Month: December 2017

From November 30 to December 1, 2017, Bonnie G. Mani was a member of East Carolina University’s delegation to a conference related to students’ behavioral health. Dr. Mani joined staff members from ECU’s counseling center, police department, athletic department, advising center, and Office of Student Rights and Responsibilities, as well as delegations from all the other constituent universities of the University of North Carolina System, to address concerns for issues like alcohol and drug use, and suicides. The ECU delegation returned to Greenville from the Winston-Salem conference and will develop strategies to address these problems on our campus.

For the past year Dr. John Williams has been part of a select group providing comments , suggestions, and additions to a series of articles by Walter Posch, a colleague who works at the National Defense Institute in Vienna Austria. The articles focus on Middle Eastern issues, such as the politics and status of the Kurds in various countries, the changing fortunes of ISIS, the activities of Shiite militias in the region. One of the more recent ones discussed characteristics of military forces in the region, ranging from armed gangs up to government troops.

Boston Terrier Sophia Saint Rocco Mani and Department of Political Science Professor Bonnie G. Mani participated in the program that brings therapy dogs to Joyner Library to help reduce stress levels of students studying for final examinations.

Many thanks to Dr. Mani!

Dr. Peter Francia, along with Dr. Jonathan Morris, also recently completed and co-authored a study on fake news entitled, “A Fake News Inoculation? Fact Checkers, Partisan Identification, and the Power of Misinformation,” which, using an experimental design, found that fact-checking efforts to correct public misperceptions driven by fake news stories appear to have little impact. Instead, the results show individuals are more likely to accept or reject misinformation based on whether or not it is consistent with their pre-existing partisan and ideological beliefs.

Armin Krishnan will be participating in the Chancellor’s Leadership Academy (CLA) in Spring 2018. The CLA was established in 2004 with the intention of expanding the leadership capabilities of high-potential members of the university and to enhance their contribution to the institution by teaching them leadership skills. Every year ten individuals are selected for the CLA. The program consists of ten sessions that cover key aspects of leadership in higher education. Participants are also expected to work on and complete a community project during the Spring term.