BROOKINGS – The annual South Dakota State University Celebration of Faculty Excellence recognized faculty members, researchers and scientists last Thursday. The event honors faculty members in the university’s colleges for outstanding research, teaching and service.
Before the evening awards ceremony, four faculty scholars delivered Sewrey lectures to raise awareness and show scholarship in the categories of research and scholarship, creative and fine arts, teaching and learning, and service.
Maaz Gardezi delivered the David Fee Memorial Lecture. Gardeezi is an assistant professor in the Department of Sociology and Rural Studies. Fee taught philosophy and religion at SDSU for more than 20 years. Annual presenters of the named lecture are selected based on their topics and contributions to Fee’s example of crossdisciplinary learning, inquiry and collegiality.
Named a distinguished professor was Bob Thaler, a professor and SDSU Extension specialist in the Department of Animal Science.
Excellence in Teaching and Research awards were awarded to these faculty members:
• Dr. Sherwood and Elizabeth Berg Young Faculty Award to Alham Abuatiq, an assistant professor in the College of Nursing;
• Dr. Harold and Barbara Bailey Award for Excellence in Academic Department Leadership to Teresa Keys Hall, department head/professor in the Department of Construction and Operations Management;
• F.O. Butler Award for Excellence in Research to Wenfeng An, an associate professor in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences;
• F.O. Butler Award for Excellence in Teaching to Madhav Nepal, a professor in the Department of Biology and Microbiology;
• F.O. Butler Award for Excellence in Community Service to James Wood, an associate professor in the School of Performing Arts;
• F.O. Butler Award for Excellence in Outreach to Emmanuel Byamukama, an associate professor in the Department of Agronomy, Horticulture and Plant Science;
• Edward Patrick Hogan Award for Teaching Excellence to Rosie Nold, assistant department head/professor in the Department of Animal Science; and Rebecca Kuehl, an associate professor in the School of Communication and Journalism;
• Excellence in Graduate Student Mentoring to Sharon Smith, an associate professor in the Department of English;
• Excellence in Online Teaching Award to Marina Hendricks, an assistant professor in the School of Communication and Journalism;
• Excellence in Outreach and Engagement Award to Matt Miller, assistant department head/professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry;
• Timothy J. Nichols Outstanding Undergraduate Advising Award to Howard Bonnemann, a lecturer in the Department of Dairy and Food Science; and
• Faculty Award for Global Engagement to Evren Celick Wiltse, an associate professor in the School of American and Global Studies.
The 2021 Outstanding Researchers, Scholars, Performers and Artists from the university’s colleges include:
• College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences Outstanding Researcher to Anne Fennell, distinguished professor in the Department of Agronomy, Horticulture and Plant Science;
• College of Arts Humanities and Social Sciences Outstanding Researcher to Luz Angélica Kirschner, an assistant professor in the School of American and Global Studies;
• College of Education and Human Sciences Outstanding Researcher to Hung-Ling (Stella) Liu, an assistant professor in the Department of Health and Nutritional Sciences;
• Jerome J. Lohr College of Engineering Outstanding Researcher to Xijin Ge, a professor in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics;
• College of Natural Sciences Outstanding Researcher to Xiaoyang Zhang, a professor/senior research scientist in the Geospatial Sciences Center for Excellence;
• College of Nursing Outstanding Researcher to Sarah Mollman, an assistant professor in undergraduate nursing; and
• College of Pharmacy and Allied Health Professions Outstanding Scholar to Joshua Reineke, an assistant professor in the Department of Pharmacy and Allied Health.
Delivering the Sewrey lectures were (area, name, title, department):
• Creative and Fine Arts: Jacob Wallace, an associate professor in the School of Performing Arts, and Laura Diddle, a professor in the School of Performing Arts;
• Research/Scholarship: Joshua Reineke, an assistant professor in the Department of Pharmacy and Allied Health;
• Teaching/Learning: Molly Enz, a professor in the School of American and Global Studies; and
• Service: Michael Walsh, an associate professor in the School of Performing Arts.
