Former Ph.D. student Rachel Welicky, who studied with Dr. Paul Sikkel, associate professor of aquatic biology, names six new isopod species, including Anilocra paulsikkeli, in a Parasites & Vectors article. Her co-author and postdoc adviser, Nico Smit, is part of an A-State exchange with North West University in South Africa. Ph.D. student Gina Hendrick is lead author of a paper in the same journal with Sikkel, Dr. Maureen Dolan and Dr. Tanja McKay.

Dr. Aaron Shew, assistant professor and R.E.L. Wilson Chair of Agricultural Economics, is lead author of an article published recently by Plos One. In the article, "Warming Increases Bacterial Panicle Blight (Burkholderia glumae) Occurrences and Impacts on USA Rice Production," the authors examine the bacterial disease's impact on rice, including reduced yield and quality for the producer and higher market prices for consumers.

Dr. Cherisse Jones-Branch, James and Wanda Lee Vaughn Endowed Professor of History, has co-edited the summer 2019 special issue of Agricultural History titled “African American Women in Agriculture during the Jim Crow Era,” with Dr. Adrienne Montieth Petty of the College of William and Mary. Jones-Branch also published an article in the journal, “To Raise Standards Among the Negroes: Jeanes Supervising Industrial Teachers in Rural Jim Crow Arkansas, 1909-1950.”

A-State welcomes new faculty members including Dr. Margaret Hance, assistant professor of experimental psychology in the Department of Psychology and Counseling. Before arriving at A-State she was at East Tennessee State University, completing work toward her doctoral degree in experimental psychology. Hance plans to continue research with her various interest areas, which include social media, body image, psychological well-being, and risk of eating disorder.

Mitch Mathis has returned to A-State, where he taught from 2003-2014, after working in Houston public schools the past five years.  Once again Mathis will teach classes in physical education and sport management, drawing on his public school experience in Texas and Arkansas. Mathis founded the Northeast Arkansas Umpires Association, for which he coordinated training, certification and assignments for 17 area high school baseball programs.