NJCU Faculty and Staff: Notables

Dr. Bruce Chadwick (Professor of History)

NJCU Ed Tech faculty members Drs. Chris Shamburg, Tracy Amerman, and Laura Zieger, and doctoral student Dr. Samantha Bahna published "When School Bells Last Rung: New Jersey Schools and the Reaction to COVID‑19" in the recent edition of the journal 𝘌𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐𝘯𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘛𝘦𝘤𝘩𝘯𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘺. It is a wide-ranging research study on the immediate effects of the shift to remote learning in the State of New Jersey. The full text was made available here by the National Institutes of Health and is available through the department’s web site njcu.edu/edtech.

Michael Edmondson, Ph.D., Dean, College of Professional Studies, Director of NJCU @ Fort Monmouth and Dean, Professional Education and Lifelong Learning (PELL), has published his seventh book in just seven years. The book, due out this week, is entitled 𝘌𝘮𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘈𝘮𝘣𝘪𝘨𝘶𝘪𝘵𝘺: 𝘈 𝘞𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘤𝘦 𝘛𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘗𝘭𝘢𝘯 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘗𝘰𝘴𝘵-𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘪𝘤 𝘌𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘰𝘮𝘺. Visit Dr. Edmondson’s publisher website. You can order his book or learn more on Amazon.

Dr. Jodi Bailey, NJCU Vice President for Student Affairs, was a guest on NBC-4 television in New York, discussing the Omicron variant of the COVID-19 pandemic and how it is impacting college campuses. Dr. Bailey appears at the 2:25 mark of the informative story by Linda Gaudino. You can watch the segment here.

Fran Moran, NJCU Professor of Political Science and President of NJCU's University Senate, is quoted in an article in The Hudson Reporter, entitled "Looking back at Hudson County voter turnout in 2021" in the section titled State politics and incumbent difficulties. Read more.

Deborah Jack, NJCU Associate Professor in Art Photography, has her work entitled “𝗗𝗲𝗯𝗼𝗿𝗮𝗵 𝗝𝗮𝗰𝗸: 𝟮𝟬 𝗬𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘀” on view at the Pen & Brush gallery in New York City’s Flatiron District (29 East 22nd Street), now through January 29, 2022. Read a recent feature on Professor Jack in Artsy.

Gail Marquis, NJCU’s Director of Development for The William J. Maxwell College of Arts & Sciences, a United States Olympian and Silver Medalist for Team USA Women's Basketball during the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal, continues to do ‘Olympian things’. On November 19, she attended the Science Olympics hosted by the Hudson County Schools of Technology’s Explore Middle School in Jersey City. While there, she served as the keynote speaker for the event. Read more.

David Blackmore, Co-Director of NJCU’s Center for Latin American, Caribbean, and Latinx Studies and Professor of English recently published an article in the scholarly journal Chasqui. It was published in the 50.1 edition of the journal. The title of the article is “Wild Times Ending Badly: Gasparino Damata’s Os solteirões and the Censorship of Queer Fiction under the Brazilian Military Regime”. To read the article, visit: https://chasquirll.org/recent-issues/.

Two NJCU professors have collaborated for an off-Broadway performance in New York. James Broderick, a professor in the English Department is the playwright of The Hamlet Experience, while Lewis Seagull, a long-time adjunct professor in the English Department will play the featured role of Polonius. Shows are November 4 (6:15 p.m.), November 6 (2:15 p.m.) and November 7 (6 p.m.) at the Latea Theater, 107 Suffolk Street on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Tickets and More info

John Blicharz, Ph.D. (Director of Centralized Tutoring and Academic Support Programming), Veronica Garcia, M.A. (Director of Student Outreach and Retention) and Mercedez Ruiz, M.A., NCC (Coordinator of Academic Coaching and At-Risk Outreach) presented at the HACU 35th Annual Conference on October 26.The title of their presentation is: “Rebound Academic Probation Program: Shared Resources and Cross-divisional Partnerships That Work”.

Antoinette Ellis-Williams (@Dr_AnnieEllis), the chair of Women’s and Gender Studies is one of just 15 artists and artist collectives selected by Audible for the first phase of the Newark Artist Collaboration — a program created to amplify the work of Newark-based artists and encourage local investment in Newark’s creative community. Dr. Ellis-Williams is an accomplished  multidisciplinary visual artist, poet, playwright, actor, and scholar. She was selected to create a vibrant mounted fence mural on Lackawanna Avenue across from Broad Street Station. Upon installation, the mural will be programmed with live performance. Read more from New Jersey Stage.

Carlos Lejnieks, a member of the NJCU Board of Trustees, was featured in a profile in Hispanic Executive magazine entitled "Carlos Lejnieks Is a Born Mentor". The article tells the story of his passion for mentoring and volunteerism that has led him to serve as CEO of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Essex, Hudson & Union Counties, NJ.

Andy Acebo was featured in a profile in Hispanic Executive magazine entitled "Andrés Acebo Rights the Ship". The article details his journey, which started when his parents fled Cuba nearly 60 years ago, and the path that led him from law school and partner to working in service of a public anchor institution at NJCU.

Ellen Garvey, a Professor in the English Department, including the Honors Program and in Women's and Gender Studies, is quoted in a story in Medium.com discussing How cycling became a feminist issue.

Martha Mooke, the Coordinator of Strings in NJCU's Music, Dance and Theatre Department, recently appeared with Phoebe Bridgers in the Virtual Tibet House Benefit Concert produced by Philip Glass. She also released two recordings: “Buzz: Music in Harmony with Nature,” and a collection of her unique sounds, "Electroacoustic Viola" on Splice's Sonic Collective label.

Sung Ho Yang, an adjunct professor, in the Music, Dance and Theatre Department, and an accomplished pianist, will be joining piano faculty members for the Kirov International Virtual Summer Music Festival at the Kirov Academy of Washington D.C. between July 12 and Aug 6. He will be working with Dr. Edvinas Minkstimas and Yangsook Lee, Music Artistic Director.

Nick Biello, a saxophonist and composer who teaches alto saxophone applied at NJCU, recently begun a residency at the Mondrian Park Avenue performing his arrangements of The Music of the Beatles. The concert series will run from March to late July and feature Biello’s virtuosic saxophone, modern arrangements of some of Lennon and McCartney’s most treasured material, and a top-notch band of rising stars on the New York City jazz scene. Tickets are available at www.feverup.com.

Dr. Sue Henderson

(NJCU President)

Nick Biello, a saxophonist and composer who teaches alto saxophone applied at NJCU, has been chosen to direct the Drayton Harbor Music Festival camp from July 12-17 in Blaine, Wash., featuring faculty members from the Berklee School of Music.

Dr. Sue Henderson

(NJCU President)

Dr. Bruce Chadwick

(Professor of History)

John Blicharz

(Director of Centralized Tutoring and Academic Support Programming

Dr. Michael Edmondson

(Dean of Professional Education and Lifelong Learning (PELL) and Interim Director of NJCU @ Ft. Monmouth)

Dr. Michael Edmondson is one of just 29 individuals nationally to have been selected to the AGB Institute for Leadership & Governance in Higher Education's Class of 2021. The six-month program is designed for individuals who aspire to presidencies at four-year public research universities and regional comprehensive institutions. Dr. Edmondson is the only representative chosen from the state of New Jersey. He will begin the program in June, 2021.

Dr. Sue Henderson

(NJCU President)

Deborah Jack

(Associate Professor in Art Photography)

Dr. Wallace is the author of a HuffPost article entitled "I’ve Been Sick From COVID-19 For Almost A Year. Here’s What My Life Has Been Like." It is a first-person account of the last year of her life as a COVID long hauler. It is the third of three articles she has written on the subject.

Dr. Antoinette Ellis-Williams
(Chair, Women's and Gender Studies)

In a collaboration between NJCU’s Management, Health Sciences and Earth and Environmental Sciences Departments, NJCU Professors EunSu Lee, Melanie McDonald, Erin O’Neill, and William Montgomery co-published a paper entitled  "Statewide Ambulance Coverage of a Mixed Region of Urban, Rural and Frontier under Travel Time Catchment Areas" in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. Read the abstract or the full publication.

Deborah Jack

(Associate Professor in Art Photography)

On February 24, Andy Acebo moderated a virtual discussion on The Biden Administration & the Future of U.S.-Cuba Relations. Acebo is the current chair of the Hispanic National Bar Association Special Committee on Cuba.

Ira Thor, a long-time contributor to COSIDA and the field of athletic communications, served as the moderator for a CoSIDA Professional Development and Continuing Education webinar entitled "Listening & Leading: Adjusting On The Fly: How to prepare for sudden competition disruptions, cancellations & scheduling issues."

On Election Day 2020, Ira Thor was re-elected to a second three-year term on the Howell Township Board of Education in Monmouth County. He received 14,448 votes — the most ever cast for a male candidate in a contested Board of Education race in the history of Howell Township. Thor is the only current full-time employee of NJCU who holds an official elected position in the state of New Jersey.

Sevincgul Ulu

(Professor of Marketing)