Greenwood and McGeehan Recipients of 2026 Chambliss Faculty Research Awards

Greenwood and McGeehan Recipients of 2026 Chambliss Faculty Research Awards

Photo (L to R): Dr. Carlson R. Chambliss, professor emeriti, physical sciences; Dr. Joleen Greenwood, professor, Society, History, and Culture; Dr. Philip Cavalier, university president.

Photo (L to R): Dr. Carlson R. Chambliss, professor emeriti, physical sciences; Dr. Catherine McGeehan, professor, Elementary, Middle Level, Library and Technologies Education; Dr. Philip Cavalier, university president.

KUTZTOWN, Pa. - Dr. Joleen Greenwood, professor, Society, History, and Culture, and Dr. Catherine McGeehan, professor, Elementary, Middle Level, Library and Technologies Education, have been awarded Kutztown University's 2026 Chambliss Faculty Research Awards for their extraordinary research and scholarship endeavors. The awards were presented during the university's Faculty and Staff Convocation and Celebration Friday, Aug. 21.

The Chambliss Faculty Research Award, inaugurated in 2004 through a gift from Dr. Carlson R. Chambliss, professor emeriti of physical science, is meant to recognize the very highest achievement in research and scholarship and can be awarded only once within a person's career.

Greenwood has been at KU since 2008 and served as the department chair of Anthropology and Sociology from 2014-19. Greenwood also served as interim associate dean in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences from 2019-20. Greenwood earned Bachelor of Arts degrees in psychology and sociology from Saint Vincent College (Latrobe, Pa.), a Master of Arts in sociology from Indiana University of Pennsylvania and a Ph.D. in Sociology from the University at Albany.

Greenwood specializes in family sociology; much of her research focuses on gray divorce and family relationships, especially adult sibling relationships, the parent-child relationship and identical twinships. Greenwood has published scholarly articles in the Journal of Divorce and Remarriage and has served on the editorial board for the Journal of Divorce and Remarriage (now Family Transitions).

Greenwood, an identical twin, had always wanted to conduct research on identical twins and began this research project in 2016. Greenwood was awarded a KU Research Grant in support of this research that involved traveling to the annual Twins Days Festival in Twinsburg, Ohio, the world's largest gathering of twins and interviewing more than 100 identical twins. Following her participation in the research portion of the festival, Greenwood's research was highlighted in an article by Vox media (2016 by Brian Resnick) and later featured in a radio interview by WHYY Radio/Radio Times in Philadelphia. Greenwood's extensive research on identical twins led to the publication of her first monograph Identical Twins: Adult Reflections on the Twinship (2018), focusing on the identical twin relationship and its effects on other relationships, including sibling relationships, the parent-child relationship, relationships with spouses and parents, as well as friendships. Greenwood's research has also been featured on Talk Radio Europe in an interview with Selina Mackenzie for the Lifestyles Show in 2021.

Collaborative research for Greenwood includes research with KU faculty Georgeos Sirrakos and Lisa Frye, along with the award of an NSF CS for All grant for their research, "Development of a culturally relevant pedagogical framework for computer science and computational thinking in high schools." Greenwood has also co-authored an article with KU sociology faculty Jason Crockett, Albert Fu and Mauricia John in Teaching Sociology.

McGeehan serves as director of the Doctorate in Transformational Teaching and Learning and coordinates the Graduate Reading and Instructional Coaching programs. Prior to entering higher education, she worked as an elementary teacher, literacy coach and district literacy coordinator.

McGeehan's research focuses broadly on literacy education, teacher preparation and professional learning. Her current scholarship examines the influence of Science of Reading policies on literacy instruction and teacher preparation, reading comprehension instruction, literacy leadership and the development of systemic and sustainable school-university partnerships. She also studies how sustained professional learning and collaborative models of professional development contribute to teacher collective efficacy, instructional change and organizational improvement.

Her scholarship has appeared in many tier 1 publications including The Reading Teacher, Literacy Research and Instruction, the Journal of Digital Learning in Teacher Education and the Journal of Organizational and Educational Leadership. She regularly presents her research at national and state conferences and is actively engaged in professional leadership within the literacy field. She currently serves as executive secretary of the Association of Literacy Educators and Researchers (ALER) and has held numerous leadership positions in literacy organizations at the local, state and national levels.