Four faculty members have been awarded President Emeritus Walter Harrison Faculty Development Grants for AY 2024-25: Haim Avitsur, Nicholas Ealy, Thilagha Jagaiah, and Akin Tatoglu.
Haim Avitsur, Associate Professor of Trombone, The Hartt School, will participate in the International Women’s Brass Conference in Mito City, Japan. Haim will present a concert featuring compositions by women and other under-represented composers, amplifying diverse voices in the brass community, and will judge a competition. Additionally, Haim will participate in a roundtable discussion addressing mental and physical health by fostering a supportive environment for brass musicians. This conference serves as a platform for empowerment, advocacy, and collaboration related to inclusivity and well-being in the music industry.
Nicholas Ealy, Professor of English and Modern Languages, The College of Arts and Sciences, will work on his new book project, tentatively titled Testimonies of Love: Narcissism in Medieval and Early Modern Spanish Literature. He will examine how the intersection of gender and testimony is fundamental to an understanding of the myth of Narcissus and its legacy. This project aligns with Nicholas’s ongoing scholarship, centering primarily on medieval French and Spanish literature with a secondary focus on psychoanalytic studies. This book will join the five peer-reviewed, sole-authored articles and two books he has on this topic.
Thilagha Jagaiah, Associate Professor of Special Education, The College of Education, Nursing, and Health Professions, will investigate the developmental progression of sentence complexity and its impact on writing quality in opinion essays among elementary school students. The primary objective of Thilagha’s research is to explore the correlation between complex sentence structures and writing quality, comparing these aspects among students with and without disabilities. This research aims to empower educators by tailoring instructional approaches to meet diverse student needs.
Akin Tatoglu, Associate Professor of Mechanical, Aerospace, and Acoustical Engineering, The College of Engineering, Technology, and Architecture will explore the integration process of an AI-based chatbot, such as ChatGPT, into engineering education through in-class experiences and homework assignments. The objective is to enhance self-directed learning and addresses associated challenges, including concerns about reliability and plagiarism. This work will provide an overview of the pre-implementation process, the implementation of the ChatGPT into the course, and post-implication process. The objective is to enhance self-directed learning and addresses associated challenges, including concerns about reliability and plagiarism. This work will provide an overview of the pre-implementation process, the implementation of the ChatGPT into the course, and post-implication process.
The President Emeritus Walter Harrison Faculty Development Grants, given annually, are internal grant awards intended to support the needs of mid to late-career faculty and the University of Hartford by supporting significant scholarly efforts. These grants are made possible by a generous gift from a group of donors to honor past University of Hartford President, Walter Harrison.