UTSA announces University Excellence Awards nominees for 2022

APRIL 18, 2022 — UTSA has announced the nominees for this year’s University Excellence Awards — the annual event that celebrates the achievements of Roadrunner faculty and staff, including exceptional teaching, innovative research, exemplary team spirit and impactful advocacy.

The pre-recorded ceremony will air from 4 to 5 p.m. on Tuesday, April 26.

Roadrunner faculty and staff are invited to attend an on-campus watch party where they can watch the broadcast on a big screen with colleagues. The parties will take place on the UTSA Main Campus in the Business Building, University Room (BB 2.06.04) and the Downtown Campus in the Durango Building, La Villita Room (DBB 1.116). Alternatively, viewers may access the ceremony at utsa.edu/excellence awards to join in the celebration from their home or office.

UTSA’s University Excellence Awards are given in three categories:

• President’s Distinguished Faculty Achievement Awards, which recognize the achievements of faculty who have excelled in teaching, research or service
• President’s Distinguished Diversity Awards, which recognize the work of individuals or groups that help the UTSA community think about and practice diversity and inclusion in creative and collaborative ways
• University Excellence Staff Awards, which honor outstanding UTSA employees who demonstrate excellent work performance

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PRESIDENT’S DISTINGUISHED FACULTY AWARDS

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Richard S. Howe Excellence in Teaching Award

Andrew Bergmann Catherine Nolan-Ferrell Kathryn Brown

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Teaching Excellence Award

Yongcan Cao David Han Amir Karimi Yvette Sands Ian Thacker Van Lac Crystal Kalinec-Craig Eva Wikberg Cindy Ermus John Zarco Matthias Hofferberth Kevin Desai Michael C. Hanna

Eddie Hernandez Rafael lopez-Mobilia Isabel A. Muzzio Rocky Slavin Gina Amatangelo Favor Campbell Kelly Cheever Chantal Fahmy Kelley J. Reno Corey Sparks Jelena Todic Erica Wallace

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Core Curriculum Award

• Rebecca Schroeder
• Susan Gelb Rosenberg
• Jessica Beckham

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University Service Award

Wei-Ming Lin Ronald Sweet Deepa Chandrasekaran Jason Yaeger Turgay Korkmaz

David B. Jaffe Doug E. Frantz Willam Land Sara Oswalt

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Advancing Globalization Award

David Akopian Rosalind Horowitz Nicolas Large

Katelyn Sileo Bonita B. Sharma

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Innovation & Impact Award (I²)

• The Graduate Grand Challenge Team (Rebecca Weston, Lindsay O’Day, Emily Lerma, Juan Alvarado, Angela Grant)
• Explore STEM @ UTSA (Wei Wang, Kathy Ewoldt, Mimi Xie, Alberto Mestas-Nunez)
• Dallas Police Department Violence Reduction Project (Michael Smith, Rob Tillyer)

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Community Impact Award

Neda Norouzi Carmen Fies

Gabriela Gonzalez Rebecca Bria

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Research Achievement Award 

Wei Gao Vikram Kapoor Miltos Alamaniotis Stewart R. Miller Kim-Kwang Choo Richard T. Gretz Xunwu Chen Omar Valerio-Jimenez Fernando Campos Jessica Nowlin

Thomas G. Forsthuber Brian P. Hermann Amanda Fernandez Francis Yoshimoto Terence Hill Jeffrey T. Howard Sandra B. Morissette Marie Tillyer Willie Hale

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Mentoring Award

David Akopian Betty Merchant Thad Bartlett

John Quarles Johnelle Sparks

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Performance, Creative, Production Award 

• Tracy Cowden

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PRESIDENT’S DISTINGUISHED DIVERSITY AWARDS

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Faculty/Staff (Groups)

La Raza Faculty, Staff, and Administrators Association (Omar Valerio-Jimenez, Belinda Saldaña Harmon, Rachel Cruz, Sonya Aleman, Sylvia Mendoza, Mario Flores,  Noelani Cubillos-Sanchez, Cynthia Arreola) ECE Female Faculty (JoAnn Browning, Chunjiang Qian, Joo Ong, Wei-min Lin, Mo Jamshidi, Ram Krishnan, Yufang Jin, Ruyan Guo, Michelle Zhang, Justin Briham) HSI Career Collaborative (Mario Vela, Michelle Schenk, Regina Gomez, Melissa Ramirez, Shruti Anand, Cristina Sanchez) Office of Professional Preparation and Partnerships (Belinda Bustos Flores, Kristen Lindahl, Michael Vriesenga, Youmna Dbouk, Tiffany Farias-Sokoloski, Claudia Garcia, Lucinda “Nicki” Sohn, Jennifer Swoyer, Lorena Claeys, Kimberly Perez)

Pride FSA (Luca Pozzi, John Shaffer, Derek Robertson, Sharon Nichols, Amy Manning-Thompson, Madison Cowles, Damaris Ibarra, Tim Palese) Racial Justice Book Club (Ammi Bui, Ann Margaret Trujillo) UTSA Racial Justice Equity 21-Day Challenge (Laura Munroe, Brandi Scott, Alvin Curette)

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Faculty/Staff (Indivduals)

Neda Norouzi Loretta Long RaLynn McGuire

Shelby Scott Vincent Perez

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Student Organizations 

• National Society of Black Engineers

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Students (Indivduals)

•  Alpha Martinez-Suarez 
•  Priscilla Okolie 
•  Quyen Do

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UNIVERSITY EXCELLENCE STAFF AWARDS

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Richard S. Howe Service to Undergraduate Students Award 

• Gail Taylor
• Najim Center for Innovation (Hugh Stevens, Rachael Fletcher, Erica Clark)

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Leadership Award

Barbara Smith Christopher Kibbe Frances Whitaker Kelly Rock

Michelle Schenk Molly Ralph Shawn Farrell Judy Olivarez

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Rising Star Award

Amy McManus Daniel Ramirez-Escobedo Danielle Gawronski Josie Medel Katherine Madden

Marko Krekovic Shruti Anand Debra Leal Kevin Desai Elizabeth Tate

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Extra Mile Award

Allyn Rede Annele Gonzalez Dionne Davila Iselda Rodriguez Johnathan Jarrell Jolyn Demarest Joseph Milne Joshua Guerra Kelsey Thias

Laura Sheehy Melissa Platt Rachael Fletcher Rebecca Weston Regina Gomez Wendell Griffith Kalia Glover Melanie Zulaica Evangelina Torres

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Team Spirit Award

Accounting Tutor Team (Marko Krekovic, Tina Qiao, Sigfredo Cruz, Victor Montoya) Carnegie Tier One Team (Arya Singh, Jerome Keating) Classroom Scheduling Team (Ramiro Hernandez, Flor Hernandez, Donald Swinson) Defining Moments Team (Jodi Peterson, Humberto Saenz, Mark McCoin, Ethan Wickman, Jourdan Howell, Megan Rulewicz, John Bagarozy, Emily Johnson, Will Smith, Ernest Hernandez, Claudia Arcolin) Giving Day Development and Alumni Relations Team (Heather Green, Jessica Wojda, Madison Underwood, Jennilee Garza, Kristine Garza Benson, Erica Dixon, Jessica Rios, Stephen Skinner, Veronica Dominguez, Mario Maldonado, Christian Jensen) Libraries Team (Adam Zaby, Hejin Shin, Del De la Cruz, Karina Franco, Cheri Bratton, Joshua Cox, Marcus Tapia, Richard Quini, George Akech) Music Department Team (Naomy Ybarra, Steven Hill, Francisco Chavez-Silva, Wesley Uchiyama-Penix, Donald Marchand)

Pandemic Response Team (Mary Hernandez, Lauren Beaver, Andrea Fernandez, Kareem Salama, Jolyn Demarest, Elyse Brown) RowdyLink and R25 Integration Team (Jessica Dawson, Jessica Stanford, Douglas Carter) Transportation Team (Ricardo Escobar, II, James Greene, Irasema Boatright, Michael Silva) (Special Shoutout to University Drivers: Kristin Boatright, Jimmie Booze, Brian Buggs, Yevgenia Capriatti, Markus Carter, David Castillo, Almaluz Cornejo, Benjamin Espinosa, Martin Gaytan, Israel Gaytan, Richard Guerra, Kenneth Johnson, Maria Lopez, Catherine McKalpain, Farah Nadela, Steven Ruiz, Emmanuel Ruiz, Natie Sutton, Michael Talbert, Robert Taylor, Gilberto Vadillo, Larry Woytasczyk, Yolanda Young) Facilities Team (Fred Weidner, Della Reyes, George Martinez, Raymond Rosalez, Henrietta Mercado, Eunice De La Cruz, Juan Morales, Scott Reuter, Juan Villarreal, Kim Norton) Terri Matiella Andres Vazquez

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Order of the Roadrunner

• Tina Garza