The Academic Minute for 2020.03.02-2020.03.06

The Academic Minute from 03.02 – 03.06

Monday, March 2nd
Michael DeValve – Bridgewater State University
Million-Dollar Blocks
Michael DeValve has joined the Department of Criminal Justice at Bridgewater State University. Michael is a theorist primarily, focusing on the relationship between justice and love, and on police-community conflict resolution.

Tuesday, March 3rd
Joyce Kinkead – Utah State University
Mentoring At-Risk Students
Joyce Kinkead joined USU in 1982, taking on the role of director of the Writing Center and then director of the Writing Program. Since then, she has served extensively at the university, as creator and director of the Writing Fellows program, associate dean for the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, vice provost, and associate vice president for research, among other roles. Kinkead led the USU undergraduate research program for 11 years as the associate vice president for research, from 2000 to 2011. During her time, she brought about many advances in the program, including Research on Capitol Hill and the Undergraduate Research Fellows program. She also established the Utah Conference on Undergraduate Research (UCUR). Kinkead has helped increase the number of students participating in undergraduate research, as well as increased the number of those students winning awards for their research. With 13 books, 15 book chapters and numerous articles, her publication count is the highest in the Department of English. Over the years, she has mentored 20 undergraduates, served on 20 master’s and doctoral candidates’ committees and headed the initiative to provide research funding to those in the humanities, an overlooked area in the research world.

Wednesday, March 4th
Rong Fu – Siena College
Childhood Trauma and Late-Life Functioning
Dr. Rong Fu received her dual-title Ph.D. in Sociology and Gerontology and M.S. in Sociology from Purdue University. Her main fields of research include medical sociology, health, and aging. Her publications have appeared in journals such as Journal of Health and Social Behavior, Aging & Mental Health, Sage Open, and Applied Nursing Research. Her research has been honored the Emerging Scholar and Professional Organization Poster Award (twice) and the Task Force for Minority Issues in Gerontology Student Poster Award (twice) by the Gerontological Society of America.

Thursday, March 5th
Mary K. Holland – SUNY New Paltz
Contemporary Literature
She is the author of two books, Succeeding Postmodernism: Language and Humanism in Contemporary American Literature (Bloomsbury 2013) and The Moral Worlds of Contemporary Realism (forthcoming from Bloomsbury in 2020), and of numerous essays on contemporary literature and film. She is the co-editor of Approaches to Teaching the Work of David Foster Wallace (MLA 2019) and is currently co-editing an anthology of essays about the intersection of the #MeToo movement and literary studies.

Friday, March 6th
Grace Pai – Guttman Community College
Out-of-School Children in Sub-Saharan Africa
Grace Pai is an Assistant Professor at Stella and Charles Guttman Community College in the City University of New York (CUNY). In addition to being a former Peace Corps Volunteer and high school math teacher in New York City, she worked as Senior Research Associate at the New York City Department of Education, and also has experience doing international development work in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa (Bangladesh, South Africa and Sierra Leone). She holds a Ph.D. in International Education with a concentration in applied statistics from New York University, an M.Ed. in Secondary School Mathematics from Brooklyn College, an Ed. M. in Prevention Science and Practice from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and a B.S. in Management and International Business from the Stern School of Business at New York University. Her research interests include global education, international development, math education, and college access and success. At Guttman, she teaches math and statistics.