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Awards and Recognition

In addition to the various development funds opportunties, the Center for Faculty Development honors and recognizes faculty at various stages in their careers. Awards recognize faculty who promote and sustain a campus culture that values intellectual inquiry, scholarship, and creative engagement! 

Nominations

Early Career Award 

This award recognizes full-time faculty who have performed at a very high level in teaching, research, and/or service before they apply for promotion (tenure or non-tenure track). Three awards will be made each year, and a maximum of one award per year will be given for any department. Self nominations are encouraged. 

Early Career Award Guidelines

Nomination Form

Previous Winners

2023-2024 Center for Faculty Development Awards Program

UHCL faculty are honored during Faculty Development Day. See our previous award winners below. 

2024

Texas Research & Scholarship Award

Recognizing faculty for high level of scholarship on topics concerning the state of Texas.

Importing Care, Faithful Service: Filipino and Indian American Nurses at a Veteran’s Hospital - Stephen Cherry 

A Graphical Alternative for Multiple Group Comparisons in Analysis of Covariance - Kalanka Jayalath

The Impact of Strong Families, Strong Communities on Relationship Functioning in Low-Income African American and Hispanic Individuals: Findings from a Federally Funded Randomized Control Trial - Roberta Leal

Scholarship to Improve Higher Education

Recognizing faculty for publishing or presenting scholarship to improve academia.

Speed-Interviewing for Classroom Group Formation: How a Clever Twist on the Classic ‘Speed-Dating’ Tradition Enhances Small Group Coursework - Lisa Sublett, Amanda Johnston, Christine Walther, Christal Seahorn, and Georgina Moreno

Writing-to-Learn: Strategies to Promote Engagement, Peer-to-Peer Learning, and Active Listening in Economic Courses - Femi Ayadi

Dialogue Practices in Teacher Education Classrooms: Students and Teacher Educators’ Perceptions - Leslie Gauna and Jane Cooper

The Impact of COVID-19 on Students’ Perceived Justice, University Support, Professor Support, and Intentions to Drop Out - Silvana Chambers and Clifton Mayfield

Instructional Innovation


Recognizing faculty for stimulating a spirit of experimentation and creativity in trying out new ideas to enhance teaching and learning in specific, practical, and generalizable ways.

AI Teaching Assistant to Personalize Student Learning - Silvana Chambers

The Cognitive Psychology Media Project - Kelsey James

Discussion Board Activity Using Blooms Taxonomy - Leticia French

Cultural Heritage and Community Partnerships in Experiential Learning - Maria Curtis

Early Career Faculty

Recognizing early career faculty who have performed at a very high level before they apply for promotion.

Kazi Billah

Kazi Billah




Emily Hortin

Emily Horton




Carol Waters

Carol Waters




"Go to 11" Award

Awarded to faculty who earned 11 or more credits for activities sponsored by the Center for Faculty Development.

Hisham Al-Mubaid
Robert Bartsch
Kazi Billah
Mary Curtis
Soma Datta
Kent Divol
Giazú Enciso Domínguez
Leslie Gauna
Anne Gessler
Michelle Giles
Jennifer Grace
Shivani Gupta
Emily Horton
Kelsey James
Lisa Jones
Angela Kelling
Lana Kharabi-Yamato
Anna Klyueva
Michael LaMontagne
Ashley MacPherson
Anne Marcoline
Georgina Moreno
Janice Newsum
Ivelina Pavlova-Stout
Roberta Raymond
Thais Sant'Ana
Lory Santiago-Vázquez
Christal Seahorn
Gene "Xiaojun" Shan
Donna Stringer
Neelofer Tajani
Christine Walther
Jeffrey Whitworth

"Go to 11" All-Stars

Awarded to faculty who earned the most credits in the "Go to 11" award category sponsored by the Center for Faculty Development.

 
  Gene "Xiaojun" Shan  
Christine Walther   Angela Kelling

Number of Students Taught

Honoring faculty members who have taught 1,000, 2,500, 5,000, and 10,000 students since their hire date at UHCL. The faculty listed below achieved this milestone at the last award ceremony.

Faculty Who Have Taught 5000+ Students

Christine Kovic

Faculty Who Have Taught 2500+ Students

Anne Anders
Sarah Costello
Linda Giles
Jian Lin
Hunter Stephen
Toneluh Yang
Se-Hyoung Yi

Faculty Who Have Taught 1000+ Students

Joshua Baker
Sheila Baker
Janice Bethany
ArifulBhuiyan
Michael Brims
Silvana Chambers
Mohsen Daghooghi
Soma Datta
Kimberly Dodson
Leslie Gauna
Lorie Jacobs
Preeti Jain
Monica Khural
Nataliya Markina
Nancy Ramirez
Skylar Rolf
Linda Sansing
Cengiz Sisman
Viola Vela
Lauren Yandell
Yipeng Yang

College Cup

Award annually to a UHCL college with the highest faculty participation in Center for Faculty Development activities

College of Education

CFD Staff Appreciation Award

Awarded annually to a distinguished staff member who has shown outstanding excellence and superior performance to assist the Center for Faculty Development accomplish goals throughout the year.

Briana Ramos, Administrative Assistant II, Office of Planning and Assessment

CFD Fellowship

Faculty receive time and funds to gain expertise, create programming, and advocate for instructional change.

2023-2024
Angela Kelling & Georgina Moreno
HSI Best Practices

2023-2024
Xiaojun "Gene" Shan
Using Analytics to Improve Student Outcomes at UHCL

2023

Texas Research & Scholarship Award

Recognizing faculty for high level of scholarship on topics concerning the state of Texas.

Unruly Borders, Bodies, and Blood: Mexican “Mongrels” and Eugenics of Empire - Christina Cedillo 

Keep Calm and Conceal Carry: Opinions About Campus Carry on a Nontraditional University Campus in Texas - Angela Kelling, Nicholas Kelling, Amanda Johnston, Christine Walther

Bond Insurer Competition and the Likelihood of Texas Bonds being Insured - Barry Marks

Scholarship to Improve the Academy

Recognizing faculty who stimulate a spirit of experimentation and creativity in trying out new ideas to enhance teaching and learning in specific, practical, and generalizable ways.

Relating Our Experiences: The Practice of Positionality Stories in Student-Centered Pedagogy - Christina Cedillo

Against the Professorial Odds: Barriers at Building Blocks for Educational Advancement - Sheila Baker, Denise McDonald, Debby Shulsky

The Five-Year Job Interview: A Call for More Structure on the Tenure Line - Lorie Jacobs

Malice in Wonder-How-This-Happened Land: Falling Down the Political Rabid Hold of Academia - Denise McDonald

Rebuild the Academy: Supporting Academic Mothers During COVID-19 and Beyond - Lory Santiago-Vázquez

Instructional Innovation

Recognizing faculty who stimulate a spirit of experimentation and creativity in trying out new ideas to enhance teaching and learning in specific, practical, and generalizable ways.

Building My Unique Story - Giazú Enciso Domínguez

Viral Video Assignment - Laura Guerrero 

Creating a Virtual Learning Laboratory Experience Based on Student Preferences - Angela Kelling 

Introduction of Real-Time, Real-Sample Analysis in CHEM 4268 Instrumental Analysis Laboratory Class - Charuksha Walgama

Early Career Faculty

Skylar Rolf

Skylar Rolf




Jennifer Grace

Jennifer Grace




Julianna Dean

Julianna Dean




"Go to 11" Award

Awarded to faculty who earned 11 or more credits for activities sponsored by the Center for Faculty Development

Femi Ayadi
Kazi Billah
Caroline Crawford
Soma Datta
Kent Divoll
Giazú Enciso Domínguez
Kathleen Garland
Sophia Gerogiadou
Shivani Gupta
Daniel Imrecke
Lisa Jones
Angela Kelling
Robert Maddalozzo
Anne Marcoline
Robert Maddalozzo
Anne Marcoline 
Nisha Matthew
Lory Santiago-Vázquez
Gene Shan
Donna Stringer
Joyce Taylor
Christine Walther
Omah William-Duncan
Matthias Woeckener
Pearl Young

Number of Students Taught

Honoring faculty members who have taught 1,000, 2,500, 5,000, and 10,000 students since their hire date at UHCL. The faculty listed below achieved this milestone at the last award ceremony.

Faculty Who Have Taught 10,000+ Students

S. Altan Erdem

Faculty Who Have Taught 5,000+ Students

Stephen Cotten

Larry Rohde

Faculty Who Have Taught 2,500+ Students

Dina Abdel-Zaher
John Decman
Anton Dubrovskiy
Adam Hodges
Ahsanul Huq
Vanessa Johnson
Jingjing Ma
Aleksey Martynov
Randall Xu

Faculty Who Have Taught 1,000+ Students

Comeka Anderson Diaz
Martha Ariza
Lee Cox
Charles Crocker
Angela Duron-Larson
Johnathan Everhart 
Kelley Frierson
Leonard Giblin
Rita Goudeau
Youssef Hamidi
Jun (Maggie) Hao
Khondker Hasan
Mary Hedengren
Henda Hsu
Kalanka Jayalath
Hae (Helen) Rim
Angela Kelling
Nicholas Kelling
Georgina Moreno
Jeffrey Mountain
Sachiyo Mukherji
Kathryn Peterson
David Pitts
Nicholas Shaman
Lifei Sheng
Yi Su
Marla Welch
Xiaokun Yang

College Cup

Award annually to a UHCL college with the highest faculty participation in Center for Faculty Development activities

College of Human Sciences and Humanities

CFD Staff Appreciation Award

Awarded annually to a distinguished staff member who has shown outstanding excellence and superior performance to assist the Center for Faculty Development accomplish goals throughout the year.

Charise Armstrong, Executive Assistant to the Provost

CFD Fellowship

Faculty receive time and funds to gain expertise, create programming, and advocate for instructional change.

2022-2023
Angela Kelling & Georgina Moreno
HSI Best Practices

2022-2023
Xiaojun "Gene" Shan
Using Analytics to Improve Student Outcomes at UHCL

2022

Texas Research & Scholarship Award

Recognizing faculty for high level of scholarship on topics concerning the state of Texas.

“Nothing More nor Less than Rebellion”: Rethinking Southern Labor Politics through the 1946 Houston Municipal Workers’ Strike - Adam Hodges

Factors influencing the success of first generation, non-traditional age, Hispanic early childhood educators as university students - Rebecca Huss-Keeler

On a reef far, far away: Anthropogenic impacts following extreme storms affect sponge health and bacterial communities - Lory Santiago-Vázquez

Scholarship to Improve the Academy

Recognizing faculty who stimulate a spirit of experimentation and creativity in trying out new ideas to enhance teaching and learning in specific, practical, and generalizable ways.

A Multi-Faceted and Practical Analysis of Online Courses at UHCL - Nicholas Kelling/Angela Kelling

Schools’ CPA review course affiliations and success on the uniform CPA examination - Haeyoung Shin/Shanshan Pan/Michael Lacina 

The relationship between faculty diversity and graduation rates in higher education - Carol Carman

Increasing chemistry students’ knowledge, confidence, and conceptual understanding of pH using a collaborative computer pH simulation - Anton Dubrovskiy/Michelle Peters

Instructional Innovation

Recognizing faculty who stimulate a spirit of experimentation and creativity in trying out new ideas to enhance teaching and learning in specific, practical, and generalizable ways.

Utilization of Office 365 for a connected classroom - Daniel Imrecke

Highly engaging video content on improving student engagement in an online course - Nicholas Kelling

MicroCURE – A Course-based Research Experience in Microbiology - Michael LaMontagne

Project-centre learning with OpenIC - Xiaokun Yang

New Faculty Awards

Recognizing new faculty who have performed at a very high level on either teaching, research, or service before they apply for promotion.

Sachiyo Mukherji

Sachiyo Mukherji
Teaching Award




Angela Kelling

Angela Kelling
Research Award




Laura Guerrero

Laura Guerrero
Service Award




"Go to 11" Award

Awarded to faculty who earned 11 or more credits for activities sponsored by the Center for Faculty Development.

Femi Ayadi
Sheila Baker
Soma Datta
John Decman
Kent Divoll
Jennifer Grace
Youssef Hamidi
Daniel Imrecke
Angela Kelling
Monica Khural
Anna Klyueva
Robert Maddalozzo
Anne Marcoline
Janice Newsum
Lory Santiago-Vázquez
Gene Shan
Christine Walther
Omah William-Duncan
Jana Willis
Matthias Woeckener

Number of Students Taught

Honoring faculty members who have taught 1,000, 2,500, 5,000, and 10,000 students since their hire date at UHCL. The faculty listed below achieved this milestone at the last award ceremony.

Faculty Who Have Taught 10,000+ Students

Cindy Howard

Faculty Who Have Taught 2,500+ Students

Femi Ayadi
Ki Young Jeong 
Jordan Mitchell
Williams Power
Patricia Trubl

Faculty Who Have Taught 1,000+ Students

Jason Abshire
Christina Cedillo
Leslie Johnson
Heather Kanenberg
Brent Kice
Anna Klyueva 
Michael LaMontagne
Lin Yi
Wei Wei

ACUE (Association of College & University Educators)

Faculty complete a series of modules on effective teaching and creating an inclusive & supportive online learning environment.

  • Comeka Anderson Diaz – Promoting Active Learning Online
  • Femi Ayadi – Designing Student Centered Courses
  • Silvana Chambers – Designing Student Centered Courses
  • Soma Datta – Creating an Inclusive and Supportive Learning Environment
  • Youssef Hamidi – Promoting Active Learning Online
  • Monica Khural – Inclusive Teaching for Equitable Learning
  • Angela Kelling – Inclusive Teaching for Equitable Learning
  • Henry Newkirk – Creating an Inclusive and Supportive Learning Environment
  • Janice Newsum – Inspiring Inquiry and Preparing Lifelong Learners in Your Online Course

College Cup

Award annually to a UHCL college with the highest faculty participation in Center for Faculty Development activities

College of Education

CFD Staff Appreciation Award

Awarded annually to a distinguished staff member who has shown outstanding excellence and superior performance to assist the Center for Faculty Development accomplish goals throughout the year.

Steven Fernandez, Client Server DB Analyst I

CFD Fellowship

Faculty receive time and funds to gain expertise, create programming, and advocate for instructional change.

2021-2022
Angela Kelling & Georgina Moreno
HSI Best Practices

2021-2022
Lorie Jacobs
The Writing Intensive Course Initiative

2021-2022
Xiaojun "Gene" Shan
Using Analytics to Improve Student Outcomes at UHCL

Community of Practice

Recognizing faculty for leading a faculty community of practice

  • COACHE - Lory Santiago-Vazquez
  • Interdisciplinary Data Visualization - Soma Datta
  • Practical Online Pedagogy - Gene Shan

2021

Texas Research & Scholarship Award

Recognizing faculty for high level of scholarship on topics concerning the state of Texas.

Co-Winners

"Nothing More nor Less than Rebellion": Rethinking Southern Labor Politics through the 1946 Houston Municipal Workers’ Strike  - Adam Hodges

On a reef far, far away: Anthropogenic impacts following extreme storms affect sponge health and bacterial communities - Lory Santiago-Vázquez

Factors influencing the success of first generation, non-traditional age, Hispanic early childhood educators as university students  - Rebecca Huss-Keeler

Scholarship to Improve the Academy

Recognizing faculty who stimulate a spirit of experimentation and creativity in trying out new ideas to enhance teaching and learning in specific, practical, and generalizable ways.

The relationship between faculty diversity and graduation rates in higher education - Carol Carman

A Multi-Faceted and Practical Analysis of Online Courses at UHCL – Angela Kelling and  Nicholas Kelling

Increasing chemistry students' knowledge, confidence, and conceptual understanding of pH using a collaborative computer pH simulation - Anton Dubrovskiy and Michelle Peters

Schools’ CPA review course affiliations and success on the uniform CPA examination - Michael Lacina, Shanshan Pan and Haeyoung Shin

CFD Fellowship

Faculty receive time and funds to gain expertise, create programming, and advocate for instructional change.

2020-2021
Angela Kelling & Georgina Moreno
HSI Best Practices

2020-2021
Lorie Jacobs
The Writing Intensive Course Initiative

2020-2021
Xiaojun "Gene" Shan
Using Analytics to Improve Student Outcomes at UHCL

Community of Practice

Recognizing faculty for leading a faculty community of practice

  • COACHE - Lory Santiago-Vázquez
  • Interdisciplinary Data Visualization - Soma Datta
  • Practical Online Pedagogy - Gene Shan

2020

New Faculty Awards

Recognizing new faculty who have performed at a very high level on either teaching, research, or service before they apply for promotion.

Xiaojun "Gene" Shan
Xiaojun "Gene" Shan
Teaching Award

Ryan Marek
Ryan Marek
Research Award

Service - no nominations received

Texas Research & Scholarship Award

Recognizing faculty for high level of scholarship on topics concerning the state of Texas.

Co-Winners

A closer look at the effects of restoration design on biologic function in restored estuarine wetlands: A case study in Galveston Bay, Texas - Cindy Howard

Surviving the storm: Avoidant coping, helping behavior, resilience and affective symptoms around a major hurricane-flood - Steven Bistricky, Heather Kanenberg, Sara Elkins, Mary Short

Instructional Innovation Award

Recognizing faculty who stimulate a spirit of experimentation and creativity in trying out new ideas to enhance teaching and learning in specific, practical, and generalizable ways.

Using  Interactive Video Modules for Delivering Online Instruction – Silvana Chambers

Honorable Mentions: 
Turning Pedagogical Conversations about Critical Thinking and Ethical Commitment in Core United States History Courses - Anne Gessler and Barbara Hales

Innovative Teaching Agile Software Development - Soma Datta

“Go to 11” Award

Awarded to faculty who earned 11 or more credits for activities sponsored by the Center for Faculty Development.

2019-2020 Recipients

Mary "Femi" Ayadi
Amber Brown
Carol Carman
Soma Datta
Julianna Dean
Kent Divoll
Leslie Gauna-Gago
Anne Gessler
Youssef Hamidi
Rebecca Huss-Keeler
Neeta Jambhekar
Lisa Jones
Angela Kelling
Anna Klyueva
Amy Lucas
Samina Masood
Pilar Goyarzu
Janice Newsum
Lory Santiago-Vázquez
Xiaojun "Gene" Shan
Joyce Taylor
Christine Walther
Omah Williams-Duncan
Jennifer Willis-Opalenik

College Cup

Award annually to a UHCL college with the highest faculty participation in Center for Faculty Development activities

College of Education

Number of Students Taught

Honoring faculty members who have taught 1,000, 2,500, and 5,000 students since their hire date at UHCL. The faculty listed below achieved this milestone at the last award ceremony.

Faculty Who Have Taught 5,000+ Students

Jason Murasko

Randy Seevers

Faculty Who Have Taught 2,500+ Students

Hisham Al-Mubaid
Jason Bentley
Ashish Chandra
Debra Clark
Maria Curtis
Hui Du
Robert Easley
Pilar Goyarzu
Hakduran Koc
Stuart Larson
Constance Lehmann
Yingfu Li
Jack Lu
Ivelina Pavlova-Stout
Mohammad Rashid
Douglas Steel
Dongmin Sun
Troy Voelker
Christopher Ward
Sadhana Weerasinghe
Chunlong Zhang

 Faculty Who Have Taught 1,000+ Students

Anne Anders
Jennifer Arney
Andrea Baldwin
Elizabeth Beavers
James Boler
Denise Bowman
Thomas Dillon
Neal Dugre
Cynde Ferris
Leticia "Tish" French
Jennifer Fritz
David Garrison
Anne Gessler
Stephen Gruber
Ching Gu
Laura Guerrero
Md Rajib Hasan
Michael Heerey
Daniel Imrecke
Lisa Lacher
Sarah Lechago
Dorothea Lerman
Jiang Lu
Joan Mauldin
Beth Merfish
Shanshan Pan
Michelle Peters
Eleanor Place
Pamela Potter
Roberta Raymond
Curtis Rice
Teresa Rivas
Wanalee Romero
Amanda Schoolcraft
Debra Shulsky
Donna Stringer
Shreerekha Subramanian
Nanfei Sun
Ishaq Unwala
Christine Walther
Paul Withey
Dawit Woldu
Michael Wu
Se-Hyoung Yi

ACUE (Association of College & University Educators)

Faculty complete a series of modules on effective teaching

2019-2020

Soma Datta
Randy Seevers
Pilar Goyarzu
Jennifer Willis-Opalenik

Active Learning

M. Femi Ayadi
Amber Brown
Maria Curtis
Soma Datta
Nancy Devino
Linsey Ford
Rebecca Huss-Keeler
Neeta Jambhekar
Lisa Lacher
Dolly Liburd
Janice Peerin
Haeyoung Shin
Troy Voelker
Christine Walther
Omah Williams-Duncan

Creating an Inclusive & Supportive ONline Leanring Environment

Yvette Bendeck
Codi Freeman
Anne Gessler
Laura Guerrero
Youssef Hamidi
Mary Hedengren
Beth Hentges
Neeta Jambhekar
Heather Kanenberg
Angela Kelling
Christine Kovic
Lisa Lacher
Janice Newsum
Christine Walther

Writing Focused Faculty

Faculty complete an intensive workshop series on improving student writing. 

Soma Datta
Leslie Gauna
Anne Gessler
Lorie Jacobs
Angela Kelling
Anna Klyueva
Joyce Taylor
Omah Williams-Duncan

CFD Fellowship

Faculty receive time and funds to gain expertise, create programming, and advocate for instructional change.

2019-2020
Lorie Jacobs
Writing Across the Disciplines at UHCL

CFD Staff Appreciation Award

Awarded annually to a distinguished staff member who has shown outstanding excellence and superior performance to assist the Center for Faculty Development accomplish goals throughout the year.

Jennifer Willis-Opalenik, Instructional Designer III

Community of Practice Leaders

Recognizing faculty for leading a faculty community of practice

Ahmed Abukmail
Comeka Anderson Diaz
Maria Curtis
Chloé Diepenbrock
Sara Elkins
Leticia French
Mary Hedengren
Angela Kelling 
Amy Lucas 
Desdamona Rios
Lory Santiago-Vázquez
Xiaojun "Gene" Shan
Lisa Sublet
Christine Walther
Omah Williams-Duncan

College Cup

Award annually to a UHCL college with the highest faculty participation in Center for Faculty Development activities

College of Education

 

 

Contact

  • Center for Faculty Development

    Phone: 281-283-3290
    facultydevelopment@uhcl.edu

    Bayou Building, 1604
    2700 Bay Area Blvd, Box 74
    Houston, TX 77058-1002

  •