Associate Professor of Public Affairs

Dr. Rebecca Glazier is an associate professor in the School of Public Affairs. She is known for her research on religion and politics, as well as pedagogical research in higher education.

Glazier is noted and praised for the Little Rock Congregations Study (LRCS) she founded 11 years ago. The LRCS is a longitudinal study of religion with goals of improving the understanding of the impacts of faith based community engagement, get students out of the classroom and into the community to learn and give back, and to provide relevant and meaningful findings to the community. She has received over $30,000 in grants from community groups related to this study and two of her peer-reviewed articles have been co-authored with students she mentored through the study.

Glazier is also highly committed to the scholarship of teaching and learning how to improve teaching from students. She has published seven peer-reviewed articles and three book chapters on building rapport in the classroom. This has made her very influential in the pedagogical circles in higher education. Over the last five years, Glazier has published 20 peer reviewed articles, three book chapters, and one-solo authored book with several additional pieces of work on the way. Glazier productivity is truly exceptional at a metropolitan university, such as 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock.

Glazier received a Ph.D. in political science from the University of California at Santa Barbara, a M.A. in political science from the University of California at Santa Barbara, and a B.A. in liberal studies from California State University Channel Islands.

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Associate Professor of Economics

Dr. Moiz Bhai is an associate professor of economics in the department of accounting, economics, and finance at 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock. His recent research focuses on the intersections of health and labor economics and the economic and policy implications of practice occupational licensing reform.

Moiz states his professional and personal goal is evaluate policies that can improve the lives of Americans and reduce disparities. He notes a major challenge to improving poor health of Americans is exacerbated by their inability to find a medical provider. Bhai has published 7 peer-reviewed papers in journals such as Economics Letters and Economic Inquiry and he has multiple manuscripts under review. He has also published an op-ed in the Arkansas Democrat Gazette and a policy brief in Pennsylvania with the Commonwealth Fund.

In addition to this, Moiz has won 8 grants totaling more than $120,000 in external funding even while teaching classes. These include research grants from the Council of State Boards of Nursing鈥檚 Center for Regulatory Excellence, the Charles Koch Foundation, and the Institute for Humane Studies at George Mason University just to name a few. With these research funds, he has hosted seminars on campus, invited economists to visit 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock and give talks ranging from immigration to the economics of health care, and hire student research assistants, which aids in student鈥檚 personal research interest and their education experience.

Bhai received a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Illinois at Chicago, a M.A. in economics from the University of Illinois at Chicago, and a B.A. in economics and political science from the University of Illinois at Chicago.

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Professor of Law, Director of Externship Programs & Pro Bono Opportunities, and the Associate Dean of Experiential Learning & Clinical Programs

Ms. Kelly Terry is the Ben J. Altheimer professor of law, director of externship programs & pro bono opportunities, and the associate dean of experiential learning & clinical programs at the William H. Bowen School of Law. Her research has been influential in the area of experiential legal education.

Terry works to provide law faculty with the theory and best practices to make a legal education more beneficial for students. Over the last five years, Terry has published three books on best practices when it comes to course design, curriculum integration, teaching methods, and assessment of student learning in a legal education. Law professors from around the country have praised and noted these bodies of work. She has also received national recognition for her work.

In March 2022, the White House Counsel鈥檚 Office asked Terry to serve on a panel with four other law professors for a webinar on the role law school experiential education programs play in delivering critical legal services and equip students with professional skills. She was also asked to serve on the American Bar Association Section of LEgal Education and Admissions to the Bar, Resources on Outcomes and Assessments Committee, which focuses on learning outcomes to provide guidance, best practices, and real-life experiences on outcomes and assessments.

Terry received a J.D. from the University of Arkansas School of Law and a B.A. in English from Hendrix College.

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Assistant Professor of Physics and Astronomy

Dr. Gregory Guisbiers is an assistant professor of physics and astronomy in the School of Physical Sciences. His primary research focus is on nanotechnology.

Guisbiers research goal is to develop new nano/quantum materials with a defined crystalline structure and physico-chemical properties that cannot be achieved by using wet-chemistry techniques. In the early years of nanotechnology, nanoparticles were created with little control over shape, size, composition, and crystalline structure. Guisbiers uses a new synthesis protocol called Pulsed Laser Ablation in Liquids (PLAL) to control the surface purity of nanoparticles. Guisbiers鈥檚 work has been well documented in his publications.

Guisbiers has published 30 peer reviewed articles in the last five years. This is an average of six peer-reviewed articles a year. His 2019 article, 鈥淎dvances in Physics: X鈥�, has also been called a reference in the field by his colleagues. He also recently co-published a book titled Antimicrobial Activity of Nanoparticles. Guisbiers recently received a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant of $750,000. The goal of this grant is to synthesize quantum materials and prepare the 鈥渜uantum鈥� workforce in Arkansas. The grant will support two Ph.D. students and last five years.

Guisbiers received a Ph.D. in physics, a M.S in physics, and a bachelor鈥檚 degree in physics all from the University of Mons in Belgium

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Assistant Professor of Social Work

Dr. Tracey McElwee is an assistant professor of social work in the College of Business, Health, and Human Services. Among her research interests is a focus on equitable access to food.

Dr. McElwee has published 20 peer-reviewed articles and four book reviews, has four manuscripts under review, and has more than 30 referenced conference presentations. As part of helping students develop their own application of evidence-based research, she has helped 10 students with seven peer-reviewed publications, 11 students with five peer-reviewed conference presentations, four students with five awards, and has helped with three research projects involving hundreds of students. Her many recognitions include the 2016-2017 Ronald E. McNair Faculty Mentor of the Year Award and the University of Mississippi鈥檚 School of Applied Sciences Thomas A. Crowe Outstanding Faculty Alumnus Award in 2018-2019.

In 2016, she partnered with the No Kid Hungry Campaign and the Arkansas Hunger Relief Alliance to oversee internal program evaluation of the Share Our Strength Cooking Matters program. This program focused on those receiving SNAP benefits. Since 2019, she has served as an analytic consultant for Dr. Taren Swindle鈥檚 Centers for Biomedical Research Excellence grant and is also the research consultant on Dr. Swindle鈥檚 seven-year R01/R37 Merit Award from the National Institutes of Health. From 2018-2021, she collaborated with Dr. Kevin Fitzpatrick to serve as the lead program developer and evaluator for a $4 million-dollar National Science Foundation (NSF) Smart and Connected Communities grant application. She is also the principal investigator of the Voter Education and Empowerment project, which is one of 12 funded from the New York Community Trust through the CSWE鈥檚 Policy Practice in Field Initiative grant.

Dr. McElwee received her Ph.D. in social work from the University of Texas at Arlington, a M.S.W. from the University of Alabama, and a B.S.W. from the University of Mississippi.

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Professor of Law

Professor Robert Steinbuch is a professor of law in the William H. Bowen School of Law. His prolific research and publications explore a multitude of legal issues, including evidence law, federal securities law, and the intersection of access and higher-education law.

He is the sole author of the newest edition of 鈥淭he Arkansas Freedom of Information Act,鈥� a treatise often used by citizens and journalists to obtain information at the state and local levels to prevent and expose wrongdoings. Associate Justice Rhonda Wood wrote of the importance of this treatise: 鈥渓t provided valuable research and was cited in the court’s pivotal decision requiring the Arkansas State Police to turn over a 54-year-old murder-case file to the victim’s family in Dep’t. of Ark. State Police v. Keech Low Firm, P.A.,2017 Ark. 1.43.鈥� He co-authored the previous edition in 2017. He has seven recent law reviews, four of which are forthcoming. Among the forthcoming law reviews is 鈥淭he Unfairness Proof: Exposing the Hidden Circuit Split on, and Implicit Blind Spot Regarding, Federal Rule of Evidence 609鈥� in Pepperdine Law Review. It explores evidence law, particularly how Federal Rule of Evidence 609 determines the admission of a witness鈥檚 previous criminal convictions when attempting to discredit a testifying witness鈥檚 character in court. Another of his recent law reviews will appear in the Journal of Legal Education, the preeminent scholarly resource in legal education.

Professor Steinbuch received his J.D. from Columbia Law School and his M.A. and B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania.

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Assistant Professor of Chemistry

Dr. Noureen Siraj has earned the rank of assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry. Her unique accomplishments and ability to drive her students forward in their own research interests distinguishes her as a deserving recipient of this award.

In the past six years, Dr. Siraj has published 34 research articles and delivered several conference presentations. Her most recent presentation at the 2021 Southeast Regional IDeA Conference was titled 鈥淐arrier Free Chemo-PTT Ionic Nanomaterials for Combination Cancer Therapy.鈥� Among her many honors, awards, and recognitions, she has been recognized by THV11 as an Arkansan of the Day and received the ATLE Professional Development Certificate Award in 2021. She is a member of the American Chemical Society, Electrochemical Society, and ACS-Central Arkansas. Dr. Siraj currently has six active grants, one of which is a grant of more than $180,000 from the National Science Foundation to study the 鈥淪ynthesis, Characterization and Application of FRET-based Ionic Materials.鈥� Along with two others, she obtained a U.S. patent in 2018 for Carbazole-based gumbos for highly efficient blue OLEDs. In total, she has been awarded more than $550,000 from different extramural agencies as a principal investigator.

In addition to her impressive research and funding credentials, Dr. Siraj also mentors a diverse group of six doctoral students, some of whom have been co-authors on her recent research projects. Over the summer months, she and a graduate student worked with Professor Mostafa El Sayed, a National Medal of Science recipient. As an educator, Dr. Siraj mentored a high school student who won $50,000 at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair. The high school student became the first student in the history of Arkansas to attain this level of distinction.

Dr. Siraj earned a Ph.D. from the University of Graz in Austria and a M.S. and B.S. from the University of Karachi in Sindh, Pakistan.

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Associate Professor in the School of Public Affairs

Dr. Eric Wiebelhaus-Brahm is an associate professor in the School of Public Affairs. He is internationally respected for his research in the study of transitional justice, which explores how societies handle histories of violence and oppression. In particular, his research seeks to understand how societies find justice following collective trauma.

In the past five years, Dr. Wiebelhaus-Brahm has published 14 peer-reviewed journal articles and two books. One of his 2020 articles, 鈥淐ompetition for Control of the State and the Transitional Justice Agenda Among Tunisian Civil Society Organizations,鈥� can be found in the journal Peacebuilding. In addition to his published research, he has also been awarded a number of awards. He and a team of researchers were awarded a research grant of 拢15 million as a GCRF-supported project to build the Gender, Justice, and Security Hub. As a part of this project, he is working with Dr. Kirsten Ainley of Australian National University to study the funding priorities of donors.

In 2018-2019, he also worked with the Organization for Security and Co-operation on Europe鈥檚 presence in Albania. For this project, he mentored young researchers investigating the transitional justice needs of their respective countries. He also contributed to the creation of a graduate program in transitional justice at the University of Tirana. He is a member of the American Political Science Association, Arkansas Political Science Association, European Consortium for Political Research, International Studies Association, and Law & Society Association.

Dr. Wiebelhaus-Brahm received his Ph.D. and M.A. in political science from the University of Colorado. He received his B.A. in political science and anthropology from Marquette University.

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Professor of Law

Thomas Sullivan is a distinguished professor of law at the William H. Bowen School of Law. Over the last five years, he has published seven articles on due process, criminal defense, and appellate advocacy. In nominating him, his colleagues point to his expertise in appellate practice and procedure as well as his insight, scrupulous scholarship, and lucid writing.

Sullivan鈥檚 commitment to criminal and appellate law has led him to create the courses he regularly teaches at Bowen: Criminal Procedure/Trial; Criminal Procedure/Post-Trial; Arkansas Criminal Trial Practice; and Law and Psychiatry. He was also the founding editor of the Journal of Appellate Practice and Process, which was published by the law school for 20 years before moving to the University of Arizona last year.

Sullivan has also maintained a limited practice of law, providing representation to indigent litigants in criminal cases, either in a pro bono capacity or by appointments by federal and state courts. In addition to his teaching and writing, Sullivan regularly lectures on criminal law, the death penalty, and other legal concepts to forensic psychiatry fellows through the 糖心Vlog传媒MS/DBHS Forensic Psychiatry Fellowship Program.

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Jerry L. Maulden-Energy Chair of Information Science, Distinguished Professor of Information Science, and Director of the Collaboratorium for Social Media and Online Behavioral Studies (COSMOS)

Dr. Nitin Agarwal is the Maulden-Entergy Distinguished Professor of Information Science at 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock. He is an internationally renowned researcher whose pioneering work in the social computing discipline has significantly advanced this fledgling area and helped open many doors for innovation for the scientific community. His primary research interests are in social computing, (deviant) behavior modeling, studying group dynamics, influence, trust, collective action, social-cyber forensics, health informatics, data mining, and privacy aims to be at the vanguard of the ever-evolving online behaviors.

At 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock, he created the Collaboratorium for Social Media and Online Behavioral Studies (COSMOS), which was designated as a research center by the Arkansas Department of Higher Education in 2020. COSMOS has produced more than two dozen projects, published 10 books and more than 200 publications, and three important tools: Blogtrackers, YouTubeTracker and Focal Structure Analysis. In the past year, COSMOS has assisted the Arkansas Attorney General鈥檚 Office track scams and disinformation related to COVID-19 that led to the development of COVID-19 Misinformation Tracker.

Since joining 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock in 2009, Agarwal has brought in more than $1o million in funding for 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock from sponsors like the U.S. Army Research Office, U.S. Office of Naval Research, U.S. Air Force Research Lab, U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, U.S. National Science Foundation, and U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

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