Sun Belt Conference Announces 2023 Faculty Member of the Year

NEW ORLEANS – Dr. Zachary Farris, Associate Professor of Public Health & Exercise Science at Appalachian State University, has been named the 2023 Sun Belt Conference Faculty Member of the Year. 

The annual award recognizes a faculty member from each Sun Belt institution who has a passion for teaching, engaging and inspiring students, while also separating themselves from their peers outside the classroom by regularly supporting and displaying enthusiasm for student-athletes and the athletics department. 

Each of the 14 Sun Belt Conference institutions nominated a Faculty Member of the Year finalist for the 2022-23 academic year. The conference’s Faculty Athletics Representatives, Student-Athlete Academic Directors and members of the Sun Belt Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) voted to select the overall recipient. The conference initiated the Sun Belt Faculty Member of the Year Award in 2019.

Farris and each of the finalists will be recognized at the Sun Belt Conference Honors Banquet in conjunction with the Sun Belt Fall Meetings on October 24, 2023 in Atlanta. 

“We are proud to recognize these dedicated educators who play an important role in impacting the lives of our student-athletes. These faculty members help improve the trajectory of our student-athletes’ lives,” said Sun Belt Conference Commissioner Keith Gill. “Congratulations to Dr. Farris and each of the finalists. We look forward to celebrating them during our Fall Meetings.”

Growing up in poverty in rural Arkansas with a reading disability, Farris was one of 16 students in his high school graduating class. He credits sports for paving his path to a successful career in academia. 

“From sun up to sun down, winter to summer, I played sports,” Farris said. “Sports got me through high school, motivated me to keep my grades up, kept me in a safe, supportive environment, provided me with positive male role models and ultimately set me up for the career I have today.”

Farris has been an Assistant Professor at App State since 2017. His research focuses on wildlife conservation of Madagascar’s rainforest carnivore and primate populations. He completed his Ph.D. at Virginia Tech in 2014, earning Ph.D. Student of the Year honors. Farris has published more than 50 papers on a wide range of human and wildlife health topics, including publications in nature journals. He serves on a number of international organizations and committees, including the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). 

In 2020, Farris was selected for the Outstanding Research Award in the Beaver College of Health Sciences at App State. In just his second year at the university in 2018, he was a nominee for the Appalachian State University Global Leadership Award. Farris has founded a successful non-profit organization that focuses on human and animal health across Madagascar. He and his collaborators established the first vet training program for Malagasy scientists. They work directly with the government’s department of public health to carry out widespread rabies vaccination campaigns to address rabies outbreaks. 

“I have immense respect and admiration for student-athletes and I am beyond humbled to be nominated by them and to receive this award,” Farris said. “College student-athletes are undoubtedly the hardest-working and, almost always, the most appreciative of all my students. They know what they need, their time is limited and they tend to make the most of it.” 

Farris’ courses at App State range from large-capacity lectures on human anatomy to special topics courses on quantitative ecological modeling to working directly with graduate students. 

“Dr. Farris is hands down the best professor that I have ever had that accommodated my needs as a student and an athlete to the best of his ability,” App State senior women’s soccer midfielder Katie Fuller wrote in her nomination of Farris. “Anatomy is a very hard course, but he made it enjoyable to learn. It has been my favorite class I have taken at App State, and I believe the majority of my reasoning is because I had the best teacher who is also a great person.” 

2023 Sun Belt Faculty Member of the Year Finalists

Dr. Nikesha Nesbitt

Arkansas State University

Associate Dean of University College / Program Director of Nontraditional Studies

Dr. Nikisha Nesbitt is Associate Dean of the University College and Program Director of Nontraditional Studies at Arkansas State University. She has served ASU in many capacities including as an advisor, instructor and director. She teaches for the Department of Integrative Studies as an instructor in first-year experiences courses. In 2014, Nesbitt transitioned into the role of Director for the Department of Integrative Studies, managing operations within the Bachelor of General Studies and Bachelor of Science Interdisciplinary Studies programs. She was named Professor of the Month at Arkansas State in March 2017 and was the recipient of the Student-Athlete Service Award in May 2016. Nesbitt holds a B.A. in English from the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, an M.A. in English from Arkansas State University and an Ed.D. in Educational Leadership from Arkansas State. 

Dr. Justin Lovich

Coastal Carolina University

Associate Professor and Assistant Chair, Recreation & Sport Management

Dr. Justin Lovich is the Assistant Chair and Associate Professor of Recreation Management and the Graduate Coordinator of the Sport Management program at Coastal Carolina University. He teaches both undergraduate and graduate sport management courses at Coastal Carolina. In the spring of 2023, Lovich was named the Coastal Carolina Student-Athlete Advisory Committee Professor of the Year. He holds a B.A. in Communication Studies from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, where he was a track & field and cross country student-athlete, a J.D. from the Duquesne University School of Law and a Ph.D. in Sport Management from Florida State University. He is a member of the Sport and Recreation Law Association. 

Dr. Jin-Woo Kim

Georgia Southern University

Associate Professor of Marketing

Dr. Jin-Woo Kim is an Associate Professor of Marketing at Georgia Southern University. His research interests include marketing strategy, advertising effectiveness, quantitative modeling, marketing-finance interface and service marketing. He teaches courses on principles of marketing, principles of advertising, services marketing and global marketing at the undergraduate and graduate levels. In 2014, he received the T.J. Morris, Jr., Faculty Award from the College of Business Administration at Georgia Southern. Kim holds his BBA and MBA degrees from Business School of Sogang University in Korea and his Ph.D. in Marketing with a minor in Operations/Supply Chain Management from the University of Texas at Arlington. 

Dr. Joseph Magliano

Georgia State University

Professor of Educational Psychology

Dr. Joseph Magliano is Professor of Educational Psychology at Georgia State University. His research focuses on the cognitive mechanisms that support the comprehension of different media (texts, films, comics). His interests focus on developing an understanding of why college students struggle with their student reading activities, developing ways to assess why they struggle with their academic readings, developing ways to assess why they struggle and interventions to support them. He currently teaches a Graduate Seminar in Text and Media Comprehension at Georgia State and undergraduate classes on memory and cognition. Magliano holds a B.A. in Psychology from the University of Dayton and both M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Cognitive Psychology from the University of Memphis. 

Dr. Roger Soenksen

James Madison University

Professor, School of Media Arts & Design

Dr. Roger Soenksen is a Professor in the School of Media Arts & Design at James Madison University, a role he has held since 1993. Soenksen has been with JMU since 1980 and has served as the Dukes’ Faculty Athletics Representative since 2006. He teaches courses in mass communications law. Soenksen managed all aspects of the James Madison debate team from 1980-1994 and was named to the James Madison University Debate Hall of Fame in 2015. He was Assistant Director in the School of Media Arts and Design from 1998-2008 and has served as advisor to The Breeze, James Madison’s student newspaper, on the status of student press law since 1980. Soenksen was James Madison’s 1987 Distinguished Teaching Award Winner and has twice received a Presidential Citation for Outstanding Service to College Media Advisers. Soenksen earned his B.S. in Speech from the University of Wisconsin-Platteville, his M.S. in Speech from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and his Ph.D. in Communications from Ohio University.  

André Williams

University of Louisiana at Lafayette

Instructor, Department of Communication

André Williams is an instructor in the Department of Communication at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. He teaches undergraduate courses in strategic communication, public relations and sport communication. Williams advises the department’s student-run firm, Cypress Communication, and coordinates the department’s Sport Communication minor. He co-advises the department’s Public Relations Student Society of America Chapter and the department’s National Association of Black Journalists Chapter. Williams holds a B.S. in Advertising Design and a B.A. in Journalism, both from Northwestern State University. He earned his M.S. in Communication from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. 

Dr. Ruth Smith

University of Louisiana at Monroe

Professor of Foreign Languages (Spanish) / Director, School of Humanities

Dr. Ruth Smith is Professor of Foreign Languages and Director of the School of Humanities at the University of Louisiana at Monroe. She has been on the faculty at ULM since 1975 and has served as Director of the School of Humanities since 2013. During that time, Smith has taught Spanish at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. She twice served as President of the Faculty Senate at ULM and Director of the University Honors Program. Smith was the founder and first chair of the Humanities Institute. In 2006, she was awarded Outstanding University Professor for the Antonio Margil Chapter of AATSP. She was the Teacher of the Year for the College of Liberal Arts in both 1989 and 1991. Smith earned her bachelor’s degree in Spanish from Central State University, her master’s degree in Spanish from the University of Oklahoma and her Ph.D. in Romance Languages from the University of Oklahoma. 

Dr. Georgiana Logan

Marshall University

Assistant Professor of Health Sciences / Public Health

Dr. Georgiana Logan is Assistant Professor of Health Sciences and Public Health in the College of Health Professions at Marshall University. She also serves as a Research Associate within the Minority Health Institute and is the current Director of the Writing Across the Curriculum program in the Center for Teaching and Learning at Marshall. She is the Founder and Executive Director of two businesses, the Men’s Health Equity Institute and OnAMission Consulting, LLC. Logan currently teaches courses on healthcare administration, health communication, human disease and public health. As the faculty mentor to the undergraduate Health Science Society, Logan earned the 2023 Most Improved Student Organization Award. She earned Marshall’s Outstanding Service Award in January 2020 and the American Public Health Association Students for Climate Justice Award in 2020. Logan holds a B.S. in Biology from the University of Michigan at Flint, an M.S. in Health Education from the University of Michigan at Flint and a Ph.D. in Health Education and Health Promotion from the University of Alabama. 

Dr. Michelle Redmond

Old Dominion University

Lecturer, Department of Human Movement Sciences

Dr. Michelle Redmond is a lecturer in the Department of Human Movement Sciences and the faculty sponsor for the Undergraduate Sport Management Club at Old Dominion University. She teaches courses in sport management, ethics and morality in sport, sport administrative theory and sport media and public relations. Redmond earned a B.S. in Physical Education from the University of Arizona in 2000, an M.S. in Physical Education from Old Dominion University and a Ph.D. in Education with emphases in Human Movement Sciences and Sport and Recreation Management at Old Dominion University. 

Dr. Jonathan Perez

University of South Alabama

Assistant Professor of Biology

Dr. Jonathan Perez is Assistant Professor of Biology in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of South Alabama. Perez teaches primarily upper division courses with laboratory sections in the areas of animal physiology and animal behavior. He is committed to STEM mentoring and, in 2021, secured a Research on STEM Education Teaching Fellowship in 2021, redesigning the laboratory section of animal physiology to better support student success in writing. His primary area of research interest is organism-environment interaction, using a wide range of methods to understand how birds detect and use environmental information to regulate behavior and physiology. He serves as faculty mentor to the Biology Student Association and Pre-Vet Club. Perez holds a B.A. in Biology from Amherst College and a Ph.D. in Animal Behavior from the University of California-Davis. 

Russell Willis

University of Southern Mississippi

Assistant Teaching Professor, Management

Russell Willis is Assistant Teaching Professor in the School of Management at the University of Southern Mississippi. He is in his 31st year at Southern Miss, teaching a wide range of management courses with particular emphasis on human resources management, organizational behavior and employment law. He is the program coordinator for the human resources management major at Southern Miss. He is also the director of the Eagle Scholars Program, which provides enhanced leadership, mentoring and professional/career development opportunities for business students. He received the College Service Award in 2021 and the Joseph A. Green Excellence in Teaching Award in 2017, both from the College of Business and Economic Development. From 2010-2012, he served as Vice President for Administrative Affairs at Southern Miss. Willis holds a B.S. in Political Science from the University of Southern Mississippi and a Juris Doctorate from the University of Florida. 

 

Zachary Kelley

Texas State University

Lecturer, Department of Computer Information Systems and Quantitative Methods

Zachary Kelley is a lecturer in the Department of Computer Information Systems and Quantitative Methods at Texas State University. He has instructed a variety of Computer Information Systems classes, ranging from visual programming and systems analysis to project management, cyber warfare and artificial intelligence. Kelley also launched and owned Adducent Logistics, a technological leader in over-dimensional freight and heavy haul logistics. He holds a BBA in Computer Information Systems and an M.S. in Accounting and Information Technology, both from Texas State University.

Dr. Chris Corr

Troy University

Assistant Professor of Hospitality, Sport & Tourism Management

Dr. Chris Corr is Assistant Professor of Hospitality, Sport & Tourism Management at Troy University. He also serves as assistant director of the College Sport Research Institute (CRSI) and program manager for the Commission on Sport Management Accreditation (COSMA). Prior to entering academia, first at the University of South Carolina, Corr worked in collegiate athletics at both the University of Florida and the University of Missouri, primarily in the area of football recruiting. He teaches a broad spectrum of sport management courses at Troy. He received the 2023 Gerald S. Gurney Research Award for Athlete Development from the National Association of Academic and Student-Athlete Development Professionals (N4A) in 2023. He has twice been a finalist for the Ingallas Award, which recognizes the Troy University Teacher of the Year. In 2022, he was the Troy Hospitality, Sport & Tourism Management Teacher of the Year. Corr holds a B.S. in Telecommunications Management and an M.S. in Sport Management, both from the University of Florida. He earned a Ph.D. in Sport & Entertainment Management from the University of South Carolina.