The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) at Florida State University is offering registration for its spring 2026 courses, with an enriching program tailored for adults who love to learn in a stress-free environment.

OLLI at FSU offers learners over 50 a wealth of opportunities to explore the world through classes and activities tailored to their needs. Classes are stress-free with no grades, tests or required reading. There are no education prerequisites for membership or class registration.

Some current course offerings include:

• Aliens! It’s (Almost) Never Aliens
• The Mad Hatter’s Tea Party
• European Operetta and American Musical Theater: A Comparison
• Evolution and Human Sexuality
• German Genius: Jeans, Teddy Beats and Porcelain
• Rats, Bats and Squirrels, Oh My
• The Beauty and Magic of Chess
• The Universe: Quantum Reality
• This Week’s “New Yorker,” Cartoons and All
• U.S. Immigration Policy

Enrolled students will learn more about their health, build language skills, explore science and technology, as well as examine a broad swath of history, the arts, athletics, current events and issues and more. Instructors typically serve as faculty of institutions of higher education, along with subject experts.

Highlighting OLLI’s 35th anniversary this year, the semester also offers the premiere of OLLI’s Distinguished Professor Lecture Series, featuring Eoin Devlin, a distinguished professor visiting from Cambridge University, England. Devlin will offer his expertise in political, cultural and diplomatic aspects of 20th century British history through four lectures the week of Feb. 17-20.

Registration is open now at olli.fsu.edu for 1-, 2-, 3- and 6-week classes in-person on the FSU campus and Westminster Oaks retirement community, as well as other locations, or via Zoom, which allows students to attend classes remotely. Some classes are hybrid — available in person and on Zoom. Classes run from Monday, Feb. 23, through Thursday, April 9.

For more information about OLLI at FSU and how to become a member and register for classes, visit olli.fsu.edu. Need help? Contact Deb Herman at dherman@fsu.edu or Stefanie Hartsfield at stefanie.hartsfield@fsu.edu.

The post OLLI at Florida State University offers courses, lecture series for lifelong learners this spring 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

Sladjana Lukic, Ph.D. (School of Communication Science and Disorders) was awarded the National Institutes  of Health / National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences K12 Multidisciplinary Program Career Development Award for her project “Neurolinguistic Investigations of Aphasia and Typical Language Processing.” The project aims to compare different speech elicitation methods in capturing key linguistic variables across core language processing domains and explore their neural correlates to improve diagnosis in people with post-stroke and primary progressive aphasias.

Alicia Craig-Rodriguez, DNP, MBA, APRN, FNP-BC, DIPACLM (College of Nursing) was awarded Fellow status by the American College of Lifestyle Medicine in recognition of her outstanding achievement in the field of lifestyle medicine and her exceptional dedication to advancing the mission of the college.

Celia Reddick, Ph.D. (Learning Systems Institute) was awarded a 2026-28 Jacobs Canadian Institute for Advanced Research Fellowship. The program supports researchers whose work advances understanding of how children and youth learn and develop across contexts and systems.

Elizabeth McQueen, Ph.D. (School of Theatre) received the Cambridge University Press Prize at the American Society for Theatre Research annual conference in Denver for her plenary paper “Changing Taste: The Performance of Terroir in the Illicit Gin Assemblies.”

Yushun Dong, Ph.D. (Department of Computer Science) was awarded the BlueSky Track Second Prize at the 2025 Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE) International Conference on Data Mining for his paper “Navigating Between Explainability and Extractability in Machine Learning as a Service” which identified fundamental tension in modern machine learning systems.

Jamie Ho, MFA (Department of Art) was named this year’s Fellowship International Award Recipient by Silver Eye Center for Photography.

Aaron C. Thomas, Ph.D. (School of Theatre) was recognized with the Publishing Subvention Award for his new book “The Violate Man: Male/Male Rape in the American Imagination” at the American Society for Theatre Research annual conference in Denver.

Charles E. Brewer, Ph.D. (College of Music) is a co-recipient of the American Musicological Society’s  2025 Noah Greenberg Award for the project “ReSounding Habsburg Balletti.”

Shannon Staten, Ph.D. (University Housing) was awarded the 2025 Florida Housing Officers Impact Award by the Florida Housing Officers Association. Staten was also recognized by the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Housing Directors for her 12 years of service and dedication to the athletes of the ACC.

Aimée Boutin, Ph.D. (Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics) received the Modern Language Association -EBSCO Collaboration for Information Literacy Prize for her collaborative work in creating the FSU course, FRT 3503 Paris World Capital, presented at the Modern Language Association convention in Toronto, Canada.

Amber Ward, Ph.D. (Department of Art Education) was awarded a full year sabbatical in 2026/27 to advance her craft-oriented research.

GRANTS

Elizabeth Madden, Ph.D. (School of Communication Science and Disorders) is a co-investigator on a newly awarded High Priority, Short Term project (R56) grant from the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders working on the research project “Evidence-Based Modeling Approaches to Customizing Treatments for Acquired Dyslexia.”

Christopher Solís, Ph.D. (Department of Health, Nutrition, and Food Sciences) is a co-awardee in a Networking Mini-Grant sponsored by the Biophysical Society. This grant will help organize the networking event at FSU entitled “The Exhaustive Chase: Investigation of Striated Muscle Regulation in Health and Disease.”

Lisa Hightow-Weidman, M.D., MPH, Casey D. Xavier Hall, Ph.D., MPH, Eugenia Flores Millender, Ph.D., R.N., PMH-APRN, FAAN, FAANP, Frank “Frankie” Y. Wong, Ph.D. and Jean-Marc Wise, Ph.D. (College of Nursing) were awarded a $2,277,208.00 million Food and Drug Administration (FDA) research and development contract for the project “Modernizing and Decentralizing Clinical Trials with AI, Digital Health, and Community-Driven Innovation to Deliver Better Health for All Americans.

BYLINES

Thayumanasamy Somasundaram, Ph.D. (Institute of Molecular Biophysics) and David S. Butcher, Ph.D. (National High Magnetic Field Laboratory) published “Regional and National Shared Research Resources: Challenges and Opportunities” in the Journal of Biomolecular Techniques.

Braidyn Lazenby, Ph.D. (College of Communication and Information) published “Informal Caregiver Uncertainty: Exploring the Presence of Uncertainty in Eating Disorder Reddit Posts” in the Journal of Eating Disorders.

Shannon Hall-Mills, Ph.D. and Lakeisha Johnson (School of Communication Science and Disorders) co-published a research article based on their seed grant from FSU-CRC titled “The KASE for Telepractice” in the Journal of Communication Disorders.

David E. Landau, J.D., Ph.D. (College of Law) co-authored the article “The Democratic Minimum Core” for the Democracy Project by NYU Law.

Brian G. Slocum, J.D., Ph.D. (College of Law) co-published “Pragmatic Textualism” in the Duke Law Journal.

Melba Marin-Velasquez, Ph.D. (Learning Systems Institute) authored “A Flight of Imagination into Temazcal Relationality: A Journey Into Research as a More Relational Process with Community Knowledge Co-Creators” in Departures in Critical Qualitative Research.

Colleen Ganley, Ph.D. (Learning Systems Institute) co-authored the article “Girls and Boys Solve Math Problems Differently — With Similar Short-Term Results but Different Long-Term Outcome”  published in The Conversation.

Rob Schoen, Ph.D. (Learning Systems Institute) co-authored the article “Effects of a Professional Development Program on Teacher Beliefs about Mathematics Teaching and Learning After One and Two Years: An Experimental Study” published in Teaching and Teacher Education.

Setor K. Sorkpor, Ph.D., MPH, MSN, RN, Ibrahim Yigit, Ph.D. and Yijiong Yang, Ph.D., MHA (College of Nursing) co-authored “Experienced and Anticipated HIV-Related Stigma and Depression Among Pregnant and Postpartum Women Living with HIV in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana: The Role of Internalized HIV Stigma in BMC Public Health Examining HIV-Related Stigma and Depressive Symptoms Among Pregnant and Postpartum Women Living with HIV” in BMC Public Health.

Yang Wang, Ph.D. (Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Science) co-authored the paper “Diets and Environments of Late Pleistocene Pygmy and Columbian Mammoths: Isotopic Evidence from Southern California” published in PLOS ONE.

Terri Bourus, Ph.D. (Department of English) authored the chapter “Theatrical Environments” in the book “Oxford Handbook of Shakespeare and Early Modern Authorship.”

Jeff Chanton, Ph.D. (Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Science) co-authored “Drought-induced Peatland Carbon Loss Exacerbated by Elevated CO2 and Warming” which focuses on peatland carbon cycle changes, published in volume 390 of Science. Chanton also co-authored “A Climatically Significant Abiotic Mechanism Driving Carbon Loss and Nitrogen Limitation in Peat Bogs” which focuses on abiotic carbon loss and nitrogen limitation in peat bogs, published in volume 15 of Scientific Reports.

Gary Taylor, Ph.D. (Department of English) authored the chapter “The Politics of Attribution” in the book “Oxford Handbook of Shakespeare and Early Modern Authorship.”

Charles Upchurch, Ph.D. (Department of History) authored “Researching the History of the Southern Conference on British Studies” at the request of the North American Conference on British Studies as a part of the celebrations of the NACBS’s 75th anniversary.

David Newheiser, Ph.D. (Department of Religion) co-authored “Art-Making as Spiritual Practice” and was interviewed on the New Books Network podcast episode “New Books in Secularism.”

Qiuchang (Katy) Cao, Ph.D. (College of Social Work) co-authored “Exploring the Implementation Functions of Older Adults’ Participation in Age-Friendly Community Initiatives,” presented at the Society for Social Work and Research Annual Conference in Washington, DC.

Stanley Gontarski, Ph.D. (Department of English) had his essay, “Who Wrote Godot?, or Beckett’s Bad Quartos” published in volume 11 of Skenè: Journal of Theatre and Drama Studies, “What Is the Word: Late Beckett Throbbing Between Drama and Poetry.” He also had his article “A Theatre of Boredom and Theatrical Distrust (André Gregory, Chekhov and Beckett)” published in The Theatre Times.

Kaela Byers, Ph.D. (College of Social Work) co-authored the poster “Putting Families First: Early Impact of Family First Prevention Services on Family Well-Being” presented at the Society for Social Work and Research Annual Conference in Washington, DC.

Christopher Solís, Ph.D. (Department of Health, Nutrition, and Food Sciences) published “Desensitization of the Cardiac Troponin Complex by TnI Phosphorylation and Epigallocatechin-3-gallate” published by the American Chemical Society.

Sonnie Mayewski, MSW and Michael Killian, Ph.D. (College of Social Work) co-authored the presentation “Telehealth’s Promise and Limits: Trends and Disparities in Pediatric Preventive Care Access, 2021-2023” presented at the Society for Social Work and Research Annual Conference in Washington, DC.

Bruce Thyer, Ph.D. (College of Social Work) authored the article “Using Experimental Research Designs to Evaluate Social Work Practice in China” published in the China Journal of Social Work. Thyer also authored the book chapter “The Intersections of Behavioral Analysis and Social Work” published in the book “Applied Behavior Analysis for Business and Technology Applications.”

Gashaye Malaku Tefera, Ph.D. (College of Social Work) co-authored “COVID-19 and Immigrant Status: A Qualitative Study of Malawian Immigrants Living in South Africa” published in the European Journal of Public Health.

Tanya Renn, Ph.D. and Michael Killian, Ph.D. (College of Social Work), Margarita Amado-Blanco, MSW and Savannah Smith, MSW (Stoops Center for Communities, Families, and Children) co-authored the article “Adapting Trauma-Informed Group Therapy Treatment: Applying the ADAPT-ITT Framework” published in the Journal of Child and Adolescent Trauma.

Daejin Kim, Ph.D. (Department of Interior Architecture and Design) published “Evaluating Innovative Design Strategies in a Maternity Unit: A Post-Occupancy Evaluation Approach” in HERD: Health Environments Research & Design Journal.

Gashaye Tefera, Ph.D. and Ponsiano Ngondwe, MSW (College of Social Work) co-authored the article “‘I’d Rather Sit at Home and Suffer in Silence’: Black Women’s Experiences with Weight Stigma” published as an advance online publication in the APA PsycArticles.

Tom Welsh, Ph.D. (School of Dance) received final acceptance for two empirical research studies involving FSU dancers, to be published in the Journal of Dance Medicine & Science. Lead authors are Casey Copeland, MA (School of Dance) (“Mental Resilience Training for Dancers”) and Kaitlin Morgan (“Développé Training for Dancers.”)

Lisa Schelbe, Ph.D. (College of Social Work) co-authored the poster “Transforming Higher Education to Support Student-Parents” presented at the Society for Social Work and Research Annual Conference in Washington, DC.

Katie Berry, Ph.D., Emily Davidson, Ph.D. (Florida Institute for Child Welfare) and Lauren Herod, MSW/MBA (College of Social Work) co-authored “How Do Child Welfare Policymakers Use Research in Decision-Making? A Use of Research Evidence Qualitative Study” presented at the Society for Social Work and Research Annual Conference in Washington, DC.

Gashaye Malaku Tefera, Ph.D. and Ponsiano Ngondwe, MSW (College of Social Work) co-authored the presentation “”Forget It. I’m Not Going to See Another Provider” the Intersection of Weight Stigma and Healthcare Access for Black Women” presented at the Society for Social Work and Research Annual Conference in Washington, DC.

Lisa Schelbe, Ph.D. (College of Social Work) co-authored the presentation “Exploring the Impact of a Multisite Student Parent Advisory Board across Campus Communities: An Ethnographic Case Study” presented at the Society for Social Work and Research Annual Conference in Washington, DC.

Lauren Stanley, Ph.D. and Jiwon Speers, Ph.D. (Florida Institute for Child Welfare) co-authored the presentation “Validation of the Belonging Barometer with Child Welfare Workers” presented at the Society for Social Work and Research Annual Conference in Washington, DC.

Kaela Byers, Ph.D. (College of Social Work) co-authored the presentation “Impact Evaluation of the Saint Francis Fatherhood FIRE Program on Father Engagement and Family Outcomes” presented at the Society for Social Work and Research Annual Conference in Washington, DC.

Qiuchang (Katy) Cao, Ph.D. (College of Social Work) co-authored the presentation “Social Networks as an Engagement Strategy in Child Maltreatment Prevention Programs: A Scoping Review” presented at the Society for Social Work and Research Annual Conference in Washington, DC.

Gashaye Malaku Tefera, Ph.D. (College of Social Work) co-authored the presentation “‘I  Would Rather Sit at Home and Suffer in Silence’: Perceptions, Experiences and Impacts of Weight Stigma Among Low-Income Black Women in Missouri” presented at the Society for Social Work and Research Annual Conference in Washington, DC.

Tenley Bick, Ph.D. (Department of Art History) published her essay “Armatures of Different Value, of Boundless Feeling: The Art of Buzz Spector” in the exhibition catalog for “Buzz Spector: Recto | Verso,” opening at Zolla/Lieberman’s south location in Chicago. The essay is the sole critical text in the catalog.

Qiuchang (Katy) Cao, Ph.D. and Manjun Kim, MA (College of Social Work) co-authored the poster “Health, Support, and Service Needs of Older Adult Kinship Caregivers in Florida: Preliminary Findings from the Oak Project” presented at the Society for Social Work and Research Annual Conference in Washington, DC.

Lauren Herod, MSW, Lauren Stanley, Ph.D. and Emily Davidson, Ph.D. (Florida Institute for Child Welfare) co-authored the poster “Self-Care Practices over Time Among Child Welfare Workers: A Longitudinal Growth Curve Analysis” presented at the Society for Social Work and Research Annual Conference in Washington, DC.

John Moore, Ph.D. and Qiuchang (Katy) Cao, Ph.D. (College of Social Work) co-authored the presentation “Substance Use Screening Among Older Adults: Associations with Substance Type and Healthcare Setting” presented at the Society for Social Work and Research Annual Conference in Washington, DC.

John Moore, Ph.D., JaNiene Peoples, Ph.D. and Tanya Renn, Ph.D. (College of Social Work) co-authored the presentation “Service Utilization and Screening Among U.S. College Students with Substance Use Disorder” presented at the Society for Social Work and Research Annual Conference in Washington, DC.

Chelsea Brass, Ph.D., MPA (Florida Institute for Child Welfare, FSU College of Social Work) co-authored “Exploring the Link Between Relationship Cycling and Aggression in Challenging Romantic Relationships” published in the Journal of Family Violence.

Megan Vogt, MSW, MS and Tanya Renn, Ph.D. (College of Social Work) co-authored the presentation “Justice in Motion: Potential for Health Interventions and Practice Changes for Young Women with Legal-Involvement” presented at the Society for Social Work and Research Annual Conference in Washington, DC.

Melissa Radey, Ph.D. (College of Social Work), Lenore McWey, Ph.D., Qiong Wu, Ph.D. and Ming Cui, PhD (Anne Spencer Daves College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences) co-authored the article “Family Safety Nets and Child Outcomes of Families Involved with the U.S. Child Welfare System,” published in the Journal of Social Service Research.

Shelby Varol, MSW, Alisa Gutherie, MSW, Ponsiano Ngondwe, MSW and Gashaye Malaku Tefera, Ph.D. (College of Social Work) co-authored the poster “Healthcare Experiences of Transgender and Gender Minority Migrants in the US: A Scoping Review” presented at the Society for Social Work and Research Annual Conference in Washington, DC.

Trevor Meagher, Ph.D. (Department of Art Education) published “College Towns and Creativity: Exploring Potential Interactions Between Educational Institutions and Local Cultural Economies” in “Cities,” vol. 169.

Wen Guo, Ph.D. (Department of Art Education) published “Developing Socially Responsive Competencies in Arts Administration Through Teaching Cases: Needs, Barriers, Debates & Possibilities for an Essential Pedagogy” in The Journal of Arts Management, Law, and Society.

Wen Guo, Ph.D. (Department of Art Education) co-authored the chapter “AI Adoption in the Creative Sector: Practices, Perceptions, and Prospects Among Arts and Culture Organizations and Administrators” in “The Art of Digital Governance,” vol. 6.

Karina Donald, Ph.D. (Department of Art Education) co-published “Visual Narratives of Resilience: Caribbean Families’ Coping Before and Since COVID-19” with graduate students Ko-Hui (Cole) Lin and Xingyi Li in “Family Sciences.”

Ponsiano Ngondwe, MSW and Gashaye Malaku Tefera, Ph.D. (College of Social Work) co-authored the presentation “Mental Health Experiences of African Refugees in the United States: A Scoping Review” presented at the Society for Social Work and Research Annual Conference in Washington, DC.

Shamra Boel-Studt, Ph.D. (College of Social Work) and Darejan Dvalishvili, Ph.D. (Florida Institute for Child Welfare) co-authored the posted “Exploring Caregiver Experiences with Navigating and Securing Residential Care for Children with Intensive Needs” presented at the Society for Social Work and Research Annual Conference in Washington, DC.

Tanya Renn, Ph.D. (College of Social Work) and Margarita Amado-Blanco, MSW (Stoops Center for Communities, Families, and Children) co-authored the poster “The Impact of Cognitive Behavioral Intervention for Trauma in Schools (CBITS) on Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: A Meta-Analysis” presented at the Society for Social Work and Research Annual Conference in Washington, DC.

David Newheiser, Ph.D. (Department of Religion) had his article “Die Genealogie der Wunder: Bedeutung und Materielle Praxis” published in volume 31 of the Hermeneutische Blätter journal, “Wunder.” Newheiser also had his co-authored paper, “What Kind of Speech Makes for Peace?” published with the Journal of Ethics in Antiquity and Christianity. He also published the essay “There is Power in Negative Political Theology” with the Political Theology Network.

Leah Reilly Sherman, Ph.D. (FSU Libraries) published “Taking the Museum to the People: Cultural Heritage, Community Engagement, and Postwar Poland’s Museobus,” in Museums as Places of People, Time, and Memory: The Intersection of Place and History, published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

Daejin Kim, Ph.D. (Department of Interior Architecture and Design) published the journal article “Evaluating Innovative Design Strategies in a Maternity Unit: A Post-Occupancy Evaluation Approach” in HERD: Health Environments Research & Design Journal.

Katie Kehoe, MFA (Department of Art) contributed to: PUBLIC 72: (Searching for) Home, an interdisciplinary journal with a core focus on visual art.

Audrey Jacobs, Ph.D., Ashley Williams, Dianna Bradley (FSU Libraries), Minki Jeon, Ph.D. and Sara Shields, Ph.D. (Department of Art Education) co-published “Gameful Learning: Reflections on Co-Designing an Art Gallery Board Game” in CoDesign, the International Journal of CoCreation in Design and the Arts.

Wen Guo, Ph.D. (Department of Art Education) co-published the article  “Examining AI Adoption Willingness Among Nonprofit and Government Arts Administrators: Perceptions, Barriers, and Sector-Specific Considerations” in the book “The Art of Digital Governance.”

PRESENTATIONS

Hannah Cronic and Sarah Lull (Department of Student Support and Transition) presented two sessions at the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators Strategies Conference, “We’re All In This Together: A Case Study in Collaboration” and “Lessons Learned: Providing Support for Sexual Violence Victims That Are Minors.” Amy Haggard (Office of Student Conduct and Community Standards) also contributed to the presentation.

Allison B. Peters, Ph.D., Holly Hunt, Ph.D. (Division of Undergraduate Studies) and Samantha Nix, Ph.D. (Institutional Research) co-presented “Re-Envisioning Institutional Care: A Panel on Data-Informed Innovation for Academic Recovery” at the 2026 Undergraduate Education at Research Universities Annual Conference.

Ebe Randeree, Ph.D. (College of Communication and Information) presented “AI Impacts on Teachers, Career Pathways/Workforce and Students!” at the 2026 Florida Career Pathways Network Symposium.

Delaney La Rosa, Ed.D., MSN Ed., RN, (College of Nursing) presented “AI and Nursing Workforce Centers” at the National Forum of State Nursing Workforce Centers & Florida Center for Nursing Membership Assembly, leading a workshop on using artificial intelligence to support research and policy development.

Allison McHugh, DNP, MHCDS, RN, NE-BC and LeeAnne Barfield, Ph.D., DNP, APRN-BC, CNE, FACHE (College of Nursing) co-presented “An Innovative, Evidence-Based Graduate Curriculum That Prepares Nurse Executives for the Real World” at the AACN Doctoral Education Conference in Bonita Springs.

Robin Goodman, Ph.D. (Department of English) presented “Gender of the Machine: AI, World Literature, and Reclaiming the Social Brain” at the virtual World Literature Webinar Series.

Tanya Renn, Ph.D. (College of Social Work) presented “Intersecting Justice: A Mixed Methods Analysis of Alaska Native Experiences with the Criminal Legal System” at the Society for Social Work and Research Annual Conference in Washington, DC.

Gashaye Malaku Tefera, Ph.D., Shelby Varol, MSW, John Mathias, Ph.D. and Ponsiano Ngondwe, MSW (College of Social Work), Ellen Piekalkiewicz, MA and Carli Lucius, MSW (Stoops Center for Communities, Families, and Children) co-presented “Vulnerability and Resilience During a Natural Disaster: Exploring the Experiences of Foster Children in Florida” at a symposia at the Society for Social Work and Research Annual Conference in Washington, DC.

John Mathias, Ph.D. (College of Social Work) was the discussant of the symposia “Disaster Risk Reduction across the Lifecourse: Social Work Insights and Interventions” at the Society for Social Work and Research Annual Conference in Washington, DC. Mathias also convened the special interest group “Creating Social Responses to a Changing Environment (Grand Challenge for Social Work)” at the same conference.

Bart Klika, Ph.D. (College of Social Work) led a symposia on “Paid Family Leave and Infant Maltreatment” at the Society for Social Work and Research Annual Conference in Washington, DC.

Erin Ryan, J.D. (College of Law) delivered the keynote lecture “COVID, Federalism, and Pandemonium in Florida: Implications for Multilevel Governance in the U.S. and Beyond” at the international conference Multilevel Governance in the Post-Pandemic Era: New Dynamics, New Challenges.

Yelena McLane, Ph.D. (Department of Interior Architecture and Design) presented “Designing for Dignity: Architectural Strategies for Holistic Resident Care” as part of the Brain and Beyond…Seminar Series.

Qiuchang (Katy) Cao, Ph.D. and Melissa Radey, Ph.D. (College of Social Work) and Dawn Carr, Ph.D. (College of Social Sciences  and Public Policy) presented the poster “Sex Differences in Occupational Exposures and Cognitive Function in Later Life” at the Society for Social Work and Research Annual Conference in Washington, DC.

Christy Mantzanas, Samantha Hightower and Tiffany Leung (Career Center, Employer Relations) co-presented “The Career Services Power Pack: Smart-data Integration, Bold Frameworks, and UX Design for Sustainable Partnerships” at the Southern Association of Colleges and Employers conference, where they shared methods to develop storytelling  data, formulas and AI techniques to predict career fair outcomes, and how to integrate UX design principles for program sustainability.

Elizabeth Crowley, MSW (Florida Institute for Research and Development), Sanoop Valappanandi, MSW and John Mathias, Ph.D. (College of Social Work), Ellen Piekalkiewciz, MA, Savannah Smith, MSW and Carli Lucius, MSW (Stoops Center for Communities, Families, Children), Tian Tang, Ph.D. (College of Social Science and Public Policy) and Arda Vanli, Ph.D. (College of Engineering) co-authored the presentation of, “Disaster Preparedness of Social Workers in the Southeastern United States: A Survey Focused on Hurricane-Pandemic Co-O ccurrences” at a symposia at the Society for Social Work and Research Annual Conference in Washington, DC.

Lindsey Eckert, Ph.D. (Department of English) presented the papers “Lady Caroline Lamb’s Graham Hamilton and the Migratory Possibilities of South America” and “Lady Caroline Lamb, Lima, and the Coastal Disaster of Ada Reis” at the annual Modern Language Association Convention in Toronto, Canada.

Mora Beauchamp-Byrd, Ph.D. (Department of Art History) was a featured speaker at the conference “Why Black Museums: Other Geographies, New Fields” at the University of Texas at Austin.

Lynn Jones, Ph.D. (Department of Art History) presented a section of her forthcoming book in the paper “Imperial Imagery in the Province: The Case of the ‘White Bearded’ Unknown Saint in Cappadocia” at the 51st Annual Byzantine Studies Conference, held at Wayne State and Oakland Universities in Detroit, MI.

Erika Loic, Ph.D. (Department of Art History) presented “Monstrous Conquests in Medieval Iberia: The Aquelarre Tabletop Roleplaying Game and Its Bestiarium Hispaniae” at the Medieval + Monsters Conference, hosted at Dominican University and the Newberry Library in Chicago.

Charles Upchurch, Ph.D. (Department of History) presented “Fitzroy Kelly to Karl Heinrich Ulrichs: Queer Politics Before Identity” in November at the Southern Conference on British Studies in Tampa, Florida. He also presented “Called it Macaroni: Politics, Queer History, and the American Revolution” at the North American Conference on British Studies in Montreal, Canada.

Melissa Radey, Ph.D. (College of Social Work), Lenore McWey, Ph.D. (Anne Spencer Daves College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences ) and Lisa Magruder, Ph.D. (Florida Institute for Child Welfare) co-authored the poster “Changes in Parents’ Relationships after Child Protective Services Involvement within the Context of Domestic Violence” presented at the Society for Social Work and Research Annual Conference in Washington, DC.

Hannah Schwadron, Ph.D. (School of Dance) was contracted by Bloomsbury Press to review the edited volume “Queering Partner Dance.”

JaNiene Peoples, Ph.D. (College of Social Work) co-authored the poster “Investigating How Parental Education Moderates the Effects of Depression on Male College Students’ Beliefs Toward Degree Completion” presented at the Society for Social Work and Research Annual Conference in Washington, DC.

Tanya Renn, Ph.D. (College of Social Work) presented “A Call for Research on Criminal Legal Systems Involvement Among American Indian and Alaska Native Populations” at the Society for Social Work and Research Annual Conference in Washington, DC.

Kristina Hakansson, Ph.D. (Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry) gave the invited talk “FT-ICR Mass Spectrometry at 21 Tesla: From Isotopic Fine Structure to Unparalleled Top-Down Proteomics” at a workshop on complex mixtures at the Federal University of Goiás in Goiânia, Brazil. Hakansson also gave the invited talk “Tyrosine Sulfation: A Tricky Posttranslational Modification Requiring High End Mass Spectrometry” at the University of Florida.

Daejin Kim, Ph.D. (Department of Interior Architecture and Design) presented “Perceptions and Acceptance of Smart Home Technologies in the U.S. and South Korea” at the Housing Educators Research Association conference.

Gashaye Malaku Tefera, Ph.D., Ponsiano Ngondwe, MSW and Shelby Varol, MSW (College of Social Work) participated in the symposia “‘They Don’t See Us as Humans’: Multilevel Factors Affecting Trust in Healthcare Among African Immigrants in the U.S.’” at the Society for Social Work and Research Annual Conference in Washington, DC.

Andrei Malaev-Babel, MFA (School of Theatre) delivered a keynote address and led  a masterclass at the 2025 Stanislavsky Symposium, held at the University of Malta’s Valletta Campus.

Hannah Schwadron, Ph.D., (School of Dance) presented a reading of her co-authored introduction and solo-authored chapter in “Funny Moves: Dance Humor Politics” at the University of Florida Department of Dance in Gainesville, FL. While there Schwadron also facilitated a movement workshop on dance humor in improvisation and choreography for dance majors. She also co-facilitated original research with a School of Dance student group at the Florida Restorative Justice Association conference in partnership with the Tallahassee Bail Fund. Their workshop, “Move and Be Moved: Freedom Dreaming to Direct Action in Dance, Song, Story,” was presented at St. Paul Methodist Church in Tallahassee.

David Gussak, Ph.D. (Department of Art Education) presented the paper “Upwardly Intensifying and Reinforcing the Arts and Art Therapy with the Imprisoned” at the 56th Annual American Art Therapy Association Conference in Portland, Oregon.

Katelyn Bittinger, Sarah Butler (University Housing) and Stormy McGivern (Department of Student Engagement) presented “Curriculum in a Crunch” at the Institute on the Curricular Approach which spotlighted how University Housing and affiliated campus partners foster student learning over the short six-week Summer B semester.

Vilma Fuentes, Ph.D. (Learning Systems Institute) presented “Introduction to Higher Education in the USA” to a group of Ukrainian officials in Washington DC,  as part of the U.S. Department of State’s International Leadership Visitors Program.

Nancy Gerber, Ph.D. (Department of Art Education) presented on the panel “Arting Your Doctorate and Other Stories” at the American Art Therapy Association Conference in Portland, Oregon.

Barbara Parker-Bell, Ph.D.,(Department of Art Education) presented “Art Therapy & Creativity: Resources for Well-being during Times of Challenge and Transition” at “Education Without Stress: A Mental Health Support at Educational Institutions,” an event supported by the Press, Education, and Culture Section of the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine.

Samoop Valappanandi, MSW (College of Social Work) presented the poster “Perceptions of Forest Resource Change and the Role of Participation: Evidence from Marginalized Communities in India” at the Society for Social Work and Research Annual Conference in Washington, DC.

Lisa Schelbe, Ph.D. (College of Social Work) co-convened the special interest group “Foster Care and Higher Education” at the Society for Social Work and Research Annual Conference in Washington, DC.

Pooja Ichlani, Ph.D. (Florida Institute for Child Welfare) presented the poster “Unearthing Women’s Lost Narratives: Tracing the Roots of Intimate Partner Violence in the Big Bend Region of Florida” at the Society for Social Work and Research Annual Conference in Washington, DC.

Sonnie Mayewski, MSW and Yaacov Petscher, Ph.D. (College of Social Work) and Nuria Gutiérrez, Ph.D. (Florida Center for Reading Research) co-presented at the workshop “Going Beyond the Mean Effect: A Hands-on Introduction to Quantile Regression for Social Work Research” at the Society for Social Work and Research Annual Conference in Washington, DC.

Changhyun Nam (Lyon), Ph.D. (Jim Moran College of Entrepreneurship) presented five conference papers — consisting of one oral presentation and four posters — at the annual International Textile and Apparel Association conference held Nov. 19-22 in St. Louis, Missouri. Nam presented the papers “AI Image Generators in Apparel Design and Product Development: Enhancing Creativity”; “Technological Innovation and Environmental Awareness in the U.S. and the U.K.: Fashion 3D-Printed Accessories”; and “M-Commerce With Luxury Fashion Goods in Pre-Owned Markets.” Additionally, Nam presented collaborative research including “Rethinking Wetsuit Design: Enhancing Comfort, Fit and Sustainability,” co-authored with Florida State University graduate research assistant Lucia Villanustre and undergraduate student Avaree VandeKerkhoff and “Enhancing Young Consumers’ Trust and Engagement in the Secondhand Luxury Goods Market Within M-Commerce: A Qualitative Approach,” co-authored with undergraduate research assistant Evita Ilushenko.

Michael D. Carrasco, Ph.D. (College of Fine Arts) co-presented the paper “Semiotic Rupture and the Emergence of Writing: Toward a Multimodal Model of Representational Innovation” at iTHEMS RIKEN Center for Interdisciplinary Theoretical and Mathematical Sciences in Wako, Saitama, Japan.

Kris Salata, Ph.D. (School of Theatre) spoke about his new book “Grotowski’s Process” at the Performance Studies international conference in Fortaleza, Brazil.

Karina Donald, Ph.D. (Department of Art Education) co-presented at the National Council on Family Relations conference in Baltimore, Maryland.

Trevor Meagher, Ph.D. (Department of Art Education) had two presentations “Moving the Goalposts: Exploring Mission Change and Operational Capacity in Arts and Culture Nonprofits” and “Is the Tide Rising, or Are We Just Rowing Harder? Operational traits in placemaking-engaged nonprofits” at the annual Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action conference in Indianapolis, IN.

Sarah Fahmy, PhD, (School of Theatre) delivered a paper virtually at PSI in Fortaleza, Brazil.

Aaron C. Thomas, Ph.D. (School of Theatre) delivered a talk on his new book published by the Vanderbilt University Press at Villanova University in Villanova, PA.

EXHIBITIONS AND PERFORMANCES

Clint Sleeper, MFA (Department of Art) co-curated and organized an online exhibition “about not by, for not from,” hosted by The Wrong Biennale.

Katie Kehoe, MFA (Department of Art) had her work “The Visitor in Wildfire Shelterwear, 46.23214N, 113.75486W” included in the Texas Photographic Society’s (TPS) ‘TPS:33 The International Competition’ exhibition at The Center for Contemporary Art in Abilene, Texas.

Meredith Lynn, MFA (Department of Art) was featured with her solo exhibition “Bad Outdoorsmen. The Complete Season” at the Illges Gallery at Columbus State University in Columbus, Georgia.

Jamie Ho, MFA (Department of Art) opened her solo exhibition “magic mirrors” at Art League Houston.

Daniel Gott, MFA (School of Theatre) performed his Actor-Musician Sessions in the Tallahassee community as part of his research and creative work project.

Daniel Smith, MME (School of Dance) made his debut as Principal Pianist with the Panama City Symphony performing the musical drama “Beasts of the Bayou” in Panama City. He also performed a cabaret concert with Broadway legend Bernadette Peters in Destin.

Denise Bookwalter, MFA (Department of Art) exhibited works from Small Craft Advisory Press and shared student collaborative book work from her letterpress and artists’ book courses at Staple + Stitch Art Book + Print Fair Chicago.

Jiha Moon, MFA (Department of Art) had her exhibition “Purgatory Mutt” at Mindy Solomon Gallery” reviewed by @plasternyc and listed in Galerie magazine in the Art & Culture section article “8 Must-See Solo Gallery Shows in November.”

Jiha Moon, MFA (Department of Art) was announced as a 2026 Arts/Industry Artists-in-Residence at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center.

Sarah Fahmy, Ph.D.  (School of Theatre) continues her award-supported performance installation project at museums across the US. Including venues such as: The Institute of the Study of Ancient Cultures Museum, The Art Institute of Chicago, The Detroit Institute of Arts Museum, The Arab American National Museum, Brooklyn Museum of Art, The Met, Penn Museum, Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Harvard Art Museum, Smithsonian Natural History Museum.

Katie Kehoe, MFA (Department of Art) had her work “Time is of the Essence” featured in ‘PUBLIC! Issue 72’, “(Searching) for Homem,” an interdisciplinary journal with a core focus on visual art.

Mona Bozorgi, Ph.D. (Department of Art) had her project “Threads of Freedom” featured in “see-zeen” issue 18, an independent online magazine curating contemporary photography by international emerging artists.

SERVICE

Michelle Kazmer, Ph.D. (College of Communication and Information) was elected to the iSchools Organization’s Board of Directors for 2026-2027.

Marisa Sweeny, Ph.D. (Department of Art Education) hosted a panel at the closing event of her exhibition “Motherwork”, at the Carlow Gallery in Pittsburgh , PA.

Chelsea Nam, Ph.D. (Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Science) was elected to serve on the American Meteorological Society Scientific and Technological Activities Commission Committee on Radar Meteorology.

Christopher Solís, Ph.D.(Department of Health, Nutrition, and Food Sciences) served in the National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant study section Basic Biology of Blood, Heart and Vasculature (BBHV), which scores grants submitted to the NIH for extramural funding of research projects.

Alice Maxwell (Division of Student Affairs Communications and Marketing) is serving as the Region III Representative in the Knowledge Community leadership team for the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators Fundraising and Communications Knowledge Community.

Sarah Fahmy, Ph.D. (School of Theatre) was elected to the American Society for Theatre Research Executive Committee for the 2025–2028 term.

Lisa Schelbe, Ph.D. (College of Social Work) was elected as the director-at-large as a part of the board of directors for the Society for Social Work and Research for a three-year term appointment.

Erin Gallivan, Ph.D. (Counseling & Psychological Services) was invited by the American Group Psychotherapy Association (AGPA) to serve on a panel of experts for the AGPA College Counseling and Other Educational Settings Special Interest Group to share her expertise on group training for senior staff in university counseling centers.

Jeff Broome, Ph.D. (Department of Art Education) was elected President of the Florida Art Education Association.

Daejin Kim, Ph.D. (Department of Interior Architecture and Design) was appointed to the Board of Directors of the Housing Educators Research Association.

Bruce Thyer, Ph.D. (College of Social Work) co-convened the special interest group “Heterodox Social Work” at the Society for Social Work and Research Annual Conference in Washington, DC.

Michael Killian, Ph.D. (College of Social Work) organized the workshop “Going Beyond the Mean Effect: A Hands-on Introduction to Quantile Regression for Social Work Research” at the Society for Social Work and Research Annual Conference in Washington, DC.

Zhe He, Ph.D. (School of Information) organized and chaired a full-day workshop “Open-Source LLM Applications for Health Applications” at the 2025 AMIA Annual Symposium.

Shi-Ling Hsu, J.D., M.S., Ph.D. (College of Law) was elected to the American Law Institute, recognized for his significant contributions to legal scholarship and leadership in shaping the future of the law.

David Gussak, Ph.D. (Department of Art Education) co-led the roundtable discussion “University–Prison Partnerships: Facilitating Transformation Through the Arts” at the 61st Annual Conference of the International Council for Arts Deans in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Hannah Schwadron, Ph.D. (School of Dance) taught a Movement and Mindfulness workshop at the Leon County Detention Facility in Tallahassee.

Trevor Meagher, Ph.D. (Department of Art Education) was elected to the Board of Directors for Social Theory, Politics, and the Arts.

Daejin Kim, Ph.D. (Department of Interior Architecture and Design) was appointed to the Board of Directors of the Housing Educators Research Association.

Kevin Curry, MFA (Department of Art) has been appointed as an at-large (city) board member for COCA (Council on Culture and Arts).

Daniel Luedtke, MFA (Department of Art) is on the board for Tally Zine Fest at the Challenger Learning Center.

NOTABLE

Susana Santos, Ph.D. (Jim Moran College of Entrepreneurship) led the joint project between the Jim Moran College of Entrepreneurship and the Learning Systems Institute, which set up the S2I2 Entrepreneurship Center at the Armenian State University of Economics with co-PI Vilma Fuentes, Ph.D. (Learning Systems Institute).

Marty Fielding, MFA (Department of Art) taught a two-day workshop at Rain City Clay in Seattle, WA.

Malaika Samples, Ed.D. (Florida Institute for Child Welfare) organized a workshop titled “Bridging the Gap Between Coursework and the Field: Faculty Simulation Training for Hands-On, Trauma-Informed Learning.” The session focused on trauma-informed simulation methods to strengthen experiential teaching, with follow-up sessions planned for the spring to support implementation.

Rabieh Razzouk, MBA (Learning Systems Institute) built the CPALMS platform, which hosted The Florida Department of Education’s Civics Seal of Excellence portal.

Vilma Fuentes, Ph.D. (Learning Systems Institute) led FSU’s Ukraine Task Force in hosting Serhiy Kvi, President of the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy in Ukraine. FSU Provost Jim Clark and Kyit  signed a memorandum of understanding signifying the university’s commitment to work together on future research projects.

Setor K. Sorkpor, Ph.D., MPH, MSN, RN (College of Nursing) was selected to participate in the Yale School of Nursing Comprehensive Advancement in Research Education Program as part of the 2025–2026 cohort, a competitive national program focused on advancing nursing research capacity in social determinants of health.

Anne Stagg, MFA, Kevin Curry, MFA and Keith Roberson, MFA (Department of Art) were invited by FSU Department of Physics Robert O. Lawton Distinguished Professor Harrison B. Prosper (Department of Physics) to CERN Switzerland to attend a conference, tour the facilities and present talks.

Tiffany Rhynard, MFA (School of Dance) became Vice President of the Board for Dance on Camera (formerly Dance Film Association). She also continued production on her feature documentary “The Mirage” during Fall 2025. Rhynard was also invited to teach “Dance Film” at the Pigmentos International Dance Festival in Puebla, Mexico.

Marissa McClure Sweeny, Ph.D. (Department of Art Education) was featured in the second episode of Carlow University’s documentary series “A More Merciful World.”

Andrei Malaev-Babel, MFA (School of Theatre) led a three-day Demidov Masterclass for the International Demidov Association in Athens, Greece. While in Athens, Malaev-Babel also taught a one-day masterclass for Greek actors participating in the Demidov Association’s Acting Certificate Program.

Tom Welsh, Ph.D. (School of Dance) processed injury risk screening results for 27 first-year dancers and facilitated individualized debriefing opportunities. Welsh also re-engineered the Targeted Cross-Training collaborations in which 23 first-year dancers will complete five weeks of training with nine coaches through the Science of Dance Training seminar and practicum.

Pooja Ichplani, Ph.D. (Florida Institute for Child Welfare, College of Social Work) is actively involved in the faith-based task force against domestic violence facilitated by the Florida Partnership to End Domestic Violence (FPEDV). The group constitutes faith leaders, survivor advocates, practitioners and researchers across the state, and meets monthly to brainstorm innovative strategies for prevention of and response to domestic violence.

Andrei Malaev-Babel, MFA (School of Theatre) received approval from the Routledge Editorial Board for his four-volume series “Unlocking Creativity: The Complete Works of Nikolai Demidov’s Acting Pedagogy.”

Hannah Schwadron, Ph.D. (School of Dance) was voted as the next president of Dance Studies Association.

Helanius J. Wilkins, MFA (School of Dance) completed Phase 1 of the Green Box Residency in Green Mountain Falls, Colorado. His residency focused on developing a new stage production premiering in February 2026 and leading community engagement activities. He is a member of the program’s fifth cohort.

Nancy Gerber, Ph.D. (Department of Art Education) co-taught a workshop “Storying Statistics” at the American Art Therapy Association Conference in Portland, Oregon.

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

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A Florida State University researcher is part of a pioneering team that has developed a new measure to understand and support healthy aging, with the potential to change how health care workers, employers and policymakers assist older adults in remaining active and engaged.

Dawn Carr, director of FSU’s Claude Pepper Center and professor of sociology, is part of the multi-institutional research team that includes experts from Tufts University, University of Washington, Urban Institute and University of Michigan. Through their research, the team developed the Index of Aging in Midlife and Beyond (IAM+), a simple and accessible new tool designed to measure and predict healthy aging.

The IAM+ is a multi-domain measure of health that makes it possible to evaluate changes in aging from midlife and beyond, which can inform the design of early interventions that may lead to improved quality of life for adults as they age. Its simplicity and accessibility make it a powerful tool for tracking health and engagement at midlife when early health challenges often go undetected, with potential applications in research, policy and clinical practice.

“The solvency of our future workforce and health care system depends on researchers identifying ways to move the needle in improving the health of our rapidly aging population,” Carr said. “With tools like the IAM+ measure, we are better positioned to identify public health strategies and individual health behaviors that can increase the number of years people can remain actively engaged in meaningful activities.”

Traditional measures of aging often focus on advanced disability or single aspects of health, missing early signs of decline. The IAM+ index fills this gap by providing a multidimensional, accessible and reliable measure of health and functioning starting in midlife before severe disability sets in — and unlike expensive biomarker-based tools, relies on publicly available survey data, making it easy to implement and track over time.

The IAM+ is a 10-item scale that assesses a range of health domains, including self-reported overall health, eyesight, hearing, memory, chronic conditions, depressive symptoms, functional capacity and difficulties with daily activities and is intended to be used alongside contextual information. Scores range from 0.8 to 10, with higher scores indicating worse health and functioning. The index was developed using data from the Health and Retirement Study, a large national survey of Americans aged 51 and older.

“With tools like the IAM+ measure, we are better positioned to identify public health strategies and individual health behaviors that can increase the number of years people can remain actively engaged in meaningful activities.”

– Dawn Carr, director of the FSU Claude Pepper Center

One area of increasing importance is the health and well-being of older workers in the United States. The team’s research showed that people with physically demanding jobs in midlife already have significantly higher IAM+ scores (worse health) and experience accelerated aging as they move into later life. Even after retirement, those who worked in strenuous roles continued to show elevated scores compared to peers in less demanding jobs. This “scarring effect” suggests that workplace exposures can have lasting impacts on health.

Higher IAM+ scores in midlife also predicted reduced engagement in activities a decade later, including early labor force exits, less volunteering and lower exercise levels. Over 20 years, higher scores were linked to increased frailty, higher mortality risk and greater health care needs.

“Among the most robust health-protective behaviors linked to healthy aging are volunteering and exercising,” Carr said. “If early health declines restrict our ability to participate in these kinds of activities, we face further risks that contribute to poorer quality of life as we age.”

The IAM+ index works well for both men and women and shows differences by race and education. The index can provide insight into steps that can be taken to help everyone as they age:

• Early intervention: By identifying health decline in midlife, the IAM+ enables earlier interventions to prevent disability and promote healthy aging.
• Workplace policy: Employers and policymakers can use the IAM+ to design safer, more supportive work environments and retraining programs for older workers.
• Retirement planning: The index highlights the need for flexible retirement policies that account for differences in aging trajectories, especially for those exposed to health-harming work environments.
• Targeted public health tactics: The IAM+ can help identify groups at risk of accelerated aging due to structural inequalities, guiding targeted public health and social support efforts.

“This measure offers an exciting new tool for researchers to use as we work to isolate the most important factors that best help us stave off health problems until the latest stages of life,” Carr said.

Carr is also a faculty affiliate for FSU’s Pepper Institute on Aging and Public Policy, which is housed in FSU’s College of Social Sciences and Public Policy along with the Claude Pepper Center.

For more information about FSU’s Claude Pepper Center, visit claudepeppercenter.fsu.edu.

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Nearly 7 million Americans currently live with Alzheimer’s disease, with one in three seniors dying from Alzheimer’s or another dementia, according to the Fisher Center for Alzheimer’s Research Foundation. 

November is Alzheimer’s Awareness Month, a time to recognize the profound impact of this disorder on individuals, families and communities nationwide. While no cure remains, research on resilience and brain function at the neural level is uncovering critical insights into risk factors and disease progression. 

Florida State University faculty member Angelina Sutin is among the top researchers leading efforts to better understand and ultimately transform the future of Alzheimer’s treatment.

She is available to speak with media about her work and what it shows about how to mitigate dementia risk. Media may reach out to Professor Sutin via email at angelina.sutin@med.fsu.edu. 

Sutin’s research focuses on the psychological and social factors that shape risk for Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias, as well as the mechanisms that influence a person’s risk or resilience across every stage of disease. She aims to achieve a more comprehensive understanding of the factors that influence dementias to guide the development of effective interventions that support healthier cognitive aging. 

Your research explores how personality and psychological traits affect long-term health outcomes. How do these factors influence a person’s risk or resilience against Alzheimer’s disease?
We find that personality traits, particularly neuroticism and conscientiousness, are associated with the risk of Alzheimer’s disease. 

Neuroticism is the tendency to feel moody, anxious, and be sensitive to stress. It is associated with increased risk of dementia. Individuals higher in neuroticism tend to be more sedentary, are more likely to smoke, and are very responsive to stress in daily life. They are also at much greater risk for depression and other chronic diseases. 

On the other hand, conscientiousness, the tendency toward organization, self-discipline, and responsibility, is protective. Individuals higher in conscientiousness tend to exercise more, are less likely to smoke or use other substances, have better sleep habits, and are less likely to develop chronic diseases such as obesity or diabetes that increase risk of Alzheimer’s disease. 

How can understanding the daily dynamics of personality and cognition help develop strategies for Alzheimer’s prevention or early intervention?
Most of the research on psychological factors and cognition has focused on how personality traits predict long-term outcomes, like Alzheimer’s disease. This research has been important for identifying which psychological factors contribute to the development of the disease over time. From other research, we know a lot about how personality traits are expressed in daily life. 

We are now trying to better understand how these typical thoughts, feelings, and behaviors of personality traits are related to variation in cognitive function. Looking at these daily dynamics will help to identify better ways to intervene in the times when people are experiencing cognitive problems in their day-to-day lives. Intervening for better everyday functioning may help to preserve cognition as we age. 

Why is it important to examine cultural and social differences in cognitive aging?
One reason that we study cognitive aging is to find ways to intervene so that people can maintain healthy cognition for as long as possible. Cognitive aging and Alzheimer’s disease happen across all cultural and social groups. There may be differences, however, in risk and protective factors. 

The most effective interventions should target the strongest risk/protective factors, which may be different depending on cultural or social group. It is also important to know when factors are similar across groups. Conscientiousness, for example, is associated with lower risk of Alzheimer’s disease across many different groups. Interventions to increase conscientiousness may need to be culturally tailored, but the underlying mechanisms may be similar. 

What does your research suggest about the role of stress, emotional well-being, or social connection to long-term brain memory?
We have done a lot of research on the role of emotional well-being and social connection and cognition. We find, for example, that individuals who have more purpose in life — the feeling that one has a life that is goal-oriented and has direction — are less likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease. Even before Alzheimer’s disease, purpose is associated with having better memory, better attention and faster processing speed — all cognitive functions that are necessary for moving through daily life. 

We also find that social connection is critical for cognitive health and how harmful social disconnection can be. In a recent meta-analysis of more than 600,000 people, we found that people who feel lonely had a 30% increased risk of all-cause dementia. Loneliness was also related to risk of specific dementias, including risk of Alzheimer’s disease and vascular dementia. We recently found loneliness to be associated with worse memory, processing speed, and reasoning and that similar associations were found in countries from very different parts of the world: Africa, Asia, Europe, North, Central, and South America. These findings indicate how harmful loneliness can be no matter where one lives.

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More than 4.4 million adults in Florida are family caregivers who primarily provide unpaid and unsupported care to older parents, spouses and other relatives. As Florida’s population ages, with one in five residents expected to be 65 or older by 2030, caregivers and families continue to need access to essential resources and information for support more than ever before.

To help address this need, AARP Florida and Florida State University’s Claude Pepper Center organized the inaugural 2025 Florida Caregiving Summit. The event brought together leading policymakers, specialists in aging and disability services, and workforce development professionals to discuss the future of family caregiving in Florida.

Attendees heard from FSU President Richard McCullough and FSU Claude Pepper Center Director Dawn Carr before attending the three panel discussions.

“The variation of what caregiving looks like is really broad,” McCullough said. “The things that are going on here at this summit are very, very important — the policies, the organizations, the policymakers — you are the ones that are helping families to get these resources so they can get the care for their loved ones.”

Held at FSU’s Jim Moran Building in downtown Tallahassee, the Tuesday, Nov. 4 event included discussion panels and a resource fair, recognizing the essential contributions caregivers make to their families and the broader economy. More than 200 people also attended the event virtually.

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The Florida State University College of Law is renowned for offering students practical work experiences, helping shape many of the country’s top legal professionals. Alexis Fulton, who recently earned her juris doctorate from FSU Law, exemplifies this success.

While working toward her law degree at FSU from 2022-25, Fulton combined passion with advocacy as she sought to find her career ambitions at FSU’s Public Interest Law Center. The opportunity led her to the Claude Pepper Elder Law Clinic – an interdisciplinary program dedicated to strengthening the well-being and resilience of low-income older adults through legal advocacy and community education.

With the help of Claude Pepper Elder Law Clinic Director Rima Nathan, Fulton launched the Elder Domestic Violence Assistance Project in 2025. The project expands support for elder survivors of domestic abuse, a topic that Fulton felt was ambiguous to the public and needed more representation.

“This issue within the intersection of elder law and victims’ rights advocacy was really brought to my attention when I was a law student within the Elder Law Clinic,” Fulton said. “Professor Rima Nathan came to me to work on a benchbook on elder domestic violence to assist judges working on these cases. I came with a knowledge of domestic violence advocacy, but there was a lot of research to be done into the nuances that impact domestic violence advocacy when you’re representing elder survivors.”

While attending FSU, Fulton provided pro bono initiatives on behalf of her current employer – Legal Services of North Florida. She developed the research for Florida’s Elder Abuse Benchbook for the Office of the State Courts Administrator. Connections were made through her work with FSU’s Public Interest Law Center, which is comprised of several live-client clinics and projects.

Fulton currently serves as a staff attorney with Legal Services of North Florida, where she works in conjunction with the Elder Law Clinic and handles cases related to elder domestic violence. It’s a full-circle position that allows her to work with students from the clinic on these important cases, a reversed role she had at FSU Law just a few months ago.

The challenges faced by the aging population in domestic violence situations motivated her to pursue her project.

“What I’ve seen in this sphere is there is an inclination to define something as either domestic violence or elder abuse without acknowledgment of the intersection and the overlap that happens there,” Fulton added. “There’s this kind of dismissiveness of abuse when it is either purely financial in nature or is perpetrated by one’s caregivers as being less impactful. Another challenge is when survivors have less capacity to communicate what’s happened to them. That’s an obstacle that can really be exacerbated by the public’s perception of elder survivors.”

“There’s this kind of dismissiveness of abuse when it is either purely financial in nature or is perpetrated by one’s caregivers as being less impactful.”

– Alexis Fulton, staff attorney with Legal Services of North Florida

Fulton says there are a few significant factors that cause elderly victims to struggle in these cases.

“I would encourage current FSU law students to engage with as many of our public interest law clinics as their schedule allows,” Fulton said. “It was one of the most valuable things I did in law school.”

FSU Law was Fulton’s top choice, feeling most encouraged by the school’s approach to public interest work. Her time in Tallahassee has been highlighted by a community of support that includes colleagues in her legal field who have become her closest friends and provided her with professional and personal mentorship.

Her journey is one she doesn’t take for granted, advising current FSU Law students to embrace the magnitude of their education and how much it can help others.

“Having a legal education is a huge privilege in this world,” Fulton said. “I encourage everyone to engage in pro bono work, and to also explore public interest as a potential career path. It doesn’t have to just be a hobby, because there are ways to have really fulfilling and meaningful careers rooted in public interest law.”

For more information on FSU Law, visit law.fsu.edu.

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Financial scams targeting older adults have reached a high level of sophistication, posing significant risks to this vulnerable demographic.

A recent Scientific American article, co-authored by two experts from Florida State University’s College of Criminology and Criminal Justice, reveals new insights into how artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly deceiving people with financial scams. According to the article, the well-organized attacks are hurting senior citizens because they are more prone to cognitive decline, social isolation or even life transitions.

Thomas Blomberg is the dean and Sheldon L. Messinger Professor of Criminology. He is also the executive director for the FSU Center for Criminology and Public Policy Research. His research focuses on identifying ways to more effectively link research knowledge to public policy. One of his areas of interest is examining the relationship between educational achievement among incarcerated youthful offenders and successful community reintegration.

Blomberg believes there are two main reasons scammers opt to prey on older adults.

“They’re easy targets and often they are fairly affluent,” Blomberg said of what draws scammers to older adults. “I think that’s pretty consistent throughout our research. They’re often not as skeptical. They believe someone’s word is their bond.”

Julie Brancale is an assistant professor at the College of Criminology and Criminal Justice. Her research focuses on understanding the causes, consequences and justice system responses to financial exploitation and victimization of older adults. Brancale also translates her research findings into practical recommendations for policy and practice.

Brancale believes some of the preventative strategies needed for older adults to stay ahead of scammers include building skepticism and getting educated.

“The big thing that we have found is skepticism is important,” Brancale said. “In order to build that skepticism, you need to be educated. What that means is constantly keeping up to date with these scams that are happening and the tactics that people are using. They’re so sophisticated and they’re getting more sophisticated every single day.”

A combination of old and new scam tactics has flooded the elderly in recent years – AI voice-generated phone calls, fraudulent calls demanding immediate payment, lottery and sweepstakes calls and more. For example, the “grandparent scam,” which originated in 2008, exploits a person’s emotions by impersonating a grandchild or another family member in distress.

However, the research by Blomberg and Brancale offers several ways to stay safe from scammers — ranging from social support groups of trustworthy friends, taking practical protections and actively reporting suspicious activity to law enforcement and advocacy groups.

Media interested in learning about the latest research into these sophisticated financial scams can reach out to Dean Blomberg at tblomberg@fsu.edu or Professor Brancale at Julie.Brancale@fsu.edu.

Thomas Blomberg, dean and Sheldon L. Messinger Professor of Criminology

How does the concept of financial wealth factor into older adults getting scammed?

What we found is that for a lot of older people, the idea of money is a little different. When they get to a certain age, it doesn’t have the same significance as when they were younger — struggling and worried about every bill or whether they can afford another car.

What kind of psychological tactics do some of these scammers use to gain the trust of seniors?

I have dealt with many heavy issues but have never found myself quite as emotionally distraught as I was in the Villages, seeing these older people who had been victimized and what it had done to their self-confidence. They’ll make decisions to please the other person. There is a cognition issue where they don’t have as much self-confidence. There’s a lack of skepticism often. And that’s the one thing we try to push in their education is building skepticism through education and awareness and building self-confidence.

Age is a thing in which self-confidence can decline and therefore your decision making can decline.

Julie Brancale, assistant professor

How can family members or caregivers help protect their loved ones from fraud?

With family members, there’s a couple of things that they can do to protect aging loved ones: the first is being in tune with the older adult. A lot of older adults are fearful of letting their family members know that they have been scammed, or they potentially could be scammed, because they’re afraid that their family might come in and take away their independent living situation. Having family members know that older adults truly value that independence and to not try to come in and take away their independence is really important. Having regular conversations and being in touch regularly with their family member to protect, and perhaps notice subtle changes in their cognition and their physical abilities, is also important. For example, ‘Are they talking on the computer more to somebody than they used to?’ I don’t think that there’s a really quick fix. I think this is like a long-term relationship and really building that trust between the parents and children or siblings across generations.

What are the most effective ways to prevent seniors from becoming scam victims?

It’s building education about what’s happening, what kind of scams are out there, what are the tactics that are being used, and then that helps to build that sense of skepticism and confidence in a person’s ability to say no or to delay making a decision. A lot of the scams that we’re seeing nowadays, they’re really putting the pressure on the older adult that you need to act right now. ‘You need to send this money right now. If not, something bad and terrible is going to happen.’ Or on the flip side, ‘if you don’t send this money right now, you’re not going to get the prize that you’re you’ve just won in the lottery.’

What the skepticism and education does is it allows the older adult to take a step back and make decisions a little bit slower. That’s always a good thing. And then identifying a trusted person that the older adult can go to; ‘Who is this that I can contact at any time? And they’re not going to make me feel silly, stupid, afraid for asking the question if this legitimate or is this not.’ Having somebody that that older adult can contact with a potential issue is key. It’s about making sure that an older adult has somebody who really is looking out for their best interest and can provide them additional education and help boost their skepticism and their sense of self-efficacy, or their concept of themselves and their belief in themselves.

A lot of older adults that we’ve interviewed over the years have told us that they fell victim because they didn’t want to reach out. They felt like they were going to be a burden on somebody else. So having somebody there can really be key and help prevent these scams and frauds from happening.

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A Florida State University art therapy graduate student is connecting Tallahassee elders with dementia patients in South Korea through letters and paintings, demonstrating art therapy’s role in fostering international understanding.

Brittany Nyberg, a recent graduate of FSU’s Art Therapy Program in the Department of Art Education in the College of Fine Arts, designed the exchange as part of a culminating project focusing on the application of art therapy theory and practice within a particular community or population.

“I wanted to try and apply the concepts I’d been learning for two years to a much broader audience,” she said.

Participants in Tallahassee and at a community center outside Seoul wrote anonymous messages about themselves and paired them with artwork. The messages were then swapped, giving both groups a way to connect through creativity and vulnerability. 

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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.

ARCHIVE

HONORS AND AWARDS

Lisa Spainhour, Ph.D. (FAMU-FSU College of Engineering) received the Florida Engineering Society Outstanding Service to the Engineering Profession Award from the Florida Engineering Society.

Ames Morton-Winter, M.A.Ed., ALM (The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art) received the 2024 Outstanding New Professional Award from the Florida Association of Museums.

Yue Li (University Libraries) has been honored with the 2025 President’s Recognition Award from the Chinese American Librarians Association.

Brittany L. Lane, Ph.D., MPH (College of Nursing) was selected as a 2025-2026 National Institutes of Health (NIH) Fogarty Launching Future Leaders in Global Health (LAUNCH) Global Health Fellow through the UJMT Global Consortium, which includes the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Johns Hopkins University, Morehouse School of Medicine and Tulane University. As a LAUNCH Fellow, Lane will spend a year in Malawi conducting research on relationship dynamics, HIV-related partner communication and use of Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis, or PrEP — a preventive treatment for people who are at high risk of contracting HIV — among young couples.

Jerod Hutchinson (University Libraries) received the 2025 Julia Zimmerman Award, which honors a staff member who exemplifies the values of collegiality, trust, teamwork, inclusion, innovation and service.

Mike Drury, Psy.D. (College of Medicine) achieved an  American Board of Professional Psychology (ABPP) specialty board certification in Behavioral & Cognitive Psychology from the American Board of Professional Psychology.

Mark Gallagher, M.D. (College of Medicine) was named a Cleveland Clinic Patient Experience Champion for outstanding patient advocacy at Cleveland Clinic Martin Health — continuing contributions to a positive health care environment for patients and staff alike. He was also appointed the TeamHealth Regional Patient Experience Officer.

Noël Wan, Ph.D. (College of Music) was awarded the 2025 FAA Emerging Legacy Award, the University of Illinois’ highest award for early career alumni of the College of Fine and Applied Arts. The award recognizes “individuals who have impacted their fields in transformative ways — catalysts with distinguished service to the arts” in the fields of architecture, music, visual art, dance and theatre.

Panayotis (Paddy) League, Ph.D. (College of Music) had his new album selected by The Daily as one of the best country records released in July. The album is a collaboration with Athens, GA-based ensemble Hog-Eyed Man.

GRANTS

Xian Mallory, Ph.D. (Department of Computer Science) received a $290,049 National Science Foundation grant for her project “Collaborative Research: CISE Crosscutting Small: SCH: Using Explainable AI and Quantum-inspired Computing to Uncover Genetic Insights.”

Michael Carrasco, Ph.D. (College of Fine Arts) received a grant from the Cycad Society for his project “Documenting and Preserving Cycads and Cycad Culture on Amami Ōshima, Japan in Response to Critical Existential Threats.” 

Sarah A. Johnson, Ph.D. (Anne Spencer Daves College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences) is a principal investigator on a multi-PI grant from the National Institutes of Health’s Botanical Dietary Supplements Translational Research Teams program. The project is titled “Examining Gut Microbiome as a Determinant of Blueberry Polyphenol Bioavailability to Optimize Dose and Phytochemical Standardization for Functional Effects in Humans.”

David Newheiser, Ph.D. (Department of Religion) received a Global Philosophy of Religion project grant, a subgrant of the John Templeton Foundation, for the project “Indigenous Spirituality and Human Meaning in the Amazon.”

BYLINES

Erin Morpeth-Provost, Ph.D. (Counseling & Psychological Services) co-authored “Voices of Students in Crisis: Qualitative Interviews with College Students Hospitalized for Psychiatric Distress” published in Psychiatric Quarterly.

Michael Carrasco, Ph.D. (College of Fine Arts) had his article “Threats to Cycad Biocultural Heritage in the Amami Islands, Japan” featured as an Editor’s Choice by the RIKEN Center for Interdisciplinary Theoretical and Mathematical Sciences.

Erin Ryan, J.D. (College of Law) authored “The Four Horsemen of the New Separation of Powers: The Environmental Law Implications of Loper Bright, West Virginia, Sackett, and Corner Post” published in the Minnesota Law Review.

Kris Salata, Ph.D. (School of Theatre) authored “The Unwritten Grotowski: Theory and Practice of the Encounter,” published by Routledge for the first time in Greek.

Joseph Watso, Ph.D. (Anne Spencer Daves College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences) with the contribution of doctoral candidates Joseph Vondrasek, Christin Domeier and Thomas Bissen co-authored “Central Blood Pressure and Arterial Stiffness Among Ultramarathon Runners Across the Lifespan” published in the European Journal of Applied Physiology.

Joseph Watso, Ph.D. (Anne Spencer Daves College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences) co-authored “Cardiac Responses to Environmental Heat Exposure in Young and Older Adults” published in the Journal of Applied Physiology. He also co-authored “Sodium Intake and Biological Sex Influence Urinary Endothelin-1 in Salt-Resistant Adults: A Pilot Study” published in the American Journal of Physiology – Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology.

Annie Wofford, Ph.D., Lara Perez-Felkner, Ph.D. and Bret Staudt Willet, Ph.D. (Anne Spencer Daves College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences) co-authored a research note “Geography of Computing Graduate Degree Opportunities: Examining the Characteristics of Minority-Serving Institutions” published in Research in Higher Education.

Eundeok Kim, Ph.D. (Jim Moran College of Entrepreneurship ) co-authored the book “Teaching Sustainability Competencies Across the Disciplines: A Guide for Instructors (2nd Ed.) published by the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education.

Brenda Wawire, Ph.D. (Learning Systems Institute) co-authored “Competence-Based Curriculum Implementation in Africa: A Scoping Review of Pedagogical and Assessment Practices” published in the Journal of Curriculum Studies.

Melba Marin-Velasquez, Ph.D. (Learning Systems Institute) co-authored “Connecting with Land: Knowledge Production and Transfer in a Maya Tzotzil Muslim Community in Chiapas, Mexico” published in Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education.

Jai Bum Koo, Brenda Wawire, Ph.D. and Adrienne Barnes-Story, Ph.D. (Learning Systems Institute) co-authored “Roles, Relationships, and Experiences among the Stakeholders in the Teaching Practice in Malawi” published in Teaching and Teacher Education. They also co-authored “Teacher Educator Knowledge, Skills, and Self-Efficacy: Systemic Impacts on Initial Teacher Education Program” published in Trends in Higher Education.

Sabrina Dickey, Ph.D., MSN, RN (College of Nursing) and Amy L. Ai, Ph.D. (College of Social Work) co-authored the article “The Impact of Hurricane Katrina on Differences in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, Resilience, Altruism, and Substance Use among Black and White Student Volunteers” published in the journal Traumatology.

Nicholas Mazza, Ph.D. (College of Social Work) authored “Poetry Therapy and Death: Professional and Personal Experience” in The Italian Journal of Poetry Therapy. He also authored the Foreword for Anna Liudnova’s “Dialogue with Yourself: Recovery Through Writing;” and “Poetry Therapy Across Boundaries: Finding and Promoting Peace in our World” in the book, “When words heal. The silence echoes,” Italy: Mille Gru Edition.

Michael Killian, Ph.D. (College of Social Work), Yaacov Petscher, Ph.D. (College of Social Work) and Nuria Gutierrez, Ph.D. (Florida Center for Reading Research) co-authored “Quantile Regression in Social Work Research” published in the Journal of the Society for Social Work and Research.

Carolina Gonzalez, Ph.D. (Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics) authored the blog “Of Invented Languages” published with Cambridge University Press.

David Newheiser, Ph.D. (Department of Religion) co-edited the collection “Art-Making as Spiritual Practice: Rituals of Embodied Understanding” published as an e-book by Bloomsbury Academic.

Adam Tratner, Ph.D. (Republic of Panama Campus) co-authored and published “A Cross-Sectional and Longitudinal Analysis of Cognitive Function and Well-Being of Older Adults in Panama During the COVID-19 Pandemic” in the journal COVID.

Tanya Renn, Ph.D., Lauren Herod, MSW/MPA and Stephen Tripodi, Ph.D. (College of Social Work) co-authored the article, “Implementing a Trauma-Informed Intervention in a County Jail: Feasibility Study of STAIR” published in the journal Research on Social Work Practice.

Deb Osborn, Ph.D. (Anne Spencer Daves College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences) and doctoral candidate Jacob Stamm co-authored “Beyond the Game: Exploring the Interplay of Career Thoughts, Career Adaptability, and Athletic Identity in Shaping Postgraduate Paths for Student Athletes” published in the Journal of Postsecondary School Success. Co-authors include Combined Counseling Psychology and School Psychology Ph.D. alumni Ryan Sides, Ivey Walker and Bobbi Villarreal.

Antonio Terracciano, Ph.D., Martina Luchetti, Ph.D., Angelina R. Sutin, Ph.D. (College of Medicine) and post-doctoral students Selin Karakose, Ph.D., Amanda A. Miller, Ph.D. co-authored “Meta-analyses of Personality Change from the Preclinical to the Clinical Stages of Dementia” published online ahead of print in the journal Ageing Research Reviews.

Geraldine Martorella, Ph.D., (Center for Translational Behavioral Science), Adam Hanley, Ph.D. and Kathryn Muessig, Ph.D. (College of Nursing) co-authored “Patients’ Perception of a Brief Web- and Mindfulness-Based Intervention for Pain Following Discharge After Total Joint Arthroplasty: Qualitative Description” published in JMIR Nursing.

PRESENTATIONS AND CONFERENCES

Nancy Gerber, Ph.D. (Department of Art Education) presented “Transforming through Research. The Future of Art Therapy in a Changing World” at the European Federation of Art Therapy conference in London.

Henna Budhwani, Ph.D., MPH (College of Nursing) co-presented her work “Advancing Nursing Through Translational Workforce Development: An Integrated CTSA System-Level Approach” at the National Institutes of Health National Institute of Nursing Research 40th Anniversary Symposium, Clinical Center, Bethesda, MD.

Amy Magnuson, Ph.D. and Hannah Stone (University Health Services) presented “Strategic Planning, Identifying KPIs, and Performing Leadership Rounds” for college health centers at the American College Health Association Conference.

Adam Hanley, Ph.D. (College of Nursing) presented posters featuring the companion articles “Patients’ Perception of a Brief Web- and Mindfulness-Based Intervention for Pain Following Discharge After Total Joint Arthroplasty: Qualitative Description” and “Online Brief Mindfulness-Based Intervention for Subacute Pain After Total Hip or Knee Replacement: A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial” at the International Society for Research on Internet Interventions in San Diego.

Ben Wicker, Ed.D., M.Ed. and Shannon Staten, Ph.D. (University Housing) presented “A Lesson in Self-assessment and its Impact on the Housing Staff” at the June Association of College & University Housing Officers – International annual conference, Campus Home. LIVE!

Alice Maxwell, MA (DSA Marketing and Communications Office) presented on her article “Exploring a Model for Student Success Communications that Welcomes Collaboration Across Higher Education Divisions” at a webinar hosted by Taylor & Francis, publishers of the UK-based journal “Perspectives: Policy & Practice in Higher Education.”

Shannon Staten, Ph.D. (University Housing) presented “Making 20 New Contacts in an Hour: Connecting with Women Leaders” at the June Association of College & University Housing Officers International conference: Campus Home. LIVE!

Megan Buning, Ph.D. (Anne Spencer Daves College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences) and sport psychology master’s student Eli Zemach conducted a training for the state of South Carolina’s high school football officials. The presentation focused on training the mental aspects of officiating for approximately 500 football referees.

Shelley Ducatt, Ph.D. (Department of Student Support and Transitions) and Shannon Staten, Ph.D. (University Housing) co-presented “A Student Affairs Coordinated Response to Natural Disasters: Best Practices and Lessons Learned” at the NASPA Region III Summer Symposium.

Nicholas Mazza, Ph.D. (College of Social Work) presented “Poetry Therapy Across Boundaries: Finding and Promoting Peace in Our World” at the First International Poetry Therapy Symposium in Italy. He also presented “Promoting Health and Well-being through Language, Symbol, and Story” to the Korean Poetry Therapy Association and gave the virtual presentation “Poetry Therapy and Bibliotherapy in Clinical Practice” to the Israel Bibliotherapy Center. Mazza also gave two virtual presentations to Ukrainian therapists providing therapy for front-line military and educators, including “Healing through Poems: How to Deal with Trauma Using Poetry Therapy” and “Healing Words: Poetry Therapy Techniques for Resilience and Hope.”

Savannah Collier, MSW and Caroline Senkowicz, MSW, RCSWI (Stoops Center for Communities, Families, and Children) presented “Building Resilience: Harm Reduction Strategies for Preventing Teen Substance Misuse” at the National Association of Social Workers, Florida Chapter Annual Conference.

Karen Geletko, MPH (College of Medicine) presented “The Impact of Secondhand Vape Exposure on Adolescents’ Willingness to Try Vapes” at the National Conference on Tobacco or Health in Chicago, based on research conducted with Jon Mills, Ph.D. and Jeffrey Harman, Ph.D. (College of Medicine).

Yushun Dong, Ph.D. (Department of Computer Science) presented “Fairness-Aware Graph Learning: A Benchmark” at the 2025 Association for Computing Machinery Special Interest Group on Knowledge Discovery in Data conference in Toronto, Canada.

Barry J. Faulk, Ph.D. (Department of English) co-chaired the roundtable discussion “Dylan versus the Professors: A Roundtable of Teaching Bob Dylan” at The World of Bob Dylan 2025 Conference in July at the University of Tulsa in Oklahoma.

Dassani Natera, MSW and Kristin Jordan, MSW, MPA (Stoops Center for Communities, Families, and Children) co-presented “Student to Student: Empowering Young Minds via MSW Student Led Training on Clinical Rebound & Recovery” at the National Association of Social Workers, Florida Chapter Annual Conference.

Tai Cole, MSW and Raegan Hamillton, MSW, RCSWI (Stoops Center for Communities, Families, and Children) co-presented “Cracking the Code: Effective Therapies and Tools for Tackling Behavioral and Emotional Challenges in Young Clients” at the National Association of Social Workers, Florida Chapter Annual Conference.

David Newheiser, Ph.D. (Department of Religion) chaired the online panel “The Crisis of the Humanities — and What We can do About it” for the American Academy of Religion’s (AAR) annual meeting in June as Vice Chair of the AAR’s Committee for the Public Understanding of Religion.

Christopher Mulrooney, Ph.D. (College of Medicine) presented “Pathways to Culture Change Implementation: What Mobilizers & Administrators Can Learn from Each Other” at the annual conference of AgingIN (formerly known as Center for Innovation & Pioneer Network), in St. Louis, Missouri.

Karen Geletko, MPH and Rebecca Carter, LCSW (College of Medicine) co-presented “Enhancing Tobacco Treatment Services in Florida’s Behavioral Health Population” at BH CON 2025, a statewide behavioral health conference presented by the Florida Behavioral Health Association in Orlando.

Marissa Hershon, M.A. (The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art) was invited to represent The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art and speak about the Museum’s growing studio glass collection and The Kotler-Coville Glass Pavilion at the first Curatorial Convening at the Corning Museum of Glass in New York. She was also invited to present a lecture on “María Magdalena Campos-Pons and Berengo Studio: Collaborations in Glass” at the Boca Raton Museum of Art for the special exhibition.

Kevin A. Johnson, Ph.D., F. Andrew Kozel, M.D., (College of Medicine), Psychology doctoral student Megan Senda and medical student Austin M. Spitz presented the poster “Preliminary Analysis of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Treatment Outcomes for Veteran Sexual Assault Victims with MDD and PTSD” and scored in District 19’s Top Ten at the American Psychological Association’s 2025 Conference.

Rhiannon Paget, Ph.D. (The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art) presented “Real Valor: Staging Seppuku in Meiji Photography and Prints” at “Making it ’Real’: Social and Cultural Transformations across Meiji Japan,” hosted by the East Asian Studies Program, Princeton University.

Delaney W. La Rosa, Ed.D., MSN Ed, RN (College of Nursing) was invited to present a six-part series on Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare to the Health Equity Influencers Program for Nurse Educators, hosted by Mercy University.

Ben Wicker (University Housing) presented a session on current issues to a cohort of 60 international housing and residence life professionals at the James C. Grimm National Housing Training Institute at the University of Washington.

Sana Tibi, Ph.D. (School of Communication Science and Disorders) presented “Reading Anxiety in Arabic University Students” at the Society for the Scientific Study of Reading Conference in Calgary, Canada.

EXHIBITIONS AND PERFORMANCES

Grace Aneiza Ali, MFA (Department of Art) curated “Amazonia Açu,” a landmark exhibition at the Americas Society in New York, which was featured in Hyperallergic’s New York Fall 2025 Guide.

Tenee Hart, MFA (Department of Art) opened a solo exhibition “…no place like home” at the UCF Art Gallery in Orlando.

Kevin Curry, MFA (Department of Art) installed his piece “Quotidian” with assistance from the Master Craftsman Studio in Tallahassee as part of the Council on Culture & Arts / Tallahassee Downtown Improvement Authority’s Sculpture Scape TLH.

Arianne Johnson Quinn, Ph.D. (College of Music) presented “The Art of Making Art: Establishing a College of Music Archives at Florida State University” at the annual meeting of The International Association of Music Libraries, Archives and Documentation Centers in Salzburg, Austria.

Karen McLaughlin Large, DM and Mary Matthews, DM (College of Music) were invited to perform at the 2025 WindWorks Festival in Husavík, Iceland. They presented a recital for two flutes and electronics that featured two works by FSU student composers “I Like Rollercoasters” by Ky Nam Nguyen and “Things You Can Magnetize” by Brian Juntilla. Both works were composed for the 2024 FSU Festival of Creative Arts in collaboration with the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory

and the School of Dance. This was the European premiere of both works. Matthews also gave a masterclass on her book, “Beatboxing & Beyond,” at Tónlistarskólinn á Akureyri.

Alexander Jiménez, DM (College of Music) served as conductor of the Boston University Tanglewood Institute (BUTI) Young Artist Orchestra. Working with FSU alumna and BUTI executive director, Nicole Wendl, MM, Jimenez invited the Marcus Roberts Trio members, Marcus Roberts and Rodney Jordan, (College of Music) with Jason Marsalis to perform their renowned take on George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue.” Joining Marcus on the drum set was Leon Anderson, Jr., M.A. (College of Music). The concert was held in the Seiji Ozawa Concert Hall on the grounds of the Tanglewood Music Festival, and included the “Negro Folk Symphony” of William Dawson, “The Rhyme of Taigu” by Zhou Long and the Gershwin.

SERVICE

Alissa Costabile, MBA (Inspiring the Generation of New Ideas and Translational Excellence, IGNITE) served as a panelist at the Doolittle Institute Innovation Discovery Event.

Erin Morpeth-Provost, Ph.D. (Counseling & Psychological Services) was selected to serve on the National Register of Health Service Psychologist’s new committee for Artificial Intelligence and Emerging Technologies.

Kathryn Keene, DNP, RN, PCCN, CNE (College of Nursing) served as a judge for the Sigma Chapter Key Awards for Sigma International Honorary Nursing Society.

Vilma Fuentes, Ph.D. (Learning Systems Institute) traveled to Bata, Equatorial Guinea as part of the U.S. State Department Speakers Series to lead several workshops in Spanish and English to help the host country improve its educational system.

Nicholas Mazza, Ph.D. (College of Social Work) has been serving as a social work and psychological consultant, therapist, and poet for Ukraine. He is currently serving as a member of Florida State University’s Ukraine Task Force.

Marissa Hershon, M.A. (The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art) serves on the Decorative Arts Society’s Robert C. Smith Award Committee, which met to make an annual award selection for an outstanding article in the field of decorative arts.

Geoffrey Deibel, Ph.D. (College of Music) served as faculty saxophonist, coach and instructor at the Cortona Sessions for New Music, a 12-day long program in Ede, Netherlands, that pairs performers and composers of contemporary music.

NOTABLE

Jamie Ho, MFA (Department of Art) completed an international residence at Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts.

Rabieh Razzouk, MBA, Stephanie Zuilkowski, Ph.D., Carrie Meyers, and Heather French (Learning Systems Institute) completed work on the “Coordinated Screening and Progress Monitoring” grant from the Florida Department of Education.

Vilma Fuentes, Ph.D. (Learning Systems Institute) organized a campus visit for a group of nine senior Ukrainian higher education officials as part of the State Department International Leadership Visitors Program.

Angie Cherry, DNP, RN (College of Nursing) became a Certified Healthcare Simulation Educator.

Bhushan Dahal, MBS (Learning Systems Institute) met with Former President of Nepal, Dr. Ram Baran Yada.

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

The post Faculty and Staff Briefs August 2025 appeared first on Florida State University News.

Florida State University School of Information professor Zhe He has received two major honors for his work in health informatics.

He was elected a Fellow of the International Academy of Health Sciences Informatics (IAHSI) and awarded a $280,000 grant from the National a2 Pilot Awards Competition, funded by the National Institute on Aging.

“Dr. Zhe He has been an extraordinary colleague from the moment he joined the FSU faculty,” said Dean Michelle Kazmer of the College of Communication and Information. “He is an excellent teacher and mentor, a committed member of the university community and has conducted transformational research in the area of health informatics. Dr. He, along with his students and research colleagues across the globe, has done foundational research and systems design to improve health outcomes for everyone. I am grateful and proud that he is a member of the faculty in the College of Communication and Information.”

IAHSI recognizes global leaders who advance healthcare through research, education, and innovation. This year, the academy named 18 Fellows worldwide, including 11 from North America.

“Being elected as a Fellow of the IAHSI is an incredible honor and a deeply humbling experience,” He said. “It represents international recognition of the work I’ve done over the past 17 years to advance biomedical and health informatics.”

He’s research focuses on the intersection of biomedical and health informatics, artificial intelligence and big data analytics, and he serves as the director of the FSU Institute for Successful Longevity; director of the UF-FSU CTSA Biostatistics, Informatics, and Research Design Program; and chair of the AMIA Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining Working Group.

He first connected with IAHSI through his involvement with the International Medical Informatics Association (IMIA), which founded IAHSI in 2017. Over the years, he has presented research, organized panels, and collaborated with scholars internationally through IMIA conferences.

“He is an excellent teacher and mentor, a committed member of the university community and has conducted transformational research in the area of health informatics. Dr. He, along with his students and research colleagues across the globe, has done foundational research and systems design to improve health outcomes for everyone.”

– Dean Michelle Kazmer, College of Communication and Information

“I was both surprised and honored to be nominated and elected by such a distinguished group of peers whose work I have long admired,” He said.

As a Fellow, He aims to support the academy’s goal of advancing health sciences informatics by strengthening global collaboration on pressing issues like climate change, aging and the ethical use of artificial intelligence in health care. He also looks forward to working with international colleagues on leadership practices, sharing knowledge and building the capacity of low-resource settings and communities.

In addition to his IAHSI Fellowship, He was recently awarded a one-year $280,000 research grant from the National a2 Pilot Awards Competition, hosted annually by the Artificial Intelligence and Technology Collaboratories (AITC) for Aging Research Program and funded by the National Institute on Aging (NIA).

The grant supports his project, “Developing a Multi-Agent AI System for Explaining Lab Results to Older Adults,” which is part of his ongoing research initiative, LabGenie.

“This recognition underscores the importance of addressing the unique challenges older adults and their caregivers face in interpreting lab test results,” He said.

He began working with the National Institute on Aging through research on health and aging, collaborating with clinicians, behavioral scientists, and computer scientists. He has also earned two other NIA grants for projects on clinical trial optimization and personalized AI tools.

He hopes LabGenie will expand to include symptom tracking, contextual insight generation, patient portal integration, and shared decision-making support, making lab results more comprehensive and accessible for older patients and their caregivers.

“My hope is that LabGenie becomes a model for how AI can enhance patient engagement for those with varying health literacy levels and improve outcomes, especially for older adults with multiple chronic conditions,” He said.

For more information about FSU’s College of Communication and Information, visit cci.fsu.edu.

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The landscape of America’s workforce continues to evolve as issues such as falling birth rates, shifts in prioritized skills and new job growth from AI create an intriguing outlook for the future.

According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, employers are adding jobs while investing in new technologies but continue to struggle finding skilled talent. While the workforce population continues aging as Baby Boomers choose to work longer, a skills gap is predicted for younger generations who will eventually dominate the labor population.

Florida State University’s Darren Brooks is a senior lecturer and assistant chair in the Department of Management and the coordinator of the MBA Program at the College of Business. With expertise in human resources, learning systems and change management, Brooks is a proven business leader and educator with more than 20 years of private and public sector management and human resource experience.

Brooks is aware of the potential issues that arise for the future of America’s workforce but believes there have been precedents set when society faces rapid change.

“AI will have a significant impact on how we work that may involve the elimination of some types of jobs currently performed by humans,” Brooks said. “However, at the same time new opportunities for work will emerge. This divide between dystopian catastrophe and utopian world of hyper productivity have dominated a lot of the writings and media attention. I take the view that with every technological evolution, being forward thinking and adaptive to inevitable changes are the best ways to deal with change in work or any other aspect of our lives.”

Media interested in interviewing Brooks about ways to best address the changing dynamics of America’s future workforce may reach out to him at dbrooks@business.fsu.edu.

Darren Brooks, Assistant Department Chair, Senior Lecturer and MBA Program Coordinator, College of Business

1. What types of jobs could be impacted by AI?

The emergence of AI into our work and personal space established a new frontier that has both positive and negative impacts. On the job front, while all work will be impacted, jobs that are more routine and subject to replacement by AI technology are subject to replacement. This can span areas of technology, service professionals such as call center agents, and professional positions. In discussing with industry and technology professionals and reviewing research in this area, what has emerged is the need to develop skills that augment the capabilities of AI. These types of job skills enhance the need for AI + human interaction, not reduce it. As I often express to my students, augmenting is about the integrating of both technical skills and human skills. Another way to think about it is that tasks that are commoditized, basic and transactional become tasks that can easily be replaced by AI or other technologies. Tasks that require social intensive skills or skills requiring creativity, complex decision making, empathy and interpersonal skills, management fundamentals, skills-trades, systems thinking, and domain expertise will be better positioned for human workers than AI.

2. How critical are training and development programs to ensure that younger people who enter the workforce don’t have a significant drop-off in skills? 

Training is an essential partnership between employees, organizations, educational and vocational institutions today and even more for the future. In fact, the term reskilling and upskilling continues to be utilized in both academic research and popular media, and for good reasons. Millions of jobs will be affected by AI in some way or another. Over the next few years, as companies figure out ways to scale AI across organizational domains, more jobs will be impacted. Training and development play a key in moving employees from the replaceable job categories to the augmenting jobs. 

Students and working professionals alike should be developing AI skills related to their field but also build skills that have utility across the organization. Another way to contemplate this is to think about the portability of skills. Schools such as higher education institutions, high schools, etc. should teach students the right AI skills alongside traditional human skills to prepare them for shifts in work. By continuous training throughout one’s career, workers — young and old —- reduce the potential for skill loss. This increases their value to an organization and allows them to be re-allocated to other work should their job be automated or eliminated completely. However, I must emphasize that re-skilling and up-skilling are shared responsibilities between employers and employees.

3. What, if any, shifts have you seen in workforce skills over the past 30 years?

 Throughout my career, I have seen tremendous shifts in required work skills, particularly around technology. This includes moving away from premise-based mainframes and desktop terminals to portable computing devices, cloud computing and communication technologies. The complexity and techno-driving influence on work will always evolve. However, as we become more technology driven, what makes us human, or you might suggest unique, continues to elevate in importance.

4. What areas are the most critical to invest in to ensure workforce development remains steady, especially as Baby Boomers continue retiring and younger generations take over. 

The question about investments in workforce development is largely tied to our view of the value of the human race, particularly our capacity and capabilities for work. If policymakers, business and education leaders, and members of society in general find value in the human capacity to create economic, social, cultural value through work, then investments into developing worker skills and thereby opportunities to pursue productive outputs from their work would be a top priority of policy, regulatory, and strategic efforts. More specifically, investments should be made in the next generation to accelerate skill development, expand access to skill development beyond traditional educational and vocational pathways, and prepare workers for a world of work that prioritizes, what I refer to as skill interoperability across the organization than rigid jobs that are defined by narrow job descriptions and tasks that can become obsolete.

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Florida State University and the Claude Pepper Foundation invite the community to a special celebration marking the 125th anniversary of Senator Claude Pepper, a towering figure in Florida and national history.

The celebration will take place from 8 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., Friday, Sept. 12, 2025, at the Broad Auditorium, Claude Pepper Center Building, on the FSU campus.

The commemorative event will feature a keynote address by James C. Clark, senior lecturer at the University of Central Florida, and an engaging lineup of presentations exploring Sen. Pepper’s profound influence on Florida State University, his namesake library and museum, and his enduring legacy in public service, health care and advocacy for the elderly.

A celebration will also feature the first public screening of the new documentary, “The Legacy of Claude Denson Pepper,” chronicling the life and work of one of the most respected voices in 20th-century American politics.

Attendees will enjoy a continental breakfast beginning at 8 a.m., followed by presentations and a buffet luncheon at noon.

This event offers a unique opportunity to honor and reflect on Sen. Pepper’s decades of service and the values he championed, many of which continue to shape public policy and academic life at Florida State University and beyond.

Seating is limited, and early response is encouraged. RSVP by Sept. 1, 2025.

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