Faculty across our seven departments are active scholars and leaders in their fields. Here’s what some of them have created, presented on, and published over the winter of 2023-2024.
Adjunct Professors
Adjunct Professor in English Constance Alexander had her spoken opera “The Way Home,” performed as a fundraiser for the Anna Mae Owen Residential Hospice House on Nov 30th 2023 at the 1st Presbyterian Church, Murray KY. The piece tells the stories of two women – one from Murray, the other from Trigg County – who shared their experiences with cancer as part of an award-winning joint project with Ms. Alexander and WKMS-FM. The piece has been performed around the U.S. with no royalties to the writer, as long as all proceeds go to non-profits that support women’s health, the uninsured, and cancer patients. It was recently published by finishingline press.
Assistant Professors
Assistant Professor in English & Philosophy, Dr. Shimikqua Ellis had an article published titled “I’m Just Really Scared of The White Parents: A Teachers perceptions of barriers to discussing racial injustice” is from her dissertation research. It is published in English Teaching Practice and Critique November 2023 journal. This is Dr. Ellis second publication and first from her dissertation.
Assistant Professor of Photography Cintia Segovia Figueroa had a solo exhibition at the Clemens Fine Arts Center, Paducah in November 2023. Her exhibit showcases photographs and videos delving into her identity as a dual citizen of Mexico and the United States. Originating from the dynamic landscape of Mexico City, she contrasts this upbringing with her experiences as a photographer in Los Angeles, CA, and rural Kentucky. The memories of her native country intertwine with life in the United States, inspiring the creation of a conceptual space bridging these two nations—a realm where her life narrative unfolds, influenced by both cultural spheres.
Assistant Professor of Music Joan Eckroth-Riley presented a session at the Kentucky Music Educators Conference titled “Choice, Process, Performance; From Page to Stage.” This session discussed the process of choosing a children’s book and turning it into a program. Topics included: how to choose a grade level appropriate children’s book, what to teach from the book, music and nonmusical reasons to choose the book, as well as how to decide what to do with the book once it is chosen. Session participants experienced the process of making “A Windy Day” by Frank Asch come alive with music, singing, body percussion and movement.
Also, Joan Eckroth-Riley presented an online session for students in the online Graduate degree program at Northern State University in Aberdeen, SD. Teachers from around the world attended this online session on February 18, 2024. The session, titled, “What is Orff Schulwerk” was a general overview of the purpose, processes and overall ideas of Orff Schulwerk and how it can be used to reach higher order musical thinking and understanding for students in K-12. Teachers explored the media of the Schulwerk through poetry, movement, singing, and improvisatory experiences during this two hour zoom presentation.
Associate Professors
Associate Professor in Sociology, Dr. Hendley’s class activity, “Gender Socialization and Children’s Halloween Costumes” (published in TRAILS, Teaching Resources and Innovations Library for Sociology), was selected to be included in a curated collection of resources for high school sociology teachers. (November 2023)
Associate Professor of Art Education, Dr. Rebecca Williams presented via Zoom at the Kentucky Art Education Association Fall Conference (November 2023) which was hosted at Thomas More University in Crestview Hills, KY. Her session was titled, Creating Assessments: Narrating Achievement with ChatGPT’s Guiding AI. She demonstrated how art teachers can collaborate with ChatGPT to design effective formative and summative assessments.
Associate Professor of Spanish & Portuguese Dr. Robert Fritz co-led an online workshop on Costa Rican literature as part of a “clase espejo” (mirror class) organized by colleagues from the International University of San Isidro Labrador (UISIL), whose main campus is located in Pérez Zeledón, Costa Rica in November 2023. He led participants in a close reading of the short story “La ventana” by Costa Rican author Carlos Herrera Salazar.
Associate Professor of Philosophy Dr. Michelle Panchuk published a chapter on “Power and Protest: A Christian Liturgical Response to Religious Trauma” in the book Philosophies of Liturgy: Explorations of Embodied Religious Practice, edited by J. Aaron Simmons, Bruce Ellis Benson, and Neal DeRoo, published by Bloomsbury.
Associate Professor of History Dr. Christine Lindner (far left) presented the paper “Transnational Family Networks in Ottoman Syria: The Case of the DeForest Family” that draws upon material she is writing about on families in the early Protestant community in Ottoman Syria, which she is working on during her Sabbatical. This paper was part of the panel, “Children, Family, and State: Evolving Conceptions of Childhood in the Ottoman Empire” at the Middle East Studies Association’s annual meeting, which was held in Montreal in early November 2023.
Associate Professors of Music, Dr. Tana Field (second from right) and Dr. Maribeth Crawford (far left) took 6 Murray State voice majors to compete in the Kentucky Chapter’s National Association of Teachers of Singing student auditions. Jessie Leal (freshman) placed 2nd in the Lower TBB Musical Theatre Category, Allyson Pair (senior) placed 2nd in the Senior Treble Classical Category, Maisah Johnson placed 1st in the Upper Treble Musical Theatre Category, and Traicoryon West (senior) placed 1st in the Upper TBB Musical Theatre Category. All participants were from across the state of Kentucky.
Associate Professor of Art History Dr. Antje Gamble published a book review of Caroline Riley’s book MoMA Goes to Paris in 1938: Building and Politicizing American Art in the journal Panorama: Journal of the Association of Historians of American Art (Fall 2023, Issue 9.2).
Associate Professor of Psychology Dr. Michael Bordieri co-authored a manuscript entitled “Using Debriefing as a Tool to Enhance the Educational Value of Undergraduate Research Participation” in Teaching in Psychology. Results across three studies and over 900 participants found that extended video debriefings, especially when combined with instructions that incentivize attending to debriefing content, may be an effective tool to increase the educational value of undergraduate research participation.
Associate Professor and Director of University Galleries T. Michael exhibited a drawing in the Think Small Biennial International Exhibition curated by, Dana Frostick and Heidi Thacker, from November 3 through December 16, 2023 art Artspace in Richmond, VA. The ThinkSmall exhibit is held once every two years and features artwork in a diverse range of styles and media, all available for purchase. Many of the participating artists have connections to or are local to the Richmond area, but artwork is submitted from throughout the region, across the United States, and internationally.
Associate Professor of History Dr. Selina Gao published the article “Folklore Goes to War: Folksongs, Yangge and Storytelling in Communist Bases during the Second Sino-Japanese War,” in IAFOR Journal of Cultural Studies, Vol. 8, No. 2, pp. 47-64, December 2023. All across the world folklore studies are often closely tied to the emergence of modern nation states and were used to (re)build national identities. During China’s War of Resistance against Japan, folklore activities played a valuable role in boosting the national spirit and promoting the idea of China as home to a rich cultural legacy. In communist bases of the North China Plain in particular, a New Literature and Art Movement began with the collection and organization of folk literature and art, which was in turn remoulded into effective and highly politicized anti-Japanese and social reform messages to promote mass mobilization. Dr. Gao’s article examines folksongs, yangge and storytelling to reveal how folklore, reshaped by communist intellectuals, was designed to serve political aims and address peasants and soldiers in order to unite the masses against its enemies both foreign and domestic. The Chinese Communist Party used traditional forms of folklore with revised content to launch a mass movement that served its primary political needs: winning support of the masses and spreading revolutionary communist ideology to a broader audience. This wartime revolutionary folklore approach continued into peacetime and greatly affected the People’s Republic China.
Associate Professor of English Dr. Ray Horton published a review of the book Faith in Exposure: Privacy and Secularism in the Nineteenth-Century United States (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2023), by Justine S. Murison in the journal Early American Literature.
Professors
Full Professor in Music, Dr. Meeyoun Park served as an adjudicator for the Murray Music Teachers Association Studio Festival/Student Workshop on November 18th, 2023. The event hosted 28 pre-college piano students from Murray and Paducah.
Professor and Department Chair of Psychology Dr. Jana Hackathorn published her work (with Dr. Dan Wann―Wann, D. L., Hackathorn, J., & Brost, M authors) in the journal Findings in Sport, Hospitality, Entertainment, and Event Management. This work discusses the relationship between sport fan dysfunction and trait aggression.
Full Professor of Music Dr. Matthew Gianforte served as an adjudicator for the Murray Music Teachers Association Studio Workshop & Studio Festival, on Saturday, November 18. The event brought 28 pre-college pianists from Murray and Paducah to campus.
College of humanities and fine arts 