The following faculty members have earned tenure and/or promotion beginning in the upcoming 2021 fall semester.
Dr. Lucy Barnard-Brak has been promoted to full professor in the Department of Special Education and Multiple Abilities. Dr. Lucy Barnard-Brak is the associate professor in the Department of Special Education & Multiple Abilities specializing in autism. She received her Ph.D. in educational psychology from Texas Tech University. Dr. Barnard-Brak’s research focuses on measurement and assessment issues for individuals with ASD and examining the educational experiences and outcomes of individuals with disabilities. She currently enjoys refining the application of item response theory models and the comparison of ROC curves to data from special populations.
Dr. Michael Fedewa has been granted tenure and promoted to associate professor in the Department of Kinesiology. Dr. Mike Fedewa arrived at The University of Alabama in 2015 as faculty member with the Department of Kinesiology. Over the past 6 years he has authored and co-authored over 50 research manuscripts and 2 patent applications related to body composition, health, obesity, and athletic performance. Through his original research studies and meta-analyses of published research in Exercise Science, Dr. Fedewa has established a research agenda examining the influences of exercise training and physical activity on body composition. By collaborating with the students and an international network of exercise science researchers, Dr. Fedewa’s research has examined various methods of body composition assessment to develop portable, inexpensive, and accurate techniques that can be used in field-settings by practitioners and Allied-Health Professionals. His research also seeks to determine potential factors are responsible for the individual variability exercise training adaptations. Fedewa received his PhD in Exercise Physiology from the University of Georgia in 2015.
Dr. Hyemin Han has been granted early tenure and promotion to associate professor in the Department of Educational Studies, Psychology, and Research Methodology. Dr. Hyemin Han is currently an Assistant Professor in Educational Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of Alabama. He is conducting research projects focusing on the neural-level nature of social, emotional, and motivational processes in educational settings, such as moral development, growth mindset, and social adjustment in school, by utilizing interdisciplinary research methods including neuroimaging, psychological intervention, and computer simulation methods.
Dr. James Hardin has been promoted to clinical associate professor in the Department of Educational Leadership, Policy, and Technology Studies. Dr. James E. Hardin was recently promoted to the rank of Clinical Associate Professor of Technology Applications & Assessment systems in the department of Educational Leadership, Policy and Technology Studies in the College of Education at The University of Alabama. He previously served as a Clinical Assistant Professor from 2015-2021. He came to UA as a clinical instructor in 2010 and since that time has served as the College of Education’s LiveText/Via Coordinator, and works directly with faculty, staff and students regarding the College’s continuous improvement, institutional assessment and accreditation processes. In addition, since 2015, he has served as the College’s director of the Innovative Teaching and Technology lab. In this role, he designs and delivers instruction regarding innovative technologies and their pedagogical applications in the p-12 classroom. Prior to coming to UA, James was employed initially as an 8th grade history teacher, and later as a career technologies teacher with the Tuscaloosa City Schools. He received his B.S. in Secondary Education-Social Sciences, his MA in Secondary Education- Computers & Applied Technologies and his Ed.S. and Ph.D. in Instructional Leadership, with a concentration in Instructional Technology from The University of Alabama.
Dr. Roxanne Mitchell has been promoted to full professor in the Department of Educational Leadership, Policy, and Technology Studies. Her primary research interests are in the areas of educational leadership, organizational theory, international education, and school culture, with an emphasis on trust in schools and academic optimism. Her research in the area of trust in schools along with colleagues from Oklahoma State University and the University of Oklahoma has been acknowledged in the literature as a collection of important studies on trust relationships in schools and is cited as the Oklahoma Trust Studies. She received a Literati Award from the Journal of Educational Administration in 2014 for her co-authored article entitled “Student academic optimism & student achievement: A confirmatory factor analysis”. She regularly publishes articles in the most prestigious journals in educational administration such as the Educational Administration Quarterly, the Journal of Educational Administration, and the Journal of School Leadership. Her most recent article entitled “Enabling School Structure” appears in the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Education (2020). Another recent publication entitled “Enabling School Structure and Transformational School Leadership: Promoting Increased Organizational Citizenship and Professional Teacher Behavior” was published in Leadership & Policy in Schools in 2019. She has presented more than 30 papers at peer reviewed national conferences such as the American Educational Research Association (AERA) and the University Council for Educational Administration (UCEA). She currently serves on the editorial review boards for the Journal of Research in Leadership Education and the Journal of School Leadership and the Journal of Research on Organization in Education. She serves as an external reviewer for the Educational Administration Quarterly, the Journal of Educational Administration, the Journal of School Public Relations, the International Journal of Educational Management, the Sociology of Education Journal and the International Journal of Leadership Education. Professor Mitchell also serves as a reviewer, chair, and discussant for AERA and UCEA annually and she is a Barbara Jackson Alumni Mentor.
Dr. Stephanie Shelton has been granted early tenure and promotion to associate professor qualitative research in the Department of Educational Studies, Psychology, and Research Methodology. She is also an affiliate faculty member in the Department of Gender and Race Studies. Research interests are often interview- and focus group-based and include examining intersections of gender identities, gender expressions, sexualities, race, and class in educational contexts. Publications have appeared in GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies, International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, Qualitative Inquiry, Qualitative Research Journal, and Teaching and Teacher Education. She is also the co-editor of three books, including Feminism and Intersectionality in Academia: Women’s Narratives and Experiences in Higher Education (2018), which was reprinted in 2020. Find her on Twitter @stephshel78.
Dr. Oleg Sinelnikov has been promoted to full professor in the Department of Kinesiology. His research interests are physical education, sport education, and sport pedagogy.
Dr. Margaret Stran has been promoted to clinical associate professor in the Department of Kinesiology. Dr. Margaret Stran also serves as associate director of the UA Adapted Athletics program. Her work is focused on adapted sport, disability, and leadership development. Dr. Stran’s community and outreach is on improving inclusion and accessibility. She earned her PhD from the Capstone in Exercise Science n in 2007.
Dr. Holly Hilboldt Swain has been granted promotion to clinical associate professor in early childhood and elementary education (EC/ELE) in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction. Dr. Swain serves as Program Coordinator for the Early Childhood and Elementary Program and teaches courses in children’s literature, social studies methods, and curriculum and instruction to undergraduate and graduate students. She has developed and taught two study abroad programs: one in Italy and Greece for experiencing world-renowned early childhood teaching methods, and the second in England and France for examining historical influences of children’s literature originating in those places. Her current research involves a longitudinal study of diversity and representation in the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) Notable Trade Books award-wining children’s literature. She recently completed her terms as Chairperson of the NCSS Notable Trade Books for Young People Book Award Selection Committee and Chair of the NCSS Early Childhood and Elementary Community. She is Co-PI of grants at Southview Elementary: the first involving play-based education in kindergarten, and the other instituting professional learning communities with in-service teachers to increase literacy competency in fifth graders.
Dr. Nicole Swoszowski has been promoted to full professor in the Department of Special Education and Multiple Abilities. Nicole Cain Swoszowski, Ph.D. is an associate professor in the College of Education and department head for the Department of Special Education and Multiple Abilities at The University of Alabama. Her research is focused on the implementation of multi-tiered behavioral frameworks within nontraditional educational settings through which she is advancing the fields of E/BD and multi-tiered systems of support by replicating and generalizing universal and secondary tier empirically validated interventions for students with E/BD in residential and alternative educational settings. Dr. Swoszowski has published in peer-reviewed journals such as Education and Treatment of Children, Exceptionality, Intervention in School and Clinic, and Residential Treatment for Children and Youth and serves on the editorial board of Beyond Behavior, Education and Treatment of Children, and Teacher Education and Special Education.
Dr. Jonathan Wingo has been promoted to full professor in the Department of Kinesiology. Dr. Jonathan Wingo currently serves as the Department Head of Kinesiology and Director of the Exercise Physiology Laboratory. After earning his PhD in Exercise Science from the University of Georgia in 2006, he completed a postdoctoral fellowship in integrative physiology while jointly appointed at the Institute for Exercise and Environmental Medicine and the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, Texas. He became a Fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) and earned an ACSM Certified Exercise Physiologist credential in 2013. Dr. Wingo has published research articles in Medicine and Science in Sports & Exercise; Journal of Applied Physiology; Exercise and Sport Sciences Reviews; American Journal of Physiology – Regulatory, Integrative, and Comparative Physiology; Aerospace Medicine and Human Performance; European Journal of Applied Physiology; and other sports science journals. His research focuses on performance optimization along with human cardiovascular and thermoregulatory responses during exercise in hot ambient conditions. He is also interested in mechanisms of sweating and control of skin blood flow. His primary classes taught include Exercise Physiology and Fitness Appraisal and Exercise Prescription. In his free time he enjoys spending time with his family.