Take a look at these highlights on Saint Leo University faculty accomplishments and contributions in teaching and learning.
Dr. Darin Bell, associate professor of chemistry, is now president of the Florida Academy of Sciences. The academy is the Florida affiliate of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and represents all disciplines of sciences, including social sciences and computational sciences. College students can be involved, as well. Bell succeeds Dr. Iain Duffy, associate professor of biology at Saint Leo, in serving the organization as president.
Dr. Sheri Bias, Dr. J. Adam Shoemaker, and Dr. Rafael Rosado-Ortiz, faculty members in the Tapia College of Business, contributed to a new text, Human Resources Management and Ethics: Responsibilities, Actions, Issues, and Experiences, from Information Age Publishing. Bias also was the co-editor of the text.
Marissa Glover, poet and English faculty member, had her first book published by Mercer University Press. Let Go of the Hands You Hold is Glover’s first full-length collection; individual poems by Glover have been published in a wide variety of journals and anthologies. She also is co-editor with Saint Leo faculty colleague John David Harding of the literary journal Orange Blossom Review, which is funded by the Florida College English Association.
Dr. Karin May, assistant professor of criminal justice, has expanded upon her work in teaching future law enforcement professionals about the crime of international sex trafficking. She contributed to a new edition of a textbook on the subject originally written by retired faculty member Leonard Territo, International Sex Trafficking of Women and Children: Understanding the Global Pandemic, Third Edition. May also appeared on a Facebook interview hosted by an Orlando nonprofit organization, Paving the Way Foundation, which creates anti-trafficking education and prevention programs for central Florida communities.
Dr. Lisa Rapp-McCall, a professor in the graduate social work program, was honored by the National Organization of Forensic Social Work (NOFSW), a professional group of 300 members nationwide. NOFSW named Rapp-McCall the recipient of its 2021 Sol Gothard Lifetime Achievement Award, which honors a late member who worked to protect abused children during his careers as a social worker and judge. The organization recognized Rapp-McCall for years of writing, teaching, and researching the topics of juvenile crime, child abuse, and human trafficking, among other acts of service.
Dr. Ebony Perez, chair of undergraduate social work, and a research colleague presented during a national virtual meeting in April, the Social Work, White Supremacy, and Racial Justice Symposium. Perez and her colleague spoke on “Envisioning an anti-racist profession: Social work’s quest for truth, reconciliation, and social justice.” They analyzed content from four professional journals in the field, along with text on the guiding principles of two prominent associations, to see what scholarship and professional guidance was available to help social workers and social work students develop anti-racist awareness, vocabulary, and effective professional behaviors.
Dr. Delmar Wright was elected president of the Virginia Association of Criminal Justice Educators. He served as co-conference coordinator of the first Virginia Association of Criminal Justice Educators conference, held virtually in November 2020. Wright, an associate professor of criminal justice, teaches for the Department of Graduate Studies in Public Safety Administration.
Saint Leo University and the Pasco Sheriff’s Office Florida Forensic Institute for Research, Security, and Tactics (F1RST) have joined forces to fight human trafficking regionally, with a concentration on three counties near University Campus.
