Honors Academic Board
Honors Academic Board Members
Ray Ball, Ph.D. - Interim Honors College Dean
Martha Amore, Ph.D. - Honors Academic Board Chair
Mychal Machado, Ph.D. - Major Scholarships Coordinator
Community Engagement
- Donna Langley, M.S.
- Corrie Whitmore, Ph.D.
Global & Multicultural Studies
- Natasa Masanovic-Courtney, Ph.D.
- Jeff Meyers, Ph.D.
Leadership
- Kevin Berry, Ph.D.
- Susan Meskis, M.S.
- Kimberly Pace
Research & Creative Activity
- Tracey Burke, Ph.D.
- Masoumeh Heidari Kapourchali, Ph.D.
- Taylor Keister, M.A., M.LIS.
Ray Ball, Ph.D
Interim Dean of the Honors College
e: rball11@alaska.edu
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Martha Amore, Ph.D.
Honors Academic Board Chair
e: mjamore@alaska.edu
Martha Amore lives in Anchorage, Alaska, with her family and teaches writing at the University of Alaska Anchorage. She holds a Master of Fine Arts in fiction and an Interdisciplinary Studies Ph.D. in creative writing. Winner of a Rasmuson Individual Artist Award, she is a contributing editor of the University of Alaska Press anthology Building Fires in the Snow: A Collection of Alaska LGBTQ Short Fiction and Poetry, which was a finalist for a LAMBDA Literary Award. Her collection of short fiction, In the Quiet Season & Other Stories, was published in 2018. She is currently hard at work on a new book.
Kevin Berry, Ph.D.
Leadership Track
e: kberry13@alaska.edu
Tracey Burke, Ph.D.
Research & Creative Activity Track
e: tkburke@alaska.edu
Dr. Tracey Burke has lived in Alaska for over 35 years and has been teaching at UAA since 2003. Based in the School of Social Work in the College of Health, Dr. Burke has worked with interdisciplinary colleagues since she started, first in the context of Community Engagement and more recently in the context of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity (RCA). Her Honors focus is RCA, and since 2014, she has been the PI and program lead for externally-funded programs supporting students in health-related research. RCA students in the health professions or biomedical fields are especially likely to have Dr. Burke as their Honors faculty mentor/advisor.
Masoumeh Heidari Kapourchali, Ph.D.
Research & Creative Activity Track
e: mheidari2@alaska.edu
Taylor Keister, M.A., M.LIS
Research & Creative Activity Track
e: tjkeister@alaska.edu
Donna Langley, M.S.
Community Engagement Track
e: dklangley@alaska.edu
Donna Langley has been teaching Quantitative Studies courses at Mat-Su College since 2017. She is a graduate of the Torrey Honors Institute (now the Torrey Honors College) at Biola University in California and holds an MS in Mathematics from The University of Arizona. Her Master's Thesis, entitled The Role of General Education Mathematics Courses in Fulfilling the Goals of the University, explores philosophical aims, policies, and purposes of mathematics education and how to help students make the most of their GER mathematics experience. This continues to be Donna's greatest academic interest, along with Honors education. Donna is also a member of the Chignik Bay tribe and the Orthodox Church of America.
Mychal Machado, Ph.D.
Major Scholarships Coordinator
e: mmachado2@alaska.edu
Mychal A. Machado is an Associate Professor at the University of Alaska Anchorage in the Department of Psychology. They received their Ph.D. in Behavior Analysis at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in 2015 and are now a Board Certified and Licensed Behavior Analyst. Their research interests include many applications of behavior analysis, such as the integration of applied behavior analysis and technology-based interventions to improve behavioral healthcare and social justice issues, using a behavior analytic lens to evaluate methods related to popular claims in health and psychology, and the analysis of verbal behavior. Clinical areas of interest include inpatient and outpatient applications of behavior analytic treatments for children and adults experiencing autism, mental health disorders, or both. Outside of academia, Dr. Machado enjoys skiing, fishing, crocheting, Lego art creation, and spending time with their family.
Natasa Masanovic-Courtney, Ph.D.
Global & Multicultural Studies Track
e: nmasanovic@alaska.edu
Jeff Meyers, Ph.D.
Global & Multicultural Studies Track
e: jmeyers13@alaska.edu
Jeff lives in Homer with his wife Danielle, two sons Lev and Hugo, and Aussie-Doodle
Obi Wan-Kenobi.
He is Associate Professor of History at the Kachemak Bay Campus, a community campus
of Kenai
Peninsula College and UAA. There he teaches general education history courses and
upper division
courses ranging from Conspiracies and Secret Societies to the History of the Soviet
Union and the
Roman Empire. He is an Alaska Historical Society board member where he is the annual
conference coordinator.
He has been on the Honors Academic Board in the Global and Multicultural Studies program
for two
years.
Kimberly Pace
Leadership Track
e: kjpace@alaska.edu
Kimberly Pace is from the thriving metropolis of Soldotna. After graduating from High School, she moved to Missoula, MT and majored in Political Science with a minor in History, from the University of Montana. Kimberly did her Graduate work in Political Science and History at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.
Kimberly is a Professor of Political Science and the Coordinator of the Women's and Gender Studies Program at the UAA, she has been at the University since 1998. She is a Senator on the Faculty Senate, serves on the Faculty Senate Diversity Committee, the Diversity Action Council, is the Director of the National Coalition Building Institute team at UAA, and for the past 19 years has been the Faculty Director for the Model United Nations for the state of Alaska. She is the Internship Coordinator for both Political Science and Women’s and Gender Studies.
For the past 6 years, she has served on the Anchorage Equal Rights Commission (AERC) and is the past Chair. Additionally, Kimberly serves on the Board of the Alaska Center for the Performing Arts where she advocates for accessibility and the needs of the differently abled.
Kimberly is married to the lovely Sheri and they are the proud parents of Theodore Roosevelt aka Teddy, a 10 lbs. 13 year-old Pomeranian rescue.
Susan Meskis, DNP
Leadership Track
e: sdmeskis@alaska.edu
Corrie Whitmore, Ph.D.
Community Engagement Track
e: cwhitmor@alaska.edu