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Leading IUPUI teachers, researchers, mentors, students recognized at year-end awards convocations

Apr 25, 2019
Chancellor Nasser Paydar
Chancellor Nasser Paydar hosts the annual Chancellor’s Academic Honors Convocation, celebrating excellence at IUPUI.Photo by Liz Kaye, Indiana University

The finest teachers, researchers, mentors and students of IUPUI were recognized April 18 at the annual Chancellor’s Academic Honors Convocation in Hine Hall Auditorium.

The convocation, hosted by Chancellor Nasser H. Paydar, celebrates excellence across all facets of IUPUI’s mission: teaching and learning; research, scholarship and creative activity; civic engagement; and diversity.

“IUPUI’s Honors Convocation offers an unparalleled opportunity to celebrate academic excellence among our faculty, staff, and students at IUPUI with a special focus on key priorities for our campus, including first-rate teaching, outstanding research, civic engagement and, above all, student success,” Paydar said. “This year, I deeply appreciated the opportunity to bestow a Chancellor’s Medallion on Uday Sukhatme during this convocation for all that he did in his role as executive vice chancellor and dean of the faculties at IUPUI from 2006 to 2012.”

Charles Goodlett, a professor in the Purdue School of Science, and Elizabeth Kryder-Reid, a professor in the Indiana University School of Liberal Arts, were named Chancellor’s Professors, the most distinguished appointment a faculty member can receive at IUPUI.

The Charles R. Bantz Chancellor’s Community Fellowship was awarded April 9 at the Bringle and Hatcher Civic Engagement Showcase. Created in 2015 in recognition of the former chancellor’s leadership and contributions to the campus and community, this fellowship reflects Bantz’s dedication to research that creates university-community partnerships and results in community impact.

Elizabeth Nelson, an assistant professor in the IU School of Liberal Arts, received the Charles R. Bantz Chancellor’s Community Fellowship award for her work as coordinator of the Indiana Women’s Prison History Project, where a group of incarcerated scholars are publishing original research.

The Charles R. Bantz Chancellor’s Community Scholar Award recipients were Kim Saxton, clinical professor, and Charlotte Westerhaus-Renfrow, clinical assistant professor, both of the Kelley School of Business, for their work on Advancing Indy Women: A Year-Long Journey of Professional Development. This award was also given at the Bringle and Hatcher Civic Engagement Showcase.

In 2000, the Trustees’ Teaching Award was created by the IU Board of Trustees to honor faculty who have made a positive impact on learning through teaching. Each year, schools are given allocations and select their honorees based on documented student learning. For the 2018-19 academic year, 99 faculty members received the Trustees’ Teaching Award.

Other awards focusing on teaching and their recipients were:

  • Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching: Lingma Acheson, senior lecturer, Purdue School of Science.
  • Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Multicultural Teaching: Estela Ene, associate professor, IU School of Liberal Arts.
  • Chancellor’s Diversity Scholar Award: Ronda Henry Anthony, associate professor, IU School of Liberal Arts.

Awards honoring research work and their recipients were:

  • Bantz-Petronio Translating Research Into Practice Faculty Award: Bradley Ray, associate professor, Paul H. O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs.
  • Glenn W. Irwin, Jr., M.D. Research Scholar Award: Yao Liang, professor, Purdue School of Science.

Contributions by campus mentors to strengthen IUPUI’s academic reputation were also recognized:

  • Gerald L. Bepko Outstanding Administrator Award: Simon Atkinson, vice chancellor for research; Simon Rhodes, dean, Purdue School of Science.
  • Alvin S. Bynum Award for Excellence in Academic Mentoring for faculty – Teresa Sosa, assistant professor, IU School of Education.
  • Alvin S. Bynum Award for Excellence in Academic Mentoring for staff – Amy Ann Jones Richardson, assistant director of recruitment, retention and academic services, IU School of Liberal Arts.

Both Bynum awards were presented at the Division of Undergraduate Education’s spring awards convocation April 11.

Awards presented to recognize contributions in civic engagement were:

  • >Chancellor’s Faculty Award for Excellence in Civic Engagement – Silvia Bigatti, professor, Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health.
  • Chancellor’s Community Award for Excellence in Civic Engagement – East Indiana Area Health Education Center.
  • Glenn W. Irwin, Jr., M.D. Experience Excellence Award – Charles Goodlett, professor, Purdue School of Science; Julie Goodspeed-Chadwick, professor, Division of Liberal Arts, IUPUC.

Three award categories honor students:

  • Chancellor’s Scholars.
  • Chancellor’s Award for Outstanding Undergraduate Research – Celia Leticia Ochoa, Purdue School of Engineering and Technology.
  • Sherry Queener Graduate Student Excellence Award: Danny Carroll, IU School of Social Work; Timothy McFarlane, Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health.

See the complete list of all honorees.

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