MEET THE
Evaluation Team
Evaluation is one of five roles LiveWell Greenville fulfills. Our Evaluation Team is a collaborative, multi-university evaluation team that engages researchers from multiple Social and Behavioral Health discipline. The Evaluators place an emphasis on evaluating all community-based projects with the goal of developing and implementing best practices in each of our community settings.
To date, the Evaluation Team has published 15 peer review manuscripts, and presented in 13 State or Regional Conferences and 16 National conferences.
Melissa Fair, Principle Investigator
Melissa Fair, MPH joined LiveWell Greenville in 2013 as the At Play Workgroup Specialist and later transitioned into the role of Evaluation Coordinator. Melissa serves as LiveWell Greenville’s Principal Investigator overseeing the strategic direction of our evaluation activities and the coordination of a multi-disciplinary team of researchers from Furman, Clemson and USC. She is also Director of Community Action at the Institute for the Advancement of Community Health at Furman University.
She guides the LiveWell Greenville evaluation team, who provide assessments of the coalition’s impact on creating healthier environments, click here to read her resume. Melissa received a BS from Furman University, an MPH from USC Arnold School of Public Health, and is currently a fourth year doctoral student at the USC Arnold School of Public Health.
Current Evaluators
Dr. Shaniece Criss, MPA, MPH, Sc.D.
Dr. Shaniece Criss, MPA, MPH, Sc.D. is an Assistant Professor of Health Science at Furman University and a community-engaged qualitative researcher addressing health equity and health communication and is the Communication Evaluator for LiveWell Greenville and she is currently serving as an Evaluator for Build Trust, Build Health. Dr. Criss is also a fellow of Riley Institute’s Diversity Leaders Initiative, Shi Center for Sustainability, Shucker Leadership Institute, Collaborative for Community-Engaged Learning, as well as, a Gallup-Certified Strengths Coach. Dr. Criss is an elected official on Travelers Rest City Council and serves on the board of directors for Prisma Health, Public Education Partners, Dining for Women, and SC YMCA Youth in Government & Teen Achievers. She has served on the Greenville County Human Relations Commission and Travelers Rest Municipal Election Commission. In 2019, she was named a “ChangeMaker” by the Multiplying Good and a Greenville County Schools Hall of Fame Inductee.
Dr. Morgan Hughey, MPH, Ph.D.
Dr. Morgan Hughey, MPH, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Health and Human Performance at the College of Charleston. She received both of her graduate degrees from the University of South Carolina’s Arnold School of Public Health and her Bachelor’s Degree from Furman University. Dr. Hughey studies how the community built environment influences physical activity, healthy eating, and obesity. She previously evaluated the annual Park Hop initiative and the Parks Quality study. Morgan works to create a safer, more active, and more equitable places to walk and bike. She enjoys spending time outdoors.
Dr. Andrew Kaczynski, Ph.D.
Dr. Andrew Kaczynski, Ph.D. serves as the lead evaluator for the At Play workgroup. Currently Dr. Kaczynski is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Health Promotion, Education, and Behavior within the Arnold School of Public Health and is also affiliated with USC’s Prevention Research Center. Andy’s research focuses on the impact of community environments and policies on physical activity and obesity, with a particular emphasis on the role of parks in promoting active living and health among children and adults. In addition, Andy serves as Director of the BEACH Lab at USC.
Past Evaluators
Mike Winiski
Mike Winiski is the Executive Director of Community-Engaged Learning (CEL) at Furman University, collarborating with local community partners and Furman faculty and students on a variety of initiatives. CEL’s mission is to foster campus-community partnerships that promote inclusive and sustainable communities through transformative educational experiences that contribute to the public good. Most recently the CEL team collaborated with Furman faculty, students, and alumni to conduct a qualitative and quantitative study of neighborhood change and gentrification in partnership with the United Way of Greenville County. The interdisciplinary study involved students and faculty from 5 departments. Mike specializes in spatial analysis and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and teaches courses in the Earth and Environmental Sciences department. He has an undergraduate degree in chemistry from Furman University and graduate degrees in science education and GIS from Wake Forest and Penn State University.
Dr. Karen Kemper, MSPH, Ph.D.
Dr. Karen Kemper, MSPH, Ph.D., is an associate professor in the Department of Public Health Sciences at Clemson University. Her research area addresses obesity prevention, physical activity promotion, and healthy nutrition in youth. She began working with LiveWell Greenville’s At Out-of-School Time Workgroup in 2011 and in 2012 became the evaluator for the Afterschool Initiative as part of the Community Transformation Grant awarded to LiveWell. Dr. Kemper is also a partner with Monaview Elementary School’s 21st Century Community Learning Center grant and implements health promotion programs to the children and families enrolled in the Monaview Magic Initiative after school program.
Dr. Arelis Moore de Peralta MD, MEd, MPH, PhD
Dr. Arelis Moore de Peralta (MD, MEd, MPH, Dominican Republic; PhD, Clemson) is a medical epidemiologist and social scientist with experience in health disparities research in the US, and Latin America. As a Tenure Track assistant professor of community health, with an inter-disciplinary appointment in the Department of Languages at Clemson University, her current research includes Community-based Participatory Research (CBPR) for health, partnerships to build healthier communities, and community development and she is currently serving as an Evaluator for Build Trust, Build Health. Dr. More de Peralra has received the following awards: the Vera Paster Award in 2019, in recognition of her work with Latino immigrants, the Kimbrough-Melton Parents Award in 2010, the Graduate Student Advising and Mentoring Award from the CU/CBSHS in 2015, and Bradley Mentoring Award on Creative Inquiry in 2018. She was a faculty member in the School of Medicine at the Ibero-American University (UNIBE) in Santo Domingo. She coordinated disease preventative and control programs in the Dominican Republic Ministry of Public Health for 18 years, and consulted nationally and internationally for the Panamerican Health Organization (PAHO), USAID, UNICEF, and the CDC.
Dr. Courtney Quinn
Dr. Courtney Quinn, is a Visiting Research Associate at Furman University. Her research focuses on human and social dimensions of regional food systems and includes stakeholders from farmers to consumers. She has served as an academic partner in community-based participatory research projects for The Hispanic Alliance and the Greenville Homeless Alliance. Currently she is collaborating with LiveWell Greenville on a social network analysis of organizations focusing on food security in Greenville County.
Dr. Meghan Slining, PhD, MPH
Dr. Meghan Slining, PhD, MPH is an Associate Professor of Health Sciences at Furman University. Her research provides sound scientific evidence to support public policy and action aimed at preventing pediatric obesity. Trained as a nutritional epidemiologist, she has published extensively on US child diet and US State regulations related to feeding, physical activity and obesity prevention in early childhood childcare settings. She has also served as the lead academic partner in two community-based participatory research projects for the LiveWell Early Childhood and At Worship initiatives. Her current project is a collaboration with LiveWell Greenville intended to advance understanding of scalable obesity prevention interventions in early childhood settings. Dr. Slining enjoys teaching and mentoring students who are passionate about making the world a better place.
Dr. Rhonda Felder, PhD, MPT
Dr. Rhonda Felder, PhD, MPT, is a physical therapist in Greenville, South Carolina that worked as the LiveWell Greenville At the Doctor Workgroup evaluator. Dr. Felder has worked both internationally and domestically in a variety of rehabilitation settings. She is passionate about the field of community health promotion and public health. Dr. Felder is particularly interested in the patient/clinician relationship as it pertains to compliance and motivation.
Dr. Lynette M. Gibson, Ph.D., RN
Dr. Lynette M. Gibson, Ph.D., RN is Associate Dean (Greenville Site), Professor and Director of Research in Nursing at the Mary Black School of Nursing, USC Upstate. She served as an evaluator for LiveWell Greenville’s the At Worship initiative and graduated from the MUSC with a BSN in Nursing, Clemson University with an MS (Nursing) and the University of South Carolina with a Ph.D. in Nursing Science. Dr. Gibson completed a fellowship at the Center for Health Equity Research at the University of Pennsylvania in 2014. She is passionate about research on cancer as well as culturally appropriate interventions using Community-based participatory methods. She has published in peer-reviewed journals, and has presented internationally, nationally, regionally, and locally
Dr. Toshua W. Kennedy, PhD, MPH, APRN, PHNCS-BC
Dr. Toshua W. Kennedy, PhD, MPH, APRN, PHNCS-BC joined the LiveWell Greenville at Worship Workgroup in December, 2016. As part of her role with the At Worship workgroup, Kennedy collaborates with Dr. Lynette Gibson to implement and evaluate the At Worship Photovoice Project. Kennedy is an Assistant Professor of Nursing at the Mary Black School of Nursing, USC Upstate in Greenville, South Carolina. Health promotion, disease prevention, and population-focused care are her primary areas of interest, and Kennedy’s personal mantra is Ambulation is a Beautiful Thing.
Dr. Jeanine Stratton, Ph.D.
Dr. Jeanine Stratton, Ph.D., worked as the Evaluation Specialist for the LiveWell Greenville On the Menu program. She is an applied scientist and Board Certified Behavior Analyst in the area of behavior change and consumer behavior. Dr. Stratton is the Robert E Hughes Endowed Associate Professor in the Business and Accounting Department at Furman University. She teaches interdisciplinary courses on behavioral approaches to organizational performance improvement, in marketing practices, and consumer behavior. She regularly mentors students on collaborative projects in the local Upstate business community.