2019-2020 CLAS faculty awards

The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (CLAS) congratulates our professors and lecturers in recognition for their extraordinary achievements in teaching, research and leadership.

Academy of Scholars

The Academy of Scholars is committed to recognizing outstanding excellence in scholarship and creative achievement of the faculty members at Wayne State University. The academy's founding purpose was and has remained to raise the scholastic prestige of the university by bringing the most prominent academic experts to campus under its aegis and to create a community of scholars from among its most celebrated researchers.

• Stephanie Broch, Department of Chemistry
• Mark Lumley, Department of Psychology

Board of Governors Distinguished Faculty Fellowships

These fellowships were created to recognize and provide support for members of the faculty whose continuing achievements and current activities in scholarship, research, or the fine and performing arts are nationally distinguished. The Board of Governors Distinguished Faculty Fellowships are derived from revenues especially available to the Board. The term of each fellowship is two years. Since 1985, 87 Charles H. Gershenson Fellowships and 91 Board of Governors Fellowships have been awarded.

• Ljiljana Progovac, Department of English

Board of Governors Faculty Recognition Award

In 1974 the Board of Governors, in conjunction with the president, established an annual Board of Governors Faculty Recognition Award to be given each year to members of the regular full-time faculty in recognition of a particular work of merit brought to fruition in the 12-month period immediately preceding the year of the award. Awards made in 2020 are based on accomplishments in 2018-2019. The work of merit is a single act or event that constituted an outstanding contribution to scholarship and learning. Since 1975, 223 faculty members have received this award.

• Elena Past, Department of Classical and Modern Languages, Literatures, and Cultures
• Ljiljana Progovac, Department of English
• Sarah Trimpin, Department of Chemistry
• Yuson Jung, Department of Anthropology

Faculty recognition award recipients will be formally recognized during the May 1, 2020 Board of Governor's meeting streamed live at 3 p.m.

Career Development Chair

Career Development Chairs are awarded to as many as ten recently tenured faculty as part of the university's program to support the teaching and research endeavors of faculty members in the developmental stages of their scholarly careers. Since 1982, 263 university faculty members have held Career Development Chairs. The Career Development Chairs were established by generous grants to the Wayne State Fund, which provides recipients financial support, encouragement and recognition at a critical time in their careers.

• Jennifer Hart, Department of History
• Yuson Jung, Department of Anthropology
• Chera Kee, Department of English
• Noa Ofen, Department of Psychology | Institute of Gerontology
• Jennifer Stockdill, Department of Chemistry
• Abderrahmane Zouhir, Department of Classical and Modern Languages, Literatures, and Cultures

Charles H. Gershenson Distinguished Faculty Fellowship

These fellowships were created to recognize and provide support for members of the faculty whose continuing achievements and current activities in scholarship, research, or the fine and performing arts are nationally distinguished. The Charles H. Gershenson Distinguished Faculty Fellowships are part of the benefaction to Wayne State University by Charles H. Gershenson, who formerly served on the Board of Governors.

• Anne Duggan, Department of Classical and Modern Languages, Literatures, and Cultures

Distinguished Graduate Faculty Award

The purpose of the Distinguished Graduate Faculty Award is to recognize outstanding scholarly activities that have contributed significantly to Wayne State University's graduate programs. Since 1974, 49 graduate faculty members have received the Distinguished Graduate Faculty Award.

• Jeff Pruchnic, Department of English

Distinguished Service Professors

The President is authorized to create a new faculty classification of Distinguished Service Professor. This classification is to be used in rare instances to designate senior members of the University faculty who have made extraordinary contributions to the University outside their own disciplines or who, by unusual service outside of the University, have brought great honor and recognition to this institution.

2018 - 2019

• Kameshwari (Kami) Pothukuchi, Department of Urban Studies and Planning
• Peter Lichtenberg, Department of Psychology

2019 - 2020

• Marc Kruman, Department of History
• Daphne Nitri, Department of African American Studies
• Frederic Pearson, Center for Peace and Conflict Studies

Garrett T. Heberlein Endowed Awards for Excellence in Teaching for Graduate Students

The Garrett T. Heberlein Award for Excellence in Teaching recognizes graduate students who demonstrate instructional excellence. It is designed in part to elevate the attention given to teaching as part of graduate education and the preparation of graduate students to serve as college and university teachers.

• Christine Cook, Department of History
• Annamarie Formicola Department of Physics and Astronomy
• Despina Tsitlakidou, Department of Biological Sciences

Outstanding Graduate Director Awards

The Office of the Provost and The Graduate School are pleased to co-sponsor the Outstanding Graduate Director, to highlight the important service bygraduate directors in advancing graduate education in their programs.

• Kyu-Nahm , Department of Political Science
• Jeremy Kodanko, Department of Chemistry

Outstanding Graduate Mentor Awards

The Graduate School's Outstanding Mentor Award honors graduate faculty who are recognized by their departments and their graduate students as excellent mentors. The awards were established in 1994 to highlight the importance of faculty's mentoring role.

• Matthew Allen, Department of Chemistry
• Stephen Chrisomalis, Department of Anthropology

President's Award for Excellence in Teaching

The President's Awards for Excellence in Teaching recognize faculty members who have made outstanding contributions to teaching. This year, there are ten awards. Since 1977, 278 Wayne State University faculty members have been recognized for their teaching with these awards.

• Nicole Coleman, Department of Classical and Modern Languages, Literatures, and Cultures
• Shooshan Danagoulian, Department of Economics
• Michelle Jacobs, Department of Sociology
• Adrienne Jankens, Department of English
• Alisa Moldavanova, Department of Political Science
• Lee Wurm, Department of Psychology

University Research Grant

• Jennifer Gomez, Department of Psychology
• Tao Huang, Department of Mathematics
• Pei-Chung Lee, Department of Biological Sciences
• Abhijit Mandal, Department of Mathematics
• Zhenfei Liu, Department of Chemistry
• Hannah Schacter, Department of Psychology
• Clayton Walker, Department of English