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Dr. LeonMohan and Dr. Dene Williamson
Highlights on recent Saint Leo University faculty accomplishments and contributions in teaching and learning.

Dr. Karen Hannel of the College of Arts and Sciences and her husband, Dr. Eric Hannel, an adjunct instructor with Saint LeoHistorical research by Dr. Karen Hannel of the College of Arts and Sciences and her husband, Dr. Eric Hannel, an adjunct instructor with Saint Leo, prompted the state of Florida to approve the placement of an official marker to note that a vibrant township once existed north of University Campus in the 1800s. The town of Chipco was a trading post established by white settlers and was named for a Seminole chief who actually lived nearby, but separately, with some members of his tribe for a time after the mid-1850s. The white town grew to have a nearby railway link, lumber-planing mill, grist mill, school, and post office, along with farms. The Pasco County (FL) town reached the peak of its commercial prominence in the 1880s, but disappeared by 1909 after a series of economic reversals. Chief Chipco and his band had long since moved to a different locale in mid-Florida, and the chief died in 1881 at more than 100 years of age, according to a newspaper account. The Hannels continue to research this settlement, as its trajectory illustrates so much about the racial interactions, intermittent wars, and economic developments of 19th-century Florida.

Dr. Iain Duffy, a microbiologist and member of the science faculty at University Campus, is president of the Florida Academy of Sciences and is now in the second year of a two-year term. The academy is comprised of scholars from the life sciences, physical sciences, social sciences, computer and mathematical sciences, and science teaching, and publishes a quarterly journal.

Dr. Leon Mohan and Dr. Dene WilliamsonDr. Leon Mohan and Dr. Deneˊ Williamson of the Tapia College of Business were published in late 2019 in the International Journal of Sport, Exercise and Physical Education with their article “Youth Sport Participation as a Result of Social Identity Theory.” The article describes survey research conducted in a South Florida city with youths involved with sports through various community organizations. In particular, the researchers zeroed in on children ages 9 to 13, who were primarily African American and Hispanic, to see what role social factors played in getting and keeping the youths involved in sports. The short-term objective was to help associations find influences that can be maintained to get and keep children physically active. Sports that parents and guardians were familiar with, sports played by famous athletes, and sports played by friends and peers were motivating influences. The business professors included work by undergraduate student John-Paul West in their research and publication.

Dr. Matthew TapieDr. Matthew Tapie, theology faculty member and director of the Saint Leo University Center for Catholic-Jewish Studies, was invited in February by Spring Hill College in Alabama to deliver a talk on a particularly difficult point in Catholic and Jewish relations. Since 2018, Tapie has been speaking in academic settings and published in academic theological journals on the new controversy about the forced religious conversion of a young boy named Edgardo Mortaro in Bologna, Italy, in 1858. The child was being raised by a Jewish family, in accordance with their own faith, when the Catholic Church learned the boy secretly had been given a Catholic baptism when he was an infant and facing illness. A maid employed by the family performed the baptism without permission from or the knowledge of the baby’s parents. The woman presumably was leaning on her own Catholic teaching as motivation and feared for the soul of the baby if he did not recover. The boy was forcibly removed from his home on the order of Pope Pius IX when the Church eventually learned of this, and despite an international scandal, the church never backed down and instead raised the child.

The case was known chiefly by academics in recent history, but is the subject of the film The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortaro, which was made and directed by Steven Spielberg, but not widely released.

Around the time of the film’s completion, a theologian wrote an academic article that caused hurt feelings and astonishment anew among Catholics and Jews by defending Pope Pius IX and aspects of church law. Tapie’s recent and continuing work on this helps academics and others to become informed about the facts of the 162-year-old case and Catholic reaction today.

Dr. Moneque Walker-PickettDr. Moneque Walker-Pickett, professor and associate chair of the undergraduate criminal justice program, was selected for a prestigious fellowship program in higher education. She is one of only 38 professionals to be included in the 2020-2021 American Council on Education Fellows Program. The objective of the program is to provide learning opportunities that condense years of practical higher education experience into a curriculum of a single year. Fellows receive strategic planning training, make numerous visits to other campuses, and take part in interactive sessions. Upon completion of the program, fellows return to their own campuses better equipped to address evolving challenges in higher education. Walker-Pickett joins a diverse fellowship class comprised of individuals from Georgetown University, Purdue University, the U.S. Air Force Academy, among other institutions. In addition to holding a doctorate in sociology, Walker-Pickett holds a law degree and worked previously as an attorney. She became a full-time member of the Saint Leo University faculty at University Campus in August 2012.

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Spring 2017

Comforting Canines: Using Therapy Dogs to Heal

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When a person has a bad experience or is under stress, a common reaction is to seek help and solace from friends. Sometimes such a friend has four legs and a wagging tail. For nearly a century, dogs have been used as service animals. They help guide people who are visually impaired and assist those with other physical disabilities. They can also detect seizures and fetch medications as needed.

Therapy dogs fall into a different category. These animals are brought in to comfort those who have been victims of a crime or other trauma. They provide companionship and support to military veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), they uplift the spirits of those who are sick, and they help first responders open up about the violence they have witnessed.

Comforting Canines (3)In September 2016, the Saint Leo community grieved the loss of Alex “Pancho” Carrera, a University Campus student who passed away. In addition to receiving aid from Counseling Services and University Ministry, many students were comforted by Kashew, a border collie. Dr. Debra Mims, an assistant professor in the Criminal Justice Department, is Kashew’s owner and trainer. She has four therapy dogs (as well as three agility dogs and a cadaver dog), and she knows the benefit that therapy dogs provide.

“Alex was a student in one of my classes, and I believed the students would like having Kashew with us as we met for the first time without Alex,” Dr. Mims said. Just the process of petting a dog can help people relax and cope, she explained.

“Dogs are my therapy, too. … They help me clear my mind.”
—Dr. Debbie Mims

A retired police officer, Dr. Mims entered law enforcement following a family tragedy: the murder of her grandparents in their home. That experience—including working with victims advocates and attending a homicide support group—was life changing. She became a police officer in 1989, starting in the Plant City (FL) Police Department, and then transferred to the Tampa Police Department in 1993. During those two decades, she served as a member of the mounted unit and the bicycle squad; was a child abuse, elder abuse, and domestic violence investigator; and acted as a community service officer. Upon her retirement, she joined Saint Leo as a criminal justice instructor and went on to earn her doctorate. She wrote her dissertation on using therapy dogs to help victimized children talk about sexual abuse.

Handling therapy dogs comes naturally to Dr. Mims. She grew up around dogs and other animals, and was active in 4-H. She has seen firsthand how smart canines can be—and how critical they are in assisting with humans’ recovery.

Dr. Mims is a certifier for the Alliance of Therapy Dogs and helps dog owners determine whether their pets are cut out for the job. Therapy dogs need to have a calm and understanding demeanor. They need to tolerate physical discomfort, such as when a child might squeeze just a little too hard. And they need to have stamina for long days at a hospital or nursing home. Some dogs, even if they are well trained, may not be suitable, she explained. If they are easily excited or have too much energy, they might react too enthusiastically to people or be spooked by loud noises and quick movements.

Comforting Canines (2)In addition to Kashew, Dr. Mims’ other therapy dogs are Disco (another border collie) and Rascal and PePe (both papillons). She finds that the smaller dogs are often best suited to young children, while adults may favor the mid-sized border collies, but every situation is different. She and the dogs work with a volunteer critical incident stress management (CISM) group that has been called to crises throughout the country. The group responded to Oklahoma City bombing in 1995, the Columbine shooting in 1999, as well as to the 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando, FL. In Orlando, 911 operators and first responders were able to talk about their experiences and emotions, encouraged by petting and interacting with the dogs.

Dr. Mims and her dogs also volunteer in Judge Lynn Tepper’s court in Pasco County, FL. Children come to family court on Wednesdays, and the dogs sit with them outside, providing companionship before they talk to the judge and testify.

One thing that Dr. Mims particularly likes about working with her therapy dogs is that they are always willing to try new things. “I like new things, and I never settle,” she said.

In addition, as she balances life as a professor, wife, and mother, “Dogs are my therapy, too,” she said. “They help me clear my mind.”

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