Faculty and Staff Highlights: Ćosić, Ganeshu, VanRooyen, Kapsokoli, Nomikos, Sakr, Pennington, RayChaudhuri, Tuncel

Webster University faculty and staff highlights offer a roundup of recent Webster faculty and staff activity and achievements. 
 
Migrant Experience Installation by Ćosić to be Displayed at The Luminary  

THE BUBBLE POPS / MOVEMENT STRATEGIES, a collaborative project and installation by Laurencia Strauss and Zlatko Ćosić, adjunct professor for Webster's School of Communications, will be exhibited as part of Moving Stories in the Making: An Exhibition of Migration Narratives at The Luminary, an art gallery in St. Louis. It will be on display beginning Feb. 3 - March 30, 2024. An opening reception with a participatory ritual led by Amanda Phingbodhipakkiya will take place on Feb. 3 at 2 p.m.   

Strauss and Ćosić’s exhibition seeks to explore how narratives – visual, textual, and oral -- bridge divides between migrants and the communities in which they settle. Moving Stories in the Making: An Exhibition of Migration Narratives brings together the work of local and national artists who craft narratives of migration and holds space for migrants and those affected by migration to tell their stories. Featured artists include Janna Añonuevo Langholz, Arleene Correa Valencia, Zlatko Ćosić, Mee Jey, Amanda Phingbodhipakkiya, Kiki Salem, Rafael Soldi, and Laurencia Strauss. An experiment in collaborative curating, the exhibition demonstrates how stories can shift entrenched attitudes toward immigration and how art can foster connections between migrants and the communities in which they become a part. 

Ganeshu, VanRooyen Publish Book on Changes in the Educational Landscape 

Ruban Ganeshu

Johan VanRooyen

Ruban Ganeshu, Webster Tashkent senior site registrar along with Johan VanRooyen, adjunct professor at Webster Tashkent, published a book titled “Beyond The Blackboard: The Evolving Landscape Of Education.”  
 
The book seeks to overview changes that are occurring in the educational landscape due to technological advances, personalized learning, and a shift in pedagogical approaches, while emphasizing the importance of developing modern skills such as creativity, emotional intelligence and digital literacy to meet the demands of today’s job market. Future trends, including AI-powered personalization, immersive technologies, blockchain for credentialing and hybrid learning models are also discussed.

The book is available for purchase on Amazon and Kindle. 

Kapsokoli Published in Magazine and Book 

Eleni Kapsokoli, a faculty member in the History, Politics, and International Relations Department at Webster Athens, recently published an article entitled “ISIS’s Digital Jihad Preparation” in the National Security and Future Magazine (Volume 24, No. 3, 2023.). Her writing examines the landscape of security following the rapid digitization of contemporary societies, pointing out that technology is ingrained in every aspect of life. She goes on to note how because of this, there is an opportunity for technology to be easily weaponized.  

Kapsokoli also published a chapter titled “Cyberterrorism. A New Wave of Terrorism or Not?” in the book “Hybrid Threats, Cyberterrorism and Cyberwarfare” (CRC Press). Her writing contributes to the analyses of a new security landscape that faces significant challenges as terrorism has “transformed” in the last decades.

Nomikos, Sakr and Webster Athens Students Participate in NATO – EU Complementarity Regional Conference  

John Nomikos takes part in a panel during the conference.

A group of Webster Athens students along with Adel Sakr, assistant professor in the Business & Technology department, and John Nomikos, associate professor and head of the Department of International Relations, History and Politics, participated in the NATO – EU Complementarity Regional Conference in Athens, Greece. This event attracted students and participants from various countries who actively engaged in discussions and debates during the interactive sessions. 

As part of the Conflicts, Gender, and Human Security panel, Nomikos delivered a speech on human and drug trafficking in the Balkan and Eastern Mediterranean Regions. 

Pennington to Be Featured in Journal of British Studies

 

David Pennington, associate professor of history, authored a piece titled "'Free Passage' for the 'King's True Liegemen:' The Meaning of Free Trade in a Corporate Age, 1555-1624," which will be published in the April 2024 edition of the Journal of British Studies. 
 
Research for the article was completed with the financial support of a 2022-2023 Webster University Faculty Development Grant, for which the author is most appreciative. 

RayChaudhuri Leads Panel Discussion as Part of St. Louis AMA  

Nisha RayChaudhuri, assistant professor of marketing and program director of undergraduate marketing and business, led a panel discussion alongside industry experts on how companies can navigate the opportunities and challenges of international markets. The panel was hosted by the American Marketing Association and held in St. Louis on Jan. 18. 

Tuncel Investigates Job Satisfaction Among Perioperative Nurses in New Publication 

 
Ece Tuncel, professor of organizational behavior in the George Herbert Walker School of Business & Technology, recently published an article titled “Job satisfaction, depression severity and quality of life ratings of perioperative nurses in robotic-assisted and laparoscopic surgery” in the Journal of Robotic Surgery. 
 
Co-authored with a team of nurses and surgeons, Tuncel’s study delves into the impact of emerging technologies, specifically robotics, on nurse satisfaction in minimally-invasive surgery. The research findings suggest that changes in work conditions due to new technology have minimal effects on nurse job satisfaction, with factors such as pay playing a more significant role.