From technology to set design, Coker faculty have been asked to present their expertise to regional, national, and international organizations.
Assistant professor of art Jasmine Baetz led a community-produced public art project during her time at the University of Colorado, Boulder. The university recently announced the sculpture would remain on the school’s campus permanently, preserved in place by the University Libraries’ Special Collections, Archives and Preservation department. The work is a mosaic sculpture dedicated to Los Seis de Boulder.
Dr. Andrew Burkemper, Director of Coker University’s Center for Leadership and Entrepreneurship, was named a Community Organizer for the Hartsville region for Global Entrepreneurship Week (held in November). In this role, Dr. Burkemper and a co-organizer from Furman University created and launched the first ever S.C. Innovates pitch competition. This statewide, virtual format allows all South Carolina college students to develop and pitch an innovative business idea while competing for thousands in start-up cash.
Dr. Burkemper also served as the Coker University representative for the 2020 All-America City Comeback Campaign and Small Business Stabilization Forgivable Loan Program, sponsored by the Byerly Foundation and the City of Hartsville. The program distributed more than $150,000 to dozens of small businesses that were negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, Dr. Burkemper attended the 2020 United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship annual conference in New Orleans, presenting a talk on “Shifting a regional pitch competition from ventures in theory to ventures in practice.”
Dr. Julia Fisher, professor of psychology, recently presented virtually in a panel forum for the National Collegiate Honors Council annual conference. The topic of Dr. Fisher’s contribution to the panel was “Evidence and Argument in Honors: Science Fiction and Fear Mongering. Why are We Afraid of Science?”
Angela Gallo, professor of dance and Dean of the McCall School of the Visual and Performing Arts, was recently elected to the Board of Directors of the South Carolina Arts Alliance. Over the summer, Gallo taught for the Joffrey Ballet School and for Dance Center of Kenya.
Dr. Peter Gloviczki, associate professor of communications, virtually presented a position paper at a National Science Foundation (NSF) sponsored workshop about broadband Internet. His contribution was in digital inclusion, one of three areas (technology, economics and digital inclusion) explored in the workshop. In addition, Dr. Katherine A. Foss of Middle Tennessee State University and Dr. Gloviczki will co-edit a special issue of the Journal of Communication Inquiry (Sage), a forward-thinking, interdisciplinary forum that explores communication and mass communication phenomena within cultural and historical perspectives. The special issue is called "Considering Covid: Critical Media Scholarship in an Uncertain Time." It will focus on critical media studies scholarship that is relevant during our pandemic moment.
Dr. Reed Hanna, visiting instructor of music, received accolades from international chamber music calls for scores for two new musical compositions: Congaree (2020), a 14-minute piece for oboe, clarinet, and bassoon, which was chosen by the Trio de Bois of The Ladies Reeding Society; and Coastal Sketches (2020), a 9-minute piece for two bassoons, was given an honorable mention by Dark in the Song, a collective of five professional bassoonists who are well-known in the field for championing and commissioning contemporary music for the bassoon. Dr. Hanna, a professional bassoonist himself, plans to present both pieces in a Spring 2021 Faculty Recital.
In mid-November, Dr. Jennifer Heusel, associate professor of communication, gave a statement to board members of the South Carolina Department of Archives and History to discuss the archival needs of minority stakeholders across the state. She called on the SCDAH to develop “more future-driven, anti-racist goals” as well as to “adopt institution-wide inclusive training in order to develop an anti-racist awareness within the institution.” Dr. Heusel spoke at the invitation of the South Carolina African American Heritage Commission, of which she is an ex officio member.
Dr. Ye Li, associate professor of Chinese, recently presented at the International Virtual Conference on Chinese Language Instruction held by the Chinese Language Teachers' Association of California. Her presentation topic was "How to teach Chinese virtual class effectively." In addition, Dr. Li’s essay, “Embracing Nature,” was selected to be part of the collection of Chinese essays “The Spice of Life” (pp.222-228; Showwe Information Co., Ltd, Taibei, Taiwan).
Assistant professors of business Eric Litton and James Wacker had their joint paper, Paired Courses: Using Liberal Arts to Improve Business Education, published over the summer in the Humanistic Management Journal.
Natalia Schradle, assistant professor of dance, had the privilege to teach virtually at the Li Chiao-Ping Dance SEED Summer Intensive and Performance Festival. The same group also invited Schradle to present a brand new dance for the camera work: Me, "I miss my friends." My friends, "Let's video call." Me, "No."
Dr. Meredith Sims, associate professor of dance, attended the National Dance Education Organization (NDEO) virtual conference in October, serving as moderator for several presentations as well as presenting "Using Failure and Vulnerability to Build Community with First Year College Students." Dr. Sims attended the South Carolina Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance virtual conference in November. Her presentation "Encouraging Growth Mindset in Dance Students" was a part of the South Carolina Dance Association portion of the conference and sheco-hosted the "Higher Ed Share Out" panel for research in higher education. Dr. Sims also presented a workshop titled "Using the DanceMaker App for Choreography and Dance Integration." In addition to serving on the Editorial Review Board for the Journal of Dance Education and National Dance Society Journal, she has been invited to serve on the Editorial Review Board for Research in Dance Education.
Josh Webb, Associate Professor of Theatre, was recently nominated twice for Set Design of the Decade in the Charlotte region by the broaodwayworld.com for his Saturday Night Fever and Spring Awakening sets.
For more information about Coker University, please visit www.coker.edu.
