BRADFORD, Pa. — Two University of Pittsburgh at Bradford faculty members recently received awards, while others presented and published articles and essays, worked on manuscripts and hosted conferences.
Earlier this month, Dr. Lanre Morenikeji, assistant professor of biology, received the Dr. Larry E. Davis Emerging Scholar Award from the University of Pittsburgh. Morenikeji received the award at the Dr. Larry E. Davis Black Distinguished Dinner at the Academy Awards dinner.
Morenikeji, now in his third year of teaching at Pitt-Bradford, is a prolific researcher in immunology who includes his undergraduate students in his research. His current areas of research include the genetics of heat resistance in cattle, the genetics that make some people more susceptible to the COVID-19 coronavirus, and whether older mice are more susceptible to the bacteria. streptococcus than young mice.
Dr. Helma de Vries-Jordan, associate professor of political science, will receive the Mid-Career Service Award from the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Queer Caucus of the American Political Science Association. De Vries-Jordan served as caucus chair for three years as well as program chair for three years.
Dr. Nancy McCabe received her ninth and tenth Best American Essay honors in 2022 and 2023. “Crimes Against Property” was a 2022 Notable Essay, and “Playing by the Rules” was a 2023 Notable Essay. She had new essays have appeared in recent months: “Stuck Together” in Chautauqua and “That Good Night” in Belt.
McCabe has also given workshops in Louisville, Kentucky, Quebec and online. She has given presentations related to her new young adult novel, “Vaulting Through Time” and has written articles related to her new book for Salon and Writer’s Digest.
Drs. Patricia Lanzon and William Clark, both assistant professors of education, presented “Exploring a Pilot Study of Continuity of Mental Health Services from Early Childhood to Adolescence” at the 51st Assembly of Teacher Educators of the Pennsylvania Association of Colleges and Teacher Educators in Harrisburg. The two gave a poster presentation on the same topic at the 18th World Congress of the World Association for Infant Mental Health in Dublin, where Lanzon also presented “Teacher Competencies for Social Justice in Education of Infants and Toddlers: Aligning Standards and Identifying Gaps.”
Additionally, Lanzon served as a peer reviewer for the chapter “Teacher Identity and Language Ideology via Critical Pedagogy” in the 2023 textbook, “Social Justice and Culturally Affirming Education in K-12 Contexts.”
Dr. Ovidiu Frantescu, associate professor of environmental sciences, served as co-chair of a special session (“Advances in Arthropod Paleobiology: Honoring the Illustrious Career of Rodney Feldmann)” at the Geological Society of America conference in Pittsburgh, where he also presented “Evidence for a Lagerstätten Decapod in Tarrant County, Texas, United States.”
Dr. Michael Klausner, Associate Professor of Sociology, published an article titled “Psychosocial Impacts of COVID-19 on the Public: A Case Study Using Hobfoll’s Five Essentials – Lessons Learned – Missed Opportunities” in the World Encyclopedia of public policies and governance.
Dr. Jodi Burns, Assistant Professor of Sport and Recreation Management, delivered two presentations at the 8th World Congress of the International Association of Positive Psychology in Vancouver, British Columbia: “Improving Collective Well-being in Competitive Sports Teams” and “Introducing Two New Mental Fitness, Resilience and Positive Leadership Questionnaires.”
Burns is also an assistant coach for the Revolution Volleyball Club, a Junior Youth Olympic team that earned a bid to the national competition and placed 31st in the nation.
Dr. Behnaz “Beth” Rezaie, assistant professor of mechanical engineering technology, was guest editor of a special issue of the Journal of Sustainability titled “Technical, Environmental, and Economic Assessment of District Energy Systems with Energy Storage.”
Catherine Baldwin, instructional services librarian, presented a lightning talk at the Association for College and Research Libraries 2023 conference in Pittsburgh, “First Gens in the House: How Academic Librarians Support Students New to Higher Education.”
She also presented a professional development session on Universal Design for Learning at the University of Pittsburgh Library System.
Additionally, Baldwin and fellow Hanley librarians Marc Ross, Kim Bailey and Jenelle Johnson presented a lightning talk for the University of Pittsburgh’s Mentoring and Advising Summit titled “Mentoring Librarians for Career Opportunities unique awareness-raising”.
Finally, Dr. Julia Morgan, assistant professor of philosophy; Dr. Amy Gresock, associate director of the business management program; Dr. Matt Kropf, associate professor of engineering technology; and Dr. Don Ulin, professor of English, presented together on a panel at the joint conference of the Association for the Study of Literature and the Environment and the Association for Environmental Science and Studies. The topic of their presentation was a discussion on the use of space in education entitled “Place in Three Dimensions”.
