Brooks College of Health
Dr. Julie Baker-Townsend, clinical associate professor, led a group of 52 BCH undergraduate students and two graduate students whose work was accepted into a peer-reviewed research conference – Sigma Theta Tau.
Health Administration
Dr. Shyam Paryani, instructor and clinical professor and Dr. D. Rob Haley, professor and chair, presented their research on Personal Health Monitoring at the World Hospital Congress in Geneva, Switzerland.
Nutrition
Dr. Corrie Labyak, associate professor, and colleagues had six articles accepted/published in high impact journals over the past year: Ultra-processed Foods and the Aging Brain: State of the Science in Annual Review of Nutrition; Mechanistic Pathways of Gestational Obesity: Implications for Maternal and Offspring Health: a Narrative Review in Nutrients; Gut Microbiome Signatures Predict Cognitive Impairment in Older Cancer Survivors in GeroScience; Activity Engagement Across Stages of Cognitive Health in Healthcare; Cognitive Impairment is Associated with Alterations in Diet Quality and Inflammatory Biomarkers in Older Adults: a Cross-sectional Analysis of Data Collected from the Microbiome in Aging Gut and Brain (MiaGB) Consortium Cohort. J Nutr.; The Selection of Participants for Interventional Microbiota Trials Involving Cognitively Impaired Older Adults. GeroScience.
Dr. Casey Colin, associate professor, along with Dr. Andrea Arikawa, professor and chair, published “The Nutrition Care Process-Quality Audit Standardization Tool (NCP-QUEST) Is Valid and Reliable in a Diabetes-Specific Sample of Registered Dietitian Nutritionist Care" in the Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics, November 2025.
Dr. Casey Colin, associate professor, along with Dr. Hanadi Hamadi, professor of Health Administration, published "Higher quality nutrition care process documentation predicts nutrition diagnosis improvement in the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics breastfeeding registry study" in the Frontiers in Nutrition, November 2025.
Physical Therapy
Ligia Mochida, data scientist, along with was the lead on a manuscript “Multimodal Motion Capture Toolbox for Enhanced Analysis of Intersegmental Coordination in Children with Cerebral Palsy and Typically Developing” accepted for publication in the Journal of Visualized Experiments.
Public Health
Andrea Derkits, visiting instructor, facilitated a healthy relationship workshop, “Behind the Post- The One Love Foundation” in November.
School of Nursing
Dr. Dina Khentigan, clinical assistant professor, presented “Incorporating core areas of health to reduce test anxiety,” at the 2025 Sigma Lambda Rho Chapter at Large Nursing Research Symposium in November in Jacksonville.
College of Arts and Sciences
Art, Art History and Design
Jenny Hager, professor and D. Lance Vickery, associate professor, will launch 24 bronze turtles for the Atlantic Beach Scavenger Hunt/Tourism Project in January 2026.
Chemistry and Biochemistry
Dr. Benjamin Williams, assistant professor and Dr. Florentino De la Cruz, assistant professor, published "Leveraging Heterogeneous Catalyst Design Principles for Volatile PFAS Destruction through the Thermal Decomposition of CF4" in ACS Omega. October.
Dr. Bryan Knuckley, professor and Dr. Corey Causey, associate professor of chemistry, published "The Identification of a Sub-Micromolar Peptide-Based Protein Arginine Methyltransferase 1 (PRMT1) Inhibitor from a Plate-Based Screening Assay" in Biomolecules, October.
Public Administration
Dr. George Candler, professor, along with co-author Curtiss Ventriss, published "The Relevance of Publicness in an Era of Democratic Backsliding," in American Review of Public Administration, December.
School of Music
Gia Sastre, adjunct professor of flute, will be presenting "Breakthrough: Overcoming Musician's Performance Anxiety" at the Florida Flute Association's annual convention in Jan. 2026, and will be conducting at the UNF Flute Ensemble performance at the conference.
Physics
Dr. W. Brian Lane, assistant professor, received a grant from the National Science Foundation for Developing a STEM Education Tabletop Roleplaying Game for Informal Science Learning. September. In addition, Dr. Lane and Dr. Terrie M. Galanti, associate professor, published "Computing in general education physics" in Integrating Computing into the Undergraduate Physics Curriculum, October.
Political Science and Public Administration
Dr. Joshua C. Gellers, professor, published "Nature and the Law: In Defense of a Pluriversal, More-than-human Approach" in Review of European, Comparative and International Environmental Law. Also, Dr. Gellers delivered a talk, “Impact of AI on the Planet: Whither the Animal Kingdom?” at the Artificial Intelligence, Animals, and the Law Conference, held at George Washington University Law School and another talk on “Designing Ethical Robot Governance: Lessons from Science Fiction and Games," at the IAS-FRIS Symposium on Social Robots and Ethical Design, held at Tohoku University in Sendai, Japan, November.
School of Communications
Dr. Roy Christopher, instructor, published two books: “The Medium Picture” with University of Georgia Press in October and “Post-Self: Journeys Beyond the Human Body” with Repeater Books, December.
Dr. Sydney E. Brammer, assistant professor, along with co-authors C.R. Smith, C.R. and Essary, C. published “'We need an American Girl doll who …': Reimagining and memeifying American Girl(hood) and fem(me)ininity in digital spaces" in the Journal of Femininities. October.
Dr. Sydney E. Brammer, assistant professor, along with co-authors C.R. Smith, C.R., Cloudy, J. and M. Bennett-Brown, published “'Having sex is not a comfortable conversation’: A report on the application of Sexual Scripts Theory to negative communication during sexual activity in young adults" in the Journal of Health Communication. October.
Dr. Sydney E. Brammer, assistant professor and N. M. Punyanunt-Carter, published "Cultivation Theory" in the Elgar Encyclopedia of Political Communication in December.
Coggin College of Business
Dr. Courtney Azzari, associate professor, along with Meredith Rhoads Thomas, Aronté Marie Bennett and Stacey Menzel Baker, co-authored a paper, “Social Services in Transformative Service Ecosystems” accepted to the Journal of Services Research.
College of Computing, Engineering and Construction
Dr. Florentino De la Cruz, assistant professor, along with
Ivan A. Titaley,
Yixuan Wang,
Jennifer A. Field and
Morton A. Barlaz, published “Nationwide Estimate of Volatile Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substance (PFAS) Emissions from U.S. Landfills via Landfill Gas” in Environmental Science & Technology. November.
Dr. Indika Kahanda, associate professor of computing, mentored senior computer science major Ella Luedeke, who was recognized as the UNF Office of Undergraduate Research Undergraduate Researcher of the Month.
Ogier Gardens
Rhonda Gracie, horticulturist, received the Florida-Friendly Landscaping Award. The program was established by the Florida Legislature to promote water conservation and environmentally responsible landscape practices.
Silverfield College of Education and Human Services
Dr. Marlena Jenkins, director USOAR, presented “Talking to Your Family Members About an ASD Diagnosis,” to parents/caregivers, adults with autism, teachers, related service providers, and program administrators.
Dr. Jen Kilpatrick, associate professor, Dr. Caroline Guardino, professor, Samantha Sturgeon, adjunct instructor, along with eight deaf education majors and two ASL/English interpreting majors, attend the Florida Educators of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Conference in November in Gainesville. The students volunteered and a few shared findings from a study with Dr. Guardino in a poster presentation. Avery Descheneaux, Mikayla Waters, undergraduate researchers and Katie Wyble, a graduate researcher presented with Rhonda Giffin, Duval County teacher of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing at the FEDHH conference. Additionally, eight UNF alumni presented at the conference: Brianna Balch (‘18), Candace McIntire (‘12), Randi Mitchell (‘21), Sydne Sackel (‘20), Samantha Sturgeon (‘14, ‘15), Sara Tinti (‘19), Bridget Turner (‘02, ‘03) and Cara Wilmot (‘03).
Dr. Adrien Malek-Lasater, assistant professor, Dr. Katrina Hall, professor, Maria Beattie, assistant director of UNF Preschool, and Jessica Chaulk, master’s student, presented at the NAEYC Annual Conference in November in Orlando.
Dr. Rakesh Maurya, associate professor, authored a research article “A trioethnography of using grounded theory to decolonize research in psychology and education” in Qualitative Research in Psychology (Q1 Journal).
Dr. John Miller, visiting professor, and Dr. Jason Lee, professor, published “Play for all: Financial and legal considerations in proposing adaptive playgrounds” in COSMA Journal, 2, 1-12.
Dr. John Miller, visiting professor, Dr. Elizabeth Gregg, professor and J. Levine, published “Risk exposure and stakeholder oversight in college sports: Lessons from a lightning incident,” COSMA Journal 2(1).
Dr. Jason Lee, professor, Dr. Elizabeth Gregg, professor, and Dr. John Miller, visiting professor, published “The great divide – A new leader, A new identity? Examining a mascot controversy and the role of the new coach in school rebranding,” COSMA Journal, 2(1).
Dr. John Miller, visiting professor and J. Curto, published “Risk management practices of youth ice hockey coaches in the United States” The Physical Educator.
Dr. Nile Stanley, associate professor, published a research article, “The Hero’s Journey as a Framework for Cultivating Resilience among Arts Educators in Turbulent Times,” Creative Therapeutic, 1(1), 9–20.
Dr. Christine Weber, professor, presented two sessions at the World Council for Gifted and Talented Children International Conference in Braga, Portugal: Bridging Content and Pedagogy: Elevating Gifted Education with PCK and Integrating Case Studies and Research-Based Strategies for Gifted Education: Enhancing Student Outcomes through Differentiation and Engagement (co-presented with a colleague). In addition, Dr. Weber collaborated with members to present the CEC/NAGC Advanced Standards in Gifted Educator Preparation at the National Association for Gifted Children Conference in Pittsburgh.
Thomas G. Carpenter Library
Dr. Sarah Moukhliss, STEM Online Learning Librarian, along with co-author Trina McCowan Adams, published "From local innovation to shared practice: Disseminating the LGAS rubric for library guide design" in Florida Libraries, November.
Last week, the University of North Florida celebrated 1,286 students earning their degrees during the Fall 2025 commencement ceremonies at the UNF Arena. 
University of North Florida faculty and staff have spent the last few years strengthening partnerships across campus and within the community, while enhancing the student experience.
In 2025, University of North Florida faculty research ranged from collaborations with NASA to advancing cancer treatments, while students made headlines with innovations in brain injury detection and marine mammal conservation.
The University of North Florida is experiencing a surge in industry engagement, with more companies than ever recruiting top talent on campus and collaborating on workforce development programs.
By Byron E. Jones
The University of North Florida Board of Trustees (BOT) has unanimously elected Trustee Steve Moore to serve as the next Chair of the Board effective Monday, Dec. 15, 2025.
UNF’s inaugural Microbial Frontiers Symposium marked a transformative moment for the University, launching its first national and international research symposium dedicated to advancing interdisciplinary science.
The University of North Florida has received a $1.3 million grant from the National Science Foundation to support the development, testing and research of a STEM education tabletop roleplaying game. 
A Jacksonville native, Corley earned her Bachelor of Science in Nursing at UNF before spending five years working at Baptist Medical Center Downtown in the Neuro Progressive Care Unit, Neuro Intensive Care Unit and Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit. Those years on the front lines of patient care, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, solidified her decision to pursue nursing anesthesiology.
Congratulations to Housing and Residence Life
Swoop the Loop 5k
Project Atrium: Muralists in Action
Andrew Ross Sorkin: "1929 The Inside Story of the Greatest Crash in Wall Street History"
Track and Field Reveals 2026 Meet Schedule