UNG president disburses Incentive Awards to faculty and staff

University of North Georgia President Bonita Jacobs disbursed more than $117,000 among 15 Presidential Incentive Awards to provide institutional support for faculty and staff to pursue new and innovative ideas in the 2022-23 academic year.

“This year’s recipients represent outstanding scholarship and innovative projects that were selected from an impressive pool of proposals,” Jacobs said. “This program enriches the student experience at UNG by encouraging scholarly and creative work that supports faculty and staff excellence.”

In 2013, Jacobs initiated a program to incentivize faculty and staff scholarship in its many forms, ranging from research to creative innovations. Since then more than $2.3 million has been invested in research and scholarly work.

This year, a total of 48 applications were submitted across the three award categories (semester, summer, and innovation). Semester awards include a full semester release from teaching and provide funding support of up to $12,000 each, while summer awards offer up to $10,000 of support. Innovation awards allocate up to $5,000 each to support interdisciplinary and/or cross-functional collaborations or individual pursuits focused on innovations and partnerships to promote implementation of best practices.

The four Presidential Semester Incentive Award winners include:

· Ian Afflerbach, assistant professor of English, for his book project “A History of Selling Out.”

· Melissa Schindler, assistant professor of English, for “‘¿Adónde vas?’: The influence of Latin America on Afrofuturism.”

· Miriam Segura-Totten, professor of biology, for “Broadening the Understanding of How Undergraduate Biology Students Engage with Primary Literature.”

· Dwight Wilson, associate professor of political science and international affairs, for “Financialization in Latin America.”

“I am ecstatic to have received a Semester Presidential Incentive Award,” Segura-Totten said. “Being able to focus solely on research during the fall semester will allow me to collect data through student and faculty interviews at two institutions: Florida International University and North Carolina A&T. Hopefully, analysis of these data will expand current knowledge on how undergraduates read and analyze scientific research articles in ways that make this practice more inclusive.”

This year’s Presidential Summer Incentive Award recipients include:

· Esther Morgan-Ellis, associate professor of music, for “Crossover, Exchange, Appropriation: Editing a Music Pedagogy Collection for Routledge.”

· Sonny Mantry, associate professor of physics, for “Precision Calculations and Simulation Studies in High Energy Particle Physics.”

· Natalie Hyslop, professor of biology; Dr. Jennifer Mook, professor of biology; and Dr. Abby Neyer, assistant professor of biology, for “Resource use analysis of a long-lived vertebrate in the presence of a wide-spread invasive plant species in Georgia.”

· Adam Frey, associate professor of music, for “The Art of Practice – An Advanced Multi-Lingual Music Performance Textbook.”

“I am so grateful that UNG makes this funding available and has kept it going through difficult financial times,” Morgan-Ellis said. “This is the best faculty support program that we have, and it is one of the reasons I have chosen to make my career at UNG.”

Presidential Incentive Awards for Innovation were awarded to:

· Enes Aganovic, assistant director of technology integration, for “Biomechanical Modeling of the Foot and Spine.”

· Roger Runquist, director of Center for Teaching, Learning, and Leadership, for “Certified Peer Observation Program.”

· Kendra Ramey, lecturer of mathematics, for “College Algebra Summer Camp.”

· Erin Bush, assistant professor of history, anthropology, and philosophy, and Dr. Melissa Schindler, assistant professor of English, for “Narrative North Georgia: Team-Teaching and Undergraduate Research at a Multi-Campus Institution.”

· John Bragelman, assistant professor of mathematics, for “The Development of Prospective Teachers’ Noticing of Children’s Mathematical Thinking – A Longitudinal Study.”

· Lu Xu, assistant professor of management and marketing, for “The Influence of Mobile Augmented Reality Applications in the Consumer Decision-making Process.”

· Danielle Hartsfield, associate professor of elementary and special education; Dr. Danielle Hilaski, associate professor of elementary and special education; Dr. Jennie Jones, assistant professor of elementary and special education; Dr. Nicole Maxwell, associate professor of elementary and special education; and Dr. Tiffany Watson, assistant professor of elementary and special education, for “The Power and Potential of Nonfiction: A Workshop for Teacher Candidates.”

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