The Appalachian College Association is pleased to announce the recipients of its 2022-23 Faculty Fellowships. Through this program, the Association will furnish during the 2023-2024 academic year financial support to member institutions’ faculty for post-doctoral research or pre-doctoral degree completion.

This year, twenty-seven faculty members, representing seventeen member institutions, are awarded fellowships.

John B. Stephenson Semester Fellowships

John B. Stephenson, then Director of the Appalachian Center at the University of Kentucky, received the first Mellon Foundation grant for fellowships for faculty at over 30 private colleges in Central Appalachia, forming the “Appalachian College Program.” In 1990, participating member colleges in the fellowship program incorporated as the Appalachian College Association and assumed administration of the program. Stephenson, President of Berea College from 1984-1994, served as the first chair of the ACA’s Board of Directors. After his death in 1995, the ACA Board voted to name semester-long fellowships in the liberal arts and sciences in his memory.

C. Broughton Anderson, Associate Professor of Art & Art History, Berea College: Development of a book manuscript, Creating Homeplace: An Historical Archaeology of the White/Baxter Family

Anthony Donaldson, Assistant Professor of History, University of the South: Development of a book manuscript, Out of White Control: Black Poverty and Black Capitalism, A Black Power Paradox in North Carolina, 1963-1980

Liesl Erb, Associate Professor of Conservation Biology, Warren Wilson College: Expansion of knowledge in ecological landscape design to share workshops, develop new coursework, and create opportunities for community engaged work for students on and beyond campus

Sarah Fisher, Associate Professor of Politics, Law, and International Relations, Emory & Henry College: Field research and subsequent publication on the teaching of controversial topics at the collegiate level

Ryan Fogg, Professor of Music, Carson-Newman University: Preparation and performance of a series of piano recitals on the music of Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel

David Gilbert, Associate Professor of History, Mars Hill University: Ethnographic research/interviews with performing musicians in Europe exploring Black influence regarding questions of cultural appropriation, racial essentialism, and the relationships between identity, race, culture, and power

Megan Hoffman, Professor of Biology, Berea College: Development and publication of Biology class and lab materials utilizing the Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning (POGIL) approach

Irene Rieger, Associate Professor of English, Bluefield University: Development and publication of an “autofiction” manuscript

Clint Smith, Associate Professor of Biology, University of the South: Research toward publication to establish an experimental platform to study the endemic HCoV-OC43 and to develop the first experimental assay to directly measure the mutation rate of CoVs (coronaviruses)

Semester Fellowships

John Diosi, Assistant Professor of Business, Bethany College: Support to complete Ph.D. in Instructional Management and Leadership from Robert Morris University

Douglas Gregory, Assistant Professor of Exercise Science, Tennessee Wesleyan University: Doctoral research on the health and economic impacts of Knoxville’s Urban Wilderness toward completion of Ph.D. in Kinesiology and Sport Studies from The University of Tennessee

Annie Jonas, Professor of Education, Warren Wilson College: Research toward publication(s) on faculty-led, classroom-based interventions to support student mental health

Kelly Spencer, Associate Professor of Art Therapy, Mars Hill University: Creation of an arts-based community research project/mural installation in Mars Hill, NC, and development of coursework to explore ways in which art can connect communities and address social justice issues

Summer Research Fellowships

Thomas Bragg, Associate Professor of English, Lincoln Memorial University: Support for travel to the archives at the British Library in London to examine the correspondences of Victorian historical novelist George Payne Rainsford James

Dennis Durst, Associate Professor of Theology, Kentucky Christian University: Study of the historical methods of Frederick Kershner as he studied the rise of divisions in Christianity, as part of a larger book project

Ethan Fulwood, Assistant Professor of Anatomy, Lincoln Memorial University: Research to collect ecologically informative morphology from a range of mammal species occurring in Middle Eocene, Late Eocene, and Early Oligocene faunas to understand if/how taxonomic replacement across these transitions produced shifts in ecological diversity

John Seitz, Assistant Professor of History, Tennessee Wesleyan University: Research toward a book project regarding the energy history of Soviet Kazakhstan

Alexander Steffanell, Professor of Spanish, Lee University: Research toward a book manuscript on the legends, myths, and short stories in Latin American ethnic communities

Lisa Stephenson, Professor of Systematic Theology, Lee University: Research toward a book manuscript, From the Text to the Pulpit: Women Leading in the Church

Xiaoping Sun, Professor of Chemistry, University of Charleston: Research examining chemical and electronic properties of Oxo-Uranium Ions by UV-Vis and Fluorescence Spectroscopies

Ted Whisenhunt, Professor of Art, Young Harris College: Work toward completion of an M.F.A. in Graphic Design from the Vermont College of Fine Arts

In-Year Research Fellowships

Dennis Ashford, Associate Professor of Chemistry, Tusculum University: Research to synthesize, characterize, study light-activation, and test anti-cancer activity of next generation ruthenium (II) polypyridyl complexes

Alexander Barnes, Assistant Professor of Mathematics, Young Harris College: Support to participate in an extensive workshop to actively learn how to design courses using alternative learning-based grading

Laura Boggess, Instructor of Biology, Mars Hill University: Release to complete Ph.D. in Biology examining Southern Appalachian lichens at the New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) and the City University of New York

Molly Clever, Associate Professor of Sociology, West Virginia Wesleyan College: Research assessing/analyzing the learning outcomes and retention impact generally and on at-risk student populations of WVWC’s redesigned first-year experience using a High-Impact Practices (HIP) framework

Caroline Maher-Boulis, Professor of Mathematics, Lee University: Release and travel support to prepare for and earn credentials in actuarial science

Carly York, Assistant Professor of Biology, Lenoir-Rhyne University: Research toward a trade book exploring the value of basic science, discussing ways scientists can creatively and successfully improve the accessibility of their work and engage the public in the scientific process