Notable faculty join UA Little Rock

Twenty-seven new professors joined the ranks of University of Arkansas at Little Rock’s tenured faculty this fall, including several professors from top-tier research institutions.

Chancellor Andrew Rogerson says the new faculty will strengthen the quality of the university’s commitment to the teacher-scholar model and increase opportunities for students to have more opportunities for experiential learning.

“Teacher-scholars are faculty who are actively engaged with research in their respective fields of study, and through that, provide unique benefits to their students,” said Rogerson, a researcher himself. “These benefits include joint research opportunities, increased opportunity to build strong mentor-relationships with faculty, and most importantly, the chance to express their creativity within their field of study. These students will be better prepared to greatly influence and impact our communities and state.”

UA Little Rock is one of only two universities in Arkansas with the Carnegie Classification as a doctoral research university. The University of Arkansas at Fayetteville has an R1 ranking for “highest research activity,” and UA Little Rock has an R3 ranking with “moderate research activity.” Last year, UA Little Rock faculty brought in more than $32 million in research grants and contracts.

The research specialties of the new faculty range from reproductive health policy and post-traumatic stress disorder to interpersonal communication in nontraditional families, economic impact of the illicit drug market in the U.S., and the impact of legal marijuana dispensaries on the opioid epidemic and workplace safety.

New faculty include the following:

Andrew Amstutz joins the College of Arts, Letters, and Sciences as an assistant professor of Asian history. He is a Fulbright scholar and a historian of modern South Asia and the impact of Islam and Buddhism on the region. He previously served as a Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He has a Ph.D. in Asian history from Cornell University.

David Austill joins the College of Business as an assistant professor of accounting. He has more than 40 years of experience in education, accounting, and law. He has also been awarded two Fulbright Senior Scholarships to lecture at Sofia University in Bulgaria. He received a J.D. from the University of Tennessee.

Mark Baillie joins the College of Arts, Letters, and Sciences as an assistant professor of chemistry. He has five years of experience as an assistant professor at the University of Delaware and was a postdoctoral fellow at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale in Lausanne, Switzerland. He received a Ph.D. in organic chemistry from Emory University.

David Baylis joins the College of Arts, Letters, and Sciences as an assistant professor of geography. He specializes in human geography, focusing on both cultural and geographic issues that affect rural communities in the American South, Central Asia, and Turkey. He received a Ph.D. in geography from Michigan State University.

Deborah Borman joins the William H. Bowen School of Law as an assistant professor of law. She brings with her a broad skill set with 11 years of teaching legal analysis, communication, and advocacy at law schools throughout the country, including Northwestern University and the Seattle School of Law. She received a J.D. from DePaul University.

Alan Boss joins the College of Business as an assistant professor of management. He previously taught for 10 years at the University of Washington Bothell’s School of Business and focuses his research on entrepreneurship, business development, and leadership strategies. He received a Ph.D. in organizational behavior from the University of Maryland.

Jacqueline Burse joins the College of Education and Health Professions as an assistant professor of social work. She has more than 15 years of experience in direct work in social services as well as education. Her research focuses primarily on sexual and domestic violence in the African-American community. She received a Ph.D. in social work from the University of Texas at Arlington.

Brandon Colvin joins the College of Social Sciences and Communication as an assistant professor of media production. He comes from a film background and has directed two independent films and is producing another. His academic research focuses on the history of film style. He received a Ph.D. in film studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Andre Cummings joins the William H. Bowen School of Law as an assistant professor of law. He has taught law for the past 15 years at institutions around the world and has also founded a sports and entertainment consulting agency. He received a J.D. from Howard University.

Chris Etheridge joins the School of Mass Communication as assistant professor of mass communication. He recently completed his Ph.D. in mass communication at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where he was an instructor. His research and teaching interests are in geographic- and interest-based community journalism; media ethics; news sociology; entrepreneurial journalism; media management; and crime, public safety and the media. He has a Bachelor of Arts in chemistry from Knox College and Master of Science in journalism from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism.

Stephen Kapp joins the College of Education and Health Professions as director of the School of Social Work. He has served as a professor of social welfare at the University of Kansas and has been its College of Social Welfare’s acting dean for the past six years. He also has 40 years of social work experience. He received an interdisciplinary Ph.D. in social science and social work from Michigan State University.

Richard Lewis joins the College of Social Sciences and Communication as an assistant professor of criminal justice. His research focuses on the biological and psychological issues related to criminal justice with a focus on post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, trauma, and the behavioral changes that arise as a result. He received a Ph.D. in Criminal Justice from Sam Houston State University.

Nathan Marvin joins the College of Arts, Letters, and Sciences as an assistant professor of modern European history. He is a historian of France and its Atlantic and Indian Ocean Colonies, focusing on issues of race, gender, and slavery. His works have been published in both French and American journals. He received a Ph.D. in history from Johns Hopkins University.

Robert Minarcin joins the William H. Bowen School of Law as an assistant professor of law. He has served as an adjunct professor, legal writing instructor, and clinical instructor at Florida A&M’s College of Law for the past eight years and has 16 years of experience in practicing criminal law. He received a J.D. from Temple University.

Bailey Oliver joins the College of Social Sciences and Communication as an assistant professor of speech communications. Her research is primarily focused on interpersonal communication in nontraditional families using a framework of resilience. She received a Ph.D. in interpersonal communication from Arizona State University.

Joseph Otundo joins the College of Education and Health Professions as an assistant professor of health and physical education. Along with 16 years of experience teaching health and physical education at the middle and high school levels, he has spent the past eight years researching effective promotion of health and physical activities. He received a Ph.D. in kinesiology from Louisiana State University.

Michael Pelts joins the College of Education and Health Professions as an assistant professor of social work. He has served as a visiting instructor at the University of Southern Mississippi since 2015 and has an additional 18 years of professional experience. He received a Ph.D. in social work from the University of Missouri.

Bobby Quamar joins the College of Education and Health Professions as an assistant professor of counseling, human performance, and rehabilitation. He has 13 years of experience working with disabled individuals and has recently focused his research on electronic assistive devices. He received a Ph.D. in rehabilitation science and technology from the University of Pittsburgh.

Lindsay Ruhr joins the College of Education and Health Professions as an assistant professor of social work. Her research focuses on reproductive health policy, body image, and sexual health disparities. She received a Ph.D. in social work from the University of Missouri.

Soheil Saedi joins the College of Engineering and Information Technology as an assistant professor of mechanical engineering. He has 10 years of experience as a mechanical engineer in both Iran and the U.S. and focuses his research on additive manufactured materials and phase transformation. He received a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from the University of Kentucky.

Rhet Smith joins the College of Business as an assistant professor of economics and finance. His research focuses on the economic impact of the illicit drug market in the United States as well as the impact that legal marijuana dispensaries have had on the ongoing opioid epidemic and workplace safety. He received a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Georgia.

Jan P. Springer joins the College of Engineering and Information Technology as an assistant professor of computer science. He has served as a lecturer at the University of Hull in the United Kingdom since 2012 and has more than 13 years of research experience in the U.S., the U.K., and his native Germany. He received a Ph.D. from Bauhaus University Weimar.

Anne Turner is the newest assistant professor of structural engineering in the College of Engineering and Information Technology. She has five years of experience as a professional structural engineer. In addition, she has worked with the Defense Threat Reduction Agency in her research on the characterization of granular materials. She received a Ph.D. in civil engineering from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

Wenjun Wang joins the College of Business as an assistant professor of business information systems. He has an interdisciplinary background in business and computer science, with research focusing on complex network systems. He received a Ph.D. in management information systems from the University of Iowa.

Don Willis joins the College of Social Sciences and Communication as an assistant professor of sociology. His research is focused on poverty, food insecurity, and social inequality, particularly the recent concern of food insecurity among college students in urban areas. He received a Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Missouri.

Katrina Yeaw joins the College of Arts, Letters, and Sciences as an assistant professor of Middle Eastern studies. Her research focuses on gender in colonial North Africa and the role of women in the formation of modern Libya. She received a Ph.D. in Middle Eastern and North African history from Georgetown University.

Yue Zhao joins the College of Business as an assistant professor of management. His research is focused on alliance networks, innovation, and national/subnational institutions. He received a Ph.D. in business administration from Florida International University.

 

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