Faculty Achievements
Faculty Achievements
In addition to their excellence in teaching, many Wofford faculty members have published original research, received awards for excellence or have won prestigious grants. Below are the most recent faculty achievements:
2025
Spring
Dr. Johnathan Davis, assistant professor of biology, and Harlan Glenn ’25 presented the paper “Effects of Urbanization on Abundance, Condition and Habitat Preferences of Two Crayfishes” at the annual meeting of the South Carolina Chapter of the American Fisheries Society in February.
Dr. Philip Dorroll, associate professor of religion, published the article “Wielding God’s Power: A Framework for Understanding Orthodox Christian-Muslim Relations” in the journal Religion Compass.
Dr. Allison Douglass, assistant professor of English and director of the Wofford Writing Center, gave the keynote address at the Carolinas Writing Program Administrators Meeting in the Middle conference on Feb. 7 at Furman University. Her talk was entitled “Play and the Conditions of Invention.”
Dr. Jocelyn Franklin, assistant professor of French, presented the paper “Communing with the Drowned: Caribbean Speculative Fiction as a Dorsal Practice” at the 20th and 21st Century French and Francophone Studies International Colloquium.
Dr. Ryan Johnson, associate professor of accounting, presented the paper “Truth Be Told: Do CPAs Have a Professional Duty to Combat Misinformation?” at the 2025 South Carolina Accounting Educators Conference. FOX 5 DC also interviewed Johnson on Feb. 20 about the Trump administration’s cuts to the IRS workforce.
Dr. Ingrid Lilly, assistant professor of religion, gave the lecture “Enchanted Substances: Water, Dirt and Air in Ancient Hebrew and West Asian Writings” at the Meyerhoff Center for Jewish Studies at the University of Maryland on March 27.
Dr. Amanda L. Matousek, associate professor of Spanish, was elected southeast vice president of Sigma Delta Pi, the Spanish National Honor Society, for 2025-28. She is among five regional vice presidents who will work to support and establish new chapters, promote service and enhance study abroad opportunities for student members.
Dr. Kimberly Rostan, associate professor of English, authored the chapter “Life Writing and Citational Justice in the Context of World Literature” in the anthology “Life Writing as World Literature” (Bloomsbury Press, May 2025).
Dr. Russ Sandifer ’06, assistant professor of business and finance, had the paper “S&P 500 vs. Peer Firm Performance: Does Index Inclusion Matter?” accepted for publication in the Journal of Investing. It featured contributions from Dr. Joey Smith at Washington and Lee University and Dr. Joost Impink at the University of Florida.
Dr. Catherine Schmitz, professor of French, published the article “Marie Letizia de Rute et l’Exposition Universelle de Paris de 1889: Espace, Altérité et Écriture Féminine” in the Women in French Studies Journal (Vol. 32, 2024).
Dr. Phillip Stone ’94, college archivist and lecturer in government and humanities, published the book “From the Vault: Stories You Probably Never Knew About South Carolina Methodism” (Advocate Press, Nov. 2024).
Dr. Gillian Young, assistant professor of art history, chaired the panel “Envisioning Feminist Media Archaeology” at the College Art Association’s 113th Annual Conference in New York City.
Interim
Dr. Johnathan Davis, assistant professor of biology, published the paper “Habitat preferences of the Hiwassee crayfish (Cambarus hiwasseensis) and the Appalachian brook crayfish (Cambarus bartonii cavatus) in a headwater stream” in the Georgia Journal of Science.
Dr. Rebecca Forstater, assistant professor of studio art, gave an invited lecture about her art practice as part of Middle Tennessee State University’s Common Ground Artist Lecture Series. A recording of the lecture will be made publicly available on their YouTube channel. She also presented her recent work as part of Paradice Palase’s live virtual studio visit series. A recording is publicly available on their Instagram page.
Dr. Karen Goodchild, professor of art history, presented a paper at the Sixteenth Century Society Conference in Toronto entitled “Dosso Dossi’s ‘Allegory of Fortune:’ Leveraging Thoughts of Metamorphosis, Media and Time.”
Dane Hilton, assistant professor of psychology, along with graduated Wofford student-athletes Alec McAlister ’24, Dahlia Cutler ’23 and Caitlin Beacom ’23, published “A Pilot Feasibility Study Comparing Mindfulness and Imagery Interventions on Sport Anxiety in Division 1 Volleyball Players” in the Journal of Sport Behavior in December 2024.
Eric Kocher, assistant professor of environmental studies, had two poems, “Inner Winter Solstice” and “Going Public,” accepted for publication by the magazine Coma.
Dr. Anne Rodrick, Reeves Family Professor of History, was interviewed by Dr. Miranda Melcher about her book, “Lecturing the Victorians,” for the New Books Network podcast. “Lecturing the Victorians,” which was published by Bloomsbury Academic in August 2024, draws from a variety of primary sources to explore what the “average” Victorian talked and thought about and the knowledge-based culture of lecture and debate at the time, among other topics. She also presented a paper, “Mid-Victorian Natural Science and the Hermeneutics of Gossip,” at the North American Conference on British Studies.
Dr. Jessica Tomkins, assistant professor of history, co-edited and published Understanding Power in Ancient Egypt and the Near East: Volume I: Approaches, edited by Shane M. Thompson and Jessica Tomkins (Leiden: Brill, 2025). She also authored the chapter “Theorizing Power in Ancient Egypt” in the book.
Dr. Rachel Vanderhill, associate professor of international affairs, gave the invited talk “Between the Bear and Dragon: Geopolitical Competition in Central Asia” for the World Affairs Council Upstate on Dec. 17 in Greenville, S.C.