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Friends, family and faculty gathered April 8 for the 2026 Celebration of Faculty Excellence Awards at the Glasscock Family Foundation Ballroom at �鶹��Ƶ���, where the event honored �鶹��Ƶ��� faculty for their impactful work and recognized their achievements.

The Celebration of Faculty Excellence recognized university faculty for distinguished research and creative work and concluded with a reception where guests mingled, networked and celebrated the honorees.

DISTINGUISHED PROFESSOR

�鶹��Ƶ��� recognized Patricia Stoddard Dare, professor of social work, as its Distinguished Professor. Dare has taught at �鶹��Ƶ��� for 20 years, and her research focuses on challenges faced by vulnerable families, including substance use disorders, mental health concerns, delinquency, maltreatment and food insecurity.

Dare said her students continue to fuel her passion for her work. 

“I'm so inspired by our students; I absolutely love �鶹��Ƶ��� students,” said Dare. “They completely inspire me. They keep me going and I love teaching.”

She also credits the tangible results of her work and its meaningful impact on society. 

“The other part that keeps me going in the research that I do, is that it has been impactful,” she said. “People have read my research, and policies have been informed and I think it's actually saved a lot of people's lives.”

She added:

“Anybody who knows me knows that I really love �鶹��Ƶ���, passionately in my heart and in my soul. I completely believe in what we're doing,” said Dare. “The other thing I'll say is I believe in it so much, my son's going to �鶹��Ƶ��� next year and I'm super excited for him to go.”

Other Distinguished Faculty Awards were presented to Cyleste Collins and Daniel Munther for research; Carole Heyward, Dakota King-White and Kiril Streletsky for service; and Kelle DeBoth Foust, Wendy Green and Amanda Lloyd for teaching.

Additionally, a number of faculty members were promoted and granted tenure, including:

Promotion to Senior Assistant Librarian
Michael Skor, Michael Schwartz Library

Promotion to Librarian
Kathyrn Fisher, Michael Schwartz Library

Promotion to Associate College Lecturer
Reinhild Boehme, Social Work
Tatiana Gracyk, Philosophy and Political Science
Andrew Hess, Engineering Technology
Leah Schell-Barber, Marketing
Alexsandra Sukhoy, Marketing 

Promotion to Associate Professor of Practice
Toby Bercovici, Theatre and Dance
Gail Nelson, Education and Counseling

Promotion to Senior College Lecturer
Toufik Aidja, Engineering Technology
William Atherton, Engineering Technology
Lisa Bernd, Theatre and Dance
Michael Wiitala, Philosophy and Political Science

Promotion to Professor of Practice
Marvin Thrash, Chemical and Biomedical Engineering

Promotion to Associate Professor with Tenure
Srinivas Allena, Civil and Environmental Engineering
Sebestian Brockhaus, Operations and Supply Chain Management
Zicheng Chi, Computer Science
Mary Gergis, Nursing
Kailash Gulshan, Biological, Geological and Environmental Sciences
Thomas Hilde, Urban Affairs
Robert Hurley, Psychology
Pedro Lopes Gerum, Operations and Supply Chain Management
Shuya Lu, Marketing
Jessica Peck, Management
Mehdi Rahmati, Electrical and Computer Engineering
Prabaha Sikder, Mechanical Engineering
David Stoughton, Theatre and Dance
Douglas Wajda, Health Sciences and Human Performances
Jingqi Yan, Biological, Geological and Environmental Sciences
Jingru Zhang, Computer Science

Promotion to Clinical Associate Professor with Tenure
Emily Jennings, Communications Sciences and Disorders
Gina Kubec, Occupational Therapy
Karla Reese, Occupational Therapy
Tonya Runner, Nursing

Promotion to Professor
Elena Andrei, Education and Counseling
Cyleste Collins, Social Work
Suzanne Giuffre, Physical Therapy
Megan Hatch, Urban Affairs
Wenqing Kang, History
Brian Mikelbank, Urban Affairs
Daniel Munther, Mathematics and Statistics
Tracy Porter, Management
Laura Rickett, Accounting
Eran Rubin, Information Systems
Yinjie Shen, Finance and Economics
Kenneth Vail, Psychology
Clayton Wukich, Urban Affairs

Congratulations to those who were honored!