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By Kelsey Kendall

�������� celebrated its world-class faculty and hard-working staff on April 10 in its inaugural Monarch Milestones awards that highlight Monarchs’ commitment to upholding the University’s values.

“It has been a tremendous year for our University. We have reached new heights with the integration of EVMS, and the establishment of Macon & Joan Brock Virginia Health Sciences at ��������,” said �������� President Brian O. Hemphill, Ph.D. “We have launched AI initiatives that put us at the forefront of technological innovation in education and research and paved a path for future-ready Monarchs to create lasting impacts on our campus, in our community and beyond. These successes were made possible due to the collective efforts of our outstanding faculty and dedicated staff who uphold the University’s values and lead by example. I extend my sincere gratitude to our faculty and staff for their dedication and hard work.”

Monarch Milestones: A Celebration of Service and Values revamped the annual faculty and staff service award and recognition programs, while also introducing several new opportunities to recognize those who go above and beyond in their daily work. Named the Monarch Values Awards, these honors include the Monarch Accessibility, Monarch Collaboration, Monarch Excellence, Monarch Global Engagement, Monarch Inclusion, Monarch Innovation and Monarch Respect Awards.

“At ��������, our values are the heartbeat of our community, guiding the way we learn, grow and serve together,” said September Sanderlin, vice president for Talent Management and Culture.

The new Monarch Values awards were presented to these classified staff members.

Monarch Accessibility Award: John Comerford, University Communications

Monarch Collaboration Award: Amanda Thomas, Student Enrollment, Engagement and Services; Lane Torbert, Community Engagement and University Events

Monarch Excellence Award: Ebony Drayton, Community Engagement and University Events/Office of the President

Monarch Global Engagement Award: Andrea Fore, Academic Affairs

Monarch Inclusion Award: Terri Hughes, Academic Affairs

Monarch Innovation Award: Jennifer Tabacco, Administration and Finance

Monarch Respect Award: David Hawkins, Talent Management and Culture

Faculty and administrators also received the new awards.

Monarch Accessibility Award: Bridget Weikel, Ph.D., Student Enrollment, Engagement and Services; Chrystal Trapani, Digital Transformation and Technology

Monarch Collaboration Award: Brian Eubank, University Communications; Amber Gwaltney, University Advancement

Monarch Excellence Award: Shannon Robinson, Research and Economic Development

Monarch Global Engagement Award: Jared Sykes, Academic Affairs

Monarch Inclusion Award: Krista Harrell, Ph.D., University Advancement

Monarch Innovation Award: Joy Himmel, Student Enrollment, Engagement and Services

Monarch Respect Award: Gloria Boone, Administration and Finance

Another new award presented during the Monarch Milestones celebration was the Rising Monarch Award, which goes to an outstanding classified employee who has been with the University for less than two years. Kristen Rosser, an administrative support specialist for special events with Macon & Joan Brock Virginia Health Sciences at ��������, was the inaugural recipient.

Nina Brown, Ed.D., was the first to receive the Distinguished Faculty Service Award for her 57 years of exemplary service at �������� — and henceforth the annual award will be known as the Nina Brown Distinguished Faculty Service Award to honor her long-lasting impact on the University. Dr. Brown is a professor and Eminent Scholar in the Department of Counseling and Human Services with research spanning topics, such as dealing with narcissists and best practices for group therapy.

For the 24th year, the University presented the Customer Relations Employee of the Year (CREY) Award, which goes to a classified or hourly employee who exemplifies the University’s core values. This year, Angel Hicks in Academic Affairs was honored.

The State Council of Higher Education for Virginia Outstanding Faculty Award, the Commonwealth’s highest honor for public and private college and university faculty members, was granted to Michelle Kelley, Ph.D., a professor and Eminent Scholar in psychology. Dr. Kelley received the award, which included a $7,500 gift from the Dominion Energy Charitable Foundation, in March and was recognized in the Provost’s Spotlight earlier this year.

For faculty and administrators, the following awards were also presented.

University Distinguished Teacher Award: Krystall Dunaway, Ph.D., Psychology; Mohamed Rahoui, Ph.D., Economics

University Professor Award: Tara Newcomb, Dental Hygiene; Cynthia Tomovic, Ph.D., Educational Leadership and Workforce Development

University Award for Leadership in International Education: Elizabeth Burns, Ph.D., STEM Education and Professional Studies

University Adjunct Teaching Award: Kathie Zimbro, Ph.D., Nursing

University Award for Faculty Mentorship: Helen Crompton, Ph.D., STEM Education and Professional Studies

University Award for Outstanding Undergraduate Research Mentor: Yusuke Yamani, Ph.D., Psychology

Faculty Research, Scholarship and Creative Achievement Award: Murat Kuzlu, Ph.D., Engineering Technology

A. Rufus Tonelson ’33 Faculty Award: Sampath Jayarathna, Ph.D., Computer Science

�������� Alumni Association New Faculty Award: Taylor Sloey, Ph.D., Biological Sciences

University Doctoral Mentoring Award: Tracy Sohoni, Ph.D., Sociology and Criminal Justice; Ling Li, Ph.D., Information Technology and Decision Sciences; Tian Luo, Ph.D., STEM Education and Professional Studies

Excellence in Graduate Teaching Award: Eric Walters, Ph.D., Biological Sciences

Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant, Classroom Award: Ziwei Ye, Information Technology and Decision Sciences

Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant, Laboratory Award: Tara Williams, Ph.D., Ocean and Earth Sciences

Excellence in Advising Administrator Role: Wayne Mitchell, Ph.D., Digital Transformation and Technology

Excellence in Advising, Advisor Primary Role: Ryan Underwood, Digital Transformation and Technology

Excellence in Advising, Faculty Advisor Role: Heather Weddington, English

Excellence in Advising, New Advisor Role: Hayden Cunningham, Academic Affairs

Kate Broderick Award for Excellence in Inclusive Education: David Courson, Ph.D., Chemistry and Biochemistry

�������� faculty, staff and administrators were also honored for hitting service milestones in their careers at the University.

The following staff were recognized for their years of service.

Five years: Esmin Baptiste-Mateo, Tiffany Bell, Desha Blair, Andrew Boone, Tiana Bowe, Tempest Brevard, Laverne Brown, Edmond Cook, Don Elliott, Julie Anne Elopre, Timothy Evans, Michele Floyd, Hunter Goodwin, John Graves, Ivan Gunn, Lorraine Hallbauer, Stefan Hancock, Dale Harris, Stephanie Hawthorne, Amanda Haywood, Emily Johnson, Valerie Johnson, Mark Kawanaka, Troy Lemon, Matthew Mannon, Jason Miller, Krisjantzen Nario, Elizabeth Nguyen, Carrie Parsons, James Pereira, Arnell Pugh, Jerry Reed, Andre Rogers, Rafael Rosado Nieves, Aaron Sadoff, Joyce Salib, Dana Schilling, Leteria Scott, Mary Smith, Rachel Taclobos, James Underwood, Eric Vaughn, Anna Villaflor, Maria Watkins, Adam Watson, Lisa Wharton, Clarence White, Nadine White, Dan Whiting, Stephen Williams and Maite Wilson

10 Years: Jason Adkins, Charlotte Alexander, Elise Coleman-White, Julia Cootes, Brian Crawford, Benjamin Derksen, Minhao Dong, Brian Easton, Barbie Edwards, Jennifer Ellis, Jason Gunning, James Harrison, Aaron Hodnett, Rachel Jones, Casey Kohler, Larson Lindberg, Robert Mccoy, Elizabeth Melendez, Ryan O’Farrell, Brandon Seymour, Sherni Minu Sivakumar, Petryne Stanford, Craig Stengel, Terry Stilwell, Joyce Webb, Scott Whited, Dawn Witmer and Diego Zuniga

15 Years: Lauren Arlaud, Andrea Battle-Coffer, Joseph Beard, Amanda Cox, Esther Dodge, Raymond Ho, Peter Layne, Dexter Marcelino, Rebecca Martin, Natalie Metzger, Darnese Richardson, Thomas Rippon and Melissa Snowden

20 Years: Clifton Cutler, Gabriel Franke, Tawana Hardy, O’Neika Hinnant, Portia Jones, Richard Le Moal, Thomas Maddox, Tonya McDuffie, Jennifer Moody, Andrea Pate, Anthony Redifer, Trudy Schumpert, Harry Smithson and Teresa Statler-Keener

25 Years: Tory Borland, Kevin Colvin, Harry Frizzell, Charlotte Kimbro, Kathleen Smith and Sylvia Whitaker

30 Years: Derek Harrell, Katherine Loomis and Son Nguyen

35 Years: Leslie Davis, Lisa Hecker, Connie Thomas, Melvine Walker and Dwayne Young

40 Years: Nelson Amis and Rosalind James

45 Years: Linda Wallace

The following faculty and administrators were also recognized for their years of service.

20 Years: Bridget Anderson, Ph.D., Ivan Ash, Ph.D., Helmut Baumgart, Ph.D., Daniel Campbell, Lan Cao, Ph.D., Allison Chappell, Ph.D., Tammi Dice, Ph.D., Abdelmageed Elmustafa, Ph.D., Adrienne Giles, Alexander Godunov, Ph.D., Timothy Grothaus, Ph.D., Patrick Hatcher, Ph.D. William Heffelfinger, James Matt Henson, Ph.D., Megan Jones, Aaron Karp, Nathan Luetke, Angela Luettel, Ph.D., David McMillan, Angela Musto, Julia Romberger, Ph.D., Donna Rose, D.N.P., John Roth., Jennifer Sloggie, Licheng Sun, Ph.D., Shari Swain, Suzanne Van Orden, Harris Wu, Ph.D., Qi “Harry” Zhang, Ph.D., and Haiwen Zhou, Ph.D.

25 Years: M’Hammed Abdous, Ph.D., Linda Bol, Ph.D., Dennis Gregory, Ed.D., Lisa Kivin, Ph.D., Michael “Mickey” Kosloski, Ph.D., Michele Mitchell, Margaret Mulholland, Ph.D., Kyle Nicholas, Ph.D., Jimmy Patel, Jennifer Poutsma, Ph.D., Lynn Ridinger, Ph.D., Andres Sousa-Poza, Ph.D., Melvina Sumter, Ph.D. and Silvana Watson, Ph.D.

30 years: Francis Adams, Ph.D., Douglas Alexander, Gloria Boone, Mitchell Brindley, Gail Dodge, Ph.D., Stuart Frazer, Randy Gainey, Ph.D., Scott Harrison, Ph.D., Wayne Hynes, Ph.D., Austin Jersild, Ph.D., Alan Schwitzer, Ph.D., Lynn Wiles, Ph.D., Jaewan Yoon, Ph.D., and Michael Zugelder

35 Years: Erland “James” Baesler, Ph.D., Przemyslaw Bogacki, Ph.D., Ayodeji Demuren, Ph.D., Fang Hu, Ph.D., Mark Scerbo, Ph.D., John Toomey and Robert Wojtowicz, Ph.D.

40 years: Colin Britcher, Ph.D., David Burdige, Ph.D., John Ford, Ph.D., David Lasseigne, Ph.D., Duc Nguyen, Ph.D., Richard Noren, Ph.D. and Linda Vahala, Ph.D.

�������� remains committed to fostering a positive work environment and recognizes the valued work of the outstanding faculty and dedicated staff through future recognitions and celebrations of excellence.