Marymount University prides itself on employing top-notch faculty who are true leaders and innovators in their fields. From new appointments on national boards to prestigious award nominations, Marymount professors truly made a positive impact on the community this year.
Several faculty and staff members were honored with new appointments inside and outside the University. They include Dr. Skye Donovan, who was appointed Interim Dean for the College of Health and Education. Beyond Marymount, she’s also preparing to assume a national leadership role as she runs unopposed for Vice President of the American Physical Therapy Association’s national board. This appointment will become official in November, and position Dr. Donovan and Marymount as nationally recognized leaders in physical therapy practice and education.
Alison Gregory, Dean of Libraries and Assistant Provost for Special Projects, is taking on a new leadership role with the Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi. She was recently elected to serve as the Vice President of Chapter Development, which will involve serving on the Phi Kappa Phi board’s executive committee and supporting over 300 chapters of the honor society nationwide.
Dr. Jennifer Yang, Dean of the School of Business, is a longtime member of the International Textile and Apparel Association (ITAA) and was recently named ITAA’s Vice President of Conferences. In this role, she will sit on the organization’s governing body and oversee planning and execution of ITAA conferences until 2026.
After teaching DMV-area high school students about the fundamentals of criminal justice during a Marymount summer program, Dr. Sarah Fischer received an exciting appointment from the American Society of Criminology. She will serve as co-president of its Division of Feminist Criminology, which focuses on using feminist perspectives to examine systems of oppression related to offending, victimization and the legal system. Through continued collaboration with feminist scholars in the criminal justice field, she strives to increase Marymount’s dedication to diversity, equity and inclusion in the social sciences and across all disciplines.
Many faculty published papers and presented research findings in journals and conferences during the 2023-24 academic year. Dr. Catherine Diaz-Asper, a Marymount Center for Optimal Aging Fellow for the 2023-25 term, published two research papers this summer. One on the future of screening for cognitive impairments appeared in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, while another on the use of large language models to assess cognitive disorders ran in Psychiatric Research. Dr. Eric Alda represented Marymount’s Criminal Justice program when presenting “Smarter Policing in Lean Times: Optimizing Resource Allocation to Maximize Efficiency” at the American Society of Evidence-Based Policing’s national conference in Spokane, Wash. Dr. Linda Cote from Marymount’s Psychology program presented research on “Acculturation of Maternal Responses to Infant Distress in U.S. Immigrant Families” at the International Congress on Infant Studies’ annual symposium in Glasgow, Scotland. Dr. Alex Mbaziira, Dean of the School of Technology and Innovation, co-authored a paper with Neethu Shenoy, a doctoral alumna, which was presented at the International Conference on Electrical, Computer and Energy Technologies in Sydney. Dr. Linda Mills from the School of Social and Behavioral Sciences moderated a “Future of Intelligence Studies” panel at the Intelligence and National Security Summit, which featured intelligence educators, CEOs and former CIA officials.
Several Marymount faculty members also won grants and funding for their research efforts. Dr. Courtney Porter from the School of Social and Behavioral Sciences was part of a team that secured a $200,000 federal grant from the National Institute of Justice. It will fund research focused on the needs of graduate students in the criminal justice profession, and allow the team to present their findings at conferences through 2026. Dr. Alvaro Cintas-Canto from the School of Technology and Innovation received the National Science Foundation’s CRII: Secure and Trustworthy Cybersecurity Grant, totaling $174,987 for his research on reliable hardware architectures against side-channel attacks.
Faculty and staff also showcased their innovation and expertise to the broader community. Moira Denson from the School of Design and Art teamed up with Dr. Eric Bubar from the School of Science, Mathematics and Engineering to create an interactive presentation for the 2024 HUD Innovative Housing Showcase on the National Mall in June. Throughout the three-day exhibition, the two faculty members and their student research fellows used VR technology to empower older individuals to explore new innovative and more sustainable housing options that will better meet their evolving needs. Attracting over 5,000 visitors that included lawmakers, media outlets and the general public, Marymount’s booth highlighted the transformative power of VR technology in architecture and design.
This summer, the ongoing MU Pathways to Action, Truth and Healing (PATH) project made great strides with a team consisting of Dr. Susan Agolini, Dr. Camille Buckner, Dr. Sara Hallisey and Dr. Barbara Kreutzer. Made possible through the Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation Campus Center grant from the Lumina and Kellogg Foundations and the American Association of Colleges and Universities, the project aims to advance racial justice and build more racially equitable communities. The team has documented campus locations once inhabited by indigenous tribes and the native plants we can still find in those locations today. This project helps ensure Marymount can create a more equitable community in the future by recognizing the contributions from indigenous communities of the past.
Two faculty members also published books of distinction. Dr. Sara Pappa from the School of Health Sciences teamed up with Dr. Diana Karczmarczyk of George Mason University to publish her first-ever book, Health Education and Promotion: A Skills-Based Approach. Dr. Cassandra Good, who teaches in the School of Interdisciplinary Studies, also recently published First Family: George Washington’s Heirs and the Making of America, which traces the lives of George Washington’s descendants through the first century of American independence. The book was named a finalist for the George Washington Prize, which recognizes literary works that advance a broader public understanding of early American history. The winner will be announced during a September ceremony at Mount Vernon.
Marymount salutes all of its faculty who are making an impact, supporting their students and being changemakers in their fields!
