Experts Matter. Find Yours.
Connect for media, speaking, professional opportunities & more.
Georgia Southern University is making it easier for active-duty military or veterans to find out what courses they can receive credit for based on their previous military experience. The university’s new widget, available at GeorgiaSouthern.edu/military-veterans, asks for information like the branch of military served in, highest level of experience and job title to determine what Georgia Southern courses match their experience. The tool is available to prospective or current students, and it provides an immediate response with courses for which someone may receive credit. Military Education and Outreach Coordinator retired Sgt. Maj. Bill Gammon works with current and prospective students to create a plan based on their choice of major and determine which courses work best for their path. Credit will be awarded after an individual evaluation is completed. “The biggest benefit is that it doesn’t require them to take classes in things that they’re already well-experienced in,” Gammon said. “It helps them expedite their way through their college experience here to their final goal.” Georgia Southern works with the American Council on Education to determine which military training or job equals a college course. Gammon noted experience and credits from the Air Force are slightly different because airmen take college courses through the Community College of the Air Force (CCAF), but with the university’s GEM Program, they can complete their CCAF degrees. Are you a reporter interested in covering how schools like Georgia Southern University are working with the military? Then let our experts help. Sgt. Maj. Bill Gammon is available to speak to the media regarding this program – simply contact Melanie Simón at 912.344.2904 to arrange an interview.
It was 400 years ago this August that the first enslaved people arrived on the shores of North America, changing forever the direction of history. “These men and women had been stolen from their homes in Africa, forced to board a ship, and sailed for months into the unknown. The first Africans in an English colony, their arrival is considered by many historians to be the beginning of a 400-year story filled with tragedy, endurance, survival, and a legacy of resilience, inequality, and oppression.” National Geographic, Aug. 13 The history of slavery and the journey from chains to freedom to equality has been a long one and there is still so much to learn and tell. Even today, how are African American communities negatively affected by this event? Is the topic taught and covered in U.S. children’s education? What role did the enslaved play in the building of our country and is that role recognized? What would America look like today without the slave trade? Do reparations work and how would they be decided? This is an important and sensitive topic – and if you are a journalist covering the history of slavery, that’s where our experts can help. Professor Seretha Williams is an expert in Africa and African diaspora, digital humanities, and digital publication. Williams is also the co-editor of Afterimages of Slavery, Essays on Appearances in Recent American Films, Literature, Television, and Other Media. She is available to speak with media regarding this historic moment – simply click on her icon to arrange an interview.
It was a historic decision yesterday that may play a role in America’s opioid crisis. "On Monday, Cleveland County Judge Thad Balkman made his judgment in the lawsuit brought by the Oklahoma attorney general against the company for what the state alleges it did to fuel the U.S. opioid crisis. In reading out his settlement decision, Balman said that "the opioid crisis has ravaged the state of Oklahoma." The nine-figure settlement, while hefty, pales in comparison to what the attorney general's office originally asked for, as they reportedly asked for in excess of $17 billion in damages.” August 26 – ABC News But what will this decision mean for the future of big-pharma? What will the money go to? Can or should companies be held accountable for addictions? There are a lot of questions and logistics still to be figured out and if you are a reporter covering this lawsuit – let our experts help. Dr. Marc Sweeney is the Founding Dean of the School of Pharmacy at Cedarville University and is an expert in the fields of drug abuse, prescription drug abuse and Opioid addiction. Justin Cole is an expert in clinical pharmacy, Pharmacogenomics, and the pharmacy industry. Marc and Justin and has been following this issue closely and is available to speak with media. Simply click on their icons to arrange an interview with either Marc or Justin.
Inverted yields and a potential recession – are rocky times ahead?
Everything seemed to be going swell. Unemployment was low, the number of jobs was high and the economy seemed to be roaring. Until last week. Yields on two-year and 10-year Treasury notes inverted early Wednesday, a market phenomenon that shows investors want more in return for short-term government bonds than they are for long-term bonds. It's the first time that has happened since the Great Recession and it can be an indication that investors have lost faith in the soundness of the U.S. economy. - USA Today, Aug. 14, 2019 Inversions are usually the canary in the coal mine when it comes to recessions. In fact, this very same incident has occurred in the previous nine recessions since the mid-1950s. How bad will this recession be? Is there any way to reverse course? Is this simply an American issue or will it spread globally? Compared to 2008 – how bad of a situation are we in? There is a lot of speculation and questions being asked. If you are a reporter covering the economy and need an expert to help guide you through the situation and provide accurate information on the state of America’s economy – that’s where we can help. Dr. Simon Medcalfe is a highly regarded finance expert and the Cree Walker Chair in the Hull College of Business at Augusta University. Medcalfe is available to speak with media regarding the economy and its outlook – simply click on his icon to arrange an interview.
Hardening measures in Michigan and investing in safer schools
In Michigan, the government is investing $48 million dollars in upgrades at Fruitport High School that will see hallways now curved to reduce a shooter’s line of site, barriers for cover and classrooms that can hide students easily with doors that instantly lock. It’s all part of a concept called “target hardening” which involves strengthening of security measures and other school practices to provide a safer environment for students. John Carlson, professor in the school of psychology, Michigan State University, and his research team recently put together a school safety website as they work in the year ahead to better understand the psychological and physical effects of hardening practices in schools on students, teachers and parents. Bonds used to build new schools provide a funding mechanism to engage in target hardening of buildings including design changes, entry/exit systems, locks, video cameras and bulletproof windows, Carlson said. “Best practices in school safety requires a comprehensive approach to prevention, which includes the need to focus on the people in that building,” he said. “As a society, are we willing to embrace the full body of research behind what we know improves school safety? Are we willing to make that investment? Unfortunately, as evidenced by the Sandy Hook tragedy, secured entry ways with state-of-the-art lock systems can be breached. Given the way we fund school safety initiatives, the fortification we have done over the years to our government buildings and airports is likely to become the new reality within our schools.” If you are a reporter covering the ‘hardening’ of America’s schools – let our experts help with your stories and questions. John Carlson is a professor of school psychology. He is a Health Service Psychologist (HSP) and Licensed Psychologist (MI). His research interests include examining the utility of medical and psychological interventions on school-aged children's behavior in educational and other learning contexts. John is available to speak with media regarding this topic – simply contact him at carlsoj@msu.edu to arrange an interview today.
Key Environmental Quality Research Questions Identified for North America by Multidisciplinary Team
As density in cities increase along with other global megatrends, researchers are working to address environment and health challenges in collaborative ways. Using a recently pioneered process, a multidisciplinary team of North American researchers, government agencies and businesses leaders identified priority research questions for the United States, Canada and Mexico in an effort to tackle pressing environmental quality issues. In an article published in the journal of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, Bryan W. Brooks, Ph.D., Distinguished Professor of Environmental Science and Biomedical Studies and director of the environmental health science program at Baylor University, led the Global Horizon Scanning Project (GHSP), which focuses on identifying environmental and health issues internationally. Brooks also facilitated GHSP workshops in Africa, Australia, Central and Southeastern Asia, Europe and Latin America. “We face palpable global environment and health challenges, which require innovative understanding, tools, products and systems to prevent, diagnose and manage adverse outcomes to public health and the environment,” Brooks said. “The GHSP was initiated as part of a larger effort to identify important international research needs. It is essentially a research roadmap towards achieving more sustainable environmental quality, which is necessary to protect human health, biodiversity and ecosystem services.” As part of the study, members of the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry’s (SETAC) and the American Chemical Society’s (ACS) Environmental Chemistry and Agrochemcials Divisions submitted questions that were then synthesized during a workshop by scientists and engineers from the academic, government and business sectors. “This project is intentionally inclusive, bottom-up, multidisciplinary, multisector and transparent,” Brooks said. “Answering these priority research questions will not be easy, but strategically doing so promises to accelerate progress to address grand challenges that matter to everyone.” “This report provides a comprehensive global perspective covering some of the world’s most critical environmental challenges that will impact society for decades to come,” said Sherine Obare, Ph.D., dean and professor of the Joint School of Nanoscience and Nanoengineering at UNC Greensboro and chair elect of the American Chemical Society’s Environmental Chemistry Division. “SETAC’s ability to engage scientists from around the globe has led to forums that identify urgent challenges including, next generation 21st century analytical chemistry methods, strategies to predict chemical exposure, understanding multiple stressors and new approaches in chemical risk assessment. This project will define the scientific directions needed to transform environmental science and engineering, globally.” “The GHSP reflected in this paper has harnessed the insights of scientists not only across North America but around the world,” said Charles Menzie, Ph.D., Global Executive Director of SETAC. “Each brings tremendous experience and a strong sense of what is needed for future research. However, the distillation of these many into a set of consensus questions provides a much needed foundation for charting our direction for research to inform environmental policy. SETAC is proud to have supported this through our global meetings and now through our journal.” A related GHSP manuscript identifying priority environmental quality questions for the Australasiaregion of Oceania was also recently published in Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management. GHSP efforts from Africa and Asia are ongoing with plans to report priority research questions from these global regions in the next year. ABOUT BAYLOR UNIVERSITY Baylor University is a private Christian University and a nationally ranked research institution. The University provides a vibrant campus community for more than 17,000 students by blending interdisciplinary research with an international reputation for educational excellence and a faculty commitment to teaching and scholarship. Chartered in 1845 by the Republic of Texas through the efforts of Baptist pioneers, Baylor is the oldest continually operating University in Texas. Located in Waco, Baylor welcomes students from all 50 states and more than 80 countries to study a broad range of degrees among its 12 nationally recognized academic divisions. ABOUT BAYLOR COLLEGE OF ARTS & SCIENCES The College of Arts & Sciences is Baylor University’s oldest and largest academic division, consisting of 25 academic departments and seven academic centers and institutes. The more than 5,000 courses taught in the College span topics from art and theatre to religion, philosophy, sociology and the natural sciences. Faculty conduct research around the world, and research on the undergraduate and graduate level is prevalent throughout all disciplines.
Baylor expert’s new book offers hope for addressing America’s hunger crisis
As the founder and director of Baylor’s Texas Hunger Initiative, Jeremy Everett (MDiv ’01) is literally considered an expert on fighting hunger. Recently, he’s followed in the footsteps of many experts before him — by authoring his first book on his area of expertise. The book, I Was Hungry, offers an assessment of the current hunger crisis in America and a strategy for addressing the problem. Everett focuses on scripture, calling Christians to listen to Matthew 25:35 and work intentionally across ideological divides to effectively end America’s hunger crisis. “Approximately 40 million Americans experience food insecurity,” Everett told Christianity Today last month. “My view is that this particular group bears the weight of all the brokenness in our social systems. Often, we look at Americans experiencing hunger or food insecurity and place them in different categories than Americans who, say, lack access to healthcare, live in poverty, or struggle to find good jobs. But the reality, on the local level, is that these groups are all part of the same family. Their struggles are interconnected.”
Preacher Archives Add New Element to Baylor University’s Black Gospel Music Restoration Project
The Black Gospel Music Restoration Project at Baylor University is preserving more than just gospel music. In the past few years, Baylor journalism professor and former Billboard gospel music editor Robert Dardenand a team from the Baylor Libraries have undertaken the project of restoring and preserving recorded sermons from black preachers in addition to the gospel music. While both are equally important to preserve, finding sermons to preserve comes with a unique set of challenges. Darden said the idea for preserving sermons started about four years ago, when the BGMRP team was in contact with the daughter of the Rev. Dr. Marvin Griffin, former pastor of New Hope Baptist Church in Waco. Griffin was a renowned Civil Rights leader in Central Texas and boasts a list of significant firsts, including first black man to earn a degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and first African-American president of the Austin Independent School District board of directors. Darden said somebody mentioned in passing that they kept Griffin’s sermons and said he ought to hear them because they are full of music. “All black preachers sing, and all black singers preach,” Darden said. “That got me thinking – nobody has been collecting the black preaching from the Civil Rights movement, other than Dr. King. All these incredible heroes who were preaching around the rest of the country, there’s not a collection of their work. So, I met with the other folks in the Black Gospel project, and we agreed that in addition to the music, we ought to be trying to collect preaching.” Many of these sermons had been recorded on vinyl, and Darden said some have even speculated that it was black preaching that started black gospel music in the 1930s. He said some records that were just a black preacher preaching for two and a half minutes on each side sold half a million copies – even during the Great Depression. Digitizing sermons from different formats When the BGMRP was founded in the Baylor Libraries in 2005, the bulk of incoming materials focused on recorded gospel music. Over the ensuing decade, the BGMRP team realized they already had hundreds of vinyl LPs from famous preachers in their collection. Shortly after, they started receiving sermons in many different formats. Darryl Stuhr, associate director of the Libraries’ digital preservation services, consulted with Darden and together they decided they needed a collection to show to preachers and their families who were not familiar with the projects, in hopes of convincing them to trust the project with their sermons long enough to digitize them. Darden worked with two in particular – the Rev. E.E. Jones in Shreveport, Louisiana, and the Rev. Clay Evans in Chicago, who is still preaching at 93-years-old. “Evans) was one of only two preachers who helped Dr. King in Chicago during those really rough times, and they had collected video cassettes of him back into the ‘70s,” Darden said. “That’s the good news. The bad news is they kept them in unairconditioned or unheated warehouses.” Darden said the BGMRP spent lots of money getting these cassettes stabilized enough to play them even just one time so they could be digitized. Using technology at the Libraries’ Riley Digitization Center, audiovisual digitization staffers Stephen Bolech, Travis Taylor and Hannah Engstrom are able to rescue the recorded sermons from other formats as well, including videocassette, film and digital audio tape. The wide range of formats the BGMRP team can work with means a greater number of sermons can be saved, Stuhr said. “They’re not all in the best condition, but they’re just thrilling because (Evans’ church) is one of the largest historic African-American churches in just full 1970s regalia. We got (Jones and Evans) and we’ve been using those to approach other preachers and their families now. This is already the largest collection in the country, and we just started,” Darden said. Recently, Darden got a call from PBS. Dr. Henry Louis Gates of the TV series “Finding Your Roots,” whom Darden quotes in his books, will have a new six-part series on the history of African-American churches in America debuting in 2020. Darden said they contacted him about providing materials for the show and contacts of people. The BGMRP already has made hundreds of copies for PBS and is communicating about how they can help. “I’m hoping they’re going to come down and do some filming here as well, because a lot of the stuff we have is old bulletins and the sheet music – we just have everything. Sure, we can digitize it, but if they came down, they could array it in such a way from an artistic standpoint,” Darden said. Search continues Darden got together with some of the “preaching folks” at Baylor and put together a top 10 wish list of influential black preachers of the past 50 years whose sermons they would like to digitize. “I just think God put me in a place where I could facilitate, rather than me initiate, and it was God’s idea apparently, because it wouldn’t have worked this well otherwise,” Darden said. Darden said new vinyls continue to come in every few days, and it is like Christmas for him to go see what is new. “I don’t mind not knowing every artist or every preacher – there’s hundreds and thousands of them,” he said. “But what scares me is when I pull a piece of vinyl out and it’s a label that I don’t know, which means there’s another whole line of that label that we’ve never heard of. So here we’re sitting 15 or so years into this project, and I don’t know if we have 1 percent of what’s out there – 10 percent? There’s no database. Nobody knows.” “It’s unlike every other kind of music. Nobody ever made a discography of gospel music,” Darden said. “So, whether we mean to or not, we’re actually putting that together as well. Trying to figure out how many Andraé Crouch albums, how many James Cleveland, how many Rosetta Tharpe, and now with preaching, it could go on forever. It’ll be going, hopefully, long after I’m gone.” For more information or to learn how to donate materials, visit the Black Gospel Music Restoration Project at www.baylor.edu/library/gospel or email digitalcollectionsinfo@baylor.edu.
Baylor’s Jeff Levin Named a Fellow of Prestigious International Society
Baylor scientist Jeff Levin, Ph.D., M.P.H., has been invited to become a Fellow of the prestigious International Society for Science and Religion (ISSR), a multidisciplinary learned society based at Cambridge University. Founded in 2002, ISSR is the world’s preeminent scholarly organization devoted to the intersection of science and religion. The Society has only about 200 Fellows, mostly from the physical and biological sciences, philosophy, history and theology. Levin is one of the few Fellows with a background in the biomedical sciences. Levin, an epidemiologist and religious scholar, holds a distinguished chair at Baylor, where he is University Professor of Epidemiology and Population Health, professor of medical humanities and director of the Program on Religion and Population Health at the Institute for Studies of Religion. He also serves as adjunct professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Duke University School of Medicine and as an affiliated member of the Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy at the Baylor College of Medicine. Levin is a founding father of the field of research devoted to the influence of religious faith and spirituality on physical and mental health. He has been conducting studies on this subject since the early 1980s. He came to Baylor in 2009. Levin’s work “is the culmination of a lifetime of diligent scholarship, for which he is rightly renowned worldwide, said Stephen G. Post, director of the Center for Medical Humanities, Compassionate Care and Bioethics at Stony Brook University, and an ISSR Fellow. “It is hard to imagine that any one scholar could have made such a pioneering contribution across this interface, but Jeff has been digging deep for nearly 40 learned years,” Post said. Levin’s colleagues at Baylor were excited to hear about this honor. “This is an amazing honor for a world-class scholar. This recognition is a true testament to his many important publications and remarkable career,” said Byron Johnson, Ph.D., co-director of ISR and Distinguished Professor of the Social Sciences. Among the ISSR’s distinguished Fellows are several Templeton Prize laureates, Gifford lecturers and leading academic scientists and theologians in Europe and North America. “I never expected this and wasn’t sure I was even on their radar,” Levin said. “The science and religion field has become a major intellectual endeavor, but the subject of religion and health up to now has not really been acknowledged by the field or accepted in it. So this is a first—an honor for me, for sure, but also recognition of the work that so many of my colleagues and I have been doing since the 1980s.” Levin has been published in more 220 scholarly publications, including 11 books. His most recent book is “Religion and Medicine: A History of the Encounter Between Humanity’s Two Greatest Institutions,” forthcoming this fall from Oxford University Press. ABOUT BAYLOR UNIVERSITY Baylor University is a private Christian University and a nationally ranked research institution. The University provides a vibrant campus community for more than 17,000 students by blending interdisciplinary research with an international reputation for educational excellence and a faculty commitment to teaching and scholarship. Chartered in 1845 by the Republic of Texas through the efforts of Baptist pioneers, Baylor is the oldest continually operating University in Texas. Located in Waco, Baylor welcomes students from all 50 states and more than 90 countries to study a broad range of degrees among its 12 nationally recognized academic divisions. ABOUT THE BAYLOR INSTITUTE FOR STUDIES OF RELIGION Launched in August 2004, the Baylor Institute for Studies of Religion (ISR) initiates, supports and conducts research on religion, involving scholars and projects spanning the intellectual spectrum: history, psychology, sociology, economics, anthropology, political science, epidemiology, theology and religious studies. The Institutes mandate extends to all religions, everywhere, and throughout history, and embraces the study of religious effects on prosocial behavior, family life, population health, economic development and social conflict.
The Spencer Foundation recently awarded Baylor University’s Diana R. Garland School of Social Work a $50,000 grant to study if and how accredited Master of Social Work (M.S.W.) programs incorporate curricula around religion and spirituality (RS) into social work education as well as assessing faculty views around the topic and how universities’ religious affiliations impact M.S.W. education. The School of Social Work’s Edward C. Polson, Ph.D., assistant professor, and Holly Oxhandler, Ph.D., assistant professor and associate dean for research and faculty development, are co-principal investigators for the study, “Graduate Social Work Faculty Views on Preparing Students to Ethically Integrate Clients’ Religion/Spirituality in Practice: A National Survey.” As of spring 2019, there were 290 M.S.W. programs accredited by the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE), but little is known about how or if RS content is delivered within these colleges and universities. “Given that social workers provide the largest proportion of mental healthcare services in the U.S. [according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration], and clients have expressed a preference for integrating their RS in previous research, this is especially important to consider,” Oxhandler said. “In addition, no study has examined the potential impact religiously-affiliated colleges or universities have on M.S.W. education, including preparing students to ethically integrate clients' RS.” The research team, which will include a graduate assistant from the School of Social Work, will survey the approximately 5,000 full-time faculty across all of the CSWE-accredited M.S.W. programs to answer three questions: 1) How do M.S.W. programs prepare students to ethically integrate clients' RS in practice (if at all)? 2) What are M.S.W. faculty members' views and behaviors related to educating students on RS in social work? 3) In what ways, if any, do colleges' /universities' religious affiliation impact training on CSWE competencies in M.S.W. programs? Over the last few decades, research has shown a growing awareness that RS plays an important role in Americans' lives and the ethical integration of clients' RS in mental health treatment often contributes to positive outcomes. A previous study by Oxhandler revealed social workers held overwhelmingly positive attitudes toward integrating RS into treatment, but few were engaged in the practice. The study indicated only two practitioner characteristics that could predict their orientation toward integrating clients' RS into treatment: intrinsic religiosity (degree to which practitioners are internally motivated by RS) and prior training. This lack of training was reflected through surveys showing only 13 percent of social workers had taken a course in their M.S.W. program. Further, in another study by Oxhandler and Baylor alumna, Kelsey Moffatt, the team found a mere 78 of 257 programs mentioned a course on RS on their school websites in 2018. “We look forward to learning more about how M.S.W. faculty across the US integrate religion and spirituality content into their M.S.W. curricula as an element of clients’ culture and coping skills,” Oxhandler said. “Recognizing that clients tend to prefer their therapist assess and discuss the client’s spirituality as it relates to treatment, coupled with the fact that very few mental health care providers are trained in this area, we saw a need to better understand what's happening within M.S.W. programs.” The Spencer Foundation has been funding education research since 1971 and is the only national foundation focused exclusively on supporting education research. Their Small Research Grants on Education program supports research projects that will contribute to the improvement of education, and their goal is “to support rigorous, intellectually ambitious and technically sound research.” “I am truly grateful for the Spencer Foundation’s support for Dr. Polson and I to carry out this exciting project,” Oxhandler said. ABOUT BAYLOR UNIVERSITY Baylor University is a private Christian University and a nationally ranked research institution. The University provides a vibrant campus community for more than 17,000 students by blending interdisciplinary research with an international reputation for educational excellence and a faculty commitment to teaching and scholarship. Chartered in 1845 by the Republic of Texas through the efforts of Baptist pioneers, Baylor is the oldest continually operating University in Texas. Located in Waco, Baylor welcomes students from all 50 states and more than 90 countries to study a broad range of degrees among its 12 nationally recognized academic divisions. ABOUT THE DIANA R. GARLAND SCHOOL OF SOCIAL WORK AT BAYLOR UNIVERSITY Baylor University’s Diana R. Garland School of Social Work is home to one of the leading graduate social work programs in the nation with a research agenda focused on the integration of faith and practice. Upholding its mission of preparing social workers in a Christian context for worldwide service and leadership, the School offers a baccalaureate degree (B.S.W.);a Master of Social Work (M.S.W.) degree available on the Waco or Houston campuses or online; three joint-degree options, M.S.W./M.B.A., M.S.W./M.Div. and M.S.W./M.T.S., through a partnership with Baylor’s Hankamer School of Business and George W. Truett Theological Seminary; and an online Ph.D. program. Visit www.baylor.edu/social_workto learn more.
