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Lipscomb faculty carry out research and scholarship in diversity field

The 2021-2022 school year brought a wealth of academic endeavors led by Lipscomb faculty in the diversity, equity and inclusion field, from education to scientific research ethics.

From staff reports | 

College of Bible & Ministry

Dr. Richard Hughes, scholar in residence, authored The Grace of Troublesome Questions: Vocation, Restoration and Race, published by ACU Press in 2022.

In 2021 and 2022 Hughes also wrote various articles and op-eds including: “Escaping the Web of White Supremacy: A Crucial Task for Christians,” in Teleios; “Yes, They Are Children of Nazis, but We Are Christians, and We Will Stand with Those who Suffer,” “Pledging Allegiance to the Kingdom of God” and “How the Oldest American Lie Sustains our Racial Malaise,” in Baptist News Global;” and “Just Tell the Truth about America’s Less-than-glorious History,” in the Los Angeles Times.

College of Business

Dr. Andy Borchers, professor and associate dean of undergraduate studies, has spearheaded training and development sessions on writing case studies as part of a nationwide effort to develop a more racially diverse generation of business school faculty nationwide. As an active leader of the Society for Case Research, he was tapped by the national nonprofit, the PhD Project, to assist in its efforts to enable research opportunities for people of color who are recent Ph.D. graduates.

College of Education

Dr. Kristin Baese (’07, M.Ed. ’13, Ed.D. ’17), assistant professor, Laura Delgado, program director, and Dr. Ally Hauptman, associate professor, published “A Pathway to Teaching for Paraprofessionals of Color” in Kappan, a publication of Phi Delta Kappa, a professional magazine for those involved in K-12 education, in 2021.

Dr. Emily Mofield, assistant professor, and then-graduate students Dr. Jill Green (Ed.D. ’19), Dr. Autumn Hills (Ed.D. ’19), and Dr. Maggie Lund (Ed.D. ’19), all in the College of Education, explored restorative justice practices in “Mindsets matter for equitable discipline: Aligning beliefs to practice among middle grade educators,” published in Middle School Journal in 2021. 

Mofield served as a co-guest editor for “Providing culturally-responsive instruction,” a special edition of Teaching for High Potential, in November 2020.

Mofield and her co-author addressed the needs of gifted/high-potential students from culturally, linguistically and economically diverse backgrounds in Collaboration, Co-Teaching and Coaching in Gifted Education: Sharing Strategies to Support Gifted Learners, printed by Prufrock Press and winner of the National Association of Gifted Children Book of the Year–Practitioner Category in 2021. 

In 2021 and 2022, Mofield and Dr. Megan Parker Peters, associate dean, made various presentations on strategies to help students from underrepresented populations to access rigor and cultivate resilience to the National Association for Gifted Children, the Twice-Exceptional Conference at the College of William and Mary and the World Council for Gifted and Talented Conference.

Raymond B. Jones College of Engineering

Dr. Kirsten Heikkinen Dodson (’12), associate professor of mechanical engineering, is conducting a three-year research project funded by the National Science Foundation to explore how humanitarian service projects impact engineering students and thus the engineering industry’s workplace culture. She is working to discover how such humanitarian projects instill a perspective more open to embracing diversity and if such perspectives could have a long-term effect toward a more inclusive workplace culture.

Global Learning

Dr. Rebecca Zanolini, director of global learning, presented the findings of the empirical study: “An Observation of Barriers for Undergraduate Minority Students to Participate in Global Learning Programs at Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tennessee” at the annual TAIE Institute conference and the annual American Association of Colleges and Universities conference in 2021 and 2022.

Lipscomb Health

Dr. Quincy Byrdsong, vice provost of health affairs, is finishing up a three-year term of leading the Society of Clinical Research Associates (SOCRA), the first Black male to serve in this capacity in the society’s history.

Byrdsong has also been appointed to the Board of the Association for the Accreditation for Human Research Protections (AAHRPP), the accrediting body for Institutional Review Board (IRB) and Human Research Protections Programs (AAHRPP), making him the first Black person to serve on the AAHRPP Board and the first person of any race or gender to serve on both the SOCRA and AAHRPP Boards.

In 2021 and 2022, Byrdsong delivered various presentations on health equity issues and research ethics in regards to racial equity to numerous organizations including: the Nashville Health Care Council Fellows Class; the Public Responsibility in Medicine and Research (PRIM&R) Advancing Ethics in Research Virtual Conference, the International Association of Clinical Research Nurses, the National Comprehensive Cancer Network IRB Directors’ Forum; the AAHRPP Virtual Annual Conference and the National Council of University Research Administrators (NCURA) Financial Research Administration Virtual Annual Conference.

Dr. Robin Parker, assistant professor in the College of Pharmacy, authored a chapter in the textbook, Pharmacy Student Survival Guide, 4th Edition, that highlighted underserved and vulnerable populations with a discussion of racial and ethnic minorities, transgender/gender-diverse patients and patients with limited English proficiency. 

College of Liberal Arts & Sciences

Dr. William Lofton Turner, special counsel for diversity, equity and belonging, was selected as guest editor for a special issue of Family Process Journal, one of the nation’s top journals focusing on health and mental health disparities in diverse and underserved populations.

In addition, Turner was appointed as co-chair of the Family Process Journal’s 60th Anniversary Celebration and Symposium held in September 2021 with the theme “The Heart of the Matter: Systemic Imperatives to Address Health Disparities and Racism in the Time of Covid.”

Turner also presented a guest lecture at the Ackerman Institute for the Family, a highly regarded training facility for family therapists in the U.S.

Dr. Cayce Watson, associate professor of social work, and alumna Hannah Pipher (’21) presented on health equity and the social determinants of health, including the impact of racism and food insecurity, at the Children's Justice Conference in fall 2021. The CJC is an annual conference for professionals working in children and family services organizations. They provided data and information related to food insecurity and helped participants identify ways they could move their organizations strategically to address issues of health equity in underserved populations.