Coyne-Beasley, Watson Selected for Faculty Engaged Scholars Program

Tamera Coyne-Beasley, MD, MPH, Professor, Department of Pediatrics, and Linda Watson, MS, EdD, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Allied Health Sciences were selected to be a part of the Faculty Engaged Scholars (FES) program at UNC.

Coyne-Beasley and Watson are two of 10 faculty scholars recently selected by the Carolina Center for Public Service as the fourth class of the FES program. The FES program is an initiative of the Center to advance faculty involvement in the scholarship of engagement. During the two-year program, scholars learn about engaged scholarship, possible funding sources, navigating disciplinary expectations while addressing community needs, and partnering with local communities in North Carolina and beyond.

In 2010, Dr. Coyne-Beasley established the North Carolina Child Health Research Network as part of the North Carolina Translational and Clinical Science Institute to build partnerships between community organizations, community-based and ambulatory practices, and research communities. With these partnerships, collaborative research is conducted to maximize the translation of scientific discoveries into real world applications for the advancement of child and adolescent health and policy. As the network director, she is currently engaged in multiple projects with adolescents in western and central North Carolina and with the Center for Rural Health Innovation. Dr. Coyne-Beasley’s current research is focused on the use of social media and innovative strategies including telemedicine for increasing knowledge of human papilloma virus infection and related-cancers, and increasing adolescent access to healthcare including human papilloma virus vaccination. She is the Director of the Metamorphosis program, a policy project to improve the transition of NC adolescents into adulthood.

Dr. Watson’s area of scholarship is autism research, addressing issues of early development, early identification, factors impacting social-communication outcomes of children with autism, and social-communication interventions. The projects on which she collaborates offer opportunities for engagement with public school educators and administrators, parents of preschoolers with autism and of infants at-risk for autism, primary care providers, and early intervention policy makers and service providers. Dr. Watson hopes engaging effectively with these varied stakeholders will enhance the ultimate impact of her work in improving the lives of children with autism and their families. For the past two years, she has also been involved in a collaborative effort with stakeholders in Bolivia who have an interest in improving autism services, motivating her desire to develop better skills for engagement with international communities.

The FES program promotes the engaged scholarship across a variety of disciplines and helps to create and sustain a community of engaged scholars from diverse perspectives. The program is committed to building UNC-Chapel Hill as an institution dedicated to and demonstrating strong university-community relationships.

Every other year, eight to 10 faculty members are selected to participate in the program aimed at learning about and pursuing community engagement through their scholarly endeavors. The other eight scholars are:

• Barbara Fedders, Clinical Assistant Professor – School of Law
• Dr. Jocelyn Glazier, Associate Professor – School of Education
• Dr. Leigh A. Hall, Associate Professor – School of Education
• Dr. Jill B. Hamilton, Assistant Professor – School of Nursing
• Dr. Brian Hogan, Research Assistant Professor – Chemistry
• Dr. Shawn M. Kniepp, Associate Professor – School of Nursing
• Dr. W. Roger Mills-Koonce, Research Scientist – Center for Developmental Science
• Dr. Linda Watson, Professor – School of Medicine
• Ted Douglas Zoller, Associate Professor – Kenan-Flagler Business School