Trustees Approve 2020-21 Faculty Sabbaticals

Meredith’s Board of Trustees has approved the following faculty sabbaticals for the 2020-21 academic year.

Associate Professor of World Languages and Cultures Vilma Concha-Chiaraviglio will work on the publication of a paper, “Errors are Tools for Learning: Strategies to Effectively Use Students’ Errors to Enhance Learning and Reduce Anxiety.” The paper will be submitted to a foreign language journal and she plans to present her complete research at two language conferences. A second project will be to create a new course, Spanish for the Professions, that will target students in social work, business, law enforcement, and science.

Associate Professor of World Languages and Cultures Kevin Hunt plans to write and publish a book-length manuscript titled Beer in Mexico: Past and Present. The sabbatical will allow travel to Mexico to visit key sites such as breweries, museums, and libraries, to interview brewers, historians, and other figures in Mexican beer culture, and to write a portion of the book. The sabbatical project has the potential to promote ties between the World Languages and Cultures department and other programs on campus, including biology, food & nutrition, hospitality management, history, public health, sociology, and marketing.

Associate Professor of English Alisa Johnson will complete an article on economic injustice in Ann Petry’s novel, The Street, for publication in the African American Review. For the economic foundation of her analysis, she will interview two of the leading figures in the debate over wealth disparity. Additionally, she plans to begin work on a second article that develops the connection between James Baldwin’s essay, “Everybody’s Protest Novel” and the current backlash against the “white savior” trope in contemporary films. The article will focus on backlash by African American critics and audiences to the film Green Book which one the 2018 Academy Award for Best Picture. She plans to present segments of both essays at College Language Association and American Literature Association conferences.

Associate Professor of Health, Exercise and Sports Science Stephanie Little plans to improve and update two existing health methodology courses, Health Education Methods and Foundation and Health Methods K-12, to match revised national standards and research-based trends. She will spend the first month of the sabbatical observing and volunteering in health education classes at low performing secondary schools. This will be followed by a complete revision of course content, which she will then teach in Wake County schools. She will also meet with the Wake County Public School System senior administrator for healthful living to share reflections and devise a plan for continued collaboration with health education instructors in secondary schools.