EHHS Featured Researchers: Fall 2018

Mary Ann Devine

Dr. Mary Ann Devine

School of Foundations, Leadership and Administration

Dr. Devine is a Professor in the Recreation, Park, & Tourism Management program and directs the Disability Studies and Community Inclusion minor/graduate Certificate. Her research interests are in the area of inclusion of individuals with disabilities in leisure and physical activity contexts as they relate to healthy active living for individuals with disabilities. She has conducted numerous studies examining aspects of the inclusion process such as social acceptance, social construction of disability, attitudinal barriers, and best practices. Findings from Dr. Devine’s research have been used in more than 20 countries to increase the inclusion of people with disabilities in community life. The American Association for Persons with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities selected Dr. Devine as a research delegate for their International Research and Exchange program in 2017. Currently, Dr. Devine is leading a research project using Virtual Reality to examine the barriers and facilitators to health promoting physical activity for individuals with intellectual/developmental disabilities. The goal is to address the critical need to increase health-promoting physical activity among persons with I/DD to an extent that is sufficient to improve health outcomes.

Learn more about the Recreation, Park and Tourism Management program


Dr. Huyck Headshot

Dr. Julia Huyck

School of Health Sciences

Dr. Huyck is an Assistant Professor in the Speech Pathology and Audiology program. She teaches undergraduates in the major as well as Au.D. students in the Northeast Ohio Au.D. Consortium. She is also a member of the Hearing Research Group in the Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology at NEOMED. She is the director of the Perception, Learning, and Individual Differences (PLAID) lab, where she and her team of undergraduate research assistants investigate why some adolescents and young adults are better at hearing and listening than others. She has published several articles on developmental changes in basic auditory and speech processing during adolescence.  These studies show that adolescents do not always process speech and other sounds as well as adults, and Dr. Huyck is interested in what underlying mechanisms (e.g., temporal processing, auditory attention) contribute to this immaturity. In 2018, she received a Seed Award from the College of EHHS to pursue this research.

Learn more about the Speech Pathology and Audiology program


Headshot of Dr. Christa Porter

Dr. Christa Porter

School of Foundations, Leadership and Administration

Dr. Porter is in her second year as an Assistant Professor of Higher Education Administration at Kent State University. She is a qualitative researcher who examines the development and trajectory of Black women in higher education at diverse institutional types. Additional lines of inquiry include college student development theory, and critical inquiry and frameworks in higher education research and praxis. She has recently received national and university-wide awards for her scholarship from ACPA – College Student Educators and Kent State University. In 2018, she was recognized as one of ACPA’s Annuit Coeptis Emerging Professionals and received the Advancing Diversity Scholarship award from Kent State’s Division of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, and University College. In 2017, she was selected as one of ACPA’s five Emerging Scholar Designees. Prior to her time at Kent State, she served four years as a Fixed term Assistant Professor and Coordinator of the Student Affairs Administration masters program at Michigan State University. Dr. Porter received her Ph.D. in Counseling and Student Personnel Services (with a specialization in College Student Affairs Administration) and an Interdisciplinary Qualitative Research Studies Certificate from the University of Georgia in 2013.

Learn more about the Higher Education Administration program

POSTED: Tuesday, October 30, 2018 03:36 PM
Updated: Friday, December 9, 2022 05:30 AM