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2025 Butine Awardees

November 24, 2025

The Committee on Teaching and Scholarship is pleased to announce the Fall 2025 Butine Faculty Development Fund Awards. Congratulations!

  • Sherry Abbasi, Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC 2026), $2,000
  • Kali Abel, Es Otro Cuento: Invisibility and Adaptation in Colombia’s Changing Climate, $5,000
  • SimonMary Aihiokhai, World Christianity Conference; African Studies Association, $2,000
  • Lauren Alfrey, Pacific Sociological Association Annual Meeting, $2,000
  • Christina Astorga, College Theology Society 2026 Conference, $2,000
  • Matthew Barner, Developing a framework for explaining the value of a liberal arts education to engineering students, $3,253
  • Lauren Berger, Examining Social and Structural Determinants of Mental Health Among Immigrants in the United States, $4,600
  • Daniel Hansen, Nursing ethics in action, $5,000
  • Itzel Cruz Megchun, Research experiences with an international component for undergraduates that impact the city, $5,000
  • Bill Curtis, Richard Rorty Society Conference: Philosophy, Democracy, and Conversation, $300
  • Brandy Daniels, Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Religion, $2,000
  • Katie Danielson, American Educational Research Association Conference, $2,000
  • Timothy Doughty, American Society of Mechanical Engineering’s International Mechanical Engineering Conference and Exhibition 2025 Annual Conference, $2,000
  • Maria Echenique, Latin American Studies Association (LASA), $2,000
  • Terry Favero, Sport Science Research Renewal, $3,428
  • Kyle Flann, Metabolic Cost and Performance Decline in Recreational Physical Activities, $2,835
  • Layla Garrigues, Establishing, Deepening, and Evaluating Sustainable Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) Partnerships, $2,778
  • Sean Gestson, Developing a framework for explaining the value of a liberal arts education to engineering students, $3,253
  • Lara-Zuzan Golesorkhi, United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, $2,000
  • Naveen Gudigantala, The Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS), $2,000
  • Rebekah Hanson, Suzuki Association of the Americas and American String Teachers Association Join Conference, $1,308
  • Dierdre Hon, American Association of Colleges of Teacher Education (AACTE), $2,000
  • Dierdre Hon, Expanding and Evaluating Compassion-Based SEL Implementation in Teacher Colleges in Coahuila, Mexico, $5,000
  • Jeff Kerssen-Griep, National Communication Association (NCA) Convention, $350
  • Azeb Madebo, National Women’s Studies Association (45th Annual Conference), $483
  • Steve Mayer, Using ChatGPT to Enhance Teaching, Research and Service, $5,000
  • Poulami Mitra, Enhancing Academic Performance Through an Immersive Virtual Reality-Based Anatomy Lab for Students With ADHD and Online Learners, $2,412
  • Natalie Nelson-Marsh, National Communication Association & Pre-Conference on AI and Organizational Communication, $1,975
  • Hans Nordstrom, Joint Mathematics Meeting, $1,195
  • Neil Oculi, Developing Geospatial Modules for Coastal Vulnerability and Watershed Vulnerability Index for Saint Lucia to Better Understand the Impacts of Climate Change, $5,000
  • Toyin Olukotun, Examining Social and Structural Determinants of Mental Health Among Immigrants in the United States, $4,600
  • Nicole Ralston, 2026 American Educational Research Association (AERA) Annual Meeting, $2,000
  • Rebecca Smith, 2026 American Educational Research Association (AERA) Annual Meeting, $2,000
  • Kristin Sweeney, American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting and Gilbert Club Meeting of Geomorphologists, $2,000
  • Joshua Swidzinski, The Collected Works of Abraham Cowley – Collation of Manuscripts for Volume 9, ‘Uncollected Poetry and Letters’, $1,023
  • Buck Taylor, American Chemical Society National Meeting, $2,000
  • David Turnbloom, North American Academy of Liturgy, $986
  • Naga Vemprala, Designing a Decentralized, Gamified Platform for Misinformation Detection – A Blockchain-Based Incentive Model, $4,000
  • Shaz Vijlee, 2026 ASEE National Conference, $2,000
  • Jordyn Wolfand, American Society of Engineering Education (ASEE) Annual Conference, $2,000
  • Aaron Wootton, JMM 2026 (Joint Mathematics Meetings), $1,962

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Filed Under: 2025-11-24, Academics, Issues Tagged With: Butine Awards, Committee on Teaching and Scholarship

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Nick McRee, Sociology and Social Work, published “Academic debate and civic engagement in adolescence and young adulthood: evidence from a national longitudinal study.” Argumentation and Advocacy, 61(3–4), 323–338. He also published “When Chairs Shield Faculty from Service Opportunities: Protecting Colleagues or Hindering Community?” The Department Chair, 36(3), 11-13.

Katie Danielson, Education, was awarded a grant from The Spencer Foundation in the amount of $374,940.00 for the “Collaborating Towards Transformational Visions for Digital School Systems” project. Danielson also published “Learning to let go: Transformations in teachers’ pedagogical reasoning about classroom discussion.” Co-authors: Gotwalt, E., Kavanagh, S. Teaching and Teacher Education. January 2026

Daniel Bulek, Nursing & Health Innovations, published “From monoamine deficits to multiscale plasticity: Twenty-five years of ketamine and the neurophysiology of depression.” Journal of Neurophysiology, jn.00516.2025.

Dave Houglum, Director of Leadership Studies and Leadership Professor of Practice in the Franz Center for Leadership, Entrepreneurship, and Innovation, facilitated a multi-day series of invited leadership development workshops for the staff team at Lutherhaven Ministries in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. Houglum led six interactive sessions focused on DiSC-informed leadership, coaching-centered leadership, servant leadership and accompaniment, powerful feedback, and the co-creation of team commitments to support healthy culture and sustainable impact. In addition, Houglum provided multiple individual leadership coaching sessions for staff members throughout the engagement. January 2026.

Simon Aihiokhai, Theology, published the following articles in VoiceAfrique.org: “The Saturated Wisdom of Saint Joseph: Relevant Virtues for Our Times.” (Reflections on the Readings of the Fourth Sunday of Advent, 2025). December 19, 2025. “The Gift of the Nativity is Grounded in an Ethics of Neighborliness.” (Reflections on the Readings for the Mass on Christmas Day, December 25, 2025). December 24, 2025. “The Spirituality of Ambition and the Grace of the Incarnation.” Reflections on the Readings for the Vigil Mass of Christmas, 2025. December 24, 2025. “The Theotokos: A Mirror in Which We Discover Ourselves as Bearers of God’s Life to Each Other.” (Reflection on the Solemnity of Mary, the Mother of God.) December 31, 2025. “Jesus Christ: The Revealer of the Grace of Encounters and an Embrace of Difference.” (Reflections on the Readings for the Feast of the Epiphany of the Lord. January 4, 2026.) January 3, 2026. “Christian Baptism as a Summon for Global Justice: What We Must Embrace for Our Times.” (Reflections on the Readings for the Sunday of the Baptism of the Lord. January 11, 2026.) January 10, 2026. Aihiokhai also published a review of The Cross and the Olive Tree: Cultivating Palestinian Theology Amid Gaza. Edited by John S. Munayer and Samuel S. Munayer. Orbis Books, 2025. Catholicbooksreview.org

Jeff Kerssen-Griep, Communication and Media, presented “Teaching with Transformative International Conflict Partners” on the panel, “Healing Divides and Elevating Connections within Conflict & Peacebuilding.” National Communication Association Convention. November, 2025.

Christi Richardson-Zboralski, Director of Marketing – Graduate Programs, published a short story under pen name, Christi R. Suzanne, entitled “Outlaw’s Dust.” In Lisa Diane Kastner (Ed.) 27 Stories: An LA Wildfire Anthology. Running Wild Press. January 7, 2026. All proceeds from this anthology go toward Habitat for Humanity LA. Find it on the Broadway Books website or on Bookshop.org.

Fr. Pat Hannon, CSC, published From Glory to Glory: A Pilgrim’s Notes From the Badlands of Grace. Occasioned by the author’s walking, with siblings, the famous Camino de Santiago in the fall of 2024, the book traces all manner of other pilgrimages—to and from home, family, love, self, and God. One Subject Press, Saint Paul, Minnesota. November, 2025.

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