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2017 Faculty Excellence Awards Winners

May 05, 2017

Dr. Nicole M. Dilts of the Department of English and Modern Languages, Dr. Susana Badiola of the Department of Political Science and Philosophy, and Dr. Kanisorn Wongsrichanalai of the Department of History are the winners of Angelo State University’s 2017 President’s Awards for Faculty Excellence.

(L to R) Dr. Nicole Dilts, Dr. Kanisorn Wongsrichanalai, Dr. Susana Badiola, ASU President Brian J. May (L to R) Dr. Nicole Dilts, Dr. Kanisorn Wongsrichanalai, Dr. Susana Badiola, ASU President Brian J. May Dilts is the award winner for Faculty Excellence in Leadership/Service. Badiola received the award for Faculty Excellence in Teaching. Wongsrichanalai is the award winner for Faculty Excellence in Research/Creative Endeavor. Each received $2,500 and Signature Presidential Recognition Awards. Badiola and Wongsrichanalai will be ASU’s nominees for the Texas Tech University System Chancellor’s Awards for Excellence in Teaching and Excellence in Research. 

They, along with 39 other faculty nominees, were honored at the eighth annual Faculty Recognition Dinner sponsored May 4 by the ASU Faculty Senate. 

Dr. Nicole Dilts Dr. Nicole Dilts An associate professor of English, Dilts specializes in technical communication in the health field and in intercultural contexts, and much of her service falls in those areas. At ASU, she serves on the Americans with Disabilities Act Committee, co-founded the Mentoring Program for Students with Special Needs, and co-chairs Pride Week for the Differently-Abled. She is also faculty sponsor for the Spectrum student organization for neurodiversity awareness (autism, ADHD, etc.) and the Awareness for All Disabilities student organization, and she has served on numerous committees within her department and the College of Arts and Humanities. Off campus, she is a member of the Texas Health and Human Services Commission Policy Council for Children and Family, where she helps develop, implement and administer family support policies and long-term care and health programs for children. She is also a parent advocate for children with disabilities, director of San Angelo Parents of Children with Autism, and a volunteer with the local Bountiful Baskets nonprofit organization that provides produce to low-income families. Her other community service activities include being a volunteer and member of the Ballet San Angelo Guild, a lector at Holy Angelo Catholic Church and a volunteer at Angelo Catholic School. In service to her profession, she is an article reviewer for several technical communication journals. 

Dr. Susana Badiola Dr. Susana Badiola Badiola, a professor of philosophy, is an innovative instructor who helped create the curriculum for ASU’s Bachelor of Arts in philosophy degree program. She continually develops new courses, sponsors co-curricular student activities and promotes undergraduate student research. By participating in faculty development workshops and incorporating the latest technology in her classroom, she promotes student engagement and provides extensive feedback to her students. She is also reaching students all over campus by incorporating elements of philosophy into the university’s core curriculum. She frequently teaches independent study courses and the philosophy capstone course in addition to her regular course load. Outside the classroom, she sponsors educational films on campus and takes students to philosophy presentations and professional conferences, where they present their research. She also advises the student Philosophy Club and has organized and participated in numerous philosophy forums, debates and presentations on campus, in the community and on various media. The quality of her philosophy program has been acknowledged by the New Mexico-Texas Philosophical Society. 

Dr. Kanisorn Wongsrichanalai Dr. Kanisorn Wongsrichanalai Wongsrichanalai, an assistant professor of history, exemplifies the model of the teacher-scholar. He has developed and taught 10 courses for both his department and the ASU Honors Program and has received outstanding teaching evaluations, all the while remaining committed to his scholarly pursuits. He is co-director of a $99,982 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) that funds the project titled “West Texans and the Experience of War: World War I to the Present.” It is a three-year project to collect, preserve, analyze and disseminate the stories of veterans and their families with connections to West Texas. He is also co-director of ASU’s ongoing Great War Commemoration Lecture Series that is funded by a NEH grant and is a component of the Library of America’s “World War I and America” national initiative. He previously co-directed ASU’s grant-funded “Latino Americans: 500 Years of History” project that included a popular lecture series from 2015-16, and he helped coordinate ASU’s incredibly successful Civil War Sesquicentennial Commemoration Lecture Series from 2011-15. In addition to winning prestigious grants and coordinating the corresponding projects, he shares his research at professional conferences and is widely published in historical journals, popular blogs and other media. He has also published two books and is working on a third. His book “Northern Character: College-Educated New Englanders, Honor, Nationalism, and Leadership in the Civil War Era” was published in 2016 and received rave reviews from several Civil War and historical journals. 

In addition to the overall winners, four semifinalists in each category received a $500 award. For Excellence in Leadership/Service, the semifinalists were Donna B. Gee, professor of teacher education; Roger M. Jackson, assistant professor of English; John E. Klingemann, associate professor of history; and Heather L. Lehto, assistant professor of geosciences. 

Semifinalists for Excellence in Teaching were David A. Faught, associate professor of Spanish; Flor L. Madero, assistant professor of communication; Andrew B. Wallace, professor of physics; and Kristi M. White, professor of athletic training. 

For Excellence in Research/Creative Endeavor, the semifinalists were Anthony N. Celso, professor of security studies; Biqing Huang, associate professor of finance; Han-Hung F. Huang, assistant professor of physical therapy; and James W. Ward, associate professor of geology. 

Other faculty nominees in the Excellence in Leadership/Service category were Michael T. Griffin, senior instructor in biology; Teresa E. Hack, associate professor of psychology; Teresa L. Huckaby, assistant clinical professor of physical therapy; Richard J. Lawrence, assistant professor of management information systems; Cheryl A. McGaughey, senior instructor in finance; and Raelye N. Self, assistant professor of curriculum and instruction. 

Other nominees in the Excellence in Teaching category were Christie L. Adkins, senior instructor in biology; Walter Baranowski, assistant clinical professor of nursing; Charlene D. Bustos, assistant professor of teacher education; Jacob A. Glantz, associate professor of aerospace studies; S. Murat Kara, professor of economics; Sandra K. Pate, assistant professor of management; Veronica D. Snow, assistant clinical professor of kinesiology; Twyla J. Tasker, assistant professor of curriculum and instruction; Jesse Taylor, assistant professor of mathematics; and James F. Villers, assistant clinical professor of physical therapy. 

In the Excellence in Research/Creative Endeavor category, the other nominees were Timothy Bonenfant, associate professor of music; Lesley L. Casarez, assistant professor of curriculum and instruction; Drew A. Curtis, assistant professor of psychology; Jordan A. Daniel, assistant professor of kinesiology; Kenneth J. Heineman, professor of history; Jamal G. Husein, professor of economics; Raj Kamalapur, assistant professor of management; Elisabeth-Christine Muelsch, professor of French; Nicholas J. Negovetich, assistant professor of biology; Marva J. Solomon, associate professor of teacher education; and Susan Abernathy Taylor, assistant professor of mathematics.