Three Franklin faculty members named 2025-2026 Aspire Fellows

The University of Georgia has named 11 faculty members – including three from the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences – to the 2025-2026 Aspire Fellows cohort. The Fellows represent seven UGA schools and colleges as well as the Center for Teaching and Learning.

Established in 2017, the Aspire Fellows program is designed for mid-career and senior faculty on any career track to complete a signature project that extends their professional impact. This interdisciplinary cohort will engage in a series of workshops that augment skills including project management, leadership and team building. The program fosters strong community connections across the university and empowers seasoned faculty to navigate their role in the complex higher education landscape.

The 2025-2026 Aspire Fellows from Franklin are:

Drew Abney, associate professor and associate department head, department of psychology, Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, and faculty affiliate, UGA’s Institute for Artificial Intelligence. Abney is the lab director of the Developmental Dynamics Lab, which focuses on how behaviors and social interactions impact developmental trajectories throughout infancy and into childhood. His studies apply existing techniques from applied computational social science and dynamical systems theory. Additionally, his work employs new computational and analytic methods to understand the dynamics of human development.

Julie Grainy, senior lecturer and undergraduate assistant coordinator, department of microbiology, Franklin College of Arts and Sciences. With a focus on instruction and curriculum development, Grainy enriches undergraduate education through innovative curriculum design, such as implementing project-based learning and emphasizing transferable career skills. Grainy’s leadership responsibilities include directing a Study Away program in Munich, Germany, and coordinating the recruitment and mentoring of peer assistants for both lecture and lab courses to ensure collaborative and supportive learning environments. She serves on the executive committee of Scientists Engaged in Education Research Center.

Sharina Maíllo-Pozo, associate professor, department of Romance languages, Franklin College of Arts and Sciences. Maíllo-Pozo also serves as faculty director of the Spanish Residential Community at Mary Lyndon Hall. Her scholarship centers on Latinx and Caribbean literature and culture, with a particular emphasis on the cultural production of the Dominican Republic and its diaspora in the United States. She is the author of “Bridging Sonic Borders: Popular Music in Contemporary Dominican/Dominicanyork Literature” and co-editor of several published and forthcoming special issues. Her work has been published in numerous peer-reviewed journals and edited volumes. Maíllo-Pozo has held fellowships from the City University of New York’s Dominican Studies Institute and the Willson Center for Humanities and Arts, among others. She is the recipient of several teaching awards including the 2025 CLASP Faculty Teaching Award.

Read the full announcement.