FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. -- University of Arkansas staff member Phil Gerke was recently honored by the American Association for Adult and Continuing Education for a poster presentation on his research about faith-based nonformal adult education.

Gerke advises students in the undergraduate human resource and workforce development program in the College of Education and Health Professions. He holds a doctorate in curriculum and instruction from the U of A.

The poster about his research was named third in the Outstanding Poster Sessions competition at the conference held in November in Charleston, South Carolina.

In his research, Gerke surveyed participants in adult evangelical faith-based nonformal education settings. He found 86 percent perceived perspective transformation through the experience. Influential individuals, personal reflection, and thought-provoking learning assignments were significant positive predictors of all four factors of perspective transformation that he examined.