Faculty and Staff Highlights: Bryant, Carter, Faizullaev, Hoover, Hubenschmidt, Vix

Webster University faculty and staff highlights offer a roundup of recent Webster faculty and staff activity and achievements.

Bryant Receives Honorable McMillian Award

The Department of Law, Crime, and Social Justice adjunct professor and 22nd Judicial Circuit Court Judge Paula Bryant, received the Honorable Theodore McMillian Award from St. Louis University’s Black Law Student’s Association.

She was given this honor because of her willingness to mentor students who want to be paralegals, lawyers and judges. Judge Bryant has taken on student interns from Webster University's Legal Studies program, invited students to watch criminal trials in her courtroom, and written letters of recommendation for students to go to law school.

“Judge Bryant's willingness to encourage has resulted in students becoming paralegals, trial attorneys, prosecuting attorneys, and public defenders. She is always willing to serve the students. This is an overdue award, and we are lucky to have her as a member of our faculty,” said Robin Higgins, chair, director of the Law, Crime and Social Justice Department at the Webster Groves campus.

Carter Lectures at Conference, Appointed Governor of NATS Central Region

Jeffrey Richard Carter, professor in the Department of Music, delivered a lecture in May for the North American branch of the Edward Elgar Society meeting in St. Louis in their annual conference timed to coincide with a performance of Elgar's music by the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra.

Carter, a society member, spoke about Elgar's choral music and this music's place in the composer's overall compositional life. British cathedral and concert music from the Second English Renaissance is one of Carter's ongoing research interests.

Carter was also recently re-elected by members of the National Association of Teachers of Singing for a second two-year term as Governor of the Central Region, consisting of Missouri, Illinois and Iowa.

Faizullaev’s New Book Reviewed

Alisher Faizullaev, a Leif J. Sverdrup Global Teaching Fellow and visiting professor in the Department of History, Politics and International Relations at Webster University, in St. Louis, had a book reviewed, titled, “Diplomacy for Professionals and Everyone.” The review was published in the international academic journal “Place Branding and Public Diplomacy” which is an international academic peer-reviewed publication.

Hoover Participates in Washington University English Workshop

Assistant Professor of English Elizabeth Hoover was invited to participate in a workshop at Washington University’s Olin Library on May 16 to discuss how she uses digital resources in her creative process.

The project, Born-Digital Poetry: Planning for the Future of Literary Archives, aims to address crucial questions surrounding the acquisition, discoverability, preservation, and utilization of born-digital poetry collections.

“As we move forward in the digital age, it's imperative for archives to develop effective systems for stewarding these collections, especially to engage a new generation of digital-native poets,” said Hoover.

Hubenschmidt, Vix Present at Library Conference

Holly Hubenschmidt, director of Instruction and Research Services, and Heidi Vix, director of Resources and Access Services from Webster’s Emerson Library presented a virtual poster at the Medical Library Association Conference held in Portland, Ore., May 18-21.

The poster, Mindful Curation: Mastering Resource Evaluation in Academia, explores the cyclical process the librarians created in 2009 to regularly conduct an in-depth review of portions of the library collection such as databases and journals. It highlights the data compiled to review usage, content overlap, cost, and curricular/accreditation needs for these materials.

The success of the process ensures that librarians are able to develop the collections to best meet users’ needs while remaining good stewards of university resources.