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Around the Academy
Six Holy Family University professors are recipients of the 2021 Ray and Mildred Taylor Awards to fund three important research and publication initiatives. This year’s honorees will pursue research initiatives in the areas of providing postpartum psychosocial support, developing strategic plans for the School of Business Administration, and creating early childhood education mentorship programs.
The award program was established through an endowment created by Carol Taylor ’75, RN, Ph.D., a former University faculty member who served from 1979-1987 and 1995-1997 in the School of Nursing & Health Sciences. Taylor and her family created the award to honor her parents: Ray and Mildred Taylor. Carol Taylor was honored by the School of Nursing & Health Sciences in October 2012 with its highest award, the Distinguished Nursing Alumni Award.
The Ray and Mildred Taylor Awards provide funding to faculty who have completed at least two years of full-time teaching at Holy Family. Requests are made in the form of formal proposals to the Ray and Mildred Taylor Committee, with priority given to those projects that advance faculty research and scholarship.
The 2021 Taylor Awards were awarded for the following proposals:
DEVELOPMENT AND EVALUATION OF A REMOTELY-DELIVERED POSTPARTUM PSYCHOSOCIAL SUPPORT PROGRAM Alexa Bonacquisti, Ph.D., School of Arts & Sciences
RESEARCH ON THE STRATEGIC PLANNING PROCESS IN BUSINESS SCHOOLS AND PROGRAMS
Bernice M. Purcell ’85, DBA; Donald Goeltz,
DPS, MBA, MS; and Luanne Amato, MBA, Ed.D.; School of Business Administration
ESTABLISHING AN EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION MENTORSHIP PROGRAM Trish Joergensen, Ed.D. and Kim Heuschkel, Ed.D., School of Education
The committee members on the 2021 Taylor Grant Award Committee Members were Maria Agnew ’90, Ph.D., Chair (School of Education), Samantha Cepparulo ’12 ’13, MHSc (School of Nursing & Health Sciences), Elizabeth Jones, Ph.D. (School of Education), Karl Malaszczyk, Esq. (School of Business Administration), Jaclyn Myers, Ph.D. (School of Arts & Sciences), and Melissa Rampelli, Ph.D. (School of Arts & Sciences).
MULTIDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH COLLABORATION OF HOLY FAMILY UNIVERSITY FACULTY ON COVID-19 AND MENTAL HEALTH
As the COVID-19 situation improves in the United States, ongoing questions remain regarding mental health outcomes and long-term coping with the effects of the pandemic. To address these questions, a multidisciplinary team of Holy Family University faculty members including Alexa Bonacquisti,
Ph.D., Jennifer DeCicco, Ph.D., Patrick
McElwaine ’00, M’04, Psy.D., and Kristin Sagedy, Ph.D., MSN, RN, CEN, conducted a research study on the mental health effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The study was conducted online from March through May 2021. Participants were 175 adults across the United States. Preliminary findings indicated a substantial decrease in reported quality of life during the pandemic from before the pandemic. This decrease in quality of life was significantly related to an increase in anxiety and depressive symptoms. Respondents reported negative changes at work due to the effects of the pandemic, such as increased workload, loss of job, and coping with patients’ deaths from COVID-19, and fearing for their own safety. They also reported negative changes at home, such as feeling lonely, isolated, unmotivated, and increased substance use.
Regarding positive changes, many people cited spending more time with their families and the flexibility of working from home. The majority of respondents (94%) reported that they were already vaccinated for COVID-19 or would be vaccinated as soon as possible. Data analysis will continue on this study, with more information to be learned about the mental health effects of COVID-19 and how to best support those in need of additional intervention.
The 2021 School of Arts & Sciences Award for Teaching Excellence has been awarded to Dian He, Ph.D. for his extraordinary efforts in training Holy Family University faculty on teleconferencing platforms and hardware to help make the Fall 2020 semester a better virtual experience for students and faculty. His contributions to helping the faculty in the School of Arts & Sciences become better virtual teachers included sharing his knowledge related to various features of the remote teaching experience, including whiteboards and managing chat streams during a live class.
The School of Arts & Sciences Award is given annually to a faculty member in Holy Family University’s School of Arts & Sciences who has demonstrated excellence in teaching and has demonstrated a commitment to quality teaching in the school. Leadership of the School of Arts & Sciences select the award recipient each year.
“I am honored to receive the 2021 School of Arts & Sciences Award for Teaching Excellence,” said He. “This was a hard year for everyone due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We are all forced into remote teaching with little preparation. I did what I could by sharing my technology expertise with my fellow colleagues to help them to do what they do best—teaching. I want to express my sincere thanks to Dean Shelley Robbins and all my colleagues for their support and cooperation to get through this tough time. We are now much better prepared for the future.”
GRIFFIN LEADS EVALUATION OF BUCKS COUNTY CO-RESPONDER PILOT PROGRAM WITH THE BENSALEM POLICE DEPARTMENT
Patricia Griffin, Ph.D., assistant professor of Criminal Justice, has been appointed to carry out a multi-year multi-phase monitoring and evaluation study of the Bucks County Human Services Co-responder program. In December 2020, the County of Bucks approved a two-year pilot program for the implementation of a Human Services Co-responder program with the Bensalem Police Department. The Co-responder partners with local law enforcement to serve as a liaison in addressing the social needs of individuals contacting 911 Emergency Services.
PARISI CUMMINGS PRESENTS RESEARCH ON BEST PRACTICES FOR SEVERE AND ENDURING ANOREXIA NERVOSA TREATMENT
Melinda Parisi Cummings, Ph.D., assistant professor of Psychology co-presented with Robbi Alexander, Ph.D. of Penn Medicine Princeton Health at the International Association of Eating Disorders Professionals annual symposium. Dr. Parisi Cummings and Dr. Alexander presented on behalf of a multidisciplinary team of professionals from the Princeton Center for Eating Disorders. The presentation focuses on a novel approach to the treatment of severe and enduring anorexia nervosa. A licensed psychologist with over 20 years of eating disorders expertise, Dr. Parisi Cummings is a former Program Director of the Princeton Center for Eating Disorders Care at Penn Medicine Princeton Medical Center and is a consultant of the program and an affiliate member of the Penn Medicine Princeton medical staff.
The presentation, entitled “Is it Time for a Paradigm Shift? An Exploration of Best Practices for Severe and Enduring Anorexia Nervosa,” examines four defining characteristics of severe and enduring anorexia nervosa (developed by approximately 20-25% of patients with anorexia nervosa), treatment recommendations based on research about the eating disorder, and the goals of a new inpatient treatment protocol for severe and enduring anorexia nervosa.
FACULTY BRIEFS
Conference Presentations
Luanne Amato, MBA,
Ed.D. and Donald
Goeltz, DPS, MBA,
MS will present “Reacting/Enacting Business Cases” at the National Association of Business, Economics and Technology Annual Conference (October 2021).
Vicki Brzoza, Ph.D., MSN, MBA, RN,
CCRN presented the Virtual Podium Presentation “Success: Perceptions of Accelerated SecondDegree Bachelor of Science in Nursing Students” at the National Council Licensure Examination for Registered Nurses (NCLEX-RN®) Qualitative Report Annual Conference (January 2021) and the Virtual Poster Presentation of the same title at the Delta Tau atlarge of Sigma Theta Tau International Research Day (April 2021).
Geraldine FitzpatrickDoria ’85, Ed.D.
co-presented “Cultural Overlays: Authentic and Practical Ways to Foster Culturally Sustaining Practices in Your Course” with Priscilla Jeter-Iles, Ph.D. of Arcadia University at the 2021 Pennsylvania Educator Diversity Consortium (PEDC) Virtual Summit (June 2021). In addition, Fitzpatrick-Doria is a developer of PEDC’s toolkit Diversifying the Teacher Pipeline: A Toolkit for Recruiting More High School Students of Color into Pennsylvania Teacher Prep Programs.
Roger W. Gee, Ph.D.
presented “Learning About Words: Beyond Definitions” at the Peru TESOL Association: The First Free Online Teaching Webinar: “Teaching English During the Pandemic” (August 2020).
Patricia Griffin, Ph.D.
presented “Building Coresponder partnerships in Philadelphia” at the Penn Mental Health AIDS Research Center, Community Advisory Board (January 2021) and served as the Conference Committee Organizer for the 6th International Law Enforcement Public Health Conference (March 2021) and presented “First Responder Health & Wellness Special Interest Group,” “Intersectionality Special Interest Group,” “Turning Law Enforcement and Public Health InsideOut: Moving Beyond the Systems that Divide Us,” “Cop, researcher, and psychologist: the benefits of meaningful officer health and wellness partnerships” and “The future directions of Intersectionality and its approaches to law enforcement and public health issues.”
Honors
Raena Shirali, MFA
was awarded the 2021 Scholastic Educator Award from The Adroit Journal Summer Mentorship Program for her work with high school creative writers.
Publications
Brian Berry, Ph.D.
has had the paper “Using Classroom Clickers to Increase Academic Engagement for Elementary School Aged Students with Disabilities” accepted for publication in the Journal of Special Education Technology with co-author Tiffany
Watson, Ed.D.’17,
assistant professor at the University of North Georgia. The paper is part of Dr. Watson’s doctoral dissertation from her time at Holy Family University.
Patricia Griffin, Ph.D.
published the chapter “Discovering a sense of self through the InsideOut Prison Program” in Current Issues in Corrections (Cognella Publishing).
Bernice M. Purcell
’85, DBA published the paper “Other people’s profiles: Using LinkedIn as a teaching tool” in the Journal of Instructional Pedagogies (Volume 26).
Other
Patricia Griffin, Ph.D.
was elected Board Member for her second consecutive two-year term of the Global Law Enforcement Public Health Association at the organization’s Annual General Meeting in October 2020.
