The team members at Covid G.A.P. Gendered Academic Productivity are made up of experienced and dedicated researchers from a wide variety of disciplines and backgrounds. What unites us is an undying passion for learning and discovery. Meet the team below.
SARA BENDER
Central Washington University
Sara Bender is an Associate Professor within the Department of Psychology at Central Washington University where she teaches a variety of undergraduate courses in psychology as well as graduate-level counseling classes. She has significant teaching, research, and clinical experience. Dr. Bender’s primary research and scholarly activities focus on counselor professional identity, clinical supervision, and the use of technology within the fields of psychology and counseling.
ORCiD: 0000-0002-0493-3540
STEFANI BOUTELIER
Aquinas College
Stefani Boutelier, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor of Education. Her research and publications relate to cultural literacy, curriculum and technology infusion, action research, and multimodal assessment. She has presented at conferences and led workshops related to digital applications, performance-based assessment, online scope and sequence, among others.
Twitter: @stefboutelier
ORCiD: 0000-0001-9039-9913
KRISTINA S. BROWN
Adler University
Kristina S. Brown, PhD, LMFT, is a Professor and Chair of the Couple and Family Therapy Department at Adler University in Chicago, Illinois. Foundational to her research interests is a curiosity about relationships at every level and life stage. With the current pandemic, Dr. Brown's current focus is on couples and families during the pandemic. She recently published an article, Impact of COVID-19 on the Perinatal Period Through a Biopsychosocial Systemic Framework, and is working on another manuscript with students about contraception and family planning through a reproductive justice lens. Ongoing research projects include areas within the field of medical family therapy (which is one of Dr. Brown’s clinical areas of specialty), specifically endometriosis, and global mental health. She is also currently collecting data on tattoos in higher education – if you are a former or current faculty, please fill it out Dr. Brown is also the Editor of the upcoming AAMFT Systemic Ethics Textbook. Additionally, she has served as a Guest Editor for the Journal of Feminist Family Therapy on a Special Volume on Women’s Health and will be the incoming Editor-in-Chief as of January 2021. Dr. Brown is responsible for bringing together this research team of scholars, COVID GAP, and has learned so much from her fellow investigators.
JUANITA K. FORRESTER
Mercer University
Juanita is an Assistant Professor of Management at Mercer University in Macon, GA, USA. She has a Ph.D. in Managerial Sciences from Georgia State University, a M.Sc. in Cultural Studies from the London School of Economics, and a M.A. in Management from Wake Forest University. Her research broadly focuses on race, gender, and emotional well-being within the workplace and in the field of entrepreneurship.
HALA A. GUTA
Qatar University
Hala Asmina Guta (PhD of Mass Communication from Ohio University) is Assistant Professor of Mass Communication, Qatar University. Her research interests include international communication, gendered communication, communication for social change; and the intersection of communication, culture, and identity. Her publications and conference presentations include papers on the role of culture in communication, communication role in peace building in societies emerging from conflict, and the role media and other cultural institutions play in social change and the construction of identity.
ORCiD: 0000-0001-8471-6054
DEANNA HENSLEY KASITZ
Texas Tech University
Deanna is a PhD candidate in Curriculum and Instruction/Teacher Education at Texas Tech University. She teaches at Eastern Kentucky University, and has taught in both the Political Science and Women and Gender Studies programs. Deanna has significant administrative and teaching experience in secondary and higher education specifically with the Service-Learning and Veterans Studies programs. Her current research interests include the roles of gender in all things education policy; grow-your-own teacher education programs; teacher retention and job satisfaction; as well as academic program development and curriculum.
ORCiD 0000-0002-1944-4432
AGATA A. LAMBRECHTS
Università della Svizzera italiana
Agata holds a Ph.D. from the Department of Education, University of York, and currently works as a post-doctoral researcher at Università della Svizzera italiana, in Lugano, Switzerland, specialising in higher education research. She is particularly interested in comparative HE policies and governance, differentiation within HE, as well as access and equity issues, in particular in relation to students with refugee background. She is also researching doctoral training and academic careers.
Twitter @AgataLambrechts
ORCID: 0000-0003-2907-7864
IWONA LEONOWICZ-BUKAŁA
University of Information Technology and Management in Rzeszow
Iwona holds a Ph.D. in social sciences. She is an Assistant Professor in the field of media and migration, journalism and social communication. Interested especially in mediatization of migration processes, Internet impact on living, social networks effects on everyday life.
Website: https://wsiz.rzeszow.pl/kadra-akademicka/ileonowicz/
ORCID: 0000-0003-3164-1209
ALPHA MARTINEZ-SUAREZ
University of Texas at San Antonio
Alpha is a fourth year Ph.D. Fellow in the Culture, Literacy, and Language. She is a two-time Academy for Teacher Excellence Presidential Distinguished Scholar awardee, and 2020’s Golden Feather awardee. She is also currently serving as the President of the Texas Language Education Research Organization, she is also the Advocacy Chair for TexTESOL II and co- founder of the Focused Library for the Dreamers’ Resource Center at UTSA. Areas of research interests include social justice in education and the role of the teacher as social justice advocate for historically marginalized populations as well as teacher education to pre-service teachers on Hispanic Serving Institutions and Minority Serving Institutions.
Twitter: @AlphaMartinez
ORCID ID: 0000-0002-0486-6579
SHIKHA PRASHAD
Washington State University
Shikha is an Assistant Professor of Kinesiology at Washington State University in Pullman, WA, USA. She has a Ph.D. in Neuroscience and Cognitive Science from the University of Maryland in College Park, MD, USA. She studies brain networks that underlie motor behavior in typical and clinical (e.g., movement disorders, substance use) populations across the lifespan. She primarily uses behavioral methods and electroencephalography (EEG) to examine patterns in behavior and brain activity and how they are disrupted with age and in disorders.
Website: labs.wsu.edu/cogmolab
Twitter: @shikhaprashad
ORCID: 0000-0002-0590-8400
OLGA VEGA
Florida International University
Olga Vega is currently a PhD candidate as well as an adjunct at Florida International University in the Criminology and Criminal Justice Department. She is particularly interested in predictors of officer self-confidence in police interactions with disabled individuals in the United States. Her teaching interests include but are not limited to victimology, women and crime, measurement analysis, human behavior, and organized crime. Olga comes from Poland and has been living in the United States since 2009. She also sits on Cystic Fibrosis Foundation’s Board of Directors (South Florida Chapter).
PAST TEAM MEMBERS
TRICIA M. FARWELL
Middle Tennessee State University
Tricia M. Farwell, associate professor, joined the advertising & public relations faculty in the School of Journalism at Middle Tennessee State University in 2008. Dr. Farwell holds concurrent master's degrees and a Ph.D. from Arizona State University. She has worked in corporate communications for more than 17 years. Prior to arriving at MTSU, Dr. Farwell taught public relations at Arizona State University and advertising and public relations at Morehead State University. Trisha collaborated with us on Phase One of the project.
ALANOUD ABUSALIM
Position/Role
American University of Sharjah
NUCHELLE L. CHANCE
Fort Hays State University
Nuchelle is a faculty of Psychology at Fort Hays State University in Hays, KS. She has her PhD in Global Leadership with a focus on higher education administration from Indiana Tech. Dr. Chance is a social activist, educator, academic, scholar, mentor, advocate, leader and the list goes on. As someone who works in higher education and is all too aware of the racial and sexual disparities that exist in this industry, Dr. Chance is increasingly motivated to inspire young Black girls and women to strive for leadership development while promoting an advanced education. Using her platform and being unapologetically and unabashedly vocal and visible on social justice matters she continues to fight, support and advocate for all underrepresented, marginalized and oppressed groups. Her specific research interests revolve around Social Cognition, Sex and Gender Differences, Women’s Studies, Race, Learning, Memory & Recall, Perceptions & Attitudes, Consciousness & Awareness, Leadership.
ORCiD: 0000-0003-3806-5953
PIPIET LARASAITE
IPB University & Oregon State University
Pipiet is an interdisciplinary scholar and social scientist studying competitive marketing and business management strategies of the forest sector industry, including business development of engineered wood products, public perceptions of wooden multi storey building, digitalization in business, and gender diversity in the forest sector workforce and higher education.
Website: competitive-forest.com
Twitter: @PipietLarasatie
ORCiD: 0000-0001-5861-7618