EMU Today

YPSILANTI — Eastern Michigan University will award 41 faculty members Faculty Research and Creative Activity Fellowships for the 2024-25 academic year. These fellowships will enable recipients to begin foundational research, including the challenges posed by ChatGPT, ageism and workplace discrimination, and the relationship between trauma, stressor-related disorders, and adolescent substance abuse. The annual fellowships were approved on June 20 by the University’s Board of Regents.

The fellowships are competitive awards given to faculty who submit meritorious research or special study proposals. They award up to 100 percent release time from teaching for one semester to help build a foundation for a faculty member’s future research or creative activities and as a base for additional funding from other sources. 

Unlike a sabbatical leave, the fellowship recipients are expected to fulfill other contractual responsibilities, such as service to the University during this release. 

The University Research and Sabbatical Leave Committee reviews the Faculty Research and Creative Activity Fellowship proposals. It makes recommendations to the provost and executive vice president of Academic and Student Affairs.

Listed below are the 41 awardees for 2024-25 Faculty Research and Creative Activity Fellowships:

Eric Acton (English Language and Literature). “Co-Authoring a Full Draft of a Book on Social Meaning.”

Amanda Allen (English Language and Literature). “The Cold War Era and Now: Young Adult Literature as Ideological Battleground.”

Jin Bo (Psychology). “Predicting Preschool Cognitive, Developmental, and Psychosocial Abilities with PediaTrac Trajectories.”

Jessica Elton (Communication, Media and Theater Arts). “Women’s Perimenopausal Experiences and Perceptions of HRT – A Qualitative Study.”

Bradley Ensor (Sociology, Anthropology and Criminology). “Archaeological Investigation of the Sociopolitical Organization at a Coastline Kingdom at the Camaronera Lagoon, Veracruz, Mexico.”

Bilquis Ferdousi (Information Security and Applied Computing). “The Challenges of ChatGPT: Ensuring Academic Integrity in Classroom.”

Jason Ferguson (Art and Design). “Bronze Reliquaries from 3D Printed Castable Resin.”

María Luz García (Sociology, Anthropology and Criminology). “Linguistic and Cultural Strategies of Maya Immigrant Communities in the U.S. Midwest: A Collaborative Analysis.”

Jessica Grimone-Hopkins (Teacher Education). Social Emotional and Communication Resource Center for Pre-Service and Practicing Educators Supporting Young Children.”

Ana Claudia Harten (Special Education and Communication Sciences and Disorders). “The Impact of Surgical Repair on Speech Characteristics in Children Born with Cleft Palate.”

Deborah Heyl-Clegg (Chemistry). “A Phosphorylation Study of Serine-8 in a Regulatory Fragment of Amyloid β, a Protein Involved in Alzheimer’s Disease and Cancer.”

Holly Hopkins (Nursing). “Exploring Application of the Association of SP Educators Standards of Best Practice: A Systematic Review.”

Kathryn Hughesdon (Nursing). “Examining the Relationship between Trauma and Stressor-Related Disorders and Adolescent Substance Use.”

Christine Hume (English Language and Literature). “Representative and Reproductive Justice: Joanne Leonard’s Journal of a Miscarriage (1973).”

Chris Hyndman (Art and Design). “Stacking Wood: Routine and Work in the Age of Digital Automation.”

Khairul Islam (Mathematics and Statistics). “Modeling Activity Related Interaction and Adult Americans Well-being Using Survey Data.”

Jesse Kauffman (History and Philosophy). “Strong Man, Weak Race: The Nazi Cult of Józef Piłsudski.”

Myung-Sook Koh (Special Education and Communication Sciences and Disorders). “Dualistic Study: Assessing New Curriculum Fidelity and Feasibility by Exploring Hidden Learning Potentials in Children Overlooked by Standard Educational Practices.”

Nataša Kovačević (English Language and Literature). “The Legacy of Cold War Internationalisms: Critical Concepts for Decolonial Futures.

Renée Lajiness-O’Neill (Psychology). “Predicting Preschool Cognitive, Developmental, and Psychosocial Abilities with PediaTrac Trajectories.”

Hailee Lauritzen (Social Work). “Protecting the Profession: Development of a student professional readiness and goodness of fit evaluation tool for Social Work education programs.”

Rebecca Louick (Special Education and Communication Sciences and Disorders). “Investigating Teacher Sensemaking Regarding Autonomous Learning Among Adolescents with Learning Disabilities.”

Lois Mahoney (Accounting, Finance and Information Systems). “The Impact of the New Buyback Tax on Corporate Social Responsibility Behavior of Firms.”

Laxmikant Manroop (Management). “Exploring Ageism and Discrimination in the Workplace: A Qualitative Study.”

John McCurdy (History and Philosophy). “The Character of Revolution: Politics, Morality, and Citizenship.”

Laura McMahon (History and Philosophy). “Essential Insecurity: Phenomenological Resources for Democratic Thought.”

Aesha Mustafa (Leadership and Counseling). “Centering Black Women’s Voices: A critical qualitative study of Black women faculty’s priorities and commitments at predominantly White research one institutions.”

Margaret Paauw (Social Work). “Cultivating Excellence: Establishing Best Practices in Library Social Work.”

John Palladino (Special Education and Communication Sciences and Disorders). “A Paws-ative Approach to Volunteer Dog Therapy Integration into Special Education Mental Health and Behavioral Interventions.”

Eric Portenga (Geography and Geology). “Facilitating community outreach efforts to find glacial erratics suitable for 10Be dating on Laurentide Ice Sheet moraines across Michigan.”

Michael Reedy (Art and Design). “Medical Imaging, Spirituality, and the Sacred Gaze.”

Jodonnis Rodriguez (Accounting, Finance and Information Systems). “Dynamic Intervention for Students At Risk of Stopping Out.”

Nick Romerhausen (Communication, Media and Theatre Arts). “The Impacts of Generative Artificial Intelligence on Student Learning in the Introductory Communication Course.”

Rachel Schroeder (Sociology, Anthropology and Criminology). “The ‘Disappearing’ Memorials in Russia and Occupied Ukraine: Russia’s War on Gulag-Memory and the Dramas of Productive Forgetting.”

Eric Schulz (Management). “Pay Transparency Laws and Its Impact on Pay Range Dispersion.”

J. Michael Scoville (History and Philosophy). “Value Pluralism, Environmental Deliberation, and the Demands of Climate Justice.”

Brian Sellers (Sociology, Anthropology and Criminology). “Atomic Nomads: A Cautionary Tale of Forced Migration, Environmental Injustice, and Cultural Disintegration in the South Pacific.”

Ourania Spantidi (Computer Science). “Balancing Efficiency and Fairness: Improving AI in Everyday Devices.”

Tom Suchan (Art and Design). “The Revolving Sutra Repository Cave of Beishan and the Cult of the Canon in Medieval Chinese Buddhism.”

Christina Marsack-Topolewski (Social Work). “Examining the Relationship between Trauma and Stressor-Related Disorders and Adolescent Substance Use.”

Guey-Meei Yang (Art and Design). “An Action Research on AI-Infused Course Design and Teaching.”

About Eastern Michigan University
Founded in 1849, Eastern is the second oldest public university in Michigan. It currently serves more than 13,000 students pursuing undergraduate, graduate, specialist, doctoral and certificate degrees in the arts, sciences and professions. In all, more than 300 majors, minors and concentrations are delivered through the University's Colleges of Arts and Sciences; Business; Education; Engineering and Technology; Health and Human Services; and its graduate school. National publications regularly recognize EMU for its excellence, diversity, and commitment to applied education. Visit the University’s rankings and points of pride websites to learn more. For more information about Eastern Michigan University, visit the University's website. To stay up to date on University news, activities and announcements, visit EMU Today.