Dr. Erin M. Casey Receives SECU Grant

Erin M. Casey, assistant professor in the School of Education at Louisiana State University, Dr. Jean Henry, professor in the College of Education and Health Professions at the University of Arkansas, and Dr. Molly Jensen at the Walton College of Business Education at the University of Arkansas, were recently awarded a Southeastern Conference Visiting Faculty Travel Grant.

The SEC Visiting Faculty Travel Grant Program is intended to enhance faculty collaboration that stimulate scholarly initiatives among the conference's 14 member universities.  The program provides faculty from one SEC university the opportunity to travel to another SEC campus to exchange ideas, develop grant proposals, and conduct research.

Casey, whose research focuses on educational initiatives in Belize, will travel to the University of Arkansas this October to collaborate with Henry and Jensen on a proposed article Burnout in Belize.  The proposed article and research will investigate reasons why faculty working with study abroad programs for several years might choose to end their involvement and pass the opportunity to another faculty member.  This research should contribute to future design and faculty placement of study abroad programs.  "In addition to an initial publication, we are also hoping to design a questionnaire that can be used internationally for understanding faculty commitments to study abroad programs," offers Dr. Casey about the project's goals.  Dr. Henry added, "I look forward to working with Dr. Casey and Dr. Jensen on this project.  In the health field, study abroad offers learning and perspectives that are not possible through other avenues.  Quality faculty mentorship within these programs is essential to ensuring the desired, targeted learning for health science pre-professionals.  This research holds promise to help us better understand how to plant for consistently high-quality faculty involvement."