The University of Central Arkansas honored exceptional faculty during the 2022 Faculty Excellence Awards at Fall Convocation.
The event, held in Reynolds Performance Hall, also honored the classified and nonclassified Employee of the Year, as well as the inaugural Shumaker-Wright Mentorship Award.
The university presented faculty excellence awards in the following areas:
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UCA President Houston Davis and Sherry Skaggs
Sherry Skaggs, Department of Sociology, Criminology and Anthropology, received the Public Service Award. The Public Service Award recognizes individuals whose service contributions to the UCA community, professional community and other communities outside the university have been outstanding. It is expected that individuals will have contributed both within and outside the university. Through service work such as volunteering for charitable organizations, serving on advisory boards, donating professional expertise, serving on committees and conducting outreach programs, these individuals have improved conditions within the community and enhanced the quality of life for all citizens.
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UCA President Houston Davis and Matthew Gifford
Matthew Gifford, Department of Biology, received the Research, Scholarship and Creative Activity Award. The Research, Scholarship and Creative Activity Award recognizes individuals whose contributions to their disciplines have been exemplary. Through original work in research, scholarship or creative activities (such as performances and artistic productions), they have expanded human knowledge, interpreted the human experience, or enhanced the quality of our lives.
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Donna Wake
Donna Wake, College of Education, received the Teaching Excellence Award. Faculty who have consistently demonstrated exceptional performance in teaching are eligible for the Teaching Excellence Award. Recipients of this award strive to enhance student learning as they continually seek ways to improve their teaching.
Candice Maxwell
Candice Maxwell, Department of Elementary, Literacy, and Special Education, received the Diversity, Belonging, Inclusion and Equity Award. This award recognizes individuals whose commitment to diversity and inclusive excellence on and/or off-campus has made a significant impact on various ethnic groups and diverse populations in a positive way. These individuals have improved conditions at UCA and within the community.
Ginny Adams
Ginny Adams, Department of Biology, received the External Funding Impact Award. Established in November 2018, the External Funding Impact Award recognizes a faculty or staff member for excellence in obtaining external funding. The award promotes a culture of grant writing among faculty and staff and encourages grant recipients to track the impact of their grant work on individuals, the university, the community and their disciplines or fields of study.
Adam Frank, Department of History, was honored as the first recipient of the Shumaker-Wright Undergraduate Mentorship Award. The University Honors Council created the award in recognition of the importance of supporting undergraduate research, scholarship and creative activity. Supporting student participation in mentored research is an important component of the university’s mission. Furthermore, the undergraduate award is named in honor of Conrad Shumaker and Terry Wright, who had each mentored more than 20 undergraduate student capstone/thesis projects at the time of their retirements. The implementation of this mentorship award conveys the campus’s high regard for outstanding contributions made to the academic and research community.
Judy Huff
UCA President Houston Davis and Whit Ables
Other presentations included the classified and non-classified recipients of the Employee of the Year for 2021-22. The classified Employee of the Year is Judy Huff, administrative specialist III. The nonclassified Employee of the Year is George “Whit” Ables, assistant director of New Student Onboarding.
Faculty excellence award finalists included Mark Elrod, Department of Political Science, for the Public Service Award; Alicia Cotabish, Department of Teaching and Learning, for the Research, Scholarship and Creative Activity Award; and Dwayne Coleman, Department of English; and Leah Lowe, Department of Physical Therapy for the Teaching Excellence Award. John Vanderslice, Department of Film, Theatre, and Creative Writing, was a finalist for the Shumaker-Wright Undergraduate Mentorship Award.
Ashley Kirk, assignment coordinator, and Kristin Jetts, program coordinator, were finalists for the classified Employee of the Year award. Lynetta Morris, financial aid counselor, and Tonya McKinney, manager of instruction technology, were nonclassified finalists.
The Employee of the Year is presented to a full-time staff member who has shown extraordinary performance to the university community over the past year. This person is a well-rounded employee who goes above and beyond and truly cares about students, colleagues and UCA. Any full-time staff member, classified or nonclassified, with two or more years of continuous service to the university prior to January 1 of the award year is eligible for this award.
