty members will present sabbatical research this spring: Professor of Biology Dr. Megan Gibbons will present “You’re Growing on Me: Interactions between Western Mosquitofish and their Parasites” on March 31; Associate Professor of Education Dr. Amelia Spencer will present “Classroom Talk: When Culture, Teaching, and Learning Collide” on April 7; and B.A. Monaghan Professor in Business Administration Dr. Sara Robicheaux ’97 will present “Experiential Business Education in the Liberal Arts” on April 14.

Professor of Theatre Michael Flowers gave a presentation with the cast and crew of “Falsettos” in the fall, titled “Holding to the Ground as the Ground Keeps Shifting: An Exploration of the Changing Nature of Families Amidst the Onset of the AIDS Crisis.” Flowers will also present a forum with the cast and crew of “Lizzy Borden, Rock Star!” on April 28.

Are you a faculty or staff member who has published research, delivered presentations, or spoken on panels? Please email us at [email protected].