Katsura Aoyama, Speech & Hearing Sciences

This micro-mentoring grant will enable the author to meet with the mentor (Dr. Barbara Davis) at the annual convention of the Texas Speech-Language-Hearing Association in San Antonio, TX. Dr. Davis is a Houston Harte Centennial Professor of Communication at the University of Texas at Austin. Aoyama has an ongoing collaborative project with Dr. Davis on speech sound acquisition in young children. In addition to presenting and publishing with Dr. Davis, she hopes to gain insights on academic life in general, how to manage a laboratory, and how to advise and mentor students.

Kim Baker, Kinesiology, Health Promotion & Recreation

The purpose of this micro-mentoring grant is to research Physical Activity and Wellness programs at other universities and develop a collaborative network with their program coordinators.  The primary objective of this grant is to travel to other universities and meet with coordinators in order to facilitate support and mentorship.  This effort will enhance Bakers' leadership and management skills.  A secondary objective of this project is to research the activity classes other universities are offering for credit as well as investigate challenges the coordinators encounter with leadership and management, class schedules, facilities, and budgets. 

Nolan Gaffney, Management

The purpose of this micro-mentoring grant is to become more aligned with the Department of Management’s Family Business Initiative.  The author is hoping to incorporate family business topics into his research efforts. To aid in his transition, Gaffney would like to develop a mentoring relationship with someone that has had success in both his current research area (International Management) and the family business research domain. Dr. Clay Dibrell is an Associate Professor of Management and holder of the William W. Gresham Jr. Entrepreneurial Lectureship at the University of Mississippi and has had success bridging these two research domains. He will visit the campus in the Spring 2015 semester.

Yuliya Summers, Teacher Education and Administration

This micro-mentoring grant has allowed Summers to identify an external scholar who shares the same academic specialization.  Summers will shadow the professor in the Spring 2015 semester.  Through this mentoring and collaboration partnership, Summers hopes to find an advocate, receive emotional and moral encouragement, receive thoughtful and constructive feedback on performance, gain intellectual knowledge and learn about academic career experience.  The goal of this mentoring collaboration is to support Summers' teaching, research, and service efforts.  Summers will also seek advice, encouragement and feedback necessary to succeed in academia.  She also aspires to develop an excellence in teaching, and will seek help in developing as well as learning about scholarly writing and conducting research from the perspective of an immigrant woman.