Thursday, April 18, 2024

University Excellence Awards ceremony and nominees announced

University Excellence Awards ceremony and nominees announced

The awards ceremony will be livestreamed on April 20 at 4 p.m.

APRIL 6, 2021 — UTSA is proud to announce this year’s University Excellence Awards ceremony details and award nominees.

The awards program celebrates the achievements of Roadrunner faculty and staff, ranging from exceptional teaching and innovative research to exemplary team spirit and impactful advocacy. The university received a record number of nominations this year—a testament to the outstanding work on the part of so many faculty and staff during a year of extraordinary circumstances.

The awards ceremony livestream will take place on Tuesday, April 20 at 4 p.m.

The Roadrunner community can access the livestream online and is invited to cheer on the award winners through the YouTube chat feature. The livestreamed ceremony will be recorded and available for viewing after the event.

UTSA’s University Excellence Awards encompass three categories: 

  • President’s Distinguished Faculty Achievement Awards
  • President’s Distinguished Diversity Awards
  • University Excellence Staff Awards

In addition to revealing the award winners, the ceremony will acknowledge those faculty and staff celebrating milestone years of service to UTSA in both 2020 and 2021. Years of Service honorees will receive an email invitation to attend a drive-through event on Main Campus to pick up their commemorative pins and certificates, scheduled for April 14 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. along UTSA Circle, adjacent to the Main Building and Bauerle Road Garage. A recap video of the pickup event will be broadcast during the UEA ceremony.

Here are nominees in each category:



PRESIDENT’S DISTINGUISHED FACULTY AWARDS


HOWE TEACHING AWARD

  • Hector Aguilar
  • Jennifer Beavers
  • Chris Booker
  • Chantal Fahmy
  • Daryl Ohlenbusch
  • Sarah Ullevig

TEACHING EXCELLENCE AWARD

  • Yongcan Cao
  • Victoria Dougherty
  • Curtis Fish
  • Kimberly Fonzo
  • Patrick Gallagher
  • Matthew Gibson
  • Alexis Godet
  • Eddie Hernandez
  • Matthias Hofferberth
  • Autumn James
  • Patricia Jaramillo
  • Janet Jordan Vote
  • Donald Lien
  • Terri Matiella
  • Ryan McPherson
  • Priscilla Rose Prasath
  • Arkajyoti Roy
  • Heywood Sanders
  • Corey Sparks
  • John Drew Stephen
  • Alicia Swan
  • Alexander Testa
  • Jelena Todic
  • Erica Wallace
  • Wei Wang
  • Xiaolu Zhang

CORE CURRICULUM AWARD

  • Gina Amatangelo
  • Jessica Beckham
  • Favor Campbell
  • Michael L Cepek
  • Joanne Ford-Robertson
  • Mariah Hopkins
  • Deborah Moon Wagner
  • Miranda Richmond
  • Shelley Roff
  • Rebecca Schroeder

UNIVERSITY SERVICE AWARD

  • Gina Amatangelo
  • Keegan Gold
  • Wei-Ming Lin
  • Rita Mitra
  • Sakiko Oyama
  • Debra Peña
  • Jennifer Smith
  • Johnelle Sparks
  • Ram Tripathi

ADVANCING GLOBALIZATION AWARD

  • David Akopian
  • Rebecca Bria
  • Frank Chen
  • Roger Enriquez
  • John Murphy
  • Bonita Sharma
  • Katelyn Sileo
  • Xiaohe Xu

INNOVATION & IMPACT AWARD

  • Andria Crosson (and team)
  • Kellie Lynch (and team)
  • Stanton McHardy (and team)
  • Leslie Neely (and team)
  • Lloyd Potter (and team)
  • Gwen Young (and team)

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT AWARD

  • Patrick Benavidez
  • Michael Cepek
  • Langston Clark
  • Megan Hayes Piel
  • Meizi He
  • Rogelio Sáenz
  • Liset Vasquez

RESEARCH ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

  • Megan Augustyn
  • Nikolaos Gatsis
  • John P. Bartkowski
  • Elias Bou-Harb
  • Fernando Campos
  • Eunhee Chung
  • Greg Griffi
  • Megan Hayes Piel
  • Jeffrey Howard
  • Murtuza Jadliwala
  • Vikram Kapoor
  • Oleg Larionov
  • Sandra Morissette
  • Isabel Muzzio
  • Rogelio Sáenz
  • Elizabeth Sooby
  • Ahmad Taha
  • Serife Tekin
  • Alexander Testa
  • Zijun Wang
  • Wenbo Wu

MENTORING AWARD

  • David Akopian
  • Candace Christensen
  • Kathryn Jill Fleuriet
  • John Quarles
  • Maho Sonmez
  • Alexander Testa
  • Jelena Todic
  • Charles Wilson

PERFORMANCE, CREATIVE, PRODUCTION AWARD

  • Buster Graybill
  • Sarah Lasley


PRESIDENT’S DISTINGUISHED DIVERSITY AWARDS


FACULTY AND STAFF

  • COEHD Office of Professional Preparation and Partnerships
  • Charles David
  • Democratizing Racial Justice Project
  • Danielle Gawronski and Erica Clark
  • Kalia Glover
  • Destiney Jones
  • Gerald Lewis
  • Microagressions Awareness Committee
  • PRIDE Faculty and Staff Association
  • La Raza Faculty and Administrators Association
  • Lilliana P. Saldaña
  • Sherri Simmons-Horton
  • UTSA Racial Justice Book Club
  • VPDAR Inclusive Excellence Champions

STUDENTS

  • Black Student Union
  • G-Force Mentors
  • Alpha Martinez-Suarez
  • Suyapa Muñoz
  • Priscilla Okolie
  • Rowdy Chess Club
  • Rey Villanueva


UNIVERSITY EXCELLENCE STAFF AWARDS


RICHARD S. HOWE SERVICE TO UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS AWARD

  • Miltos Alamaniotis
  • Ephrem Fernandez
  • Ryan Filo
  • Rosa Garza-Girdy
  • Melissa Hernandez
  • Johnelle Sparks
  • Gail Taylor
  • UTSA Video Production Group

LEADERSHIP AWARD

  • Leonardo Amaro
  • Louis Badillo Jr.
  • Lauren Beaver
  • Daniel Bellamy
  • Karen Daas
  • Gregory Elliott
  • Leticia Garcia
  • Kelly Garza
  • Regina Gomez
  • Alejandra Gonzalez
  • Nikki Lee
  • Daniel Ramirez
  • Luisa Ramirez
  • Barbara Smith
  • April Valdez
  • Sandra Vasquez-Kayruz

RISING STAR AWARD

  • April Flores
  • Melissa Garcez
  • Bailey Gosline
  • Jaime Guzman
  • Marie Kuehler
  • William Lansdon
  • Sharon Martinez
  • RaLynn McGuire
  • Ty Middleton
  • Mariah Neumeyer
  • Melissa Ramirez
  • Tyler Renard
  • Sara Tate

EXTRA MILE AWARD

  • Georgina Anguiano Elliott
  • Claudia Arcolin
  • Andrea Brown
  • Sandra Cardona
  • Ashley Castillo
  • Laurie De La Paz-Noriega
  • Jolyn Demarest
  • Amy Fritz
  • Leticia Garcia
  • Sandy Givens
  • Patrick Grant
  • Pamela Jones
  • Wendy Kim
  • Nikki Lee
  • Agustin Llano
  • Jennifer Martinez
  • Karen Metz
  • Cheryl Negrete
  • Janie Paschal
  • Shashi Pinheiro
  • Luis Plascencia
  • Daniel Ramirez
  • Elizabeth Raymond
  • Cristina Rodriguez
  • Georgina Rodriguez Martinez
  • Michael Rushforth
  • Lorelei Salazar
  • Lorrie Smith
  • Beth Smothers
  • Kaye Steinhour
  • Daniel Wherritt
  • Frederick Wiedner
  • Naomy Ybarra

TEAM SPIRIT AWARD

  • Black Faculty and Staff Association
  • Clinical Teaching Candidate Team
  • College of Business Graduate Advisers
  • Continuous Improvement and Accreditation Team
  • Counseling and Mental Health
  • COVID-19 Recovery Operations Team
  • Donor Relations
  • Robin Davis
  • ELPS Admin Staff
  • Facilities and Student Union
  • Facilities Emergency Response Team
  • $5M Team
  • Freshman and International Recruitment
  • Global Initiatives
  • Inventory Department
  • Music Department Administrative Staff
  • ODL/LT/TLS
  • Office of Field Education
  • People Excellence Talent Acquisition Team
  • People Excellence Talent Management Team
  • PREP Program
  • Spanish & English Strategic Enrollment Collaboration Team
  • Student Success and Athletics Collaboration Team
  • Student Union Team
  • Undergraduate Recruitment
  • Veteran Certification Team

ORDER OF THE ROADRUNNER

  • Antonio De La Cruz
  • Laura Gilliland
  • Matt Keneson
  • Amy Manning Thompson
  • Minako Shibazaki
  • Kyle Stephens

Drew Vincent



UTSA Today is produced by University Strategic Communications,
the official news source
of The University of Texas at San Antonio.

Send your feedback to news@utsa.edu.


UTSA Today is produced by University Communications and Marketing, the official news source of The University of Texas at San Antonio. Send your feedback to news@utsa.edu. Keep up-to-date on UTSA news by visiting UTSA Today. Connect with UTSA online at Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and Instagram.


Events


Spotlight

Spotlight

dtc-utsa-sign_680.png
University of Texas at San Antonio receives ‘transformational’ $40M gift

UTSA’s Mission

The University of Texas at San Antonio is dedicated to the advancement of knowledge through research and discovery, teaching and learning, community engagement and public service. As an institution of access and excellence, UTSA embraces multicultural traditions and serves as a center for intellectual and creative resources as well as a catalyst for socioeconomic development and the commercialization of intellectual property - for Texas, the nation and the world.

UTSA’s Vision

To be a premier public research university, providing access to educational excellence and preparing citizen leaders for the global environment.

UTSA’s Core Values

We encourage an environment of dialogue and discovery, where integrity, excellence, inclusiveness, respect, collaboration and innovation are fostered.

UTSA’S Destinations

UTSA is a proud Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) as designated by the U.S. Department of Education .

Our Commitment to Inclusivity

The University of Texas at San Antonio, a Hispanic Serving Institution situated in a global city that has been a crossroads of peoples and cultures for centuries, values diversity and inclusion in all aspects of university life. As an institution expressly founded to advance the education of Mexican Americans and other underserved communities, our university is committed to promoting access for all. UTSA, a premier public research university, fosters academic excellence through a community of dialogue, discovery and innovation that embraces the uniqueness of each voice.