Florida State University is making it easier for graduate scholars to tap into campus support services at this year’s Graduate Student Resource Fair. 

Hosted by the Graduate School’s Graduate Student Resource Center (GSRC), the fair brings together campus and community service providers while facilitating networking among students from various colleges and departments. For the first time, Registered Student Organizations will also participate, giving attendees a comprehensive view of both university services and peer support networks. 

“We want every graduate student at FSU to feel supported in every way, at every stage. Our definition of success is broader than getting a degree,” said Brian Wilcoxon, director of the GSRC. “The Resource Fair represents the Graduate School’s commitment to that. Here, they’ll find communities who will support them academically, personally and professionally, to graduation and beyond.”

The post FSU expands Graduate Student Resource Fair to connect students with campus support tools appeared first on Florida State University News.

Florida State University’s distinguished faculty are central to the mission of the university. Faculty excellence in scholarship, research, and creative activity is critical to the quality of student learning and makes a difference in the lives of others.

Throughout the year, honors and recognitions are awarded to individual faculty and staff members across campus. Faculty and Staff Briefs are produced monthly to recognize accomplishments and provide a space where honors, awards, bylines, presentations, grants, service and any other notable items can be showcased.

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HONORS AND AWARDS

Henna Budhwani, Ph.D., MPH (College of Nursing) received the Quality Matters (QM) Award for her course, Mixed Methods and Implementation Science Research, a methods-focused online class in the newly established College of Nursing Ph.D. program.

Christopher Solís, Ph.D. (Anne Spencer Daves College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences) was recognized as a finalist for the 2026 Young Investigator Award in the senior category at the International Society for Heart Research–North American Section (ISHR‑NAS) Annual Meeting, held in Minneapolis.

Joi Phillips, Ph.D. (Center for Leadership and Service) received the Kris Knab Service Award from United Partners for Human Services for her leadership, courage, compassion and commitment to the community.

Megan Crowe (Career Center) was invited to attend the third annual Texas A&M Law Pre-Law Advisor Summer Institute & Workshop in Fort Worth, Texas. The invitation reflects her national reputation as a subject-matter expert and meaningful contributions to shaping the development and training of pre-law advising professionals across the country.

Alexandra Clayton (Career Center) won the Favorite Lead Actress in a Mainstage Musical award for her portrayal of Velma Kelly in the Spring 2026 production of Chicago.

Erin Bush, Ph.D. (School of Communication Science & Disorders) was selected for the 2026 Action Research Network of the Americas (ARNA) Community Development Award.

Zhe He, Ph.D. (School of Information) has been appointed as Co-Director of the UF-FSU CTSA’s Biostatistics, Informatics, and Research Design (BIRD) Core, as a standing member of the NIH Center for Scientific Review’s Clinical Informatics and Digital Health (CIDH) Study Section.

 Wendy Doyle, RRT, PA-C, and Allison Justice, MMS, PA-C (College of Medicine) were named the Florida Academy of PAs Humanitarians of the Year for 2026, given to physician assistants who embody a strong commitment to volunteerism and human rights on a local or state level and promote accessible, high-quality healthcare.

Stephen Quintero, M.D. (College of Medicine) was the recipient of the Florida Academy of PAs Physician Recognition Award for 2026, which honors an M.D. or D.O. licensed in Florida who demonstrates exceptional leadership, professionalism and commitment to the PA/physician team concept. Candidates actively support the PA profession and demonstrate high ethical standards in patient care.

William Bobo, M.D., MPH (College of Medicine) was selected as this year’s Phineas J. Sparer Visiting Professor at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis, Tennessee, and delivered the namesake lecture, focusing on new approaches to treating depression through the strategic combination of biological and psychosocial therapies.

Dean Falk, Ph.D. (Department of Anthropology) was awarded a gold medal President’s Book Award from the Florida Authors and Publishers Association and the Mary W. Klinger Book Award from The Society for Ethnobotany, both for her book, “The Botanic Age: Planting the Seeds of Human Evolution.” Her book was also named as a finalist in the Science/Nature/Environment category for the Next Generation Indie Book Awards.

Xiaonan Zhang, Ph.D. (Department of Computer Science) had her paper, “Longitudinal Behavioural Change Coaching with Multi LLM Agents: Multi-Scale Summaries and Automated Dialogue Steering,” receive the 2026 Best Paper Runner-Up Award from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineering and the Association for Computing Machinery’s conference on Connected Health: Applications, Systems and Engineering Technologies. The project was led by her student, Hansong Zhou, a fifth-year doctoral candidate in the Department of Computer Science.

Fanny C. Liu, Ph.D. (Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry) was selected as a finalist for the Rising Stars Session, a showcase of the research by emerging and trainee scientists, at the 2026 Wisconsin Human Proteomics Symposium at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Tarik Dogru, Ph.D. (Dedman College of Hospitality) has received the 2026 Research Award from International CHRIE (International Council on Hotel, Restaurant, and Institutional Education). The annual award honors an International CHRIE member as the first author of an outstanding research article or other publication relevant to culinary, hospitality or tourism management.

Geoffrey Deibel, DMA (College of Music) was invited to be a voting member of the Recording Academy (GRAMMY) class of 2026. Deibel spent the summer of 2026 teaching at the Great Plains Saxophone Workshop (joined by nine current FSU saxophone majors and several alums) and the Cortona Sessions for New Music in Ede, Netherlands. He also recorded a duo album with saxophonist Nick Zoulek and a new album with his award-winning h2 quartet.

Mary Matthews, Ph.D. (College of Music) has been named the winner of the 2026 Mu Phi Epsilon Foundation International Soloist Competition, one of the organization’s highest honors recognizing exceptional artistry, musicianship and ambassadorial potential. The triennial competition includes a live performance, audience engagement, and interview process designed to identify an artist who will represent the Foundation through performance and outreach.

GRANTS

Geraldine Martorella, Ph.D., RN, FAAN; Adam Hanley, Ph.D.; Kathryn Muessig, Ph.D.; and Lisa Hightow-Weidman, MD, MPH (College of Nursing) were awarded a $250,000 Hillman Innovations in Care grant from the Rita and Alex Hillman Foundation to support real-world testing of Pain Pause, a scalable, nurse-led approach to expanding access to evidence-based pain management.

Joseph Watso, Ph.D. and Andrew Koutnik, Ph.D. (Anne Spencer Daves College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences) received a $218,937 National Institutes of Health grant for their project “Time-Efficient Inspiratory Muscle Strength Training as a New Approach to Improve Cardiovascular Function Among Adults with Type 1 Diabetes.”

Sana Tibi, Ph.D. (School of Communication Science & Disorders), and Stephanie Simmons Zuilkowski, Ed.D. (Learning Systems Institute), received a $550,000 award from the International Research and Exchanges Board (IREX) under Jordan’s Early Grade Education Activity (ASAS), a U.S. Department of State-funded initiative.

Xiaofei Jia, Ph.D. (College of Medicine) is among the recipients of a five-year, R01 grant from the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for “Small Molecule Inhibitors of Nef-Mediated Immune Evasion.” The work will be carried out in collaboration with James Frederich, Ph.D. (College of Arts and Sciences) and with  researchers at the University of California San Diego and the Veterans Medical Research Foundation.

Peter Beerli, Ph.D. and Nicholas Dexter, Ph.D. (Department of Scientific Computing) were awarded $499,882 from the National Science Foundation for their project, “Population genetic inference software for the genomic age.”

BYLINES

Bret Keating, M.S. (Advising First, Center for Exploratory Students) authored the article “From Earner to Learner: A Need-Supportive Advising Approach,” published in NACADA’s Academic Advising Today.

Yuliya Guseva, S.J.D., LL.M. (College of Law) recently co-authored the third edition of the casebook “Regulation of Cryptoassets and Markets” published by West Academic Publishing.

Barbara A. Ramsay, (The John & Mable Ringling Museum of Art) co-authored with Brooke Russell, Mary Slater, and Laurie Ossmann the article “Just Like the Real Thing: Jules Allard et Fils Reproduction Boiserie Period Rooms at the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art” published in the Postprints of the Paintings and Wooden Artifacts Group, American Institute for Conservation’s 2025 annual meeting in Minneapolis.

Wayne A. Hochwarter, Ph.D., Patricia M. Kenney, DNP, and doctoral student Destiny Cole (Herbert Wertheim College of Business) co-published “Physician heal thyself: Physician bullying, work outcomes, and the role of psychological safety” in the journal Personnel Review.

Wayne A. Hochwarter, Ph.D., and doctoral student Destiny Cole (Herbert Wertheim College of Business) co-published “Perceptions of organizational politics and work outcomes: interactive effects of envy and enactment” in the Journal of Managerial Psychology.

Wayne A. Hochwarter, Ph.D., and doctoral students Xin (Michelle) Zheng, Hillary C. Keltner, and Zejun (Jenny) Zhao, (Herbert Wertheim College of Business) co-published “Mitigating abusive supervision’s negative effect on employee outcomes: the role of felt accountability” in the journal Leadership & Organization Development.

Meredith McQuerry, Ph.D. (Jim Moran College of Entrepreneurship) co-authored “Perceptions of Turnout Gear Fit and Movement Restrictions among Firefighters of Different Gender, Service Type, and Measurement Status” in the journal Applied Ergonomics.

Celia Reddick, Ph.D. (Learning Systems Institute) published “When I go meet my parents, which language am I going to speak with them?”: Tensions between language-in-education policy and programming, and refugee families’ multilingualism in exile in the Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development and “How decisions are made: Organizational Isomorphism and a focus on English in refugee education” in a special issue of the Journal on Education in Emergencies.

Brenda Wawire, Ph.D. (Learning Systems Institute) co-authored “Exploring the nature of classroom discourse in multilingual classrooms: Questioning for higher-order thinking skills, translanguaging, and knowledge construction” in Teaching & Teacher Education.

Anna Romanova, Ph.D. (Learning Systems Institute) published “Poetry therapy for strengthening the resilience of educational leaders in crisis: a pilot training case study from Ukraine,” in the Journal of Poetry Therapy.

Eduardo De la Vega, MS, Ph.D. and Eugenia Flores Millender, Ph.D., RN, PMH-APRN, FAAN, FAANP (College of Nursing), co-authored “A New Model for Youth-Driven Community Change: Exploratory Testing of Artificial Intelligence–Supported Citizen Science,” published by JMR Publications.

Casey Xavier Hall, MPH, Ph.D. (College of Nursing) and Beth Okantey, MSW (College of Social Work), co-authored “Measurement of acculturation in African immigrants: a scoping review of the Stephenson Multigroup Acculturation Scale” in the Journal of Ethnic & Cultural Diversity in Social Work. 

Hongyu Miao, MS, Ph.D. (College of Nursing), co-authored “A randomized trial of a digitally delivered, home-based neuromodulation and mindfulness intervention for pain management in older adults with knee osteoarthritis” published in npj  Digital Medicine.

Laurie Abbott, Ph.D., RN, CNE, DipACLM, PHNA-BC, FAAN, Lucinda Green, Ph.D., APRN, FAHA, FAAN, Erin Stearns, Ph.D.(c) (College of Nursing), Jessica De Leon, Ph.D. (College of Medicine) and Michael Killian, Ph.D. (College of Social Work) co-authored “Rural Perspectives of Online Lifestyle Medicine Intervention Delivery, Digital Data Collection, and Health Behavior Changes: A Qualitative Study” in the American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine.

Motoko Akiba, Ph.D. (Anne Spencer Daves College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences) co-authored “Identifying Structural Inequity During COVID-19: Teachers’ Workload and Resources by Instructional Mode” published in Educational Researcher. FSU alumna Xiaonan Jiang was co-author.

Timothy Baghurst, Ph.D. (Anne Spencer Daves College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences) co-authored “Profanity use and its instructional impact in professional coaching,” published in the International Journal of Sports Science & Coaching.

Timothy Baghurst, Ph.D. (Anne Spencer Daves College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences) co-authored “NBA assistant coaches’ perceptions of family as a source of stress and coping in elite professional coaching” in The Sport Psychologist.

Timothy Baghurst, Ph.D. (Anne Spencer Daves College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences) co-authored “’I have no one to talk to’: A call for greater support for head coaches in high-performance sport,” published in the Sport Social Work Journal. FSU alumna Tessa Taylor was co-author.

Timothy Baghurst, Ph.D. (Anne Spencer Daves College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences) co-authored “’You want to be paid?’ The complexity of coach developers, free citizenship, and their role in sports coaching,” published in Quest.

Annie Li Zhang, Ph.D. (School of Communication) co-authored “Modern Science Outreach: A Guide for Scientists,” outlining practical strategies for scientists to engage audiences through new media channels.

Melissa Radey, Ph.D. (College of Social Work) co-authored the article “Social Worker Decision-Making and Use of Discretion in Finnish Child Welfare,” published in the Finnish Journal of Social Research.

Michael Killian, Ph.D. (College of Social Work), Zhe He, Ph.D., Balu Bhasuran, Ph.D., Mia Lustria, Ph.D., (College of Communication and Information) co-authored the article, “Generating question prompt lists from electronic health record data using large language models: Iterative evaluation study,” in the Journal of Medical Internet Research.

Gashaye Tefera, Ph.D., Shelby Varol, MSW, and Ponsiano Ngondwe, MSW (College of Social Work) co-authored the article “‘I Took TB Medicine for Six Months Without Having TB’: Personal and Institutional Factors Affecting Trust in Healthcare Among African Immigrants in Florida, United States” published in the International Journal of Health Planning and Management.

Gashaye Tefera, Ph.D., and Ponsiano Ngondwe, MSW, Ifeolu David, Ph.D., and Shelby Varol, MSW (College of Social Work) co-authored the article, “I am just a statistic”: exploring interpersonal factors affecting trust in healthcare among African immigrants in the USA,” published in the International Journal of Migration, Health and Social Care.

Bruce Thyer, Ph.D. (College of Social Work) authored the article, “Reporting LCSW Pass Rate Data should be Added to CSWE’s Educational and Accreditation Standards,” published in the Journal of Teaching in Social Work.

Bruce Thyer, Ph.D. (College of Social Work) authored the article, “Heterodox Social Work,” published in the online edition of Encyclopedia of Social Work, C. Franklin (ed.), Oxford Academic.

Erin Bush, Ph.D. (School of Communication Science & Disorders), published “Application of team-based learning to support knowledge acquisition and retention of craniofacial content for graduate students studying speech-language pathology” in the journal Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics.

Erin Bush, Ph.D., and Kelly Farquharson, Ph.D. (School of Communication Science & Disorders), published “Professional development and implementation of learning: A survey of speech-language pathologists providing services to adolescents with DLD” in the journal Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools.

Shannon Hall-Mills, Ph.D. (School of Communication Science & Disorders) co-published “A randomized controlled trial of social support intervention effects on stress and burnout in school-based SLPs” in the journal Language Speech and Hearing Services in Schools.

Yunjung Kim, Ph.D. (School of Communication Science & Disorders), published “The relationship between perceived stress and family quality of life: moderating impact of resilience among family caregivers of individuals with Parkinson’s disease” in the journal Clinical Parkinsonism & Related Disorders.

Kari Lien, Ph.D. (School of Communication Science & Disorders), published “A meta-analysis of the relationship between speech and language development in children with nonsyndromic cleft palate with or without cleft lip” in the International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology.

Dillon Pruett, Ph.D. (School of Communication Science & Disorders), co-authored an article titled, “Contemporary Clinical Conversations about Stuttering: What Does Genetics Research Mean to Clinicians?” published in the journal Folia Phoniatrica et Logopaedica.

Kelly Farquharson, Ph.D., Carla Wood, Ph.D., and postdoctoral researcher, Michelle Torres-Chavarro (School of Communication Science & Disorders), published “Spelling errors of monolingual English-speaking students and Spanish-speaking multilingual learners” in the journal Language Speech and Hearing Services in Schools.

Zilong Xie, Ph.D. (School of Communication Science & Disorders), published “Lexical bias during speech perception increases under signal degradation but not cognitive load” in the Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research.

Michael Trammell, Ph.D. (Herbert Wertheim College of Business) authored the book Chiefs: A Novel-in-Verse, published by Hysterical Books Press.

Donald L. English, Ph.D. (College of Medicine) authored “Social Media and Mental Health:  Opportunities, Risks and Clinical Implications” in The Florida Psychologist, a quarterly publication by the Florida Psychological Association.

Sylvie Naar, Ph.D. (College of Medicine), co-authored “The Dissemination Research Logic Model (DRLM),” published in the journal Implementation Science Communications.

Mary Gerend, Ph.D. (College of Medicine) co-authored with third-year medical student Anna Lu “Weight discrimination and cardiometabolic health in underrepresented U.S. adults” in the Journal of Behavioral Medicine.

Yang Hou, Ph.D., Jiaxiu Song, Ph.D., and Dan Liu, Ph.D. (College of Medicine) co-authored “Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in neurofibromatosis type 1” published in Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology.

Angelina Sutin, Ph.D., Martina Luchetti, Ph.D., Antonio Terracciano, Ph.D. (College of Medicine) and a colleague from the University of Montpellier, France, published “Purpose in Life and Blood-Based Biomarkers of Brain Health” in the Journals of Gerontology.

Angelina Sutin, Ph.D., Martina Luchetti, Ph.D., Antonio Terracciano, Ph.D., Daisy Zavala, Ph.D., Elizabeth Milad, Ph.D., Selin Karakose, Ph.D., and Justin Brown (College of Medicine) and their University of Montpellier colleague published “Purpose in life and mortality: A meta-analysis of the published literature and individual-participant data of 488,765 participants followed for up to 32 years” in Psychological Medicine.

Matthew Goff, Ph.D. (Department of Religion) published his co-edited volume “Enoch Studies in the 2020s: New Vistas,” about the development of enoch studies, the study of the ancient Jewish texts attributed to Enoch, with De Gruyter Brill, a major academic publisher.

Mark LeBar, Ph.D. (Department of Philosophy) had his book, “Just People,” published by Oxford University Press.

Joseph M. Gabriel, Ph.D. (Department of History) had his edited volume, “Dealing with Drugs: New Histories of Risk and Benefit,” published in University of Rochester Press.

Gary Taylor, Ph.D. (Department of English) had his book, “Textual Genealogies and Shakespeare’s History Plays,” published by the Cambridge University Press. It is available as an open-access title thanks to financial support from the FSU Library and the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.

S.E. Gontarski, Ph.D. (Department of English) had his book “The Anthem Beckett Studies Reader” published by Anthem Press and his book “Beckett Critical Reader” published in paperback by Edinburgh University Press.

Takemichi Okui, Ph.D. (Department of Physics) had his paper, “Monopole-Fermion Scattering and the Solution to the Semiton/Unitarity Puzzle,” selected as one of two high-energy physics theory papers for “Physics Review Letters Collection of the Year 2025.”

Cathy McClive, Ph.D. (Department of History) contributed the chapter “‘The ordinary terms of chest wounds’, or how to become a forensic surgical expert in early modern France: evidence from a seventeenth-century surgical corporation notebook” to the edited volume, “Learning to Cut: Surgical training and practice, 1450-1800” published with open access by University College London Press.

PRESENTATIONS

Rhiannon Paget, Ph.D. (The Ringling) presented “Dazzling East and West: Japanese Acrobats and the Making of a Transnational Japanese Spectacle” at the Norton Museum of Art.

Mark Zeigler (School of Communication) presented “Public Speaking and Professional Success” at the 2026 Young Professionals Summit hosted by the Tallahassee Chamber of Commerce.

Mark Zeigler (School of Communication) gave the opening keynote address at the North American Securities Administrators Association Brokers Training Conference in Orlando.

Alison Daechsel and Samantha Keller, (Division of University Advancement) presented “The Missing Link: Why Advancement Teams Need Event Operations” at the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education’s (CASE) Special Events conference in Chicago.

Whitney Powers and Zia Barnes, (Division of University Advancement) presented “Reimagining the Experience: Breathing New Life Into Advancement Events” at the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education’s (CASE) Special Events conference in Chicago.

Monique Wilkinson, MS, (Center for Prevention & Early Intervention Policy) represented the CPEIP at the One Goal Summer conference and highlighted the FSU 10 Components of Quality Care.

Mimi Graham, Ed.D. (Center for Prevention & Early Intervention Policy) presented on the impact of trauma in the criminal justice system at the Florida Association of Community Corrections Annual Training Institute.

Mirine Richey, DrPH, IBCLC, (Center for Prevention & Early Intervention Policy) led a two-day interactive learning workshop focused on supporting families and enhancing practice at the South Dakota Department of Health annual Pregnancy Care Program Conference.

Mimi Graham, Ed.D., and Valerie Dallas, MSW, LCSW, (Center for Prevention & Early Intervention Policy) attended and presented “Building a Trauma-Responsive Dependency/Child Welfare System” at the Zero to Three 20^th Annual Cross Sites Meeting.

Eundeok Kim, Ph.D. (Jim Moran College of Entrepreneurship) presented her paper “Implementing Regenerative Business Models and Strategies to Advance the Sustainable Development Goals” at the Transatlantic Symposium on Sustainable Development at the University of Murcia, Spain.

Annette Jones, Ph.D., Robert Fuselier, Liying Miao and Christopher Riley (Office of Digital Learning and Academic Technology) presented “Ctrl+Alt+Delete: Rebooting Pedagogy & Practice for Teaching with AI” at the University of Central Florida Teaching and Learning with AI conference at the Gaylord Convention Center in Orlando.

Jacob Eisler, J.D., Ph.D. (College of Law) presented at “The Future of the Dormant Commerce Clause: A Debate,” an event hosted by the Tallahassee Lawyer Chapter, with Florida Supreme Court Justice the Honorable Adam Tanenbaum.

Henry Wang, J.D., S.J.D. (College of Law) presented “Academic Career and Publishing” for faculty and students at the Durham Law School (U.K.).

Caitlyn Shanley (The John & Mable Ringling Museum of Art) presented “Inspiring Creativity: How Adding Teaching Artist Positions Transforms Community Programs” at the Association of Academic Museums and Galleries (AAMG) in Iowa City, Iowa.

Elizabeth Doud, Ph.D. (The John & Mable Ringling Museum of Art) presented “The Mermaid Gaze: Ecoperformance as Method and Praxis for Reimagining Human and More-Than-Human Futures” for the 2026 Conference of the International Platform of Doctoral Research in the Fields of Performing Arts and Cultural Management, “The Language of the Soul: Creativity, Theatre & the Art of Being Human,” at Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, Romania.

Shannon Hall-Mills, Ph.D. (College of Communication and Information) and doctoral student Claire Dolly, M.S. co-presented “AI Tools for Efficient Language Sample Analysis” to the annual convention of the Florida Association of Speech-Language Pathologists and Audiologists in West Palm Beach.

Shannon Hall-Mills, Ph.D. (College of Communication and Information) presented an invited webinar on “Ethical Leadership in CSD Careers” for the Leadership Development Program, sponsored by the Florida Association of Speech-Language Pathologists and Audiologists.

Delaney W. La Rosa, Ed.D., MSN Ed, RN (College of Nursing), presented “Centering Nursing in the AI Era” as the keynote speaker at the Baycare Research Conference 2026 in Clearwater, Florida.

Henna Budhwani, Ph.D., MPH, Lisa Hightow-Weidman, MD, MPH (College of Nursing) and Sylvie Naar, Ph.D. (College of Medicine), co-presented “Recommendations for HIV Testing Locations to Reach Youth and Emerging Adults: A Qualitative Study” podium presentation at the Sigma Nursing 37th International Nursing Research Congress in Toronto.

Henna Budhwani, Ph.D., MPH (College of Nursing), co-presented “Implementation Science Adaptation of a Digital Health Intervention to Address Maternal and Neonatal Health Outcomes in Cameroon” poster presentation at the Sigma Nursing 37th International Nursing Research Congress in Toronto.

Megan Buning, Ph.D. (Anne Spencer Daves College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences) and her husband Shaun Buning, a physical therapist and athletic trainer at Tallahassee Memorial Hospital presented to 70 to 80 people with Parkinson’s disease and their caregivers at Westminster Oaks in Tallahassee. Hosted by TMH, the presentation focused on how mental skills can help people with Parkinson’s and their caregivers manage the fear of falling.

Megan Crowe, M.S., Ed.S. (Career Center) co-presented the session “Catching the Wave of Prelaw Societies from a Centralized Advising Center” with pre-law advisors from Vanderbilt University and Auburn University at the 2026 Southern Association of Pre-Law Advisors Regional Conference.

Michon Ashmore (Career Center) presented “Building Bridges: Collaboration Between Career Services and Pre-Health Advising” at the 2026 National Association of Advisors for the Health Professions National Conference, highlighting FSU’s collaborative model between the Career Center and the Office of Pre-Health Advising.

Zduy Chu, Ed.D. (Office of the Vice President for Student Affairs) facilitated the discussion “Charting Senior Leader Learning Needs and Pathways” with vice presidents and associate vice presidents of student affairs for the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators.

Emma Massaglia (DSA Marketing and Communications) presented “Our Website is a Mess! Preparing for and Leading a Major University Website Redesign” at the 2026 eduWeb Summit Marketing and Web Conference.

Justin Hultman, Ed.D. (Career Center) and doctoral student Serena Bujtor presented a workshop using the CSI-Clarity Scale to create career decision-making models that explore resiliency and career choice at the National Career Development Association Conference.

Megan Crowe, M.S., Ed.S. (Career Center) has been invited by the Law School Admission Council (LSAC) to contribute recorded training modules. She also spoke at the August 2026 Newcomer Training for new pre-law advisors.

Tai Cole, Ed.D. and Savannah Collier, MSW (Stoops Center for Communities, Families, and Children) presented “From Crisis to Connection: A Multilevel Framework for Regulating Children, Families, and Systems” at the NASW national conference in Washington, D.C.

Tai Cole, Ed.D., and Savannah Collier, MSW (Stoops Center for Communities, Families, and Children), presented the poster “The Role of Social Workers in Strengthening Emotional Readiness for Kindergarten” at the NASW national conference in Washington, D.C.

Bruce Thyer, Ph.D. (College of Social Work), presented “How to use randomized experiments to evaluate social work practice outcomes,” a three-hour preconference workshop at the 7th International Conference on Practice Research, at Singapore University of Social Sciences.

Bruce Thyer, Ph.D. (College of Social Work), co-presented the plenary talk, “Publishing social work practice: Research and making an impact across borders” at the 7^th International Conference on Practice Research at Singapore University of Social Sciences.

Bruce Thyer, Ph.D. (College of Social Work), presented the plenary talk, “Successfully publishing in scholarly journals: It is easier than you think” at the 7^th International Conference on Practice Research at Singapore University of Social Sciences.

Vivian Ko Mills, Ph.D., and Kristine Posada, MSW (Florida Institute for Child Welfare/College of Social Work) and Kari Evans-Amula (FAMU-FSU College of Engineering) presented “Somatic training for frontline child welfare professionals pilot evaluation” at the Florida Coalition for Children annual conference in Charlotte Harbor, Florida.

Lauren Stanley, Ph.D. and Vivian Ko Mills, Ph.D. (Florida Institute for Child Welfare/College of Social Work) co-presented “The Florida Institute for Child Welfare’s Annual Workforce Survey 2025” at the Florida Coalition for Children annual conference in Charlotte Harbor, Florida.

Kelly Farquharson, Ph.D. (School of Communication Science & Disorders), Kathryn Cabbage, Ph.D. (Washington State University), Chris Schatschneider, Ph.D. (Department of Psychology), Mary Allison Moody, Ph.D. candidate (School of Communication Science & Disorders), and Alexis Moser, doctoral scholar (School of Communication Science & Disorders), presented “Phonological profiles of children with speech sound disorders: Preliminary data from one academic year” at the Society for the Scientific Study of Reading conference in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

Davis Houck, Ph.D. (School of Communication), joined a panel at the Tallahatchie Courthouse (site of the Emmett Till murder trial) in Sumner, Mississippi, as part of an annual one-week National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) workshop that covers the region’s rich and complicated history.

Lakeisha Johnson, Ph.D. (School of Communication Science & Disorders), was selected to present “I See Me in What I Read” at the Power of Print webinar series.

Ellen Nimmons, M.S., and Elizabeth Madden, Ph.D. (School of Communication Science & Disorders), presented “Empowering Individuals with Aphasia: Implementation and Outcomes of an ICAP” at the Florida Association of Speech-Language Pathologists and Audiologists (FLASHA) Convention in West Palm Beach.

Ruosi Shao, Ph.D. (School of Information), presented “Multi-Turn Reinforcement Learning with Verifiable Linguistic Rewards Improves Patient Communication Accessibility” at the AIM-AHEAD Consortium, a conference focused on artificial intelligence and machine learning within the healthcare field.

Debra Danforth, DNP (College of Medicine) presented “Taking OSCE on the ROAD: Application of Mobile Technology” at the 19^th annual Education Management Solution User Summit at Florida International University in Miami.

Lauren Harper, Ph.D. (College of Medicine) presented “Examining Set Shifting in Children with ADHD and Anxiety Disorders: A Replication and Extension Study” at the American Academy of Clinical Neuropsychology annual conference in Baltimore.

Christopher Mulrooney, Ph.D. (College of Medicine) was invited to be a panelist with World Health Organization researchers to present “The Longevity Summit: Living Longer, Living Better,” designed to bring a global lens to the urgent challenge of extending not just lifespan, but “healthspan.” He was also invited to present “Building Stronger State Coalitions: Partnerships, Sustainability, and Tools for Collective Impact” at the AgingIN National Conference in Denver.

Saanchi Shah, Ph.D. (College of Medicine) presented a poster titled “Sunshine Genetics: Genomic Newborn Screening in the Sunshine State” highlighting the Sunshine Genetics Pilot Program at the Southeast Regional Genetics Group annual meeting in Asheville, North Carolina.

Brenda Echeverri, M.S. (College of Medicine) presented a poster, “Evidence of Engagement and Adherence in mHealth Weight Management: Current Strengths and Challenges” at the American Society for Nutrition annual meeting near Washington, D.C.

Nicole Ennis, Ph.D., Sara Green, MSW, and Katie Kloss (College of Medicine) led a panel discussion, “Driving Human Subjects Research in a State of Change: Measurement, Recruitment, and Ethical Lessons Learned in a Cannabis and Open-Road Driving Performance Protocol,” at the 10th Annual Scientific Meeting of the Research Society on Marijuana in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Rebecca Giguere, MPH (College of Medicine), presented the poster, “Less is More: A Qualitative Examination of the Acceptability and Feasibility of a Gamified-Contingency Management Intervention,” at the 49th Annual Research Society on Alcohol Scientific Meeting in San Antonio, Texas.

Sylvie Naar, Ph.D. (College of Medicine), presented a poster at the International Association of Providers of AIDS Care (IAPAC) Continuum 2026 Conference in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Prince Addo, Ph.D. (College of Medicine), presented the poster, “Estimating the Causal Effects of Adolescent Health Behaviors on Future Cardiovascular Risk,” at the Society for Epidemiologic Research Annual Meeting in Phoenix.

Rafe Blaufarb, Ph.D. (Department of History) presented, “The Great Demarcation: The French Revolution and the Invention of Modern Property,” at the annual Markets and Governance: A Theoretical Appraisal Summer School conference in Frascati, Italy, sponsored by the University of Rome, Tor Vergata, and presented “La révolution constitutionnelle : le cahier de la noblesse d’Agen” (“The Constitutional Revolution: The Ledger of the Noblemen of the Agenois Region”) at a conference of the International Commission for the History of the French Revolution) in Port-Sainte-Marie, France.

Zina Ward, Ph.D. (Department of Philosophy) presented her paper, “Human Categorization and the Case for Cluster Theories of Kinds,” at the annual meeting of the Society for Philosophy and Psychology in Baltimore, Maryland.

David Newheiser, Ph.D. (Department of Religion) presented, “Disrupting Secular Sovereignty,” at the annual conference of the European Academy of Religion in Rome, Italy.

Eric Walker, Ph.D. (Department of English), presented, “Adoption, Wuthering Heights, and Prediction Markets,” at the 12th biennial conference of the Alliance for the Study of Adoption and Culture at the University of Leeds in Leeds, England.

E. Gontarski, Ph.D. (Department of English) delivered the keynote address, “Neural Circuitry, Information Transfer, and the Arts of Literature and Performance,” at the Beckett Research Group’s Between.PomiędzyFestival of Literature and Theatre in the Tricity region of Poland and delivered the invited plenary lecture, “‘Take Nirvana’ and The Zero Archive: Cuts, Archives, Media Systems and the Work of William S. Burroughs,” at the University of Arizona’s Arizona Quarterly Symposium in Tucson, Arizona.

Tarez Samra Graban, Ph.D. (Department of English) presented her paper, “Rhetoric and the Problematics of Citizenship in Africa in the 21st Century,” at the 11th Biennial African Association for Rhetoric Conference at the University of South Africa in Pretoria, South Africa.

Amy Baco-Taylor, Ph.D. (Department of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Science) was on the Environmental Baseline Conditions Panel and gave the invited talk, “Biology and Ecology of the Benthic Megafauna of Seamounts with a Focus on Critical Mineral-Rich Crusts,” at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine workshop, “A Research Strategy for Seabed Critical Mineral Resources” in Irvine, California.

Candace Ward, Ph.D. (Department of English) presented her paper “‘To Improve Their Condition’: Attitudes to Emigration in the Jamaican Colonial Press” and proposed and chaired the panel, “Labor Flows and Migration Debates in British Colonial Press Spaces, 1800-1914,” at the Research Society for Victorian Periodicals’ annual conference at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland.

Ronald E. Doel, Ph.D. (Department of History) presented “Interdisciplinarity as Cooperative Practice: Political Insights from American Science in the Long Twentieth Century” at the 72nd annual meeting of Deutsche Gesellschaft für Amerikastudien (the German Association for American Studies) in Münster, Germany and “Technoscience Diplomacy in Cold War Sub-Saharan Africa: How the International Geophysical Year Affected Ghana and Former British Colonies” at the Society for History of American Foreign Relations annual meeting in Columbus, Ohio. He also presented, “Transient Versus Permanent Institutions: Re-examining the Impact of the Second International Polar Year, 1932-33” at the annual meeting of the History of Science Society in Edinburgh, Scotland and, “Understanding the Global Oceans: Ways of Knowing in Fruitful Dialogue,” at the Ocean of Life seminar hosted at the University of the Ryukyus in Okinawa, Japan.

Dawn Iwamasa, Ph.D., CCLS, MT-BC; Lori Gooding, Ph.D., MT-BC; and Flor del Cielo Hernandez, Ph.D., MT-BC (College of Music) presented at the World Congress of Music Therapy 2026, sharing research and clinical insights with colleagues from around the globe. Through presentations as part of the FSU NICU Institute, research collaboration, and trauma-informed pedagogy, they demonstrated the collaborative leadership and scholarly rigor that defines the program, contributing to critical conversations shaping the future of music therapy.

Mary Matthews, DMA, and Karen Large, DM (College of Music) presented performances and educational workshops in Bulgaria and Austria this summer. As featured artists at the Sofia Art and Music Festival, they performed a double flute concerto with the Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra, presented a duo recital in the renowned Bulgaria Hall, and led a workshop on composing for the modern flute. They were also invited to the Vienna Contemporary Composers Festival in Austria, where they presented a duo recital at the historic Mozarthaus and were joined by FSU’s graduate flute ensemble for two ensemble performances at Ehrbar Saal and the Albertina Modern Art Museum.

Clifton Callender, Ph.D., (College of Music) presented “Automated harp pedaling: a graph-theoretical approach to pitch spelling and pedal settings” at the International Conference on Mathematics and Computation in Music, Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. The paper was published in Mathematics and Computation in Music by Springer.

EXHIBITIONS AND PERFORMANCES

Liliya Ugay, DMA, (College of Music) had works appear on two albums: Hammers Over the Moon on Clara Yang’s xmachina (Bright Shiny Things) and The Beautiful on Min Kwon’s America/Beautiful (Delos). Ugay’s contribution was featured on ASCAP’s “New Music Friday” list and her works also have been featured at the International Viola Society and International Double Reed Society Conferences.

Stephen Mattingly, DM (College of Music) gave performances, lectures and adjudication at the Singapore Guitar Festival, the Fifth Mahidol International Guitar Festival in Thailand, and the Guitar Foundation of America International Convention and Competition in Denver. Mattingly also taught and performed at the CCM Guitar Workshop in Cincinnati.

McKenna Stenson, DMA (College of Music) was featured as conference headliner and conductor of the 11/12 SATB Honor Choir at the Missouri Choral Directors Association. In addition to conducting the honor ensemble, she presented three professional development sessions at the conference.

Kevin Jones, DMA, and Bill Peterson, MM (College of Music) performed at the 2026 International Trombone Festival in Riga, Latvia.

SERVICE

Evan Eastman, Ph.D., (Herbert Wertheim College of Business) has been appointed as a senior editor at the Journal of Risk and Insurance.

Laurie Abbott, Ph.D., RN, CNE, DipACLM, PHNA-BC, FAAN (College of Nursing) will serve as an advisory panel member with the American Heart Association to assist in developing a new educational program called “Beyond LDL: Advancing Care in Triglyceride Management and Cardiovascular Risk.”

Zduy Chu, Ed.D. (Office of the Vice President for Student Affairs) was appointed to the Vice President of Student Affairs and Associate Vice Presidents Colleague Conversations Planning Committee for the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators.

Tracey Dowling (Career Center) was elected to serve as president of the Cooperative Education & Internship Association for 2026-27.

Michon Ashmore (Career Center) accepted an invitation to serve on the Pre-Health Abroad Advisory Committee of CEA CAPA Education Abroad, an international internship provider whose pre-health programs offer students opportunities abroad to shadow physicians and gain clinical exposure.

Hugh Catts, Ph.D. (School of Communication Science & Disorders), co-coordinated the Dyslexia Foundation Biannual Extraordinary Brain Symposium (XXII), entitled “Beyond Phonology: Reconsidering the Language Basis of Dyslexia.” The weeklong symposium took place in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Sylvie Naar, Ph.D. (College of Medicine), served as part of a multiple principal investigator team on the newly funded $1.6 million National Institutes of Health T32 training grant, “NURTURe (Nurse Scientists Using Research, Technology and AI to Uplift Resilient eHealth Outcomes).”

Alma B. Littles, M.D. (College of Medicine) has been installed as the 150^th president of the Florida Medical Association.

NOTABLE

Celia Reddick, Ph.D. (Learning Systems Institute) was part of a discussion panel hosted by the Journal of Education in Emergencies discussing Mobilizing an Effective, Equitable, & Just Data and Evidence Ecosystem for Education in Crisis and Conflict Contexts.

Vilma Fuentes, Ph.D. (Learning Systems Institute) led the inaugural Visiting Professor Partnership Program, which brought eight visiting scholars from four leading institutions in India to FSU’s Tallahassee campus for exploratory research collaborations.

Delaney W. La Rosa, Ed.D., MSN Ed, RN and Jean-Marc Wise, Ph.D. (College of Nursing), are co-authoring a book titled “Responsible AI in Health Professions Education: Learning Science, Equity, and Learning Design” scheduled for publication by Springer Nature in 2027. The subtitle is “A Pedagogy-First, Tool-Agnostic AI in Education Textbook for Educators.”

Charles Roop, MS (College of Nursing), has earned the Security+ certification from CompTIA, validating core expertise in cybersecurity and digital threat prevention and enhancing the college’s overall digital safety by bringing up-to-date threat-management strategies to its daily IT operations.

Nina Davis, MS (College of Nursing) has been appointed to the University of Florida Asian Alumni Board as the new programming director.

Nina Davis, MS (College of Nursing) was recently appointed to the planning committee for the 40th International Self-Directed Learning Symposium (ISDLS), an international conference that brings together scholars, practitioners and educators to advance the scholarship and practice of self-directed learning.

Justin Hultman, Ed.D. (Career Center) obtained the National Career Counselor certification awarded by the National Board for Certified Counselors.

Christy Mantzanas (Career Center) was one of 50 professionals who attended a weeklong immersive leadership experience at the National Association of Colleges & Employers Management Leadership Institute.

Patrick Merle, Ph.D. (School of Communication), completed the 2026 Scripps Howard Leadership Academy at Syracuse University.

Eric Holmes, Ph.D. and Gary Ostrander, Ph.D. (College of Medicine) were granted a patent for “Treatment of Human Coronavirus Infections using Alpha Glucosidase Glycoprotein Processing Inhibitors.”

Gregory Springer, Ph.D., (College of Music) was selected as editor-elect for the journal Update: Applications for Research in Music Education. Update is published by SAGE and is one of the National Association for Music Education’s refereed research journals. Springer will serve in the role of associate editor/editor-elect from 2026-28 and will assume the role of Editor for 2028-32.

Pamela Ryan, DMA, (College of Music) completed a residency at the conservatory “Claudio Monteverdi” in Bolzano, Italy which entailed viola masterclasses and a chamber music recital with works by Reger, Bartok, Berio, Kimber, and Cohen.

Michael Buchler, Ph.D., (College of Music) was one of three scholars selected to lead three days of workshops at the University of Liverpool Popular and Analysis Music Summer School. The event was co-sponsored by the Society for Music Analysis (UK) and the Institutes for Popular Music at both the University of Rochester (U.S.) and the University of Liverpool (U.K.). His workshops were on “Phrase, Form, and Passion in Musical Theatre.”

Genevieve Clarkson, DM, (College of Music) serves as lead tuba instructor with the Bluecoats Drum and Bugle Corps out of Canton, Ohio. In August, the Bluecoats completed an undefeated season, winning the Drum Corps International World Championships with their highest-ever score of 99.1.

Please send items for Faculty and Staff Briefs to tfordyce@fsu.edu. We publish monthly.

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For a generation of college students, 9/11 is history rather than memory.

As the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks approaches, most of today’s college students were not yet born when hijacked planes struck the World Trade Center and the Pentagon and a fourth crashed in Pennsylvania. At Florida State University, Professor of History Paul Renfro is helping students understand an event they did not experience firsthand but whose consequences have shaped much of their lives.

In his “U.S. in the 21st Century” course, Renfro uses firsthand accounts and online conversations from Sept. 11 to show students not only what happened, but how people experienced and made sense of the attacks in real time. Two important sources include the Columbia University 9/11 Oral History Project and the Metafilter community blog.

As the internet continued its rapid acceleration in 2001, Metafilter’s pioneering blog was flooded with user comments and speculation from the first moments of 9/11, offering a parallel to today’s social media world that also tends to circulate misinformation during extraordinary moments.

Renfro says these early-source documents and forums help to write historical events and understand real-time reaction.

“In that way, it’s not only a wonderful primary source document, it also kind of exemplifies how history is made, and how the first draft of history is written,” he said.

While there is no way for much of Gen Z, born between 1997 and 2012, to recollect the day, the aftermath is easier to understand. Renfro discusses how the memory of 9/11 has created broader foreign policy actions that are still felt today.

“I think that is where students kind of intervene, or they understand how that happened, because they do comprehend what the global war on terror has done; that’s something that has impacted their lives,” Renfro added. “As a single day, 9/11 is not something they’re going to be entirely familiar with.”

One of Renfro’s most salient points in educating his students about 9/11 is how national trauma can inform decision-making. He believes this is an outcome Gen Z can relate to based on traumatic events that have unfolded in recent years, referring to a history podcast he listens to that defines the immediate aftermath of 9/11 as a period of national psychosis.

“I think to a lot of students, that really resonates with them, not because they understand that feeling on a fundamental level, but they can see how that might happen,” Renfro said of nationwide terror. “That this fear and confusion can grip the country. That formula is something I really want them to understand, and I think they start to get it when they see that national trauma can sadly open the door for more trauma.”

Media interested in interviewing FSU Professor of History Paul Renfro on the path to 9/11 education for Gen Z can reach out to him via email at prenfro@fsu.edu.

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Two Florida State University teams have received 2026 Florida TaxWatch Government Productivity Awards for projects that strengthened child welfare training and reduced custodial costs at the university’s off-campus facilities.

The awards recognize public employees and organizations whose work saves money, improves efficiency and directly benefits Florida taxpayers.

This year, awards were presented to the Florida Institute for Child Welfare (FICW) for creating Florida’s first immersive child welfare learning laboratory and to a collaborative team led by FSU Facilities for restructuring custodial operations at the university’s off-campus facilities.

Both teams were honored during a ceremony at the Florida Historic Capitol Museum, joining state leaders and policymakers in celebrating projects that increased operational efficiency, modernized training and saved millions in public funds.

Strengthening Florida’s Child Welfare Workforce

The Florida Institute for Child Welfare earned recognition for its project, “Florida’s First Immersive Child Welfare Learning Lab.”

Child welfare professionals routinely make critical decisions that affect the safety and well-being of children and families. But because standalone simulation labs are costly, training programs across Florida have historically relied on traditional classroom instruction.

To address this challenge, FICW established Florida’s first centralized experiential learning lab. The facility offers professionally equipped simulation environments where child welfare professionals, students and community partners can practice key assessment, communication and decision-making skills before entering the field.

“We are incredibly honored to receive our first TaxWatch Government Productivity Award,” said Lisa Magruder, director of the Florida Institute for Child Welfare. “This recognition validates our commitment to developing innovative, evidence-informed solutions that strengthen Florida’s child welfare workforce.”

FICW also launched a virtual reality training network, deploying 195 VR headsets across 16 Florida Department of Children and Families (DCF) regional training sites and community-based care organizations. Centralized purchasing saved participating agencies about $292,500 in hardware costs and an estimated $800,000 in annual simulation licensing fees. In total, the shared-services model generated $1.09 million in direct cost avoidance and eliminated the need for separate training infrastructure across the state.

Between April and July 2026, the lab hosted more than 65 visitors during 10 events, supporting DCF preservice cohorts, Northwest Florida Health Network activities, legislative demonstrations and a site visit by Louisiana state officials exploring whether they could replicate the model.

“Through the creation of Florida’s first immersive child welfare learning lab, we have built a shared statewide resource that expands access to experiential learning, fosters collaboration and supports improved outcomes for children and families,” Magruder said. “We are deeply grateful to the Florida Legislature, Florida State University and our many partners whose support and shared vision helped make this achievement possible.”

Transforming Custodial Procurement for Off-Campus Operations

FSU Facilities, in collaboration with FSU Procurement, University Business Administrators and the FSU Research Foundation, received an award for “Beyond the Bid: Transforming Custodial Solutions for FSU’s Off-Campus Facilities.”

FSU manages nearly 400 buildings on its main Tallahassee campus using a centralized staffing model. The university also operates 33 geographically dispersed off-campus facilities, including specialized research laboratories, clinical medical suites and studio production spaces. These facilities require custom cleaning schedules, varying staffing levels and specialized security protocols.

Recognizing that a one-size-fits-all approach would not best serve these specialized facilities, the collaborative FSU team designed an Invitation to Negotiate process that allowed vendors to propose tailored solutions based on each building’s needs.

The new strategy gives vendors the flexibility to align staffing and schedules with daily operations, creating a model that can expand as the university grows.

The solicitation generated 34 competitive proposals, allowing the university to establish flexible contracts with clearly defined service expectations and minimize disruptions to patient care, active research and media production.

The resulting multiyear agreement reduces monthly custodial expenditures from about $138,000 to $97,500, saving approximately $485,000 annually. Over the initial five-year contract term, the university is on track to save more than $2.4 million, with total projected savings of as much as $3.6 million over nine years.

“We are honored to receive this TaxWatch Productivity Award, which highlights our team’s dedication to efficiency and responsible stewardship of university resources,” said Zach Newswanger, associate vice president for Facilities and chief facilities officer. “By rethinking how we support our off-campus facilities, we created a model that delivers millions in long-term savings while ensuring our faculty, researchers and students have the world-class environments they need to succeed.”

For more information about the Florida Institute for Child Welfare, visit the FICW website. To learn more about campus operations and services, visit the FSU Facilities website.

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Florida State University’s Maggie Allesee National Center for Choreography (MANCC) will welcome nationally recognized choreographers to campus this fall as the center resumes its artist residency program after a one-year hiatus. 

The fall lineup includes Fana Fraser, Kimberly Bartosik, and Joseph “MN Joe” Tran and Lisa “MonaLisa” Berman of BRKFST Dance Company. 

“We are excited to have artists back in the studio,” said MANCC Director Ansje Burdick. “Joining us from across the country, our fall artists are all in early developmental stages of creation as they explore human emotion and interior experiences, collaborate with dramaturgs, refine movement vocabularies and construct soundscapes.” 

MANCC is one of only two national choreographic centers housed at a university. Its location at FSU allows visiting artists to collaborate with scholars and researchers across disciplines and draw on the university’s specialized facilities as they develop new works in contemporary dance. 

MANCC tailors each residency to an artist’s creative process and stage of the work. Artists may experiment with movement alongside FSU School of Dance students, explore lighting design, construct set pieces or consult with academic experts across disciplines. 

The residencies give FSU School of Dance students access to nationally recognized choreographers and a look at how new works are developed.  

This fall, students can attend work-in-progress showings and open studio sessions, participate in movement experiments and engage directly with the artists. Read more about the visiting artists below:

Fana Fraser 

Artist, director and producer Fana Fraser returns to MANCC this month to begin developing a new project, “After the Fallow.” Fraser participated in MANCC’s Forward Dialogues laboratory program in 2017, and their dance films and live performances have since been featured at events and festivals around the world. During the residency, Fraser plans to work with dancers and dramaturgs to bring elements of their outdoor movement practice into the studio and share work in progress during an open studio.     

Kimberly Bartosik   

Guggenheim Fellowship-winning choreographer, performer and educator Kimberly Bartosik comes to MANCC for the first time in October to developher new work, “blood anchor,” which explores the complex power of blood relations and the epidemic of modern loneliness. During this early-stage residency, Bartosik will collaborate with three performers, a dramaturg and a lighting designer to explore the work’s emotional landscape and shape its visual design. 

BRKFST Dance Company  

Joseph “MN Joe” Tran and Lisa “MonaLisa” Berman, co-founders of the Minnesota-based BRKFST Dance Company, come to MANCC for the first time to develop an evening-length duet blending breaking, improvisation and partnering. The work explores how connections to oneself, the body andrelationships evolve during trauma. It draws from Berman’s experience as a two-time cancer survivor and Tran’s experience supporting her through her treatment. Tran and Berman are recipients of the 2026 McKnight Choreography Fellowship, and their MANCC residency was supported by funds from the McKnight Choreography Fellowship program, administered by Springboard for the Arts and funded by the McKnight Foundation. 

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Throughout his career, John Barnhill has felt called to do one thing: help people.

Barnhill joined Florida State’s academic admissions team in December 1978 and has supported thousands of students as they made one of the most important decisions of their lives. After 48 years at FSU, a funny thing has started to happen: Some of the students he’s meeting look very familiar.

“I’m serving the children of students that I admitted,” Barnhill said. “That’s special.”

Barnhill’s path toward enrollment management began at Florida Southern College. There, he worked as a resident assistant and gave admissions tours while pursuing a degree in psychology. He then enrolled at Emory University’s Candler School of Theology with plans to become a minister but later changed course.

After two years working in admissions at Andrew College in Cuthbert, Georgia, Barnhill came to FSU, where he earned a Master of Science in history and philosophy of education while working full time in the admissions office and spreading what he calls the “gospel of education.”

As he settled into Florida State, Barnhill came to appreciate the nurturing environment the university creates for students. “It fit with exactly what I wanted to do,” he said, “which is to help people.”

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Florida State University has launched the FSU Humanities Center within the College of Arts and Sciences, establishing an interdisciplinary hub to advance humanities research and expand the field’s visibility across the university and beyond.

Led by its founding director, John Corrigan, the Lucius Moody Bristol Distinguished Professor of Religion and Professor of History, the center aims to encourage collaboration and innovation by exploring questions about the historical, intellectual and cultural dimensions of the human experience. It will also help prepare students for careers in fields including law, education, writing, communications and public service.

“The Humanities Center reflects the legacy of FSU’s commitment to the advancement of the humanities,” said FSU President Richard McCullough. “I am especially grateful to John Corrigan for his leadership in bringing this center to life and to Provost Jim Clark and College of Arts and Sciences Dean Sam Huckaba for their commitment to making this a reality. We are creating new opportunities for faculty, students, staff and the community to collaborate, pursue important research and further strengthen the humanities at FSU.”

Affiliated units include FSU’s Departments of Classics, English, History, Modern Languages and Linguistics, Philosophy and Religion in the College of Arts and Sciences; Art History and Theatre and Performance Research in the College of Fine Arts; and the Musicology program along with Music Theory and Composition in the College of Music. The center will support four FSU faculty fellows, six dissertation fellows pursuing doctoral degrees from FSU humanities departments, 15 undergraduate fellows pursuing honors theses or other humanities research projects, and four postdoctoral fellows serving two-year residencies.

Researchers in the FSU Humanities Center will unite their efforts around a central theme that runs on a two-year cycle. The theme for 2026-2027 is “The Human in the Humanities,” which explores what it means to be human amid the rise of artificial intelligence and the discoveries of neuroscience and genetics, and what ethical behavior and the “good life” look like in this new technological era. The fellows’ collaborative work may result in books, exhibitions, reports, extended articles, websites or other public expressions of their research.

“Establishing this center has long been a goal of our faculty members, and it will showcase the research excellence and scholarly productivity of FSU’s humanities programs.”

— Sam Huckaba, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences

“Establishing this center has long been a goal of our faculty members, and it will showcase the research excellence and scholarly productivity of FSU’s humanities programs,” Huckaba said. “I appreciate the efforts of the Humanities Center Task Force in developing this bold proposal and President McCullough and Provost Jim Clark for their support in turning it into reality.”

The new center is also a member of the Consortium of Humanities Centers and Institutes, a global forum that supports hundreds of humanities centers and institutes through advocacy, funding opportunities and fostering collaboration. Membership connects FSU faculty and students with a network of humanities scholars and provides opportunities for partnerships and engagement with other humanities centers and institutes around the world.

“The Humanities Center rests on the premise that good things happen when people from different disciplines share their ideas about what it means to be human,” Corrigan said. “Our vision is to create a place where researchers in the humanities at FSU, as well as the public, can engage in interdisciplinary conversation and equally find ways to strengthen their expertise in their areas of study.”

By partnering with university, cultural, social and governmental organizations, the center also aims to expand its work beyond campus. It will host a series of lectures and events open to the public throughout the academic year, culminating in an annual international conference in February that explores the current theme. The conference will feature a keynote address by Blair LM Kelley, the president and director of the National Humanities Center, a nonprofit institute founded in 1978 with the mission of supporting scholars whose work helps expand knowledge and shape our understanding of the world we inhabit.

“It is a great time for the humanities to increase their visibility and emphasize the career paths open for those in this field ­— from roles like journalists, teachers, government and NGO employees, and consultants, to lawyers, business entrepreneurs, public relations professionals and more,” Corrigan said. “At the same time, the humanities will continue to do what they have always done, which is to prompt students to think creatively and critically about who they are, what the human is, and what it means to be a good citizen, friend and person.”

To learn more about the FSU Humanities Center, visit humanities.fsu.edu.

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Moving quickly to implement a top strategic priority, the Herbert Wertheim College of Business at Florida State University has announced the official launch of its Business of Healthcare Initiative.

In alignment with FSU Health, the initiative applies the college’s world-class strengths in research, teaching and industry engagement to address the Florida healthcare sector’s complex operational challenges arising from an aging population, rising costs and escalating prevalence of long-term chronic conditions, among other factors.

Michael D. Hartline, dean of the college, emphasized the initiative’s three prongs, which he said aim to bolster healthcare knowledge, business partnerships and, importantly, student employment and success:

• Scholarly research, led by Patricia H. Born, Ph.D., the college’s new Herbert Wertheim Chair in Health Systems Operations.
• Industry engagement, led by Patricia Kenney, Doctor of Nursing Practice, the college’s new Herbert Wertheim Chair in Healthcare Workforce Leadership.
• Industry programming, led by Caroline Poole, MPA, the college’s director of business development and strategic partnerships.

“The Herbert Wertheim College of Business is uniquely prepared to address the growing demands of healthcare, and these three individuals are exceptionally equipped to lead this pivotal initiative,” Hartline said. “We embrace this extraordinary opportunity to elevate our scholarly impact, strengthen our regional industry footprint and shape the future of healthcare in Northwest Florida and beyond.”

The Business of Healthcare Initiative continues the Wertheim College’s growing emphasis on including healthcare in its programming and curriculum. That includes the Business of Healthcare Summit, launched in 2024, and a recently launched Online Master of Business Administration with a Major in Healthcare Administration, plus several graduate specializations in healthcare.

The new initiative stems from a commitment by Dr. Herbert Wertheim, whose recent $65 million philanthropic investment named the college and the Herbert Wertheim Center for Business Excellence and, among other things, earmarked endowed funds for the new faculty posts, including those of Born and Kenney. Dr. Wertheim, a billionaire optometrist, inventor, businessman, philanthropist and the founder and president of Brain Power Inc., said he made the extraordinary investment in part to advance innovation in healthcare.

“Dr. Wertheim’s vision is exactly what the healthcare industry and our communities need, and I think training FSU business students to fill the gaps in the healthcare business workforce is essential,” Kenney said.

“Dr. Wertheim’s vision is exactly what the healthcare industry and our communities need, and I think training FSU business students to fill the gaps in the healthcare business workforce is essential.” 

– Patricia Kenney, Herbert Wertheim Chair in Healthcare Workforce Leadership.

Underscoring expertise from across the college, Born added that the initiative “gives us an opportunity to move beyond traditional disciplinary boundaries, tackle some of the most consequential questions facing healthcare and generate research that can improve both the performance of the healthcare system and the lives of the people it serves.”

The project aligns with FSU Health, an integrated system that now includes Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare and brings together hospitals, physicians, clinics, research, education and innovation to improve the health of the communities the university serves, including rural and other underserved areas. The university-wide effort comes amid healthcare workforce shortages, a rapidly aging population and proliferation of AI. The university’s initiative includes establishing an academic health system and, in partnership with TMH, constructing new facilities in Tallahassee and Panama City Beach.

Here are details on the three prongs of the initiative:

Scholarly research

This segment, led by Born, focuses on academic collaboration among the Wertheim College, other FSU colleges, and health-focused schools and colleges Dr. Wertheim has named in Florida and California.

Hartline emphasized Born’s background as “a high-impact” scholar whose “profound expertise in health economics and managed-care finance aligns with the chair’s mission to drive continuous improvement within healthcare systems.”

Born said the Wertheim College has identified about two dozen faculty members across all business disciplines who conduct empirical research, publish peer-reviewed studies or maintain advanced educational specializations in health or healthcare-related fields. She said she’s embarking on conversations with those faculty members about their plans for additional health-related research and “how they’d like to participate in this initiative.”

Born said the college’s research examines how business decisions, market forces, technology, regulation and organizational practices shape the cost, access, quality, sustainability and delivery of healthcare “while also addressing the financial and human challenges facing healthcare organizations and their workforces.”

She added: “I am excited to learn from one another, identify new opportunities for collaboration, and build on our collective strengths to realize our full potential.”

Industry engagement

This segment, led by Kenney, who has spent 12 years as executive director at TMH, builds connections with the regional healthcare industry and cultivates partnerships to support faculty research and secure sponsorships, grants and philanthropic investments. Also, it will establish career pathways for Wertheim College students, particularly those in its various graduate healthcare majors and specializations. This includes internships, project collaborations and job placements.

Hartline hailed Kenney, whose academic background includes an MBA in Healthcare Administration and a master’s degree in nursing/family nurse practitioner, for her “extensive blend of executive healthcare experience, academic engagement and specialized leadership training.”

At TMH, she has overseen the Office of Nursing Engagement and the Office of Patient Experience.

Kenney said she embraces her role as a “strategic liaison and regional healthcare representative” who will “help to identify, develop and coordinate any avenues that we can use for collaboration among the Wertheim College, FSU Health and other organizations to support the mission of the Business of Healthcare Initiative.”

Ultimately, she added, “we want to create mutually beneficial connections to serve and provide for the healthcare needs of our communities.”

Industry programming

This component, led by Poole, emphasizes industry conferences, forums and summits to build “a dynamic bridge,” as Hartline calls it, connecting the college to senior executives, policymakers, pioneering researchers and students.

Hartline credited Poole for her work to help elevate the annual Business of Healthcare Summit as “the marquee event to position the college as a premier intellectual hub and a catalyst for industry-wide solutions.”

Poole said she aims to establish additional events that attract physicians and other healthcare providers who increasingly seek to embrace the business side of the industry.

“It’s important for healthcare professionals to understand the operations and the pitfalls, including the organizational challenges, of running a healthcare institution and making everything run smoothly,” she said.

She noted that healthcare innovation stood as a focus of the recent Tallahassee Chamber of Commerce Community Conference at Amelia Island, Florida. FSU Health served as the presenting sponsor.

Poole added, referring to Hartline’s emphasis on the Business of Healthcare Initiative: “I’m excited that the college has jumped in with both feet to lead this effort for the betterment of our faculty, staff, students and communities in North Florida and beyond.”

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Six early-career faculty members at Florida State University have earned the prestigious National Science Foundation CAREER Award, one of the federal agency’s most competitive honors.

“These prestigious awards underscore the National Science Foundation’s confidence in the extraordinary promise of our faculty and their capacity to advance discovery on a national scale,” said Vice President for Research Stacey S. Patterson. “Across a range of fields, their work reflects the depth of talent, ambition and innovation that define Florida State University’s research enterprise.”

The Faculty Early Career Development Program, known as CAREER, supports early-career faculty who serve as academic role models in research and education and lead advances in the mission of their department or organization. The award recognizes researchers who are building a strong foundation for lifelong leadership in integrating education and research.

Each CAREER award provides five years of grant funding to support faculty members’ research while expanding educational opportunities and research mentoring for graduate and undergraduate students.

The six faculty members are from the departments of Computer Science, Biological Science and Physics, all part of the College of Arts and Sciences. Sam Huckaba, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, said the college continues to cultivate a robust research culture by attracting top talent across disciplines.

“The College of Arts and Sciences has intentionally recruited outstanding early-career faculty, and seeing six of our scholars recognized with CAREER awards affirms the strength of that approach,” Huckuba said. “We are immensely proud of these faculty members and congratulate them on this accomplishment.”

Recognized Faculty Members

The Florida State University assistant professors recognized with NSF CAREER Awards are:

• Michael Gubanov — Assistant Professor, Department of Computer Science
• Cyprian Lewandowski — Assistant Professor, Department of Physics
• Douglas Storace — Assistant Professor, Department of Biological Science
• Amy Webster — Assistant Professor, Department of Biological Science
• Xiaonan Zhang — Assistant Professor, Department of Computer Science
• Kai Zhao — Assistant Professor, Department of Computer Science

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Florida State University has reached a new milestone in student success, with a record 82% of its students graduating in four years, the highest four-year graduation rate ever achieved in the State University System of Florida. 

The new four-year graduation rate represents a four-percentage-point jump from last year’s record of 78%. Using the most recent publicly available data, FSU’s Office of Institutional Research projects the new rate would tie the University of Michigan at No. 7 among public universities nationally. 

FSU also maintained its record six-year graduation rate and set a new record for the graduation rate of students who transfer to the university from the Florida College System. 

“An 82% four-year graduation rate is an extraordinary achievement and a new record for FSU and the State University System of Florida,” said FSU President Richard McCullough. “We have been very intentional about investing in student success, from advising and academic support to scholarships and other resources that help students stay on track. I could not be prouder of our students or the faculty and staff whose commitment to them has made FSU one of the very best public universities in the country.” 

“An 82% four-year graduation rate is an extraordinary achievement and a new record for FSU and the State University System of Florida. We have been very intentional about investing in student success, from advising and academic support to scholarships and other resources that help students stay on track. I could not be prouder of our students or the faculty and staff whose commitment to them has made FSU one of the very best public universities in the country.” 

– FSU President Richard McCullough

FSU’s four-year graduation rate has climbed nine percentage points in five years, from 73% in 2021 to a record 82% today. 

Graduating students on time has become a hallmark of FSU’s focus on student success. Finishing a degree in four years allows students to enter the workforce or pursue graduate education sooner while avoiding the additional costs associated with extra semesters in college. 

FSU maintained its six-year graduation rate of 86%, which continues to be a university record. 

Transfer students are setting records as well. FSU’s three-year graduation rate for students who transfer with an associate in arts degree from a Florida College System institution reached a record of nearly 85%, the highest in the State University System of Florida. 

The new transfer rate builds on a record 80% rate last year and reflects FSU’s growing emphasis on helping transfer students make a smooth transition to the university and stay on track toward graduation. 

“I’m deeply grateful to all the faculty and staff across FSU who work to provide a world-class education to our students,” said Joe O’Shea, vice president for Student Academic Success. “This remarkable new record reflects our university-wide commitment to academic excellence and holistic student support, shown through our investments in advising, teaching, scholarships and programming that help students reach their full potential.”

FSU’s student success strategy relies on a culture of data engagement, where faculty and staff leverage advanced analytics to track student progress continuously across campus and identify early signs that a student may be at risk of falling behind. That information helps university leaders target investments that can help students stay on track to graduate in four years. 

Nearly a decade ago, FSU established the Graduation Planning and Strategies Office, which has improved graduation efficiency and helps students overcome barriers to graduation through its completion campaign. In 2022, this effort earned the Outstanding Advising Program Award from the National Academic Advising Association. 

McCullough created the Office of the Vice President for Student Academic Success in 2025 to bring together and strengthen efforts to recruit, retain and graduate an accomplished student body. 

The latest graduation numbers add to a series of record-setting student success measures at Florida State. The university has achieved a 97% first-year retention rate, placing it among the top four public universities nationally. 

The results also come as demand for an FSU education reaches an all-time high. Florida State received nearly 97,000 applications for its fall 2026 freshman class, the largest applicant pool in university history. 

FSU’s record graduation rates, high student retention and record demand reflect the university’s continued gains in student success and its growing standing among the nation’s leading public universities. 

“Our goal is not simply to bring outstanding students to Florida State,” McCullough said. “It is to give them an outstanding education and help them graduate ready to lead, serve and succeed. Our graduation rate says something powerful about the experience we are providing, and we’re not done yet.” 

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The Florida State University Police Department (FSUPD) and Tallahassee Police Department (TPD) are working together to provide a safe and enjoyable experience for the thousands of fans who will visit Tallahassee during the 2026 college football season. 

With both FSU and Florida A&M hosting home games throughout the fall, motorists should expect increased traffic, temporary road closures and modified traffic patterns around both campuses. 

This season, FSU and FAMU will host home games on the same day three times: Saturday, Aug. 29; Saturday, Sept. 26; and Saturday, Oct. 31. On these days, motorists should anticipate heavier traffic around both campuses and the downtown area, particularly along Tennessee Street, Pensacola Street, South Monroe Street, Gaines Street, Lake Bradford Road and Orange Avenue. Fans are encouraged to arrive early and allow additional travel time. 

FSU Gameday Traffic 

Before FSU home games, fans are encouraged to use the following roadways to access parking on and around campus: 

• From the north: Stadium Drive for parking west of Doak Campbell Stadium or Macomb and Bronough streets to Pensacola Street for parking east of the stadium. 

• From the east: Pensacola Street for parking east of the stadium and Gaines Street for parking west of the stadium. 

• From the west: Pensacola or Tennessee streets to Stadium Drive for parking west of the stadium, or Tennessee Street to Macomb Street for parking east of the stadium. 

• From the south: Lake Bradford Road. 

Traffic signals along Pensacola Street between Duval Street and Chieftan Way will be set to flash before the game to give priority to westbound traffic traveling toward Doak Campbell Stadium. TPD officers will be on post along this route three hours before kickoff, and traffic signals at intersections near Doak Campbell Stadium may be controlled by TPD as many as six hours before the game. 

Motorists traveling through the area who are not headed to the game should expect delays, particularly along Macomb and Copeland streets. When possible, motorists are encouraged to use Ocala Road and Monroe Street for north-south travel to avoid pre-game traffic. 

After the game, Pensacola Street east of the stadium will be modified to flow one-way for eastbound traffic only, away from the stadium. St. Augustine Street/W. Madison Street between Varsity Drive and South Monroe Street will also flow one-way eastbound toward Apalachee Parkway. 

To give fans priority in leaving the area after the game, northbound traffic will not be allowed on Springhill Road/Lake Bradford Road from Levy Avenue to Gaines Street, nor will southbound traffic be allowed on Stadium Drive from Tennessee Street.  

Motorists traveling through the area should expect delays due to the traffic control pattern from some time in the fourth quarter until about one hour after the end of the game (weather delays not included), especially along Macomb, Copeland, Duval, Bronough and Monroe streets. Motorists hoping to avoid post-game traffic, especially for north-south travel, are advised to use Ocala Road and Monroe Street. 

Plan Ahead 

Fans attending games are encouraged to arrive early, allow additional time for travel and follow the directions of law enforcement officers managing traffic. 

Motorists not attending a game should also plan ahead and consider alternate routes, particularly on Aug. 29, Sept. 26 and Oct. 31, when both universities will host home games. 

SeminoleSafe App 

The SeminoleSafe App is the official mobile safety tool of Florida State University. Fans can refer to the SeminoleSafe App under tab GAME DAY GUIDE for real-time updates and additional information for home football games from direct turn-by-turn directions to their designated Booster or general parking lot, clear bag policy and instructions, prohibited items inside the stadium and real-time weather data on campus. 

For more Football Game Day information, visit Seminoles.com. 

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Florida State University is one of the nation’s top 20 public universities in TIME’s inaugural ranking of America’s Best Colleges.

FSU ranked No. 17 among public universities and No. 53 overall in the 2026-2027 ranking, which places a strong emphasis on student outcomes and the value of a college education.

“Florida State is one of the most sought-after universities in America, and this new ranking confirms that we deliver exceptional value and outstanding results,” President Richard McCullough said. “We are competing with the best public universities in the nation, and we intend to keep climbing.”

TIME partnered with the research firm Statista to evaluate colleges based on student outcomes, learning environment and attractiveness to prospective students. The ranking includes the 500 institutions with the highest overall scores.

Student outcomes account for 75% of each university’s score. That category considers graduation rates, graduates’ earnings and return on education. TIME measures return on education by estimating how long it takes a graduate’s earnings advantage to offset the cost of attendance.

Florida State earned an overall score of 82.93. FSU received a score of 88.06 for student outcomes and 92.92 for attractiveness, a measure based on admission rates and enrollment yield that reflects how strongly students seek to attend an institution.

That demand is reflected in FSU’s record pool of nearly 97,000 applicants for fall 2026, a 233% increase over the past decade. The university welcomed about 6,000 new freshmen this fall, selected from one of the most competitive applicant pools in its history. The admitted class has an average high school GPA of 4.5, an average SAT score of 1430 and an average ACT score of 32. Ninety-two percent graduated in the top 10% of their high school classes, and 25% are the first in their families to attend college.

The ranking also adds to FSU’s record of strong student outcomes. FSU has a 97% first-year retention rate, placing it among the top four universities in the nation; a 78% four-year graduation rate; and an 86% six-year graduation rate.

“Demand for an FSU education has never been stronger, and our students succeed at rates that place us among the nation’s very best universities,” McCullough said. “Students want to be here because FSU offers an exceptional education, an unforgettable college experience and a clear path to a successful future.”

TIME and Statista used data from the U.S. Department of Education’s Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System and College Scorecard, along with state earnings data from the U.S. Census Bureau. The analysis relied on the most recent data available as of April 2026 and generally averaged four years of data to reduce annual fluctuations.

The complete ranking and methodology are available on TIME’s website.

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