Ann Arbor Times

Eastern Michigan University has approved sabbatical leaves for a distinguished group of faculty members for the 2024-25 academic year. The sabbaticals will enable faculty to engage in advanced study and research on topics such as curricula development for electric and autonomous vehicles, employee turnover in the hospitality industry, and the behavioral patterns of tarantulas in Colorado. The sabbaticals were approved by the University’s Board of Regents on June 20.

Sabbatical leaves are offered as one semester at full pay or two semesters at half pay. They are intended for special study, research, writing, and/or other projects that enrich the activities of individual faculty members, bring prestige to the individual and the University, or provide service of a significant nature for local, state, national, or international organizations.

Faculty members granted two-semester sabbatical leaves can receive up to $12,000 in research support if requested and approved. The University Research and Sabbatical Leave Committee reviews the sabbatical leave proposals and makes recommendations to the provost and executive vice president of Academic and Student Affairs.

For the 2024-2025 academic year, EMU will award 25 one-semester and eight two-semester sabbatical leaves. The following is the list of award recipients and their areas of study:

One-semester leaves:

- Eric Acton, English Language and Literature: “Co-Authoring the Core Chapters of a Book on Social Meaning.”

- Amanda Allen, English Language and Literature: “The Cold War Era and Now: Young Adult Literature as Ideological Battleground.”

- Steven Backues, Chemistry: “Building my Computational Capacity for Autophagy Research.”

- Martha Baiyee, Teacher Education: “What/Something is Missing? Developing a Homegrown Program to Support Faculty, University Student Teaching Supervisors, Students, and Cooperating Teachers in Implementing the Educative Teacher Performance Assessment (edTPA).”

- Ashley Bavery, History and Philosophy: “Making the American Mosque: Muslims, Refugees, and Race in Twentieth-Century America.”

- Julie Becker, Visual and Built Environments: “Program and Professional Development Through Utilizing Quilting and Embroidery Software and Equipment.”

- Robert Carpenter, Teacher Education: “Privatization of a Public Good: Private Capital’s Role in Higher Education.”

- Ali Eydgahi, Engineering: “Research and Curricula Development in Electric and Autonomous Cars.”

- María Luz García, Sociology, Anthropology and Criminology: “Linguistic and Cultural Strategies of Maya Immigrant Communities in the U.S. Midwest: A Collaborative Analysis.”

- Suzanne Gray, University Library: “Investigating Your Future: Developing a First Year Student Seminar Examining Wellness and Career Planning through an Information Literacy Lens.”

- Ana Claudia Harten, Special Education & Communication Sciences & Disorders: “The Impact of Surgical Repair on Speech Characteristics in Children Born with Cleft Palate.”

- Jeromy Hopgood, Communication Media & Theatre Arts: “Moby Dick & Beyond: Applied Projects in Projection Design.”

- Khairul Islam; Mathematics & Statistics; "Modeling Activity Related Interaction & Adult Americans Well-being Using Survey Data."

- Sun Hae Jang; Health Promotion & Human Performance; "Development of a Textbook Titled ‘Comprehensive Orthotic Management of Idiopathic Scoliosis’."

- Giri Jogaratnam; Technology & Professional Services Management; "Employee Turnover in Hospitality Industry."

- Tareq Khan; Engineering; "Development Novel Smart Door Display Device Connected with IoT."

- Ethan Lowenstein; Teacher Education; "Leading Teaching Learning Place Purpose."

- Christine Neufeld; English Language & Literature; "Mad Knights Maimed Kings Disability Medieval Romance."

- Jodonnis Rodriguez; Accounting Finance Information Systems; "Dynamic Intervention Students At Risk Stopping Out."

- Nick Romerhausen; Communication Media Theatre Arts; "Impacts Generative Artificial Intelligence Student Learning Introductory Communication Course."

- Brian Sellers; Sociology Anthropology Criminology ;"Atomic Nomads Cautionary Tale Forced Migration Environmental Injustice Cultural Disintegration South Pacific."

- Cara Shillington Biology Following Spiders Tracking Behavior Activity Tarantulas Colorado.

- Tom Suchan Art Design Revolving Sutra Repository Cave Mt Bei Cult Canon Medieval Chinese Buddhism.

- Guey-Meei Yang Art Design Action Research AI Infused Course Design Teaching.

- Mehmet Yaya Economics Syrian Refugees Turkey Measurement Adaptation Assimilation.

Two-semester leaves:

- Mohammed Noraden Alsaleh Information Security Applied Computing Moving Target Defense Microservice Platforms Challenges Applications.

- Howard Cass Music Dance Music Composition Performance Recording Eight Original World Music Works Published Freeplay Music.

- Derrick Fries Special Education Communication Sciences Disorders American School Shooter Boys Crisis.

- Rob Halpern English Language Literature Mute Opposable Evidence Counter Forensic Poetics Abolition.

- Giri Jogaratnam Technology Professional Services Management Employee Turnover Hospitality Industry Comparison Managerial Employee Perceptions Five Living Generations.

- William LaGore Accounting Finance Information Systems Predicting Academic Achievement Master Accounting Program GMAT vs Overall GPA vs Accounting GPA Best.

- Roger Long History Philosophy Liaquat Ali Khan Jinnah Right Hand Creation Pakistan 1941 1947.

- Mehmet Yaya Economics Syrian Refugees Turkey Measurement Adaptation Assimilation.

Founded in 1849 Eastern is second oldest public university Michigan It currently serves more than 13 000 students pursuing undergraduate graduate specialist doctoral certificate degrees arts sciences professions In all more than 300 majors minors concentrations delivered through University's Colleges Arts Sciences Business Education Engineering Technology Health Human Services its graduate school National publications regularly recognize EMU excellence diversity commitment applied education Visit University's rankings points pride websites learn more For more information about Eastern Michigan University visit University's website To stay up date University news activities announcements visit EMU Today