Congratulations to Dr. Catherine Calloway, professor of English, and assistant department chair, upon her selection as the 2021-22 recipient of the "You Made a Difference Award.” The award is presented by the Wilson Advising Center in recognition of excellence in academic advising. The award is student-nominated, student-selected, and recognizes an outstanding adviser for exemplary service and concern for his or her advisees. Calloway joined A-State’s faculty in 1983.

Dr. Amanda Carpenter (left), assistant professor of occupational therapy, and Dr. Cameron Wimpy (right), assistant professor of political science, presented two papers, focused on longitudinal methods to examine the effect of rurality on various health outcomes, at the American Public Health Association annual meeting. Rurality significantly predicted most health outcomes, suggesting that the same health issues affect rural communities over time. The findings show a need for interventions to improve the health of these communities.

An article by Dr. Hrishikesh (Hrish) Desai, assistant professor of accounting, has been accepted for publication in the IIM Kozhikode Society & Management Review. The article offers early evidence on the pandemic’s impact on firms’ risk factor disclosures. Desai details bias in stakeholder perceptions of firms’ risk profiles because of how firms with poor prior performance, which are hard hit by the pandemic, are disclosing the COVID-19 risk factor.

Dr. Michael B. Dougan, emeritus professor of history, made a presentation to the Craighead County Historical Society regarding the history of newspapers in Jonesboro, from their earliest times to present. He also detailed two major conflicts involving newspapers that occurred during the years there were competing publications, the fight to keep City Water and Light under municipal control and away from private corporations, and the church wars of the early 1930s.

Congratulations to Jesse Duvall, head coach for both the  men’s and women’s cross country teams, on his selection by the Sun Belt Conference as “Coach of the Year” for both programs. This is Duvall’s third consecutive year to win for his work with the women’s team, and his first for his work with the men’s team, which won their first conference title in program history.