Academic News
Browns Will Lead New Wesleyan Holiness Connection Network
Asbury President Dr. Kevin Brown and his wife, Maria, will serve with the WHC College Presidents Network for the Wesleyan Holiness Connection (WHC). The new initiative, of which Dr. Brown will serve as director, comprises of leaders from Wesleyan and Pan-Wesleyan Christian institutions of higher education and aims to build stronger relationships and create synergies between visionary minds at the forefront of faith-based academia.
“I am eager to contribute to an ecosystem of collaboration and support among my peers,” said Dr. Brown. “The opportunity to lead such a network is an honor and a commitment to strengthening our relationships and the collective impact of our institutions.”
Music Students Win National and State Awards
Asbury University Music students recently received awards from the Kentucky chapter of the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS). Award recipients included Grace Monsanto ’24 (first place: Senior Classical), Grace Chang ’25 (second place: Junior Classical), and Donovan Chung ’26 (second place: Sophomore Classical) with semifinalists Trueman Livingston ’25 (Junior Musical Theatre) and Gentry Osbourn ’27 (Freshman Classical). The mission of NATS is “to advance excellence in singing through teaching, performance, scholarship, and research.”
Music major Levi Smith ’25 recently won the Kentucky Music Educators Association (KMEA) composition contest for his piece, Rebirth. Conducted by Dr. Johnie Dean Smith’s piece performed at Whitney Hall (Kentucky Center for the Arts), as part of the All-State Collegiate Choir and All-State Collegiate Band Concert on Feb. 8.
Asbury Establishes Nursing Partnership with University of Kentucky
This January, Asbury University and the University of Kentucky College of Nursing announced a dual enrollment. Students will complete both an Asbury bachelor’s degree and, after transferring to UK with preferred admission to UK College of Nursing, a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) in under five years, meeting a direct need for highly qualified nurses in the state of Kentucky and beyond. It includes the University of Kentucky College of Nursing Traditional and Accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing (ABSN) tracks. Each academic year, the University of Kentucky will have allotted spaces for Asbury students to the BSN and the ABSN under this dual degree agreement.
Visit asbury.edu/nursing for more information.
Communication Researchers Win Award, Present at National Conference
Katherine Sheets ’21 and communication professor Dr. Elizabeth Jones co-authored a paper entitled, “Identifying Loss and Grief in Children’s Animated Films,” which won a Top Paper Award from the Mass Communication Division of the National Communication Association. Sheets presented the paper in November at the National Communication Association conference in National Harbor, Md.
“In the study, we examined death and non-death related loss and grief expressions in children’s animated films,” Jones and Sheets said. “This mixed-methods content analysis of the 18 top-grossing films investigated two research questions: 1) How is loss portrayed in children’s animated films across the U.S. animation industry? and 2) How are the five stages of grief depicted in children’s animated films across the U.S. animation industry?”
Communication Arts Announces New Sport Communication Concentration
The Asbury University School of Communication Arts is pleased to announce the new Sport Communication concentration within the Communication major. Designed to train communication experts in the sports industry by intertwining business and media with the opportunity for top internships, this 53-hour concentration launches in Fall 2024 and includes courses in sport marketing, public relations, broadcast news, and media performance.
“Everybody loves sports, and this degree is designed to open opportunities for students to work in the sports industry, having honed their communication skills,” said Associate Professor of Communication Dr. Jim Shores. “Whether you’re a sport communication director, content creator, marketing specialist, or social media manager, you will be well prepared for success.”
Asbury has students who have interned and worked in the sports and athletics industry with organizations like ESPN, SEC, NASCAR, the PGA Tour, the Cincinnati Reds, NFL Films, Cincinnati Bengals, and Tennessee Titans.
Visit asbury.edu/mediacomm for more information.
Political Science Department Launches Minors in Human Trafficking Studies and Pre-Law
In Fall 2024, the Asbury University Social Science & History Department will launch two new minors in Pre-Law and Human Trafficking Studies and a reconfigured Political Science major. These three programs allow students to customize their major and minor based on their interests with electives in various areas including business, equine, computer science, and more.
“We teach students to apply what they learn about politics—about the way the world works—to organizations of all sorts, and thus we have graduates with careers in fields such as banking, non-profit management, and finance, as well as law and government,” said Dean of the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences and Professor of Political Science Dr. Steve Clements ’83.
As part of the Kentucky Statewide Human Trafficking Task Force, Assistant Professor of Political Science & History Dr. Glenn Harden recently co-authored with Marissa Castellanos, MSW, the “2024 Kentucky Statewide Human Trafficking Data Report: A Comprehensive Report of Existing Multi- Disciplinary Data.” Contributors included Jezri Leong ’24 and Alexis Daniel (Catholic Charities of Louisville).
Learn more about human trafficking prevention with Professor of Psychology Dr. Laura Dryjanska on the This Is Asbury podcast: asbury.edu/thisisasbury.
Instructional Design Professors Create New Digital Badges for the Public
Asbury University’s Media Communication department unveiled a new way for learners of all ages in any location — not limited to Asbury students — to engage with cutting-edge curriculum in Instructional Design with digital badges and micro-credentialing. The digital badge and micro-credential formats provide a path to gain non-credit bearing, workforce ready skills in a flexible online format in high demand fields.
The digital badges are $125 each and take approximately three to five hours to complete. They are offered on a new. ’eAsbury’ platform that offers asynchronous, skills-focused, online micro-courses perfect for learners who want to upskill in a specific competency or topic. All learning content is created by Asbury professors and passed through a rigorous quality assurance process for content and design to meet the high standards of the Asbury learning community that now spans from digital badges to undergraduate and graduate levels.
Learn more at asbury.edu/microcredentials.
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