Fin-tastic Vol. 8 Fall 2023
USCB Faculty & Staff Highlights
Message from Dr. Al M. Panu, Chancellor
Our USCB Spring 2023 commenced brightly. Our accomplishments and accolades continue
to uplift our institution in many ways with a sharp focus on student-centered engagements.
Faculty and staff recognitions that entail student successes multiply in impact. These
successes ripple and resonate back to our institution, to the futures of our students,
and our community. In reading the list herein and in past semesters’ editions, it
is essential to note – that which distinguishes us, elevates our students and USCB.
It is the success and recognition of our students and alumni that can serve as the
key factor in raising our reputation – as in the case of our latest Carolina Trustee
Professorship award given only to one full professor in all USC campuses outside Columbia.
USCB has the distinction of having received this award five times in the past six
years, with USCB faculty being selected 9 times in the past 20 years. In addition,
our sponsored awards funding from July 2022 to April 2023 is now at the highest level
of our institutional history, some 230% more in 2023 than in 2022 and some 355% more
than in 2017. In addition, our faculty and staff have nearly quadrupled sponsored awards funding
in the span of a few short years. (Source)
Yes, USCB is the youngest (and smallest) comprehensive university in the University
of South Carolina system, yet the accolades we bring the system in the merits from
USCB this academic year 2022-2023 elevate our status to be standing tall among our
peer institutions.
Fin-tastic Sand Sharks, bravo! We honor and thank you for all your work distinguishing
us and our students with this edition.
Fins up!
Barnes, Mollie, PhD• Associate Professor of American Literature
(Department of English, Interdisciplinary Studies, & the Arts)
Published. Barnes, Mollie. “Margaret Fuller’s Illegibilities: Afterlives of an Unreadable,
Unrecoverable Manuscript.” College Literature, vol. 50, no. 1, Winter 2023, pp. 116–145. PDF Link.
Awarded. Barnes, Mollie. National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Stipend: “Real-Life Heroines: How Women Reformers Wrote One Another’s Lives in the Sea Islands, 1838–1902.” Summer 2023. $6,000. Link.
Appointed. Barnes, Mollie. Appointed Member, Society for the Study of American Women Writers (SSAWW) Advisory Board. 2023–2026.
D'Antonio, Edward L., PhD• Associate Professor of Structural Biology &
Biochemistry (Department of Natural Sciences)
Filed. Patent Application, “Tetrazolium‐Based Colorimetric Assay” by Edward L.
D'Antonio and Gustavo F. Mercaldi (2023) in the United States Patent and Trademark
Office.
Invited Guest. ISNTD Connect. Live recording in London, England by the
International Society for Neglected Tropical Diseases, 17 March 2023. "Chagas’ Disease
and Human African Trypanosomiasis Drug Discovery:
Trypanosoma cruzi Glucokinase as a Potential Drug Target." Presentation Link.
Invited Guest. ChemTalks. Live recording in Germany by the ChemU
(https://chem‐u.org/),6 April 2023. "Early-Stage Drug Discovery for Chagas’ Disease and Efforts
Toward Drug Target Validation of Trypanosoma cruzi Glucokinase." Presentation Link.
Dastgerdizad Elyaderani, Hadis, PhD• Assistant Professor of Public Health
(Department of Public Health & Human Services)
Presented (International). “Enhanced Measurement of Sugar Sweetened Beverages Marketing in grocer” with co-author
Rachael Dombrowski, at World Federation of Public Health Associations Annual Congress,
May 2023. Conference Link.
Presented (National). “Utilizing food insecurity as a proxy measure for structural racism – a case study
of Detroit’s COVID-19 experiences” with co-author Rachael Dombrowski, Alex Hill, MS2,
Bree Bode, PhD, MPH, CHES, & Kathryn Knoff, PhD, at the American Public Health Association
Conference, Nov. 2022. Conference Link.
Presented (National). “Enhanced Measurement of Sugar Sweetened Beverages Marketing in grocer”, at the Society of Public Health Education Annual Conference, Mar. 2023. Conference Link.
Presented (National). “Assessing healthy food environments in dollar stores as compared to grocery stores
in Michigan” with co-author Rachael Dombrowski, Alex Hill, MS2, Bree Bode, PhD, MPH,
CHES, & Kathryn Knoff, PhD, at the American Public Health Association Conference,
Nov. 2022. Conference Link.
Awarded. $6,000 from U of SC Research Initiative for Summer Engagement (RISE) program for
“Enhanced Measurement of Sugar-Sweetened Beverages Marketing in Independently Owned
Grocers.”
Awarded. $3,000 from U of SC Professional Development Fund for Research Projects program for
“Promising Strategies to Reduce SSB Promotion, Purchasing, and Consumption among Immigrant
Families with Young Children.”
Dudas, Kimberly, PhD• Assistant Vice Chancellor for Academic Innovation (Interim) (Academic Affairs)
Elected. Vice-Chair. Riverview Charter School Board of Directors 2023 Board of Directors List.
Invited Reviewer. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Population Affairs, Grant
Review Panel 19, AH-TP1-23-001.
Gibson, Su, M.B.A.• Instructor of Hospitality Management
(Department of Hospitality Management)
Published. Gibson, S. and Engeldinger, B. (2023). Spas and Fitness Centers. In Brymer and Moll
(18th Ed.), Hospitality: An Introduction. Kendall Hunt. Publication Website.
Published. Martin, D., & Gibson, S. (2023). Solving the Drive-through Crisis with Service Blueprinting.
In S. K. Dixit & S. Piramanaygam (Eds.), Teaching Cases in Tourism, Hospitality and
Events (pp. 221–230). CABI. Publication Website.
Gill, Diana, PhD • Associate Professor of Public Health
(Department of Public Health & Human Services)
Published. Book Chapter, “Perspective Chapter: Is Inclusion Safe? The Importance of Community
Among Women Who Sleep with Women (WSW).” With co-author Tera McIntosh from the edited
volume: Minorities – New Studies and Perspectives; Hermann, J. DOI: 10.5772/intechopen.110361.
Published. Research article, “Solitude, Seclusion, & Survival: Stories from Older Adults in
the Lowcountry During the COVID-19 Pandemic” with co-authors Jayne Violette, Summer
Roberts, Cindy Lahar, Angela Nadeau, & Carmen Coughlin-Torres, in Carolinas Communication
Annual, XXXVIII, 43-46. Journal Link.
Awarded. $1,500,000 in federal funding from the Health Resource and Service Administration
(HRSA) for, “USCB’s Public Health Scholarship program” with co-authors Kim Dudas,
Dawn Robinson, and John Leadem.
Hammond, Beth, PhD • Associate Professor of Educational Psychology
(Department of Education)
Presented. “Developmentally Appropriate Guidance” at the South Carolina Association for the Education of Young Children (SCAEYC) Conference, Columbia, South Carolina, October 14-15, 2022.
Heiens, Richard A., PhD • Professor of Marketing
(Department of Business & Communication Studies)
Published. Rick published along with Ravi Narayanaswamy (USC Aiken), “Examining the Product and
Service-Centric Website Features and Functions Offered by European Fashion Retailers
Following the COVID-19 Pandemic” at the Association of Marketing Theory and Practice
Annual Meeting. Conference Proceedings.
Session Chair. Social Media/Digital Marketing Track at the Association of Marketing Theory and Practice
Annual Meeting, March 16, 2023. Conference Link.
Awarded. 2023 Distinguished Research Service Award, Office of the Vice President for Research,
University of South Carolina Columbia, March 1, 2023. Award Link.
Hritz, Nancy, PhD • Professor of Hospitality Management
(Department of Hospitality Management)
Presented. (Fall 2022) original research titled "Travelers who drown: An exploration of visitors
to US National Parks" at the 2022 Southeast Tourism Society annual conference September
6-9, 2022 in Concord, NC. Conference Link.
LeFavi, Bob, PhD • Professor of Public Health
(Department of Public Health & Human Services)
Invited Speaker. “The Mediterranean Diet,” at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI), at the
University of South Carolina Beaufort.
Invited Speaker. “Life Review,” at the Palmetto Bluff in the PB.EDU program.
Malphrus, Ellen, PhD • Professor of English
(Department of English, Theater, Arts & Interdisciplinary Studies)
Awarded. Carolina Trustees Professorship. Spring 2023. Award Link.
Published. “Raiment.” Salmon Creek Literary Journal. Washington State University Vancouver. Spring 2023.
Published. “Monument Valley.” Atlanta Review Literary Journal. Georgia Institute of Technology. Spring 2023. Atlanta Review.
Published. “Final Measure.” Nightingale & Sparrow Literary Journal. Spring 2023.
Published. “A Meditation on Lot’s Wife: The One Who Looked Back.” Pink Magazine. April 2023.
Invited Speaker. “50th Anniversary of Pat Conroy’s Memoir The Water Is Wide Panel Presentation.” University of South Carolina Beaufort. Fall 2022. Event Link.
Invited Speaker. University of South Carolina Beaufort Commencement Address. Fall 2022. Event Video.
Invited Speaker. Lowcountry Literary and Leisure Getaway: Screening and Panel Discussion of Pat Conroy’s
The Prince of Tides. Spring 2023.
McCoy, Erin R., PhD • Associate Professor of English & Interdisciplinary Studies
(Department of English, Theater, Arts & Interdisciplinary Studies)
Published. “Beyond Armistice: The Psychological Legacy of World War I.” Istitutio Internacional
de Estudios en Seguridad Global (INISEG) blog. 12 April 2023. Article Link.
Presented. “Transitions of Viet Nam War Studies: A Move Toward Inclusivity” at “Re-Awakenings:
Transitions to the Future.” Humanities Education and Research Association (HERA) Annual
Conference, El Paso, TX. 10 March, virtual presentation. Conference Link.
Guest Host. Vietnam Veterans Podcast episode 2459, “Revisiting the Southern Question both in
the US and Viet Nam.” 8 March 2023. Event Link. Link 2.
Awarded. USC RISE Award: “Forever Wars: Investigating Methods and Ethics of De-Mining Unexploded
Ordinance (UXO) in Southeast Asia.” 24 February 2023.
Speaking Engagement. South Carolina Humanities Council Speaker’s Bureau: “The Civil Rights Movement &
Viet Nam War.” Anderson County History Museum, 15 February 2023. Event Link. Link 2.
Speaking Engagement. South Carolina Humanities Council Speaker’s Bureau: “Music & the Viet Nam War.” Waccamaw
Library, Pawley’s Island Branch, 2 February 2023. Event Link. Link 2
Montie, Eric W., PhD • Associate Professor of Marine Biology
(Department of Natural Sciences)
Awarded. (Fall 2022) Eric Montie received the second year of funding ($100,000) for a five-year
grant from the NOAA Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS) / Southeast Coastal Ocean
Observing Regional Association (SECOORA) for the project entitled, “The Estuarine
Soundscape Observatory Network in the Southeast (ESONS).” Website Link.
Published. Transue L, Monczak A, Tribble C, Marian A, Fair P, Ballenger J, Balmer B, Montie EW (2023). The Biological
and Anthropogenic Soundscape of an Urbanized Port – the Charleston Harbor Estuary,
South Carolina, USA. PLoS ONE 18(4): e0283848. Article link. (SELECTED FOR PRESS RELEASE).
Presented. Eric Montie presented “Estuarine Soundscapes and the Lowcountry Dolphin Monitoring
Program,” at the Port Royal Sound Foundation Symposium. January 23rd, 2023. Event Link.
Robinson, Dawn, PhD • Assistant Professor of Public Health
(Department of Public Health & Human Services)
Published. Research article, “The Lived Experiences of Women of Color Leaders in Human Services:
Professional Challenges and Implications for the Field” with co-authors Najmah Thomas
& Shuntay Tarver, in the Journal of Human Services. Link.
Sevim, Volkan, PhD • Associate Professor of Mathematics
(Department of Computer Science & Mathematics)
Published. Sevim V. (2023) Diving Deep into the Ocean Through Skillful Problem Posing | Solving
Experiences. Constructivist Foundations 18(2): 315–317. Link.
Skipper, Eric, PhD • Provost & EVCAA
(Academic Affairs)
Invited Speaker. “Exponential Language AI and The Rise of Humanics.” The FutureYou Talks. Woxsen University, India. April 2023. Virtual. Lecture page.
Thomas, Najmah, PhD • Associate Professor of Human Services
(Department of Public Health & Human Services)
Published. Book, As We Remember: A History of the Woman's Relief Corps in Beaufort, SC, Fresh Ink Group Publishing, 2023. ISBN-10: 1958922234. Link.
Featured. Pink Magazine, “Dr. Najmah Thomas and Nature Gaston,” by Mary Hope Roseneau. Link.
Featured. Beaufort Lifestyle Magazine, “Coming Full Circle: A Gullah Geechee Doctor Continues a Legacy of Learning and
Teaching from the Land” story by Nakeisha Dawson-Thompson and photos by Paul Nurnberg. Link.
Villena-Alvarez, Babet, PhD • Professor of French, Spanish & Global Studies, Assistant Vice Chancellor for Academic
Affairs (Department of Humanities & Social Sciences)
Invited Discussant. Worked with the Beaufort Chamber of Commerce to serve as one of four county and city
representative panelists for the County and City Election Candidate Forum, October
19, 2022. Event Link.
Zhang, Xiaomei, Babet, PhD • Associate Professor of Computer Science
(Department of Computer Science & Mathematics)
Published. Xiaomei Zhang "Enabling PeerCloud in Vehicular Networks: Feasibility and Reliability of Vehicle-to-Vehicle Offloading",
in the Proceedings of International Conferences on Computing, Networking and Communications
(ICNC 2023, Honolulu, USA). Conference Link. Article Link.
USCB Collaborations
Lahar, Cindy, PhD • Professor of Psychology (Department of Humanities & Social Sciences), Nadeau, Angela, MA • Instructor of Psychology (Department of Humanities & Social Sciences), Violette, Jayne, PhD • Professor of Communication Studies (Department of Business & Communication Studies), Roberts, Summer, PhD • Professor of Sociology (Department of Humanities & Social Sciences), Gill (Reindl), Diana, PhD • Associate Professor of Public Health (Department of Public Health & Human Services)
Presented. (Regional Presentation). “A tale of two Lowcountries: Isolation and community during the pandemic,” at the Southern Gerontological Society 43rd Annual Meeting, Panama City, FL presented by colleague Summer Roberts. Book of Abstracts Link.
Published. Research article, “Socio-emotional resilience among older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic” with co-authors (Lahar, Nadeau, Roberts & Reindl) in the Journal of the South Carolina Academic of Science. Website: https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/jscas/vol21/iss1/7/ Funded by a Grant from the Sea Island Institute.
Meriwether, Anna, MS/MA• Instructor of Chemistry (Department of Natural Sciences),
Alvarez, Beda (Butch), MD • Senior Instructor of Biology (Department of Natural Sciences), Allbrandt, Ryan • USCB Biology Major, Andrews, Erin • USCB Biology Major, Kovalcik, Joshua • USCB Biology Major, Alvarez, M.S. • Community Volunteer, Meriwether, Kazimier • Community Volunteer
Presented and Coordinated. Half day events at Beaufort Elementary (April 6, 2023) and River Ridge Academy (March 9, 2023) during their Career days. The group presented and conducted experiments, demonstrations, with discussions on university faculty’s research and teaching, combining both the biology (Medical & Marine) as well as chemistry fields during the event.
Moriarty, Martha, PhD • Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs/ Dean of the Beaufort Campus (Interim), Villena-Alvarez, Babet, PhD • Assistant Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs.
Invited Speakers. Martha and Babet gave the concluding hour presentation for the 33-member Leadership Beaufort full day seminar with the role of USCB in the city and county: USCB Updates: Programs, Projects, and People on March 3, 2023. Program Website.
Palmour, Mack, MA • Vice Chancellor for Enrollment Management, Reading, Nancy, MPA • Associate Director of Admissions for Recruitment.
Presented. “Data-Driven Recruitment and Marketing” at the Southern Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers (SACRAO) annual conference in Charlotte, NC Feb 4-8, 2023. Conference Website.
Wheeler, Jana, PhD • Assistant Professor of Nursing (Department of Nursing), Kuehn, Jo, DNP • Assistant Professor of Nursing (Department of Nursing)
Published. Live Versus Videotaped Prebriefing in Nursing Simulation in Teaching and Learning in Nursing. Article Link.
Academic Awards for Faculity and Staff
Jones Williams, Morgin, PhD • Assistant Professor of Mathematics
(Department of Computer Science & Mathematics)
USCB Inclusive Leader Award.
Jones Williams, Morgin, PhD • Assistant Professor of Mathematics
(Department of Computer Science & Mathematics)
Vincent P. Mesaric Award.
Edmunds, Morgan, MSN • Instructor of Nursing
(Department of Nursing)
Academic Advisor of the Year.
Hearing, Samantha, MA • Adjunct Professor
(Department of Humanities & Social Sciences)
Adjunct Professor of the Year.
Osbaldiston, Richard, PhD • Professor of Psychology
(Department of Humanities & Social Sciences)
Professor of the Year.
USCB Grants
We salute our faculty and staff for another standout year with sponsored research. It takes a special type of person to be inventive, inspired, and ingenious to come up with ideas and have others believe in them to the point of approving funding to concretize and make them real. We also comprehend that the Sand Sharks in the list below belong to extended teams who have also been supportive of their inventiveness and assist in transforming thoughts into results. You are game-changers, and we honor you.
Awarded December 2022-May 2023
Barnes, Mollie. National Endowment for the Humanities, Summer Stipend, $6,000. Real-Life Heroines:
How Women Reformers Wrote One Another's Lives in the Sea Islands, 1838-1902.
Elyaderani, Hadis. USC Office of the Vice President for Research, RISE, $6,000. Enhanced Measurement
of Sugar-Sweetened Beverages Marketing in Independently Owned Grocers.
Gill, Diana. Department of Health and Human Services, $3,518. Public Health Scholarship Program.
McCoy, Erin. USC Office of the Vice President for Research, RISE, $6,000. Forever Wars: Investigating
Methods & Ethics of De-Mining Unexploded Ordinance (UXO) in Southeast Asia.
Messick, Kyle. USC Office of the Vice President for Research, ASPIRE, $11,988, The use of artificial
intelligence across three domains: Academia, strategic self-presentation, & as a creative
outlet.
Mickel, Danielle. Beaufort County, $170,000 (annual). Beaufort County - USCB Water Quality Laboratory.
Montie, Eric. University of North Carolina Wilmington/Maritime Administration/DOT, $75,630. Testing
a novel strategy to measure underwater radiated noise of vessels in shallow coastal
waters.
Powell, Alyssa. USC Office of the Vice President for Research, Magellan Program, $3,000. Women's Mental
Health Experiences of Pregnancy and Postpartum in the Era of Social Isolation: A Grounded
Theory Exploration.
Ritchie, Kim. USC Office of the Vice President for Research, ASPIRE, $14,941, Novel antibiotics
from Elasmobranch-associated bacteria.
Skees, Murray. USC Office of the Vice President for Research, RISE, $5,999. A critical theory of
datafication.
Skipper, Eric. National Science Foundation, $998,073. NSF Engines Development Awards: Advancing cyber security technologies for the maritime systems, SC.
Total for time period: $1,301,149