Lassiter F. Speller has been promoted to associate professor in the department of psychology and political science at Eastern New Mexico University. A faculty member since 2020, he currently serves as department chair and chair of the institutional review board. He is also a founding co-director of the American Descendants of Slavery Research Institute. As a scholar, he focuses on applications of psychophysiology, environmental behavioral health, human factors and ergonomics, and deceptive language in political psychology.
Dr. Speller is a graduate of Winston-Salem State University in North Carolina, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology. He holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in cognitive-experimental psychology from Ohio State University.
Karl Thompson has been named director of the newly launched Ph.D. program in interdisciplinary biomedical sciences at Howard University in Washington, D.C. He currently teaches as a tenured associate professor of microbiology. As a scholar, he specializes in bacterial genetics, molecular genetics, bacteriology, and bacterial pathogenesis.
Dr. Thompson earned both his bachelor’s degree in nutritional sciences and Ph.D. in microbiology from Howard University.
Tracie Kirkland was recently named associate dean for transformational practice and partnerships in the College of Nursing at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, where she is an associate professor and a Kenneth E. Morehead Endowed Chair in Nursing. With over three decades of nursing experience, she most recently taught at the University of Southern California.
Dr. Kirkland earned her bachelor’s degree in nursing from Hampton University in Virginia, a master’s degree in nursing from Virginia Commonwealth University, a doctor of nursing practice degree from Texas Christian University, and a Ph.D. in nursing from Texas Woman’s University.
Ebenezer Tackey-Otoo is a new assistant professor educator in the department of civil and architectural engineering and construction management in the College of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of Cincinnati. His research and teaching interests include construction estimating, planning, and scheduling; building information modeling; sustainable and heavy civil construction; and temporary structures.
Dr. Tackey-Otoo holds a bachelor’s degree in building technology from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Ghana, a master’s degree in construction engineering and management from the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago, and a Ph.D. in construction management from the University of Florida.
