Southern Miss College of Arts and Letters Professors Receive Lucas Endowment Faculty Excellence Awards for Academic Research
Mon, 04/03/2017 - 02:33pm | By: Ashlea Maddox
Nine faculty members from the College of Arts and Letters were recently selected to receive the esteemed Aubrey Keith and Ella Ginn Lucas Endowment for Faculty Excellence Award. The highly competitive and prestigious award was established in honor of Dr. and Mrs. Aubrey K. Lucas to support and reward faculty distinction in instruction and research.
In an effort to support faculty, the endowment can be used for travel, laboratory expenses, wages, books, audiovisuals, or other sources.
Recipients from the College of Arts and Letters include the following:
*Dr. Daniel Capper, Professor in the Department of Philosophy and Religion, for his research project “Creating a Study Abroad Program and a Book in Thailand.”
*Dr. Matthew Casey, Assistant Professor of History and current Nina Bell Suggs Professor of History, for his research project “Parables of a Madman: Joseph Jolibois Fils and the U.S. Occupation of Haiti (1915-1934).”
*Dr. Westley Follett, Associate Professor of History and 2017 Southern Miss Mississippi Humanities Council Teacher of the Year, for his research project “Medieval Irish Monks and Their Manuscripts.”
*Dr. Joshua Haynes, Assistant Professor of History, for his research project “Patrolling the Border: Theft and Violence on the Creek-Georgia Frontier, 1770-1796.”
*Dr. Webb Parker, Assistant Professor of Music, for his cross-disciplinary research initiative with Dr. Ann Blankenship of the College of Education and Psychology, “The prevalence of Judeo/Christian repertoire programed in high school choirs in Mississippi: The data and legal implications in the school music classroom.”
*Dr. Jonathan Pluskota, Assistant Professor in the School of Mass Communication and Journalism, for his research project “Understanding Sound Recording Aesthetics and Production Techniques: A Psychophysiological Approach.”
*Dr. Timothy J. Tesh, Assistant Professor of Trumpet, for his research project “Adaptation for Trumpet.”
*Dr. Matthew Ward, Assistant Professor of Sociology, for his research project “Enduring Consequences of Dehumanizing Institutions: How Local Legacies of Slavery Affect Contemporary Policing Practices in the U.S. North and South.”
*Dr. Fei Xue, Professor from the School of Mass Communication and Journalism, for his research project “Effects of ‘Social Information' in Facebook News Feed Ads on Brand Engagement.”
“The College of Arts and Letters is proud of the strength of its faculty and the diverse and fascinating creative and scholarly projects that they are pursuing,” said Dr. Maureen Ryan, dean of the College of Arts and Letters. “From Irish monks to trumpets to teaching in Thailand, we testify to the importance of the arts, humanities, and social sciences in the contemporary university.”
All recipients will be recognized during the annual Faculty Awards Ceremony May 5. For more information about the college's Lucas Award Winners, visit https://www.usm.edu/arts-letters/2017-lucas-award-winners.