Dr. Khem K. Aryal, assistant professor of English, recently gave an invited talk for the Department of English at the University of Missouri, where he earned his Ph.D., as this year's alumni speaker. His address was titled, "Writing as I Didn’t Speak: My Affair with English, and Other Stories of South Asian Literature in English." He spoke on his writing journey and South Asian writing in English as part of global literature.

Dr. Timberly L. Baker, associate professor of educational leadership, was guest editor of the University of Maryland Law Journal for Race, Religion, Gender and Class, along with a colleague from the University of Memphis. Their issue, "Education Law and Policy at the Margins: Critical Analyses of the Intersection of Race, Religion, Gender and Class in Education," included articles by 13 critical race scholars. It is available online.

Dr. Cameron Wimpy, assistant professor of political science, is co-author of an article in Administration & Society, “Bureaucracy and the Failure of Politics: Challenges to Democratic Governance.” Wimpy and his co-authors concluded major governance failures are political, not bureaucratic, and the first step to better governance is recognizing the underlying causes. Using international examples, they show political institutions often fail to provide clear policy goals.

An article by Dr. Joseph Rukus (left), assistant professor of criminology, and Dr. Veena S. Kulkarni, associate professor of sociology, was published in the peer-reviewed International Journal of Rural Criminology. Based on field work conducted at jails in Craighead and Poinsett counties, they investigated the correlation between prevalence of mental illness and incarceration. The study delineates the myriad methodological challenges that conducting qualitative and quantitative research entails.

Carol Barnhill (right), chief procurement officer, and Henry Torres, chief information officer, presented at the annual TOAL regional procurement conference in Little Rock. They discussed how collaboration across their departments focused on the complex process of contracts, vendor negotiations, and more in a multi-campus system. Their findings demonstrated the value of collective teamwork, needs analysis, and shared knowledge, resulting in major cost savings for six campuses.