Fellows Selected for the SEC Academic Leadership Development Program

• Kristin Higgins, head of the Department of Counseling, Leadership and Research Methods in the College of Education and Health Professions

• Suzanne Kucharczyk, head of the Curriculum and Instruction Department in the College of Education and Health Professions

• Shauna Morimoto, associate dean in the Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences

• Jeffrey Wolchok, head of the Department of Biomedical Engineering in the College of Engineering.

“I’d like to congratulate the 2024 SEC ALDP Fellows on this great honor and their achievements,” said Provost Terry Martin. “Each of these fellows has shown exemplary leadership, teaching and service within their units, and this program will help them grow as leaders at the U of A and in the SEC and apply what they learn to the vital work they do every day.”

The SEC ALDP identifies academic leaders and provides growth opportunities to advance their leadership skills and roles within their universities and the SEC. The SEC ALDP is composed of three components: a university-level development program designed by each institution for its fellows; two SEC-wide, three-day workshops held at specified SEC universities for all program participants; and a competitive alum fellowship, which offers former fellows additional development opportunities. One of the SEC ALDP workshops will be held at the U of A in February 2025.

Each SEC university selects up to four fellows to participate in the program each year.

About Kristin Higgins

Higgins joined the faculty at the U of A in the fall of 2006 as a visiting assistant professor in the Counselor Education Program. She became an assistant professor in 2008 and was promoted to associate professor in 2014. In addition, she currently serves as a clinical supervisor at the Ozark Guidance School Based Mental Health Services.

Her research focuses on counseling at-risk youth, stress and anxiety in children, and students with Asperger’s Syndrome and school-based needs. She has contributed to 21 publications and participated in more than 90 presentations. She has also helped secure nearly $5.5 million in competitive grant funding.

Higgins has received numerous awards for her work and service, including the Arkansas Association for Counselor Education and Supervision (ArACES) Rosenthal Award: Outstanding Service to the Counseling Profession in 2023; the Arkansas Counseling Association (ArCA) Barry Wingfield Counselor Education and Supervisor Excellence Award in 2019; the U of A Rehabilitation, Human Resources and Communication Disorders Department’s Outstanding Mentoring & Advising Award in 2018; U of A Rehabilitation, Human Resources and Communication Disorders Department’s Outstanding Teaching Award in 2016; the U of A Rehabilitation, Human Resources and Communication Disorders Department’s Outstanding Service Award in 2015; Arkansas Counseling Association Roger Herring Research Award in 2014; and the College of Education and Health Professions Outstanding Advising and Mentoring Award in 2013, among others.

Prior to joining the U of A, Higgins worked for several years at a community mental health counseling agency where she served as a clinical facilitator in the school-based counseling program. Higgins provided mental health counseling services to children and their families in a local elementary school. Higgins has also served as lead clinician in a residential program for older children.

Higgins holds a Ph.D. in counselor education and a master’s degree in counseling from the U of A. She received a bachelor’s degree in psychology and sociology from Vanderbilt University.

About Suzanne Kucharczyk

Kucharczyk joined the U of A in 2015 as an assistant professor of special education in the Curriculum and Instruction Department. She was promoted to associate professor in 2015 and joined the U of A Teaching Academy in 2023. She is currently the program coordinator of inclusive educational and clinical programs in addition to serving as the department head of Curriculum and Instruction.

Her research examines interdisciplinary implementation of evidence-based transition practices for youth with disabilities, implementation of professional development programs in schools and learning support for families, and professionals and organizational systems. She has contributed to 50 publications and participated in 88 presentations. She has been awarded more than $34 million in research and teaching grants.

Kucharczyk is the principal investigator of the Teaming for Transition (T4T) and Leaders for Transition (L4T) grants at the U of A. The T4T grant brings together an interdisciplinary group of faculty across six U of A programs to prepare graduate students to be effective partners in the development and implementation of transition programs for youth with disabilities.

She has received several awards for teaching, research and mentorship. Awards include the U of A’s Outstanding Faculty Mentor Award in 2023, the George Denny STAR Award from the U of A’s College of Education and Health Professions in 2022, the Outstanding Researcher Award from the U of A’s Department of Curriculum and Instruction in 2022, the Tom E. C. Smith Early Career Award from the Council for Exceptional Children’s (CEC) Division on Autism and Developmental Disabilities (DADD) in 2021, Outstanding Service Award from the U of A’s Department of Curriculum and Instruction in 2021 and Reviewer of the Year from the Career Development and Transition for Exceptional Individuals Journal in 2020, among others.

Prior to joining the U of A, Kucharczyk was an investigator for the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute and assistant research professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Kucharczyk was also the coordinator of the National Professional Development Center on ASD, where she collaborated on the 2014 literature review of evidence-based practices for children and youth with autism spectrum disorder and the revision of the Autism Program Environment Rating Scale.

Kucharczyk earned an Ed.D. in organizational learning and leadership from Teachers College, Columbia University. She earned her master’s degree in educational policy studies and educational organization and leadership and her bachelor’s degree in special education from the University of Illinois, Urbana.

About Shauna Morimoto

Morimoto joined the U of A in 2008 as an assistant professor of sociology and was promoted to associate professor with tenure in 2014, serving as the chair of the Department of Sociology and Criminology from 2020-2023. Morimoto was selected as the Fulbright College Visiting Faculty Fellow at Lucy Cavendish College, Cambridge University, during the 2015-16 academic year, and she was promoted to full professor in 2023. In addition to currently serving as associate dean for Fulbright College, she is the principal investigator for the NSF ADVANCE grant, “UA ENGAGE.”

Her research interests include organizational inequalities, democratic participation and social change, and institutional transformation. She is the author of two books, more than 40 journal articles, book chapters and other publications and has presented her research at numerous national and international conferences and professional meetings. Morimoto has secured more than $1.6 million in intra- and extra-mural funding for her research.

Having received many honors and awards for her teaching, research and leadership, Morimoto was recognized as an Extraordinary Woman by the Chancellor’s Commission on Women at the U of A in 2021. She was selected for the UARK Leaders program in 2021-22 and nominated for the Fulbright Master Teacher Award at the U of A in 2013 and 2015. Other awards include a New Faculty Commendation for Teaching Commitment from the U of A in 2009 and the Capstone Teaching Award from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2008, among others.

Prior to joining the U of A, Morimoto was a visiting scholar in the Department of Sociology at Texas A&M University. She received a Ph.D. and a master’s degree in sociology from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and a bachelor’s degree in history from the University of Pittsburgh.

About Jeffrey Wolchok

Wolchok joined the U of A in 2011 as an assistant professor of biomedical engineering and a faculty member in the cell and molecular biology program. He was promoted to associate professor in 2017. He was named the interim department head of the Department of Biomedical Engineering in 2022 and became the head of the department in 2024. He also serves as an adjunct research scientist in orthopedics at UAMS, a position he has held since 2016.

His lab uses diverse themes in material science, biomechanics, cell biology and regenerative medicine to develop biomaterial-based strategies capable of repairing damaged tissues. He has contributed to 45 research publications and 59 conference proceedings. He has received $3.5 million in research support.

Wolchok has received several awards for his research, mentorship, teaching and service. He received the Department of Biomedical Engineering Faculty Service Award six times between 2013 and 2022, the U of A Outstanding Mentor Award from the Office of Nationally Competitive Awards nine times between 2012 and 2022, the Arkansas Biosciences Institute Researcher of the Year in 2019, the Department of Biomedical Engineering Outstanding Researcher Award in 2016, the U of A Faculty Gold Medal in 2013 and the U of A Commitment To Teaching Award in 2012.

Prior to joining the U of A, Wolchok was a research assistant professor and postdoctoral scientist at the University of Utah. He earned a Ph.D. in bioengineering from the University of Utah, and he received a master’s degree and bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of California, Davis.