FACULTY NOTES

Yoandy Cabrera Ortega, Ph.D., Chair of Department of Languages, Philosophy, Religion, and Cultures and Assistant Professor of Spanish and Classics, was awarded an “Ancient Worlds, Modern Communities” grant by the Society for Classical Studies Committee on Classics in the Community for his project, “A Teenager Medea.” Rockford University students performed this play on campus and in the community in November 2022.

Mehmet Dik, Ph.D., Chair of Department of Mathematics, Computer Science, and Physics and Professor of Mathematics, was named an Organizing and Scientific Committee Member of the 6th International Conference of Mathematical Sciences 2022. Dik judged a number of projects at the Young Mathematician Conference in August 2022. In addition, he was on the Technical Review Committee at the International Conference on Nonlinear Analysis and Applications in November 2022. William Doria, Chair of Department of Chemical and Biological Sciences and Associate Professor of Chemistry, was named co-chair of the American Chemical Association’s Earth Day 2024 national outreach activities. In March 2022, Doria shared his research titled, “Using Small Forces to Solve Big Problems: Designing Metal-Organic Frameworks for Environmental Applications” with the Illinois Science Teachers Association. Additionally, in August 2022, he presented a poster about science-themed community outreach efforts done through the American Chemical Association at the Biennial Conference on Chemical Education at Purdue University.

Orhan Erdem, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Finance, presented a joint paper with Sukran Erdem and Kelly Monson, Ed.D., Associate Professor of Education, at the 86th Annual Meetings of Midwest Economic Association in Minneapolis on March 25, 2022. The research aims to analyze the effectiveness of cash payments on vaccine enrollment. Erdem also presented a guest lecture titled, “Behavioral Finance in the Age of Cryptocurrencies” at Beloit College on April 7, 2022. Jacob Hardesty, Ph.D., Dean of College of Social Sciences, Commerce, and Education and Associate Professor of Education, published an article with Danielle Klein, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Education, and Paula Egelson ’75 titled, “Teaching and Learning the Age of Covid-19: Cognitive Dissonance in a Pandemic.” Hardesty also presented “Effective Strategy or Not? Outcomes of Structured Student-Teacher SelfReflections” at the Critical Questions in Education Conference.

Joel Lynch, Ph.D., Chair of Department of Psychology, Professor of Psychology, along with Dr. Renee Just, Associate Professor of Leadership, completed research and published an article that examined undergraduate college students’ motivation during the initial months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Published in the Journal of Social Sciences, the research examined the student identity in the midst of COVID-19 and its impact on the motivation to study. The results showed that identity as a college student appears to be a driving factor of student motivation.

Ron Lee, Ph.D., Chair of Department of Political Science, Sociology, and Criminal Justice and Associate Professor of Political Science, presented “A Sacred Effort: Lincoln’s Greatest Speech and Its Relevance Today” at the annual Last Lecture at Rockford University in April 2022. The lecture was delivered in Fisher Chapel to an audience of students, faculty, and staff as well as guests from the larger Rockford community.

Kelly Monson, Ed.D., Director of Graduate Studies, and Assistant Professor of Education, worked with the Rockford University Education Department and the Center for Success in High Needs Schools to integrate the newly adopted Illinois State Board of Education Culturally Responsive Teaching and Learning Standards (CRTL). The CRTL standards work to ensure that Illinois teacher candidates enter classrooms prepared to support and empower their students, no matter the students’ race, ethnicity, national origin, language, religion, physical ability, income status, sexual orientation, or gender identity. Monson also chaired a task force through the Center for Success in High Need Schools to collaborate with other professors in Illinois to unpack the CRTL standards. As a result of this work, Rockford University is one of the first higher education institutes to receive approval from the Illinois State Board of Education on the CRTL alignment.

Mandolen Mull, Ph.D., Chair of Puri School of Business and Assistant Professor of Leadership, along with professors Clayton Duffy ’17/’20 and David Silberman published an article titled, “Forgetting to Learn and Learning to Forget: The Call for Organizational Unlearning.” Mull also presented “Exploring Workplace Classroom Motivation and Self-Determination Theory: Using Facilitated Focus Groups to Discover Motivational Techniques for Non-Traditional Kinesthetic Learners” at the Academy of Human Resource Development in Arlington, Virginia, with Dr. Jon Musgrave. Additionally, Mull was recognized as one of Rockford Chamber of Commerce’s 40 Leaders Under Forty.

Donna Ogle, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Computer Science, presented “Research in Organizational Change and Development: Conversations with ROCD 28, 29 and 30 Authors” at the 82nd Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management in Seattle. Ogle also published a research paper titled, “Lost in Translation, A Social Media Characterization of Organization Development.”

Kristen Ravel, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of English, and students in her “LGBTQ+ Rhetoric, Community, Advocacy” course wrote, designed, and published a website for the LIAM Foundation, Rockford’s first LGBTQIA+ Resource Center. With an outdated and underdeveloped website, the center previously used Facebook Messenger to connect with clients, which created a barrier for those who did not have accounts. The students worked collaboratively to design pages and develop content over the course of the semester. The website was published in January 2022.

Bethany Twitty, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice, was awarded the 2022 Richard Block Award for Outstanding Dissertation Research from the Homicide Research Working Group. Titled, “’Acts of Pure Evil’: The Portrayal of Mass Shooting Events on Online Media Platforms,” the dissertation looked at eight mass shooting events that gained national news coverage and their reporting on four news sites across the political spectrum: Fox News, NBC, Breitbart, and Slate.