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:
An article by Dr. Rachel J. Vanderhill, associate professor of government and international studies, and her co-authors, Sandra F. Joireman and Roza Tulebayeva, was published in April 2019 in Europe-Asia Studies. The article is titled "Do Economic Linkages through FDI Lead to Institutional Change? Assessing Outcomes in Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, and Kyrgyzstan."
Dr. Natalie S. Grinnell’s article "An Eco-critical Analysis of Gower’s ‘De Lucis scrutine’" will appear in "Studies in the Age of Gower: A Festschrift in Honor of Robert F. Yeager," edited by Susannah Mary Chewning from Boydell and Brewer Press, this summer. The title of the Latin poem translates to "An Examination of Light." Grinnell is a Reeves Family Professor of Humanities and a professor of English.
Neuroscience Journal (Elsevier) has accepted for publication an article by Dr. David W. Pittman, professor of psychology; student co-author Tyler S. Nelson; Wofford post-doctoral student Sarah E. Holstein; and John-Paul Baird of Amherst College. The article is titled "Selective stimulation of central GABA-A α2,3,5 receptors increases intake and motivation to consume sucrose solution in rats."
Dr. Courtney Dorroll, assistant professor of religion, was the editor and co-author of the introduction of "Teaching Islamic Studies in the Age of ISIS, Islamophobia, and the Internet" from Indiana University Press. Dorroll co-authored chapter 1 with Dr. Kimberly Hall, assistant professor of English, and Doaa Baumi, titled "On Teaching Islam Across Cultures: Virtual Exchange Pedagogy." Dr. Phillip Dorroll, assistant professor of religion, solo-authored chapter 12, titled "The Five Questions about Islam Your Students Didn’t Know They Had: Teaching Islamic Studies to an American Audience." Emily Witsell, research librarian and instruction coordinator in the Sandor Teszler Library, served as a freelancer to copy edit and index the book.
Dr. Charles Kay, professor of philosophy, was honored with the Radest Award for outstanding service to the South Carolina Medical Association Bioethics Committee.
Two poems from Dr. Patrick Whitfill, assistant professor of English, “Run Night 87” and “Run Night 5” will appear in Shenandoah (Washington and Lee University). One poem, “Scapulomancy” will appear in Cherry Tree (Washington College).
Dr. Clayton Whisnant, Chapman Family Professor of Humanities and profssor of history, published three entries (“Friendship Societies in Europe,” “Bars and Cabarets in Europe,” and “Eldorado”) in The Global Encyclopedia of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ) History, edited by Howard Chiang, et. al. (Charles Scribner’s Sons, 2019).
Wofford's STARTALK Chinese program, directed by Dr. Yongfang Zhang, associate professor of Chinese, has been selected by National Security Agency (NSA) and the National Foreign Language Center (NFLC) as part of the STARTALK 2019 program. The amount of the award will be $77,582. The program has been invited by STARTALK Central to present its work with the director at national conferences. Zhang was invited to join the site visiting team in 2018 and become a team leader in 2019. Learn more about STARTALK.
In the fall 2018 semester, Dr. Joseph Spivey, associate professor and chair of mathematics, and Dr. Matt Cathey, associate professor of mathematics, won the “Professor for Affordable Learning” (PAL) Award from PASCAL, our statewide library consortium, for their e- textbook Calculus: An Integrated Approach, available to anyone in the world to use through Wofford’s Digital Commons. The PAL award recognizes faculty who have integrated affordable learning into their classrooms.
George Singleton, John C. Cobb Professor of Humanities and professor of English, published three stories: “Unfriending Vickie,” The James Dickey Review, vol. 34, January 2019; “Everything’s Wild,” South Carolina Review, vol 51:1; “Cock Rescue,” Subtropics, Issue 26, Fall/Winter 2018.
Dr. Christine Sorrell Dinkins, William R. Kenam Jr. Professor of Philosophy, published “Socrates Café for Older Adults: Intergenerational Connectedness Through Facilitated Conversation” in Journal of Psychosocial Nursing, January 2019. This article includes discussion of Wofford student projects made possible by Dr. Kara Bopp, associate professor and chair of psychology.
Dr. Phillip Dorroll, assistant professor of religion, has two publications: “The Turkish Understanding of Religion: Rediscovering Maturidi in Modern Turkey” in International Symposium of Maturidism: Past, Present, and Future, published for Ahmet Yesevi University (Ankara, 2018) and “The Doctrine of the Nature of the Qur’an in the Maturidi Tradition,” in Maturidi Thought and the Literature of Maturidism [Matüridi Düşünce ve Matüridilik Literatürü], published in Istanbul for Selçuk University, 2018.
Dr. John C. Lefebvre, professor of psychology, has had a manuscript accepted for publication in the European Journal of Pain. The study is titled "The Relationships between Worry, Happiness, and Pain Catastrophizing in the Experience of Acute Pain."
