Catawba College

SALISBURY — As the end of the spring semester approaches, Catawba College faculty members continue to have papers published or accepted for publication and have made professional achievements outside the college.

Details of their accomplishments follow.

J. Michael Bitzer, chairman and professor of politics

Bitzer served on a panel to discuss the trends and outlook for the 2018 midterm elections in North Carolina and the nation. The panel focused on N.C.’s congressional and legislative races and the changing political and demographic characteristics of the state. It was assembled for the April 5 meeting of the Independent Insurance Agents of N.C. Political Action Committee.

Bitzer also joined a panel of experts April 4 at Charlotte Preparatory School addressing the topic “Parenting in the Age of Political Divisiveness.”

Victor Romano, assistant professor of sports and health sciences

Romano, along with students Becky Bradford and Becky Frost, will present collaborative research at a July meeting of the ninth International Conference on Sport and Society. The presentation, which will be presented mainly by the students, is titled “Cardiovascular Response to Lower Body Movement Dysfunction in Division II Collegiate Swimmers.”

The purpose of this study was to identify postural factors that negatively affect cardiovascular performance in Division II collegiate swimmers. Romano and his students found that correcting muscular imbalances associated with posture due to prolonged sitting, specifically lower crossed syndrome, may lead to improvement of cardiovascular response in collegiate swimmers.

Kenneth W. Clapp, chaplain and senior vice president, and Shannon Axtell Martin, director of the Theology Institute

Clapp and Martin represented Catawba College at the Forum for Theological Education’s High School Institute for Theological Education in Indianapolis on Jan. 31-Feb. 2. At the forum, hosted by the Lilly Foundation, representatives from more than 70 colleges and universities compared notes with colleagues on the effectiveness of programs designed to help youths grown in their understanding of theology and to develop leadership skills to be used in their local congregations and for the sharing of the Gospel with peers.

Eric Hake, professor of economics and interim dean of the Ketner School of Business

Hake has had a paper accepted for publication in the June edition of “Journal of Economic Issues.” The paper is titled “The Institutionalist Theory of Capital in the Modern Business Enterprise: Appropriation and Financialization.”

Hake’s paper seeks to expand and update Baldwin Ranson’s and Philip Klein’s papers on capital formation and power by incorporating the importance of intangible assets in the process of capital formation, accumulation, and what can be referred to as capital appropriation. The analysis connects the much discussed process of financialization in the 21st century with its origins in the nascent equity finance of the 19th century.

Renee Just, assistant professor of business and director of the Center for Entrepreneurship and Experiential Development 

Just served Sage Publications as a peer reviewer for an organizational behavior text, “The Essentials of Organizational Behavior: An Evidence-Based Approach” by author Terri Scandura. Her testimonial will be printed on the back cover of the book.

Craig Kolkebeck, assistant professor of theater arts and artistic director at Lee Street theatre

Kolkebeck put on his acting cap and assumed a role in the February production of “The Realistic Joneses” at Lee Street theatre in February. That production was directed by Catawba senior Peyton Glendinning as part of the CataLst program, an internship program offered by Catawba and Lee Street theatre.

J. Michael Wilson, chairman and professor of modern foreign languages

Wilson had one of his short stories, “Requiem for Sweet Sally: Mourning a Relationship That Did Not End Well,” published in the April/May edition of “American Waterfowler” magazine.

Erin Wood, associate professor of psychology

In early March at the annual conference for the Southeastern Psychological Association, Wood presented in a symposium focused on teaching in psychology. That symposium addressed class assignments, projects and papers that enhance undergraduate psychology courses. She shared a new class activity and related skill-building assignments that she tried in her data analysis for the behavioral sciences course during fall 2017.

While at the symposium, Wood also learned about other active learning type assignments that she will use in future classes, including having students write their own tests and assigning the development of a functional brochure to the whole class, to be presented to other students in an effort to support all students’ learning. 

Tyler Davis, visiting assistant professor of environmental studies

Davis made a presentation at the American Geophysical Union fall meeting on Dec. 14. His presentation was titled “A Pipeline for 3D Digital Optical Phenotyping Plant Root System Architecture.”

Kimberly Smith, director of Catawba to Career

Smith was one of three individuals from Catawba College who made a Dec. 4  presentation at the annual conference of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges.

The presentation was titled “Students Who Muddle: A Pre-intervention Plan to Effect Course Correction.”

Sandra Yamane, assistant professor of nursing

Yamane made a presentation titled “Addressing Workplace Violence in Prelicensure Curriculum: Development, Administration and Evaluation of an Innovative Teaching Bundle” on April 20 at the Nursing Education Research Conference 2018.

Yamane also had an article, “Educating Future Health Care Professionals About Cybercivility Needs Assessment Study,” published Jan. 3 in “Nurse Educator.”