December 2025 Doctoral Hooding Program
Return to main Commencement Page
Quick Link Doctor of Philosophy
Quick Link Doctor of Musical Arts
Quick Link Doctor of Education
Quick Link Doctor of Nursing Practice
December
Doctoral Hooding
UNCG Auditorium
Greensboro, North Carolina
10 a.m.
Thursday Morning, December 11
Two Thousand Twenty Five
The University of North Carolina
at Greensboro
Doctoral Hooding
Ceremony Program
Audience: Please remain seated during the processional
Processional
Greetings from the Graduate School
Gregory C. Bell, Dean of The Graduate School
Greetings from the Faculty and Introduction of the Chancellor
Charles Bolton, Chair, Faculty Senate, and Professor, Department of History
Chancellor’s Welcome
Franklin D. Gilliam, Jr., Chancellor
Greetings from the Board of Trustees of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro
George Hoyle, UNCG Board of Trustees
Introduction of the Speaker
Gregory C. Bell
Ceremony Address
Joshua Goodman, Vice President of Research and Exam Programs, NCCPA
Authorization for the Conferring of Degrees
George Hoyle
Conferring of Degrees
Franklin D. Gilliam, Jr.
Presentation of Honorary Degree Candidate
Alan Boyette, Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor
Elvira O. Green, Doctor of Letters
Presentation of Doctoral Degree Candidates
Gregory C. Bell
for the College of Arts and Sciences, Kelly Joyce
for the Joseph M. Bryan School of Business and Economics, Joyendu Bhadury
for the School of Education, Morgan Chitiyo
for the School of Health and Human Sciences, Carl G. Mattacola
for the Joint School of Nanoscience and Nanoengineering, Masud H. Chowdury
for the School of Nursing, Debra J. Barksdale
for the College of Visual and Performing Arts, bruce d. mcclung
Special Remarks and Recognitions
Franklin D. Gilliam, Jr.
Recessional
Audience: Please remain seated until faculty and graduates have exited the auditorium
Also Assisting in Today’s Ceremony:
Interpreters for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing
Latoya Jordan, Erica White
Reader
Dr. Robert Wells
Music
UNCG Graduate Brass Quintet
A Brief History of
The University of North Carolina at Greensboro
The University of North Carolina at Greensboro was established by legislative enactment on February 18, 1891, and opened its doors on October 5, 1892.
The institution came into being as a direct result of the efforts of Dr. Charles Duncan McIver on behalf of the education of women. To Dr. McIver, more than any other individual, the university owes its foundation. He became its first president and served until his death in 1906.
Since its founding, the institution’s name has been changed several times: 1891–1919—State Normal and Industrial College; 1919–1932—North Carolina College for Women; 1932–1963— the Woman’s College of the University of North Carolina. In the 1963 General Assembly the name was changed to the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and by the same Act the institution became co-educational. In the fall of 1964 the first class of male students was admitted. In 1972 the General Assembly in special session merged all state-supported institutions of higher education into the University of North Carolina without changing the names of each campus. Thus, the University of North Carolina at Greensboro is a member of the 17-campus university.
From a student body of 223 and a faculty of 15 in 1892, the University of North Carolina at Greensboro has grown to a student body of nearly 18,000 students and over 2,800 faculty.
The University of North Carolina at Greensboro includes the following academic units: College of Arts and Sciences, Joseph M. Bryan School of Business and Economics, School of Education, School of Health and Human Sciences, Interdisciplinary College, Lloyd International Honors College, Joint School of Nanoscience and Nanoengineering, School of Nursing, and College of Visual and Performing Arts. With a 17:1 student-to-faculty ratio, the University offers more than 150 areas of undergraduate study and more than 200 master’s and doctoral programs.
The University Flag
As the university has evolved from the State Normal and Industrial School in 1891 to UNC Greensboro today, so has the University Flag. The flag bears the traditional colors of gold and white, which were first used in the Commencement ceremony of 1894, as well as navy, which was added as the third color in 1987. In 2018, the university completed a brand refresh with updates to its colors including new shades of navy and gold as well as adopting a fourth color, grey. In 2020, a revision of the University Flag was completed to include official university colors. The December 2020 Commencement marked the debut of this new flag. The University Seal, depicting the likeness of Minerva, appears on both sides of the flag.
The Academic Banners
The Academic Banners represent the constituent parts of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro: the Graduate School, the College of Arts and Sciences, and the six professional schools—the Joseph M. Bryan School of Business and Economics, the School of Education, the School of Health and Human Sciences, the Joint School of Nanoscience and Nanoengineering, the School of Nursing, and the College of Visual and Performing Arts. The designs are unique to this university; the colors have historical association with the respective academic disciplines. The banners are a memorial to Marguerite Norman Felton, teacher of chemistry at the university from 1956 to 1979.
Over the years, several generations of college and school banners have existed. The current banners made their Commencement debut at the May 2010 ceremony.
University Marshals
The Banner Bearers and escorts for all lines of march during Commencement are provided by the University Marshals, an academic honorary organization composed of full-time undergraduate students with academic averages of 3.65 or greater. These students may be recognized by the gold sashes that they wear during the ceremonies.
Academic Regalia
Academic costumes seem to have originated at the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge over 650 years ago. The colors of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro are gold, white, and blue, with gold and white used in the hood.
Honorary Degree
Elvira O. Green
Doctor of Letters
Mezzo-soprano Elvira Green’s lifelong passion for music was ignited as she and her family listened to live radio broadcasts from New York City’s Metropolitan Opera.
“I must have been 6 years old when I first started listening to all those beautiful voices, and that’s when I began to think, ‘I got this,’” she says.
Born into a family of musicians, Elvira Green grew up on a family farm in eastern North Carolina, began playing the piano at the age of 4, and graduated with a degree in piano performance and a minor in French from North Carolina Central University in 1962.
She moved to New York to study voice with soprano and mentor Afrika Hayes and made her Metropolitan Opera debut in 1966, proving true her childhood premonition. By the 1970s, she was one of three African American women to earn a principal artist position at the Met, where she performed for nearly two decades.
Starting with that stage, she spent over 40 years performing in the world’s premier operatic, concert, and musical theater venues. Her stunning voice reached audiences across the United States, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia. Her role as Maria in the Met’s international tours of “Porgy and Bess” became a signature role. She performed it more than 800 times, including her notable work as performer and artistic director with the Greensboro Opera.
In 1995, she returned to Greensboro to be close to family and immediately immersed herself in the Triad’s musical scene. She joined the Greensboro Opera Board and served as president of the North Carolina Carl Brice Music Association.
She created and directed the Singers Studio, a summer opera program for pre-teens and young teens whose graduates have become ministers, doctors, actors, and acclaimed performers.
As a scholar and educator, from 2000 to 2017, she designed a vocal studies program at the University of the Virgin Islands in St. Thomas. She served as a faculty member and artist in residence at her alma mater, North Carolina Central University, from 2005 to 2017.
The breadth of her achievements is remarkable. Her passion for the transformative power of music and mentorship has shaped the lives of countless young artists throughout North Carolina and the world, including students and alumni of this University.
Doctoral Degrees
1. Degree awarded August 2025.
Doctor of Philosophy
Ireti Aderayo Adegbesan1
Human Development and Family Studies
Dissertation: Bodily Autonomy of Young Toddler and Preschool-Age African American Children: Considering Parents’ Perspectives from a Culturally Centered Lens
Danielle Crosby, Committee Chair
Bukola Omoyemi Adesanmi
Nanoscience
Dissertation: Chemically Modified Electrospun Carbon Nanofibers for Enhanced Organophosphate Pesticide Remediation Applications
Jianjun Wei, Committee Chair
Sherine Obare, Committee Co-Chair
Tahniat Afsari1
Nanoscience
Dissertation: Nanorobots by Design for Enhanced Control and Functionality
Suzanne Ahmed, Committee Chair
Ashley Michelle Allen
Educational Studies
Dissertation: Channeling Power-From-Within: Early Childhood Educators’ Experiences with Advocacy, Power, and Our Collective Responsibility to ‘Fix’ the Problem
Silvia Bettez, Committee Chair
Reema Abdullah Al-Qiam
Chemistry and Biochemistry
Dissertation: Perylenequinones and Naphthoquinones: Distinctive Fungal Natural Products Powering Lifechanging Applications
Nicholas Oberlies, Committee Chair
Mshael Althiab1
Special Education
Dissertation: The Impact of Educational Context on the Academic and Social Outcomes of Students with Intellectual Disabilities Who Moved from Inclusive to Segregated Classrooms in Saudi Arabia
Diane Ryndak, Committee Chair
Nicholas Jay Antonicci1
Educational Studies
Dissertation: A Narrative Inquiry into the Enactment of, Resistance of, and Meaning Making of Whiteness in LGBTQIA+ Spaces and Communities in Higher Education
Bradley R. Johnson, Committee Chair
Meredith R. Atchison
Educational Studies
Dissertation: Authenticity, Community, and the Role of Institutional Support: A Photovoice Study Exploring Sense of Belonging for LGBQ College Students.
Beverly Faircloth, Committee Chair
Christopher George Barnes
Nursing
Dissertation: The Factors Associated with Clinical Decision-Making in Emergency Department Triage Nurses
Audrey Snyder, Committee Chair
Jacob Stephen Blackstock1
Counseling and Counselor Education
Dissertation: Charting Campus Isolation: Understanding the Moderating Role Attachment Plays in Reported Levels of Loneliness in Undergraduate Students
Scott Young, Committee Chair
Zachary Stephen Bomstein
Nutrition
Dissertation: Investigating the Influence of Di(2-ethylhexyl) Phthalate and a Western-style Diet on Colonic Inflammation
Clinton Allred, Committee Chair
LaToya W. Brown1
Educational Studies
Dissertation: Speaking Wounds: Black Women, Haunting, and the Literary Imagination
Leila Villaverde, Committee Chair
Neal Edward Buck
English
Dissertation: Writing the Canon of Renaissance English Poetry
Christopher Hodgkins, Committee Chair
Zoie LeAnne Bunch1
Chemistry and Biochemistry
Dissertation: From Bench to Book: Interdisciplinary Research in Microbial Natural Products, Mass Spectrometry Metabolomics, and Chemistry Textbook Analyses
Nadja Cech, Committee Chair
Maia Popova, Committee Co-Chair
Gregory John Carlton1
Geography
Dissertation: The Road to Equal Charging: A Multiscale Study of EV Charging Accessibility and Equity
Selima Sultana, Committee Chair
Meghan Elizabeth Hembree Causey1
Consumer, Apparel, and Retail Studies
Dissertation: The Extended Virtual Self: Exploring Consumption and Use of Appearance-Related Virtual Products in Gaming Virtual Worlds
Nancy Hodges, Committee Chair
Kervins Clement
Counseling and Counselor Education
Dissertation: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis of Black Men receiving Sex Addiction Treatment
Scott Young, Committee Chair
Christopher Repire Cook1
Music Education
Dissertation: Defining Success: A Qualitative Case Study Examining the Methods of One Veteran Band Director in an African American Community
Constance McKoy, Committee Chair
Warché K. Downing1
Educational Studies
Dissertation: The Role of College Access Programs and Opportunities in Building Student Agency for First and Second-Generation Black College Men from High School to College
Leila Villaverde, Committee Chair
Cia Mia Elder
Human Development and Family Studies
Dissertation: Ask the Youth: A Qualitative Examination of Natural Mentors
Dena Swanson, Committee Chair
Nabeela Farhat
Geography
Dissertation: Immigrant Neighborhoods, Inequality, and Labor Market Segmentation: Spatial and Economic Dimensions of Integration in the United States
Selima Sultana, Committee Chair
Jasmine Teal Getrouw1
Educational Studies
Dissertation: (Re)membering Ourselves, Remembering Our Ecologies: Being Black Girls in School
Silvia Bettez, Committee Chair
Elizabeth Ticknor Gilbert1
Psychology
Dissertation: The Role of Retrieval in Intentional Forgetting: Retrieve to Rehearse and Retrieve to Forget
Peter Delaney, Committee Chair
Alessandra Rose Grillo1
Psychology
Dissertation: Additive Genetic Variation as a Moderator of Early Life Stress Exposure Predicting Trait-Level Latent Depressive Symptoms in Emerging Adulthood
Suzanne Vrshek-Schallhorn, Committee Chair
Essence Nichole Hairston
Social Work
Dissertation: Receipt of Substance Use Disorder Treatment among Reproductive-age and Pregnant Women with Justice-Involved Histories, 2002-2019
Melissa Floyd-Pickard, Committee Chair
Farhan Haque1
Consumer, Apparel, and Retail Studies
Dissertation: Investigating Effective Communication Strategies to Inform Consumers about Sustainability Initiative by Apparel Brands
Elena Karpova, Committee Chair
Renee Hill Harrison
Nursing
Dissertation: Shared Decision Making Experiences of Black Americans with Hypertension
Susan Letvak, Committee Chair
Rehaana Sheereen Caldwell
Social Work
Dissertation: Wealth, Race, and Gender: Intersecting Factors in The Financial Well-being of Black Women
Melissa Floyd-Pickard, Committee Chair
Paula Evelyn Hernandez
Educational Studies
Dissertation: Maintaining the Democratic Promise: Nonprofits Supporting Undocumented Students in Higher Education
Kathryn Hytten, Committee Chair
Aleiza Lefsky Higgins
Kinesiology
Dissertation: Examining relationships between attention and balance and the effect of attentional focus cues on SEBT performance and dual tasking following history of sport and recreation related concussion
Scott Ross, Committee Chair
Abigail H. Horchar1
Chemistry and Biochemistry
Dissertation: Stereoselective Desymmetrization Strategies via Chiral Brønsted Acid Organocatalysis
Kimberly Petersen, Committee Chair
Sabine Reasbeck Huber1
Psychology
Dissertation: An Investigation of Bidirectional and Longitudinal Associations Between Executive Functioning and Learning Related Social Competence in the Context of Parent Responsiveness
Susan Keane, Committee Chair
Brynn Leah Hudgins
Kinesiology
Dissertation: Affective Responses to Sedentary Behavior in Older Adults
Jaclyn Maher, Committee Chair
Tasmia Islam
Nanoscience
Dissertation: High Throughput Plant Biology with Bioengineered Duckweed
Dennis LaJeunesse, Committee Chair
Eric Josephs, Committee Co-Chair
Christopher Norman John1
Business Administration
Dissertation: Contestable Corporate Social Responsibility: Three Novel Explorations of Existing Challenges in CSR
Vladislav Maksimov, Committee Chair
Dorcas Johnson
Community Health Education
Dissertation: “A Man Cannot Talk About His Stress”: Exploring Congolese Christian Regufee Men’s Mental Health in the U.S.
Sharon Morrison, Committee Chair
Erica Payton, Committee Co-Chair
Joshua Deon Jordan1
Kinesiology
Dissertation: B.A.L.L.: Beats, Bars, Buckets and Life Learners. A Heuristic Inquiry of Basketball, Hip-Hop, and Spirituality as Lived Experience and Culturally Relevant Pedagogy
Michael Hemphill, Committee Chair
Sanath Raj Kavuthian Kandy1
Chemistry and Biochemistry
Dissertation: Bioinformatics-Guided Discovery of RiPP Gene Clusters Unveils New Enzyme Chemistry
Jonathan Chekan, Committee Chair
Abdul Kader Khan1
Information Systems
Dissertation: User Discontinuance of Mental Health Chatbots: Examining the Role of Perceived Response Failure and Underlying Mechanisms
Rahul Singh, Committee Chair
Joyendu Bhadury, Committee Co-Chair
Seongeun Kim1
Educational Research, Measurement, and Evaluation
Dissertation: Linking Scales Using the Measurement Alignment Method for the Simple-structure Mirt Model
Kyung Yong Kim, Committee Chair
Hannah Rose Koch1
Kinesiology
Dissertation: Sleep and Body Weight (Re)Gain: Sleep as a Risk Factor for Weight Gain in Emerging Adults and Weight Regain after Bariatric Surgery
Jessica McNeil, Committee Chair
Briana Dael Daniels1
Human Development and Family Studies
Dissertation: Race, Work, Marriage: Examining the Impact of Workplace Racial Discrimination on Black Americans’ Marital Quality
Andrea Hunter, Committee Chair
Ashley Ann LaRoque
Biological Sciences
Dissertation: Ecological Drivers of Movement and its Implications for Community Dynamics in Streams
Akira Terui, Committee Chair
Eric Dontea Laws1
Nanoscience
Dissertation: Physicochemical Interactions of Pegbased Microgel and E.coli: An Investigation of the Mechanical Manipulation of Bacterial Motion
Dennis LaJeunesse, Committee Chair
Selina Angel Boyd Laws1
Nanoscience
Dissertation: Investigating the Design Principles of Supramolecular Complexes: Metal Coordination Approach
Hemali Rathynake, Committee Chair
Meghan Kathleen Leeming
Educational Research, Measurement, and Evaluation
Dissertation: A Comparison of Item Selection Methods for Multiple-Choice Options-Based CD-CAT
Robert Henson, Committee Chair
Michelle Lynne Lovett1
Educational Studies
Dissertation: Science Teacher Agency During State Standard Implementation: A Qualitative Interview Study
Edna Tan, Committee Chair
Ye He, Committee Co-Chair
Jonathan Paul Lucas
Community Health Education
Dissertation: Exploring Rates and Outcomes for Sexual Violence in the form of Forced Sexual Experiences and Childhood Sexual Abuse among Cisgender Men and Transgender Women Who Have Sex with Men in Four Communities in Eastern and Southern Africa
Jennifer Erausquin, Committee Chair
Karen Duschaneck Lynden1
Business Administration
Dissertation: Global Virtual Team Dynamics
Vas Taras, Committee Chair
Pratigya Marhatta1
Educational Studies
Dissertation: Addressing Social Justice in the Primary Classroom: Creating Interdisciplinary Critical Literacy Units
Melody Zoch, Committee Chair
Mauri Chantara Mckoy
Human Development and Family Studies
Dissertation: Using Digital Diaries to Explore Teacher Interns’ Perspectives of Developmentally Appropriate Practice (DAP): Descriptions of Classroom Experiences, Connections to DAP, and Changes in Thinking about DAP
Karen La Paro, Committee Chair
LaReine Marie Meinersmann
Counseling and Counselor Education
Dissertation: Flipping the Script: Examining the Moderating Role of Empowerment on the Relationship Between Intensive Motherhood and Maternal Mental Health.
J. Young, Committee Chair
Evan Carter Moore1
English
Dissertation: Alchemical Fraud in the Middle Ages and Its Reception in Twenty-First-Century Videogames
Amy Vines, Committee Chair
Frank Anthony Morales Shnaider
Chemistry and Biochemistry
Dissertation: Epitranscriptomic Studies: Advances in Methodology for Profiling and Disease-related Applications
Norman Chiu, Committee Chair
Cody Andrew Morris
Economics
Dissertation: The Role of Artificial Intelligence in Regional Knowledge Production
Martijn van Hasselt, Committee Chair
Albert Link, Committee Co-Chair
Narmin Nasibli1
Consumer, Apparel, and Retail Studies
Dissertation: When Digital Becomes Real: Leveraging Virtual Reality as a Tool for Promoting Eco-friendly Apparel Consumption
Elena Karpova, Committee Chair
Jin Su, Committee Co-Chair
Muhammad Numan
Biological Sciences
Dissertation: Identification and functional characterization of iron-responsive genes in the underutilized crop tef (Eragrostis tef)
Dr. Ayalew Osena, Committee Chair
Michael L. Parker1
Computational Mathematics
Dissertation: A Quantitative Randomized Response Model That Incorporates Mixture, Optionality and Enhanced Trust
Sat Gupta, Committee Chair
Sadia Khalil, Committee Co-Chair
Cameron Philip Pugach1
Psychology
Dissertation: Emotion Dysfunction in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: Insights from Affective Science
Blair Wisco, Committee Chair
Şerife Rakap1
Special Education
Dissertation: Attitudes and Perspectives of Early Childcare Center Directors Toward Inclusion of Young Children with Disabilities
Marcia Rock, Committee Chair
Morgan Chitiyo, Committee Co-Chair
Reetika Sarkar1
Computational Mathematics
Dissertation: Statistical Learning Methods for High-Dimensional Data with Complex Correlation Settings
Jianping Sun, Committee Chair
Chaojie Shang1
Kinesiology
Dissertation: Curriculum Conceptions in a High School Concept-Based Fitness Curriculum: An Application of the Curriculum Domain Theory
Ang Chen, Committee Chair
Rajesh Sigdel1
Geography
Dissertation: Large Wood Dynamics in Urban Streams
Sarah Praskievicz, Committee Chair
Kavita Singh1
Consumer, Apparel, and Retail Studies
Dissertation: Developing and Testing Intervention Strategies to Encourage the Adoption of Preferred Laundry Behaviors
Elena Karpova, Committee Chair
Joseph Kumar Sircar1
Psychology
Dissertation: A Double-Edged Sword: Familism in the Context of Intimate Partner Violence
Kari Eddington, Committee Chair
William Siegfried Smith IV
English
Dissertation: “Guarding an Empty House”: Chivalric Masculinity as Re-Enchantment
Amy Vines, Committee Chair
Helen Berhane Tadese
Social Work
Dissertation: Exploring Traumatic Experiences and Psychological Well-Being of Refugees. A Study of Ethiopian and Eritrean Refugees.
Carmen Monico, Committee Chair
Sheryar Khan Tahirkheli1
Business Administration
Dissertation: Predatory Coopetition on Digital Platforms: Response Strategies of International Sellers on Amazon
Vladislav Maksimov, Committee Chair
Gabe Eric Terry
Music Education
Dissertation: Teaching Outside the Box: A Qualitative Study of Music Educators with Disabilities
Quinton Parker, Committee Chair
Raza Ullah1
Environmental Health Science
Dissertation: The Role of Microplastics in the Persistence and Bioavailability of Antimicrobials in Agricultural Soils Irrigated With Treated Wastewater
Ayalew Ligaba-Osena, Committee Chair
Indya Alyssa Walker1
Human Development and Family Studies
Dissertation: “Unlearning the pain that we’ve endured”: Young Black Men’s Perspectives on Resilience Following Experiences of Community Gun Violence
Jocelyn Smith Lee, Committee Chair
Whitney Tasha Wingate1
English
Dissertation: “What up Blood?”: Figurations of Racialized Blood in African American Literary Texts from the 1970s to the Present
Noelle Morrisette, Committee Chair
Kell Wisdom1
Educational Studies
Dissertation: Centering Trauma, Embodiment, and Aesthetics in First-Year Writing Curriculum and Pedagogy
Leila Villaverde, Committee Chair
Darrick Alexander Woods
Nursing
Dissertation: Examining the Relationships of Psychosocial Factors and Physical Activity of Non- Hispanic African American Men
Stephanie Pickett, Committee Chair
Xiaohuan Xue1
Computational Mathematics
Dissertation: Computational Analysis for Classes of Nonlinear Elliptic Equations and Applications
Thomas Lewis, Committee Chair
Doctor of Musical Arts
Lingyin Cao
Music
Dissertation: Exploring the Possible Causes of Timbre Differences Between Bel Canto and Chinese National Singing Using Vocevista and Mouth Shape Observation: A Case Study of Mayila Informed by Western Vocal Pedagogy
Robert Wells, Committee Chair
Cody Dean Chessor1
Music
Dissertation: Programming a Recital: A Case Study on Undergraduate Tuba Recitals Based on the ITEA Standard Literature List
Abigail Pack, Committee Chair
Detra Akyewa Davis1
Music
Dissertation: Nkeiru Okoye’s Songs of Harriet Tubman: A Performance Guide
Robert Wells, Committee Chair
Miranda T. Henry
Music
Dissertation: Beyond the Canon: Anthology of Works by Amy Beach, Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel, and Ethel Smyth Arranged for Alto Saxophone and Piano
Steven Stusek, Committee Chair
Simon Ki Yoon Nam1
Music
Dissertation: Singers with OCD
Robert Wells, Committee Chair
Doctor of Education
Christina Bennett
Kinesiology
Dissertation: Challenges and Supports to Women’s Advancement in Coaching Tennis
Diane Gill, Committee Chair
Deanne Brooks, Committee Co-Chair
William James Burniston
Kinesiology
Dissertation: A Feasibility Study of an Injury Risk Factor Assessment System with Adolescent Female Soccer Players
Diane Gill, Committee Chair
Merrie Manning Conaway1
Educational Leadership
Dissertation: The Principal Experience of Improving Low-performing Schools Using School District-led Restart in North Carolina Public Schools
Kathryn Hytten, Committee Chair
Ashley Anne Corkins1
Kinesiology
Dissertation: Women’s Motivations and Barriers to Hiking
Diane Gill, Committee Chair
Dyson Benedict, Committee Co-Chair
Elizabeth Robinette Green
Educational Leadership
Dissertation: Influences on the Racial Pedagogical Decision-making of Early Elementary Social Studies Teachers in an Urban Charter School
Kathryn Hytten, Committee Chair
Trevor Ryan Hall
Kinesiology
Dissertation: Exploration of Barriers and Facilitators of Physical Activity with Faculty and Staff at a Private Liberal Arts University
Omari Dyson, Committee Chair
Pamela Brown, Committee Co-Chair
Pamela Marie Kidd
Educational Leadership
Dissertation: Black Student Access to Gifted and Talented Programming
Craig Peck, Committee Chair
William Andrew Kramer1
Kinesiology
Dissertation: Mentoring in Collegiate Strength and Conditioning
Pamela Brown, Committee Chair
Mary Ann Mitchell
Educational Leadership
Dissertation: Leading School Turnaround: The Perceptions of School Leaders Regarding Internal and External Factors
Craig Peck, Committee Chair
Darrick Lee Pettiford
Educational Leadership
Dissertation: Social Justice Leadership: Understanding How School Leaders Lead for Social Justice
Kathy Hytten, Committee Chair
Melanie Vonique Rose1
Kinesiology
Dissertation: Good Grief: An Autoethnography of an Instructor’s Quest for Trauma-Informed Enhancements to the Group Fitness Experience
Michael Hemphill, Committee Chair
Nora Emilse Santillan1
Educational Leadership
Dissertation: Beyond Borders: Supporting International Faculty in Dual Language Immersion Elementary Schools in North Carolina
Kathryn Hytten, Committee Chair
Jill Gamse Spohn1
Kinesiology
Dissertation: Creating an Affective Domain Assessment Tool in Physical Education for Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder
Ben Dyson, Committee Chair
Ericia Rechelle Turner
Educational Leadership
Dissertation: A Dream Deferred? Former Students’ and Community Members’ Memories of the Closing of the All-Black Ridgeview High School and their Perceptions of its Effects on the Ridgeview Community
Craig Peck, Committee Chair
Colin Rutledge Tribby1
Educational Leadership
Dissertation: Have the Arts Impacted the Educational Experiences of Minoritized Students Who Are on Tract to Graduate from High School? Students’ Perspectives
Craig Peck, Committee Chair
Doctor of Nursing Practice
Shamika R. Andrews
Project Title: Improving Pressure Injury Prevention in Long-Term Care: Integrating Staff Education and Evidence-Based Interventions
Dr. Lindsay Draper, Project Team Leader
Heather Nicole Laxton Bartha
Project Title: An Evidence-Based Practice Project to Improve Provider Utilization of Resources in a Women’s Health Clinic to Improve Mental Health Support for Patients Experiencing Perinatal Loss
Dr. Joanna Long, Project Team Leader
Stephen Jameson Behnke
Project Title: Surgery on a Patient with a Previously Unidentified Pheochromocytoma
Dr. Tene Turner, Project Team Leader
Christal Hayes Bennett
Project Title: Promoting Healing and Reducing Stigma Through Trauma-Informed Care Education for Women’s Shelter Staff
Dr. Carrie Doss, Project Team Leader
Caedora Marylouise Benton
Project Title: Enhancing Primary Care Provider Confidence and Practice in PTSD Assessment Using the PCL-5 Tool
Dr. Carrie Doss, Project Team Leader
Ewa Leszczynska Brennan
Project Title: Depression Screening in Primary Care: The Impact of Clinical Staff Education and Depression Screening Workflow Changes on Screening Rates
Dr. Joanna Long, Project Team Leader
Laci Ludlum Brennan1
Project Title: Hypoglycemia Protocol for Diabetic Surgical Patients
Dr. Vadim Korogoda, Project Team Leader
Lauren Sue Bright1
Project Title: MMC – Corneal Abrasion
Dr. Cheryl Wicker, Project Team Leader
Courtney Ann Brothers1
Project Title: MMC – Emergency Airway Management
Dr. Vadim Korogoda, Project Team Leader
Lauren Nicole Cozart1
Project Title: Venous Air Embolism
Dr. Linda Stone, Project Team Leader
Lauren Crowley1
Project Title: Precision in Practice: Implementing an EHR Prompt to Standardize ABW-Based Sugammadex Dosing in Obese Surgical Patients
Dr. Tiffany Gibson, Project Team Leader
Sabrina Martin Emukarhowhotite
Project Title: Increase Awareness and Expanding Access to Supportive Aid Services for Homeless Men
Dr. Stephanie Pickett, Project Team Leader
Isaac Carter Foster1
Project Title: Reducing Gabapentin Use in Older Adults Undergoing Elective Surgery in ERAS Protocols
Dr. Linda Stone, Project Team Leader
Niakesha L. Frazier
Project Title: Empowering Adults: An Educational Presentation to Healthcare Providers on the Use of Technology to Improve Adherence and Reduce Symptoms of Depression
Dr. Aimee Motley, Project Team Leader
Olivia Nicole Freeman1
Project Title: Medication Errors in the Operating Room
Dr. Vadim Korogoda, Project Team Leader
Levent Hall1
Project Title: Improving Intraoperative Recognition and Management of Fat Embolism Syndrome Through High-Fidelity Simulation Training
Dr. Linda Stone, Project Team Leader
Dr. Cheryl Wicker, Project Team Leader
Ryan J. Harper-Gampp
Project Title: Enhancing Hypertension Management Through Evidence-Based Education
Dr. Tene Turner, Project Team Leader
Rachel Danielle Highsmith
Project Title: Program Evaluation of ‘Worship in Pink’: Assessing the Impact on Breast Cancer Awareness Among African American Women in a Faith- Based Setting
Dr. Lindsay Draper, Project Team Leader
Jennifer Lee Kreger
Project Title: Reducing Fall Events: The Impact of Standardized Evidence-Based Practice in Acute Care Hospital Setting
Dr. Lindsay Draper, Project Team Leader
Anna Grace Wells Lassiter1
Project Title: Assertiveness in the Operating Room
Dr. Vadim Korogoda, Project Team Leader
Alyssa Danielle Lattomus1
Project Title: Optimizing Perioperative Safety in Pediatric Congenital Heart Disease: A Multidisciplinary Protocol for Elective Noncardiac Surgery
Dr. Tene Turner, Project Team Leader
Alison Craver Lew
Project Title: Knowledge is Contagious Too: Using Education to Curb Respiratory Illness Transmission. A Quality Improvement Project
Dr. Wanda Williams, Project Team Leader
Sarah Kado Mallard1
Project Title: Supply Chain Shortages and Its Effects on Medication Error
Dr. Tiffany Gibson, Project Team Leader
Justin Joseph May1
Project Title: Prevalence, Implications, and Prevention of Remifentanil-Induced Hyperalgesia in Adult Surgical Patients
Dr. Vadim Korogoda, Project Team Leader
Marquita Danielle Moss
Project Title: Enhancing Provider Confidence: The Impact of Structured Diabetes Education Training on African American Adults with Prediabetes in Primary Care
Dr. Stacey Marye Douglas, Project Team Leader
Sarah Lyn Newton
Project Title: Pediatric Post-intubation Hypoxemia
Dr. Chrissy Kress, Project Team Leader
Heather Kristine Norton1
Project Title: Unanticipated Intraoperative Bronchospasm
Dr. Tiffany Gibson, Project Team Leader
Alixandra Papi1
Project Title: Clinical Case Review: Malpositioned Double-Lumen Endotracheal Tube During One-Lung Ventilation
Dr. Cheryl Wicker, Project Team Leader
Tyler Krah Plunkert1
Project Title: GLP-1s and Anesthetic Implication
Dr. Tene Turner, Project Team Leader
Evan Sam Pozzanghera1
Project Title: Expect the Unexpected: Planning Ahead to Reduce Perioperative Delays
Dr. Tene Turner, Project Team Leader
Alexandra Jane Prescott1
Project Title: Pulmonary Aspiration
Dr. Tiffany Gibson, Project Team Leader
Brooke Maddie Pryor1
Project Title: Opioids and Multimodal Analgesia: Finding the Right Balance
Dr. Vadim Korogoda, Project Team Leader
Ralph Warren Pasaporte Reyes
Project Title: Harmony in Care: An Evidence-Based Practice Initiative Using Personalized Music to Ease Agitation in Residents with Alzheimer’s and Related Dementias
Dr. Autumn Henson, Project Team Leader
Megan Nicole Rhyne-Cousar
Project Title: A Quality Improvement Project to Enhance Blood Pressure Control Among African Americans Through an Eight-Week Faith-Based Hypertension Management Program in a Church Setting
Dr. Stacey Marye Douglas, Project Team Leader
Denise J. Rolle
Project Title: Strengthening Interprofessional Communication Between RNs and CNAs on a Medical-Surgical Unit: A Quality Improvement Project Using TeamSTEPPS®
Dr. Wanda Williams, Project Team Leader
Sarah Nicole Schuneman1
Project Title: Nasopharyngeal Airways and Prevention of Epistaxis
Dr. Chrissy Kress, Project Team Leader
Grace Ann Simpson
Project Title: Enhancing CRNA Clinical Instruction: A Quality Improvement Initiative
Dr. Joanna Long, Project Team Leader
Bailey Corryn Smith1
Project Title: ZYNRELEF Use and Risk of LAST: A Morbidity & Mortality Case Review
Dr. Tiffany Gibson, Project Team Leader
Anna Marie Steenland1
Project Title: Enhancing Tranexamic Acid Administration in Total Joint Procedures
Dr. Linda Stone, Project Team Leader
Kristen Meridith Tarpey
Project Title: Diabetes Self-Management Education: Quality Improvement Intervention to Enhance Self-Care Practices in Patients with Type II Diabetes
Dr. Stephanie Pickett, Project Team Leader
Stephanie Harris Turner
Project Title: Improving Chronic Care Management Delivery
Dr. Stephanie Pickett, Project Team Leader
Kyle Louis Venrick1
Project Title: Optimizing NPO Assessment: Gastric Ultrasound Checklist
Dr. Tene Turner, Project Team Leader
Tiara Ann Webb
Project Title: A Quality Improvement Project to Enhance College Student Mental Health: Implementing the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale in Student Health Services.
Dr. Stacey Marye Douglas, Project Team Leader
Jennifer Carol White1
Project Title: Optimizing Awake Tracheal Intubation (ATI): A Checklist for Improved Patient Safety
Dr. Linda Stone, Project Team Leader
Katelyn Rowe White1
Project Title: Improving Perioperative Safety for Patients on GLP-1 Receptor Agonists
Dr. Chrissy Kress, Project Team Leader
Lauren Mills White1
Project Title: Anaphylactic Reaction to Ancef in the Operating Room
Dr. Chrissy Kress, Project Team Leader
Maria Sergeyevna Withrow
Project Title: Comparing Polyethylene Glycol and Secretagogues for Managing IBS-C in a Rural Gastroenterology Clinic
Dr. Tene Turner, Project Team Leader
Holly Wood1
Project Title: Minimizing Aspiration Risk in Patients on GLP-1 Medications
Dr. Chrissy Kress, Project Team Leader
This program was compiled and published by the University Commencement Event Manager.
Every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of this program’s content.
Any omissions or errors are unintentional.