Forty-four individuals who have achieved milestone years of service were recognized at Faculty Convocation. Dr. Terry Dancer, professor of accounting, and Dr. Beverly Boals Gilbert, professor of teacher education, have attained 45 years of service, while Dr. Pamela Hronek, associate professor of history, has 40 years. Dr. Mary Jackson Pitts, professor of media and journalism, Dr. Tina Teague, professor of agriculture, and Dr. Ronald Towery, professor of teacher education, have 35 years of service. A news release lists all of those recognized.

Shanon Brantley, assistant professor of communication disorders, is clinical lead for a grant from the Parkinson Voice Project of Richardson, Texas, to the A-State Speech and Hearing Clinic. The clinic is providing training, services, supplies and equipment valued at more than $280,000 over a five-year period. The grant will support a Speak Out! Therapy and Research Center, a research-based speech therapy protocol that can minimize risk of life-threatening swallowing complications.

Congratulations to six retiring faculty members who were recognized at Faculty Honors Convocation. They were Dr. Deborah Chappel Daniel (left), associate professor of English, Dr. David Holman, associate professor of education, Dr. Tillman Kennon, professor of science education, Dr. Kenneth Carroll, associate professor of saxophone, Dr. Brett Savary, research professor of biopolymer chemistry, and Dr. Larry Morton, associate professor of social work. A news release is online.

Dr. Bronwyn MacFarlane, assistant professor of educational leadership, gave seven presentations recently – two international, two at state level, one at university level, and two at the local level. She was a webinar panelist on differentiated culturally responsive learning opportunities for the World Council for Gifted and Talented Children. She shared ideas from her new early childhood book while addressing the European Council for High Ability, the California Association of the Gifted conference, and the virtual Baylor University annual parent conference.

Alix Matthews, a Ph.D. student, is lead author of a paper published in Systematic Biology. Co-authors are Dr. Than Boves, associate professor of avian ecology, Dr. Drew Sweet, assistant professor of evolutionary biology, and Dr. Asela Wijeratne, assistant professor of bioinformatics. The paper describes their research that combined massive amounts of fieldwork along with cutting-edge genomics to assess the variation in host specificity of symbionts and their hosts, focusing on birds and feather mites.