Faculty Members to Explore Hip-Hop, Theology and More on New Sabbaticals

ROCK HILL, SOUTH CAROLINA — Eight Winthrop University faculty members will embark on semester-long sabbaticals and two on year-long sabbaticals.

Their research will explore hip-hop's connection to social justice, study the theological implications of dementia and much more.

Here's an in-depth look at those exciting projects:

*Adolphus Belk Jr., professor of political science
Belk has two publications in the works for his spring 2019 sabbatical: an edited volume, tentatively entitled "For the Culture: Hip-Hop and the Fight for Social Justice," with Lakeyta Bonnette-Bailey ˜04 of Georgia State University; and a book-length manuscript on President Donald Trump, white nationalism and African-American interests. He'll also serve on a special task force for the 50th anniversary meeting of the National Conference of Black Political Scientists, where he'll help highlight the major contributions of the organization, its members and black political scientists, in general, to the discipline of political science, while also being critically engaged with the politics of the black community over the last five decades.

*Melissa Carsten, associate professor of management
Carsten will travel across the ocean to Australia this fall for her sabbatical, where she'll work as a visiting scholar at the University of Sydney. She'll collaborate on research with faculty and work with doctoral students, all on leadership, leader-follower relationships and followership behavior.

*Stacey Davidson, assistant professor of fine arts
Davidson will paint the descendants of Historic Brattonsville, located in McConnells, South Carolina. Her sabbatical will cover the spring and fall 2019 semesters.

*Andy Doyle, associate professor of history
Doyle frequently combines history and sports in his research. For his year-long sabbatical beginning this fall, he plans to finish his book on early Southern college football, which will involve visits to Charlottesville, Virginia, to study the papers of the late University of Virginia President Edwin Alderman and the archives at UNC-Chapel Hill, and other southern universities. He also plans to develop a new course on the history of alcohol and drug use and policy in the U.S.

*Kunsiri Grubbs, associate professor of biology
You may still see Grubbs on campus in spring 2019. She'll be focusing her research on the genus Eupatorium systematics and the impact of disturbance on the endangered Schweinitz's sunflower's growth.

*Kristin Kiblinger, professor of religious studies
Kiblinger will remain in Rock Hill studying the theological implications of dementia, found in diseases such as Alzheimer's, and developing some Buddhist-Christian comparative theology in light of that research during her spring 2019 sabbatical.

*Johnathan Marx, professor of sociology
Marx will spend the fall working with a diversity team at a national bank in the Chicago area to pursue a new line of research relating to the development and retaining of early-career professional women. His ultimate goal is to "develop a series of evidence-based recommendations in structuring meetings, social events and administrative communication to allow female professionals to project powerful and competent images." He hypothesizes that this would lead to women being evaluated more highly by customers and help retention.

*Darren Ritzer, associate professor of psychology
*Ritzer will be in the books, literally and figuratively, for his spring 2019 sabbatical. He'll be working on several publications that are in various stages of completion.

Other sabbatical awardees include Barbara Burgess-Wilkerson, associate professor of management, for the fall semester, and Laura Dufresne, professor of fine arts, for the spring 2019 semester.

For more information, contact Nicole Chisari, communications coordinator, at 803/323-2236 or chisarin@winthrop.edu.