Three CHASS Faculty Named University Faculty Scholars

Three CHASS faculty members have been named University Faculty Scholars, an honor reserved for top NC State early- and mid-career faculty. They are among 20 NC State faculty who will receive $10,000 in donated funds for each of the next five years to support their academic endeavors.

John Begeny,  associate professor of psychology, founded the established the Helps Education Fund nonprofit organization, designed to improve K-12 students’ learning outcomes by providing educators and parents with free, research-supported materials, services and training. He has earned several awards, including NC State’s Alumni Association Outstanding Extension and Outreach Award and the University Outstanding Extension Service Award, for his community engagement work. An accomplished researcher in the area of school psychology, Begeny is also committed to mentoring students and provides extensive training for undergraduates to conduct research.

Professor of History Akram Khater directs the Khayrallah Program for Lebanese-American Studies at NC State as well as the Lebanese in North Carolina Project that has produced Cedars in the Pines, a  documentary of the Lebanese community in North Carolina. An exhibit documenting this important history will open at the NC Museum of History in February 2014. Khater is a prominent scholar in the politics and history of the Middle East, and directs the college’s Middle East Studies program.His research has been supported by grants from the National Humanities Center and the NC Humanities Council, among others.

Tim Stinson, assistant professor of English, has rapidly become one of the nation’s leading figures in digital humanities, in which scholars use cutting-edge technology to study important questions in the humanities. Stinson is investigating the use of DNA testing to track the history and age of medieval parchment manuscripts. Two of his major projects, the Siege of Jerusalem electronic archive and the Piers Plowman Electronic Archive, promise to become key tools for scholars studying different manuscripts of these important 14th century poems. Among the grants he has earned to pursue his research are three from the Mellon Foundation and an NEH fellowship.

The University Faculty Scholars program strengthens NC State’s ongoing commitment to faculty excellence. The university launched the Chancellor’s Faculty Excellence Program to attract and retain top faculty. Forty-two faculty were nominated by their colleges for the award this year and evaluated on the basis of their significant achievements in scholarship, teaching and/or service.

Read about all the new faculty scholars in the NC State Bulletin.