My USC Lancaster

• Sahar Aghasafari published  Aghasafari, S. (2024). Creative Visual Arts and Biology Processes: Examining Emergent Bi/Multilingual High Schoolers' Meanings. European Journal of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, 1(3), 200-209.

• Sahar was appointed Editorial Board Member, Visual Arts Research (VAR), 2024-present. Journal Link

•  Sahar created The book cover design for STAR Scholars publication series [Graphic Design]. In STAR Scholars (Ed.), Publications in educational and social science disciplines. STAR Scholars Network. Summer 2024 Designs| Amazon Link | STAR Scholars Press Catalog | Another STAR Scholars Book

  Sahar is serving as an ASCD+ISTE Community Leader, Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD), and International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE), 2024-present.

• Aghasafari, S. (Ed.), & Blair, J. (Co-Ed.). (2024- 2025). Art and Technology in STEM Education [Special issue]. The American Journal of STEM Education.
  
  
• Aghasafari, S., & Needles, T. (2024). Presenting Enhancing STEAM Education Through Media Arts: A Multidisciplinary Approach. The STAR Global Conference, University of Kathmandu, Nepal.
• Sahar published paper (peer-reviewed): Aghasafari, S., & Malloy, M. (2024). Blending Media Arts with Mathematics: Insights and Innovations in STEAM Education. Journal of Mathematics & Technology, 18 (3), 198-210. 

• Shesmi Alhaddad  published a peer reviewed article: S. Alhaddad. “Best Practices for Data Embroidery.” Proceedings of Bridges 2024: Mathematics, Art, Music, Architecture, Culture, 2024, pp. 243-250.
• Shemsi presented the paper “Best Practices for Data Embroidery”  at the Bridges Math Art conference in Richmond in Aug 2024.

• Connor Austell’s paper "Exploring the Compositions of Thomas "Blind Tom" Wiggins" was accepted for publication by American Musical Perspectives, an academic journal published by Penn State University Press. The impetus for this article stemmed from his doctoral dissertation research, though much additional work was done this past Spring.
• Connor will be giving a presentation on his findings in a faculty forum on October 4. 

• Connor  has successfully secured grants for the Lancaster Performance Series from the South Carolina Arts Commission and from the City of Lancaster for a total of $16,750 in funding. Connor is spearheading this concert series to facilitate the University's ability to support high-level musical performances in our community. Our inaugural shows will take place this spring, with a major highlight being the USC School of Music's performance of Giacomo Puccini's comic opera Gianni Schicchi on March 31 in Bundy Auditorium.

• Marybeth Berry studied in Bordeaux France with renowned teacher and actor, Jude Alderson on her new version of Phaedra. The workshop developed the piece in depth and will move to the next stage of performance in England next year. While in France, USCL Thea 200 students were able to view a part of the workshop via zoom.
• Marybeth is directing Town Theatre's musical, Something's Afoot which opens October 25th which features two USCL alumni in Columbia.
• USC Lancaster Players have been invited to perform in Ireland at Ardgillan Castle with two performances: Waiting for Godot and On the Spectrum.
• Marybeth’s On the Spectrum was also workshopped at the FringeLab in Dublin Fringe Festival in May for the opportunity to be part of a future Dublin Fringe Festival.
• Marybeth’s The Puzzle has been selected for an international premiere at La MaMa Umbria after a successful staged reading at Coastal Carolina University's New Works Festival.
• Marybeth spent a week this summer in New York working with the Tectonic Theatre Project and Moises Kaufmann (creator of The Laramie Project) where she completed Levels 1 & 2 of Moment Work as well as Moment Work for the Actor with Moises directly.

• Li Cai and Sahar Aghasafari  have had two abstracts accepted for presentation in October. One is for an online conference by the London Arts-Based Research Centre in early October, and the other is for the American Chemical Society conference in Atlanta in late October:

  • Cai, L.; Aghasafari, S. ChemArtistry: Integrating Media Arts into the Study of Fundamental Chemistry in the Age of AI. 2024 Southeastern Regional Meeting of the American Chemical Society, 2024.

  • Aghasafari, S.; Cai, L. ChemArtistry: Integrating Media Arts into the Study of Fundamental Chemistry. Science and Sensibility: Method Meets Art - A Transdisciplinary Conference, 2024.

• Li Cai and Sahar Aghasafari presented: 
  • Cai, L.; Aghasafari, S. ChemArtistry: Integrating Media Arts into the Study of Fundamental Chemistry in the Age of AI. 2024 Southeastern Regional Meeting of the American Chemical Society, 2024.
  • Aghasafari, S.; Cai, L. ChemArtistry: Integrating Media Arts into the Study of Fundamental Chemistry. Science and Sensibility: Method Meets Art - A Transdisciplinary Conference, 2024.

Aghasafari, S., & Cai, L. (2024). Presenting ChemArtistry: Integrating Media Arts into the Study of Fundamental Chemistry. South Carolina Art Education Association, Greenville, SC.

• Li Cai and his student Charis Grabbe published an article “Regioselective Deacetylation in Nucleosides and Derivatives.”

• Jill Castiglia, Fernanda Burke, and Bettie Obi-Johnson attended the Workshop on Assessment in Chemistry Courses in Atlanta in June funded by the National Science Foundation in conjunction with the American Chemical Society. The two-day workshop "explored developing learning objectives, creating assessment plans, articulating a test specifications document, creating quality assessment items, and using assessment data to inform teaching practice." These faculty will continue to collaborate with each of the teams formed during the workshop in monthly virtual meetings through this year.

• Courtney Catledge published: Horton-Dias, C., Catledge, C., & Dawson, R.M. (2024). A Theory-guided Qualitative Exploration of Occupational Influences on Firefighters’ Dietary Behaviors. Workplace Health and Safety.DOI:

• Stan Emanuel was featured in WalletHub's piece about Best Car Insurance in South Carolina.

• Rebecca Freeman, McKenzie Lemhouse, and  Zach Broughton presented "Whole Person Staffing" at the Metrolina Library Association Conference in June. 
• McKenzie and Rebecca presented two posters at the Metrolina Library Association Conference in June. We presented "Making It Work" and "Battling Period Poverty on a Small, Rural Academic Campus." "Making It Work" discussed how we have made continuous improvements to the library space to meet student and staff needs. 
• McKenzie, Asheley Schryer, and Rebecca were accepted to present "Creating the Celebration of Lancer Excellence – An Interdisciplinary Student Showcase" at the South Carolina Library Association Conference in October. 
• Rebecca and Lisa Gieskes, Richland County Public Library were accepted to present "Cooking in Libraries" at the South Carolina Library Association Conference in October. We will be presenting on how libraries have shifted towards nutrition and cooking programming and how one local library has implemented cooking programming. 
• McKenzie and Rebecca received a Pads in Schools grant for $1000 to provide period supplies to the campus through the all gender restrooms. 
• McKenzie sent in the final edits for a chapter on information behavior in online endometriosis support communities in a collection titled "Information, Power, and Reproductive Health" by Litwin Books & Library Juice Press. Currently anticipated in early 2025!
• McKenzie and Logan Cocklin had a chapter proposal preliminarily accepted for inclusion in a collection titled "Shelf Life: Libraries, Archives, and Collective Grief" this summer.

• Claudia Heinemann-Priest has been an ally and member of the Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women and Relatives Task Force of South Carolina since December 2023.Our mission is to “advocate for the end of violence against Native women”, children, and Two Spirits. We “also seek to draw attention to the high rates of disappearances and murders of Native people, particularly women and girls.”We “coordinate with state and tribal task forces to address MMIP issues.” Anyone who is interested in MMIP issues:
  • South Carolina Level 
  • Federal level 

• Ernest Jenkins has graduated from the Diversity Leaders Initiative’s (DLI) 16th Midlands class. DLI is hosted by Furman University and has been promoting the power of diversity for over 20 years to help teams, organizations, and communities in South Carolina thrive. This five-month curriculum explored a wide array of topics from bias and discrimination to the role of context, and it openly engaged with sensitive issues related to diversity and inclusion. It concluded with a community action project aimed at identifying and addressing a concern in the Upstate and implementing an enduring solution. Ernest's graduation marks his joining of a community of over 2,800 fellows statewide. 

• Bettie Johnson presented a research talk at the Southeastern Regional Meeting of the American Chemical Society on October 26 entitled “Using Games to Engage Students in General Chemistry.”

Chris Judge gave the following lectures: 

• Interpreting the Copperhead Bluff Site, a Mississippian Period Site on Great Pee Dee River, Florence County, South Carolina. Archaeology Day Conference, Archaeological Institute of the Pee Dee, Florence County Museum, Florence, South Carolina. October 12, 2024.
• “Gathering up the Fragments: The Elusive Cheraw Indians in Colonial Times” Exhibit Lecture for Resilience and Revolution: Native American People in 18th Century, South Carolina. Sumter Museum, Sumter, South Carolina. October 15, 2024.

• Native Americans at Beaver Creek:  Ice Age to 1560s. Lecture at Liberty Hill Community Center, Liberty Hill, South Carolina. November 9, 2024.

• Indigenous Archaeology and Ethnohistory in the Pee Dee Region. Invited paper in session:  Centering an Indigenous Lowcountry: Recent Research from Colonial South Carolina. 80th Annual Meeting of the Southeastern Archaeological Conference, Williamsburg, Virginia. November 15,2024

• Dana Lawrence presented her paper, "Postcolonial Gothic and the Specter of Literary History in Helen Oyeyemi's The Icarus Girl," at the South Central MLA conference (Sept. 19 - 21, 2024).

• Nick Lawrence gave a Conference Paper Presentation, Sept. 19^th 2024 at South Central Modern Language Association (SCMLA) in New Orleans, Louisiana: “Southern Gothic Hauntings and Feminist Marxism in Sharyn McCrumb’s The Ballad of Frankie Silver.”

Nick also participated in these professional activities:

• Gave South Central Review Editor’s Report to Executive Committee of SCMLA.
• Served as a Roundtable Panelist, “Strategies for Getting Published.”
• Served as a panelist, “Pulp Fiction Turns 30: A Roundtable Celebrating
• The Recent Special Issue of South Central Review.”
• Served as Secretary for One Panel on Film Studies. 
• Served as Chair for One Panel on Film Studies.

• Pat Lawrence authored a review of Halsall. Children’s Literature Association Quarterly, Vol. 49, No. 1, 2024, pp. 112-15.

• Todd Lekan presented a paper entitled “The Everlasting Ruby Vaults of Our Own Human Hearts: Pragmatist Fifth Wheel Arguments Against Abstract Normative Principles” at the annual Southeast Roundtable on the Philosophies of the Americas at UNC Charlotte on September 20.

• McKenzie Lemhouse received the South Carolina Library Association's New Librarian Award for 2024 at the SCLA annual conference last month. This award recognizes librarians making significant contributions to the field early in their careers. 

• In June, Evan presented a paper at the Disney, Culture, and Society Research Network Second Annual International Conference titled "Florida, History, and Architecture at Disney Springs's Town Center Neighborhood."

• In July, Evan presented a paper at the Society for Historians of the Early American Republic annual conference in Philadelphia, PA titled "Remembering Solomon Wood's Fort: Georgia's Landscapes of Indigenous Erasure."

• Evan was an invited speaker to discuss my book Aggression and Sufferings: Settler Violence, Native Resistance, and the Coalescence of the Old South at:
• • York County Public Library (Rock Hill, SC), June.
  • Eastern Lincoln County Historical Society (Denver, NC), July.
  • Clemson University Historic Properties (Clemson, SC), July.
  • USCL Native American Studies Center (Lancaster, SC), August.
     
• Evan served on the Georgia Historical Society's Annual award committee for the Bell Award (best book on GA history) and the Inscoe Award (best GHQ article for the year).
• Evan served as an invited outside reader for a MA Thesis in History at Valdosta State University.
• Evan was an invited speaker at the Charleston Library Society to discuss my book Aggression and Sufferings: Settler Violence, Native Resistance, and the Coalescence of the Old South in Charleston, SC.
• Evan served as a commentator for the panel titled "Gods, Guns, and Gender: The Unexpected and the Unexplained in the Native South During the 17^th, 18^th, and early 19^th Centuries" at the American Society for Ethnohistory annual meeting in Fargo, ND
• Evan has been elected as Executive Committee Interim Secretary for the "Disney, Culture & Society Research Network."
• Evan delivered a book talk with Lifelong Learning @ Rock Hill on November 20.

• Evan published a book review in The Western Quarterly on The Great Power of Small Nations: Indigenous Diplomacy in the Gulf South by Elizabeth Ellis.

• Evan presented a paper on October 18 at the Florida Historical Society 2024 Annual Meeting & Symposium in Orlando titled "Re-Making Florida's Past: History and Tourism at Disney Springs."

• On October 26, Evan presented a paper at the Western Historical Association annual meeting titled "Semi-Military Colonies and the Perpetual Peril of Settler Memory in the Native South."

• Evan’s book review of Matthew C. Ward's Making the Frontier Man: Violence, White Manhood, and Authority in the Early Western Backcountry was published with H-War.

• Phillip Parker was elected Vice-Chair of the South Carolina Association of CPAs - Catawba Chapter for this year.

• Tyrie Rowell was invited to teach “The Inner Mastery through Movement” at the 20th International Festival of Making Theater (In.F.o.Ma.T.) for the Theatre of Changes School in Athens, Greece. Tyrie has been invited back to teach at 21^st International Festival in 2025, continuing to bring a wealth of knowledge to students from around the world.
• Tyrie also traveled to Dublin, Ireland , with Marybeth Berry and a student to work with the Dublin Fringe Lab to adjust their show “On The Spectrum.” While there, Tyrie also worked on his one-man show, which is now hopeful of being accepted the Dublin Fringe Festival.
• Tyrie became the President of the South Carolina Speech and Theatre Association (SCSTA) on July 1. This professional organization promotes the study of all areas of performance and oral communication. It serves both public and private schools, as well as colleges and universities in South Carolina, through three spring competitions.

• Peter Seipel had “In Praise of Ineffectiveness” accepted for publication in Philosophia, a selective peer-reviewed journal.

• Lauren Thomas and Sarah Sellhorst will partner with the Upper Midlands Rural Health Network to facilitate a two-year Strategic Workforce & Training grant with the SC Center for Rural and Primary Healthcare to develop and accredit a Health & Wellbeing Coach Training Program through the USC Lancaster.

• The training program will equip students interested in a future health profession with the preventive health knowledge and patient-centered communication skills to increase their likelihood of sustaining self-directed health-promoting behaviors. The grant will also offer tuition funding for select students who fully participate in the pilot year of the 100% online training program.

• Nahid Swails has been awarded a Faculty Travel Grant (NSF-funded) to participate in the American Geophysical Union 2024 Annual Meeting (AGU24), which will be held in December 2024 in Washington D.C., USA.

• Brittany Taylor-Driggers has an artwork entitled “Fixing My Broken Pieces” was selected for publication in Kakalak 2024. Out of a total of 170 only 35 artworks were selected.

Professor Stan Emanuel was featured in the WalletHub piece about What Is A Budget?

Phillip Parker was featured in WalletHub's piece about Loud Budgeting.