My contributions to the university encompasses committee services, serving as co-PI on grant proposals, and volunteering at university initiative programs. I seek to further the initiatives set forth by the university to help advance the professional development of faculty and student learning.
In 2024, I was elected to serve from 2025-2028 on the Library Planning Committee and the Planning Council Committee for Academic Affairs.
My position on the Library Planning Committee is being the faculty representative of the Mathematics and Physical Science Division. On this committee, we advise the Director on appropriate policies and actions in a variety of areas, including: the library budget, compliance with accreditation standards, use of physical facilities and space, security, fines and penalties, library hours, and general services. The primary objective of the Committee is to help the staff develop the library's service capabilities and to promote library use.
As a member of the Planning Council for Academic Affairs, I am the faculty representative of the Mathematics and Physical Science Division. On this committee, we assist the Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs in all aspects of academic management, planning, and assessment. The Council also plays a key role in developing, reviewing, and maintaining the University's academic planning document to ensure alignment with institutional priorities and strategic goals.
In 2026, I am serving as co-PI on the Biomedical Undergraduate Research Training at Xavier University of Louisiana (BURT-XULA) grant proposal with Dr. Thomas Huckaba, Dr. Jaya Sridhar, and Dr. Matthew Hayes. BURT XULA is an undergraduate research training program to help train XULA undergraduates in biomedical research. This grant is to serve as a replacement for the BUILD grant that has since ended at XULA. Through this program, students will undergo a training program involving workshops and seminars to begin their research training. The program then matches students in a rotational research lab with faculty at XULA. After their third year in the program, students will be matched with research groups at partner institutions to continue their research experience. For all those involved in this proposal, this work reflects our commitment to advancing student achievement in and outside the classroom through research and other scholarly activities.
In 2025, I was a member of the grant writing team and co-PI for the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education (IUSE) grant with Dr. Jason Todd. This proposal sought to develop and implement an intervention program at XULA. The program focused on remedial or non-graduation credit math courses that are gateway courses to STEM major courses, such as Calculus, Chemistry, Physics, and Computer Science. The project aimed to decrease the DFW rates while increasing post-remediation course success in STEM major courses. We aimed to develop less-than-college-ready students in mathematics through the implementation of ALEKS (a personalized cognitive tutor program), alongside a metacognitive development approach designed to help students become more self-directed and effective learners. The project would then assess the impact of these interventions through systematic data collection and analysis, providing evidence to inform future instructional practices and student support initiatives. The proposal received substantial feedback for improvement and was asked to be resubmitted. Since then, our team has continued to investigate and refine the intervention model, develop a more comprehensive implementation strategy, and plan to collect preliminary data for the proposal as proof of concept for funding. This ongoing work demonstrates a commitment to advancing student achievement, strengthening STEM pathways, and developing evidence-based approaches that can contribute to broader institutional efforts to improve retention and graduation outcomes at XULA.
In 2023, I was a member of the grant writing team and co-PI for the NIH Undergraduate Research Training for Student Enhancement (U-RISE). The proposed XURISE project aimed to provide innovative and equitable access to research opportunities that inspire scientific integrity, rigor, and graduate pathways to advance learning in diverse fields of biomedical sciences. The grant was submitted in May 2023. Due to the financial landscape, we had to revise our grant for the BURT grant submission at NIH.
In addition to institutional committees, I have also volunteered to help the university in other capacities.
In 2025, the university unveiled that the Simple Syllabus was to be incorporated into the campus's Learning Management System as a way for faculty to streamline the production and distribution of their course syllabi. I served as a faculty/instructor advisor at the Instructor Level for the Simple Syllabus implementation. I worked with Dr. Dangle Meda in Spring 2025-Spring 2026 and Dr. Daniella Mascarenhas in Fall 2026 during their drop-in hours to help faculty learn and acclimate to the new system.
Since 2024, I became a member of the Science Education Research Group (SERG) Committee. SERG serves as a collective voice of the STEM departments at Xavier and focuses on the institutional discussion concerning students within the STEM departments. Topics include curriculum discussions, advising, examination integrity, and more.
In Spring 2024, Dr. Richard Peters invited me to serve on an Advising Committee to explore advising best practices for our undergraduate students, with the goal of making recommendations to the Provost for changes as needed.