Outstanding Staff Award

Kathy Wilson
Department of Human Development & Family Studies

HHS Outstanding Staff Award

Ms. April Taylor
SWK

This award recognizes a member of the staff in HHS who provides outstanding leadership and service to our School that goes beyond the normal scope of their responsibilities.  This year’s awardee epitomizes those qualities.

“April is always first in line to make a meal for someone having surgery, donate to a cause, or just spend a little extra time helping a new faculty member budget their travel money to make it go further.”

The Contributions to Diversity and Inclusion Award

Dr. Jeremy Rinker
PCS

The recognizes and rewards faculty and staff who make significant contributions to diversity, equity, and inclusion in health and human sciences professions. This year’s award goes to someone whose dedication to diversity and inclusiveness is evident across his research, teaching and community engagement.

• Studies discourse, culture, justice, oppression and the collective trauma of conflict, particularly with Asian communities
• Collaborative work with Dr. Dharod in Nutrition with the Bhutanese refugee community in Greensboro
• Research on Dalit social movement activism in India and leading summer study abroad trip to India
• Locally serves as the Lead Facilitator for the Restorative Justice Focus Group of the Counter Stories initiative
• Contributes to numerous blogs and podcasts
• Teaching: Helps students develop creative peace theory and practice, demonstrated through numerous student testimonials

The HHS/UNCG Teaching Excellence Award

Dr. Carrie Rosario
PHE

The award is made possible each year by the Office of the Provost. Faculty who receive this award are automatically nominated for the University Alumni Teaching Awards.

• Focus on student-centered learning
• Goal: To create an environment where students to learn as much about themselves as the material she presents.
• Leader in online education; students comment how interactive her distance course is
• Other student comments: Carrie is inspirational, knowledgeable, prepares them for real-world experiences

Dr. Kristine Lundgren, CSD – The Mary Frances Stone Teaching Excellence Award

The award was established in 1957 by her parents, Clarence & Jane Stone, to honor their daughter Mary, class of 1947.  This award is available to any faculty member in the School of HHS.

• Teaches graduate courses, including two inter-professional courses and distance courses
• Taught 3-week online course to students studying SLP in Guyana (they will be the first SLPs trained in their country)
• Advises doctoral students
• Focus on integrating student feedback to modify teaching style and assignments
• Her clinical experience helps prepare students for work in the field

The Jerry and Joan Morrison Tolley Gail M. Hennis Graduate Teaching Award

Dr. Pam Brown
KIN

This award is available for faculty in Communication Sciences and Disorders, Community and Therapeutic Recreation, Kinesiology and Public Health Education.

• Director of the KIN online EdD program (first cohort will graduate this year)
• Teaches 18 credit hours per AY
• Advising and serving as committee member on 37 EdD dissertations this year
• Student feedback: She is approachable, accessible, organized and thoughtful

“She is the reason that many students’ dreams of earning a doctorate are coming true. This program is a direct result of her professional ability to accomplish great things in academia.”

The HHS Community Engaged Scholarship Award

Dr. Tanya Coakley
SWK

This award recognizes and rewards faculty who demonstrate excellence in scholarly engagement with community partners.

• Involved in community engaged scholarship for the past 15 years
• Has NIH funded project on fathers and sons and sexual decision-making
• Conducts research in the African-American barbershop community
• Organizes a Fatherhood Conference
• Mentors junior researchers, particularly women of color

The HHS Graduate Mentoring Award

Dr. Ang Chen
KIN

This award recognizes and rewards faculty who demonstrate excellence in mentoring graduate students, by assisting them in clarifying and advancing their academic and professional goals. The recipient of this award will automatically be nominated for the UNCG Graduate School Outstanding Faculty Mentor Award.

• Trains the next generation of scholars who can think creatively and critically, solve problems in academia, and envision the future to advance the discipline
• Empowers students to develop a sense of ownership of their study
• Emphasis on goal development, by semester and long-term career goals
• Initiates process and structure for graduate student annual reviews
• Creates a supportive environment and caring for wellbeing while holding high expectations
• His graduate students have been very successful – many awards and impressive accomplishments

The Junior Research Excellence Award

Dr. Jennifer Erasquin
PHE

• Conducts innovative research that is meaningful and high-quality: Focuses on the social determinants of health and HIV prevention and reducing disparities. Her work in this area has been recognized by the United National Program on HIV/AIDS.
• Has co-edited book on women’s sexual health across the lifespan
• Has funding on two internal interdisciplinary grants, co-investigator on several NIH grant submissions
• Helps develop ties with the InterAmerican Center for Global Health, with the plan to provide research opportunities for faculty and students
• Is an invaluable and respected graduate mentor and accomplished methodologist

The Senior Research Excellence Award

Dr. David Wyrick
PHE, IPAHW

This award recognizes faculty who demonstrate excellence in their research.

• Is Founder and Director of the Institute to Promote Athlete Health and Wellness
• Conducts preventative science with a focus on student-athlete health
• Has extensive research portfolio and collaborations at UNCG and beyond
• Is PI or co-I for more than 20 NIH-funded projects
• Has published 37 scientific articles, several under review
• Is innovative in research methods, program evaluation and intervention development
• Created myPlaybook – web-based invention to reduce substance abuse in college athletes – adopted by the NCAA Sport Science Institute and National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics. Being used by hundreds of college and university athletic departments

HHS Outstanding Staff Award

Ms. Diane Levine

HHS Office of Research

This award recognizes a member of the staff in HHS who provides outstanding leadership and service to our School that goes beyond the normal scope of their responsibilities.  This year’s awardee epitomizes those qualities.

Her nominators wrote that what distinguishes her from others is her unwavering devotion to duty, her work ethic, and her service to the School and University. She wholeheartedly welcomes new opportunities and responsibilities and is generous in sharing her expertise and successes with others.

The Contributions to Diversity and Inclusion Award

Dr. Tanya Coakley

This award recognizes and rewards faculty and staff who make significant contributions to diversity, equity, and inclusion in health and human sciences professions.

This year’s award goes to a faculty person who works tirelessly in mentoring students, particularly students of color, to be successful graduates and effective researchers. Her example and leadership have helped us with our high retention/graduate rates especially for African American males.

The HHS/UNCG Teaching Excellence Award

Dr. Mike Perko

Department of Public Health Education

This award is made possible each year by the Office of the Provost. Faculty who receive this award are automatically nominated for the University Alumni Teaching Awards.  This year’s awardee views his classes as a community and his students as colleagues.

He thrives in the world of hundreds of relationships with outstanding students, in the richness of passing on knowledge, and in the celebration of graduating seniors year after year. Students speak of his “realness” and remember his encouragement to never doubt their abilities.

The Mary Frances Stone Teaching Excellence Award

Dr. Greg Daniels

Department of Kinesiology

This award was established in 1957 by her parents, Clarence & Jane Stone, to honor their daughter Mary, class of 1947. This award is available to any faculty member in the School of HHS.

Nominees said of this year’s Stone awardee that he taught much more than the material; he exemplified how a professional should look and act. Another student wrote “In a course that was considered “easy”, he turned the curriculum around and made the class worth my while, incorporating things we actually will need to know in life.”

The Jerry and Joan Morrison Tolley Gail M. Hennis Graduate Teaching Award

Dr. Chris Rhea

Department of Kinesiology

This award is available for faculty in Communication Sciences and Disorders, Community and Therapeutic Recreation, Kinesiology and Public Health Education.  This year’s awardee has used accessibility and meaningfulness as guiding principles in all the courses he teaches.

Making Biomechanics meaningful to students is a challenge, but one that he met with great success. He tied biomechanics’ principles to current lay themes and the important work that is being conducted right now. Further, in his Research Methods course, he artfully meets the needs of advanced students and applies the material across many different sub-disciplines.

The HHS Community Engaged Scholarship Award

Dr. Sudha Shreeniwas

Department of Human Development and Family Studies

This award recognizes and rewards faculty who demonstrate excellence in scholarly engagement with community partners.  This year’s awardee’s community engaged research and outreach activities have involved several North Carolina organizations that provide family, health, and quality of life related services to diverse adult populations, ranging from seniors with cognitive diagnoses, to immigrant, ethnic minority groups.

In her teaching, research and community engagement, she partners with communities, peers, and students across departments and institutions, providing visibility to the needs of our local community.

The HHS Graduate Mentoring Award

Dr. Ron Morrison

Department of Nutrition

This award recognizes and rewards faculty who demonstrate excellence in mentoring graduate students, by assisting them in clarifying and advancing their academic and professional goals. The recipient of this award will automatically be nominated for the UNCG Graduate School Outstanding Faculty Mentor Award.

This year’s awardee believes that a mentor should be willing to fully share their experiences, not only those in which they were successful, but more importantly, those in which they failed. He wrote that this is critical because mentees should also be allowed to experience their own failure, preferably in the safety of a trusted mentor who, in turn, guides them through the steps to perseverance.

The Junior Research Excellence Award

Dr. Louisa Raisbeck

Department of Kinesiology

This award recognizes a faculty member who demonstrates excellence in research and potential for gwell well-smth as a scholar. This year’s awardee is becoming a leader in her area due to the two lines of complimentary research that she has been developing. The first line of work is applied, looking at the influence of an external focus of attention in movement; here she is leading the charge to develop evidence-based practices for clinicians.

The second line of research focuses on understanding the mechanisms of motor learning using neuroimaging; specifically understanding how changes in the brain help facilitate changes in motor behavior.

The Senior Research Excellence Award

Dr. Jonathan Tudge

Department of Human Development and Family Studies

This award recognizes faculty who demonstrate excellence in their research. This year’s awardee is nationally and internationally recognized for his scholarship focusing on children’s social, moral, and cognitive development as it unfolds across ecological contexts of race/ethnicity, social class, and country of origin.

His research program is noteworthy not only for its quality and productivity, but also for his success in forming research collaborations across the globe, bringing together academic minds from numerous cultures. His current research project, the Developing Gratitude Project, looks at how gratitude emerges and changes across childhood and adolescence and has the potential to yield findings that can improve the lives of young people.

HHS Graduate Mentoring Award

Dr. Esther Leerkes

HHS recognizes and rewards faculty who demonstrate excellence in mentoring graduate students, by assisting them in clarifying and advancing their academic and professional goals. This year’s awardee, Dr. Esther Leerkes has a mentoring philosophy that encourages students to pave a path of their own interests, rather than follow identically in her footsteps.

Dr. Leerkes facilitates the networking with multiple faculty that allows students to follow their passion, while challenging them to engage in work that matters in the “real world.” And, she doesn’t stop mentoring students once they graduate. She continues to support her students as they begin their professional careers. Congratulations, Esther!

Community Engaged Scholarship Award

Dr. Donna Duffy

Center for Women’s Health and Wellness

Dr. Donna Duffy is this year’s Community Engaged Scholarship awardee. As Director of the Program for the Advancement of Girls and Women in Sport and Physical Activity, she engages students in the work in ways that contribute to their education, partners with the community to conduct research that is important and timely, and disseminates evidence-based knowledge to improve practice.

Dr. Duffy is a collaborator and educator at heart providing our students with wonderful opportunities to participate in research and educational initiatives with a range of community partners.

HHS Teaching Excellence Award

Dr. Catherine Scott-Little

Department of Human Development and Family Studies

The HHS Teaching Excellence Award is made possible each year by the Office of the Provost. The 2014-15 awardee, Dr. Catherine Scott-Little of the Department of Human Development and Family Studies, is described by her nominator as one of UNCG’s very best teachers.

HDF Department Chair Dr. Mark Fine stated that in his four years at UNCG, he has never heard a comment that was anything but sterling about her teaching. An atmosphere of mutual respect in the classroom is evident in Dr. Scott-Little’s teaching. Students describe her as ‘awesome, positive, inspiring and encouraging’. Congratulations!

Mary Frances Stone Teaching Excellence Award

Prof. Karen ‘Pea’ Poole

The Mary Frances Stone Teaching Excellence Award was established to honor a faculty member who displays teaching excellence in the School of Home Economics, now the School of Health and Human Sciences. Prof. Karen ‘Pea’ Poole, Department of Kinesiology, is the 2014-15 awardee.

She was described by her Chair as someone who is an exceptionally strong and effective teacher who loves to teach and is able and willing to teach a breadth of courses in the department. Students are very complimentary of her teaching and appreciate her approachability, patience, encouragement, constructive feedback–and, especially her sense of humor! Students know that Pea loves what she does!

Gail Hennis Graduate Teaching Award

Dr. Sharon Morrison

Department of Public Health Education

The Gail Hennis Graduate Teaching award is available for faculty in Communication Sciences and Disorders, Community and Therapeutic Recreation, Kinesiology and Public Health Education. Dr. Hennis was a long time faculty member in Kinesiology and former Assistant Dean of the Graduate School. This year’s awardee from the Department of Public Health Education was described by her chair as a dedicated professor who challenges her students to learn. She sets a high bar, and then helps students reach it. In her class, students must engage with the subject matter, but also with people.

This focus mirrors what public health education practice is all about – meeting people where they are and helping them achieve the health they desire. .

Junior Research Excellence Award

Dr. Roger Mills-Koonce

The Junior Research Excellence Award recognizes a faculty member who demonstrates excellence in research and potential for growth as a scholar. Dr. Roger Mills-Koonce, this year’s awardee, has accomplished more in the two years since coming to UNCG than most would accomplish in a decade.

He is a talented and prolific researcher tackling topics of high relevance to children and families. Dr. Mills-Koonce is committed to supporting the research endeavors of other faculty and students and has become an active and highly sought after mentor to UNCG students.

Senior Research Excellence Award

Dr. Susan Calkins

The Senior Research Excellence Award recognizes faculty who demonstrate excellence in their research. Dr. Susan Calkins, this year’s awardee, has been described as a prolific researcher and excellent collaborator who has worked tirelessly to enhance the research environment of UNCG. She is an internationally recognized expert on emotion regulation across childhood and into young adulthood.

Dr. Calkins’ highly productive and impactful research provides students and junior colleagues with rich and meaningful opportunities to engage in research with her. She launched the Child and Family Research Network (CFRN) which is probably the most active research network on campus with 184 active members representing every unit on campus.

Verna Leslie (Outstanding Staff Award)

The HHS Outstanding Staff Award recognizes a member of the staff in HHS who provides outstanding leadership and service to our School that goes beyond the normal scope of their responsibilities.

This year’s awardee epitomizes thosequalities. Her nominator said that what differentiates her is her unwavering devotion to duty, her willingness to work over and above what is expected, and her innovation. Her experience, knowledge and work ethic make her the “go-to” person in the office. HHS congratulates Verna Leslie in the HHS Office of Research as this year’s awardee!