{"id":7129,"date":"2017-05-12T17:00:49","date_gmt":"2017-05-13T00:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogschapman.wpenginepowered.com\/scst\/2017\/05\/12\/top-honors-for-teaching-scholarship-and-academic-support-awarded-to-schmid-college-faculty-and-staff\/"},"modified":"2026-07-22T15:28:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-22T15:28:08","slug":"top-honors-for-teaching-scholarship-and-academic-support-awarded-to-schmid-college-faculty-and-staff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.chapman.edu\/scst\/2017\/05\/12\/top-honors-for-teaching-scholarship-and-academic-support-awarded-to-schmid-college-faculty-and-staff\/","title":{"rendered":"Top Honors for Teaching, Scholarship and Academic Support Awarded to Schmid College Faculty and Staff"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 2017 Faculty Honors Convocation was held Friday, May 12\u00a0in the Bush Conference Center of Beckman Hall, room 404,\u00a0and Schmid College faculty were recipients of the highest honors awarded.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Just some of the Schmid College honorees, from left to right: Georgiana Bostean, Christopher Kim. Justin Dressel, Roman Buniy, Rosalee Hellberg, Jennifer Funk, Jennifer Hunnewell, Drew Moshier and Schmid College Dean Andrew Lyon.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

2017-2019 Wang-Fradkin Professorships<\/h3>\n
\"Prof.
Prof. Jennifer Funk, Ph.D.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Faculty Research and Development Council and the Provost’s Office selected Dr.\u00a0Jennifer Funk<\/a>, professor of biological sciences and director of the Biological Sciences program, to receive the prestigious 2017-2019 Wang-Fradkin Senior Professorship.<\/p>\n

\"Prof.
Prof. Justin Dressel, Ph.D.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Dr. Justin Dressel<\/a>, assistant professor of physics, was awarded the 2017-2019 Wang Fradkin Assistant Professorship Award\u00a0 The professorship is awarded in recognition of exceptional merit in scholarly and creative activity.<\/p>\n

The Wang-Fradkin professorships are named in honor of Hua-Cheng Wang, a distinguished political scientist and diplomat, and Dr. Cheng-Mei Wang Fradkin, who was professor of Biology and chair of the division of Natural Sciences until her death in 1983. Originally founded by Dr. Fradkin as a fellowship in 1982 in honor of her father, the University in 1996 changed the award to a professorship and added the name of Dr. Fradkin to honor both scholars.<\/p>\n

2017 Valerie Scudder Award<\/h3>\n
\"Prof.
Prof. Andrew Moshier, Ph.D.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Faculty Research and Development Council selected Dr. Andrew Moshier<\/a>\u00a0to receive the 2017 Valerie Scudder Award. Dr. Moshier is professor of mathematics and computer science, director of interdisciplinary initiatives for Chapman, director of the Center of Excellence in Computation, Algebra & Topology and\u00a0Head of the Faculty of Math, Physics & Computation.<\/p>\n

The Valerie Scudder Award recognizes outstanding achievement in teaching, scholarly\/creative activity, and service to the university. The recipients for this award are chosen by their peers for their exceptional contributions. The Valerie Scudder Award was the first award of merit to be given to faculty members by the university. It began around 1980, when Trustee Valerie Scudder, a returning adult student to Chapman College, approached the college administrators with her desire to honor faculty for their excellence. The first Valerie Scudder awards were handed out to Dr. Virginia Carson<\/a>, emerita\u00a0professor of biological sciences, as well as Jim Doti, the late Ronald Huntington, Shari Kuchenbecker and the late Ronald Thronson.<\/p>\n

The Barbara Mulch Excellence in Academic Service Award<\/h3>\n
\"Jennifer
Jennifer Hunnewell, Schmid College Associate Director of Operations<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Jennifer Hunnewell, associate director of operations at Schmid College, was named as one of two recipients of this high honor. Faculty nominate staff for the award in a show of deep appreciation for the support they receive from particular members of Chapman University staff.<\/p>\n

Many among the Schmid College faculty came together to nominate Ms. Hunnewell for this prestigious honor. \u00a0Like the award’s namesake, Dr. Barbara Mulch<\/a>, Hunnewell embodies the Chapman spirit and works tirelessly yet humbly to ensure the success of those around her.<\/p>\n

2017-2018 Award in Mentorship of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity<\/h3>\n
\"Christopher
Prof. Christopher S. Kim, Ph.D.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Faculty Research and Development Council and the Provost’s Office presented Dr.\u00a0Christopher S. Kim<\/strong><\/a>, professor and associate dean of academic programs at Schmid College of Science and Technology, with the 2017-2018 Award in Mentorship of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity.<\/p>\n

The award\u00a0recognizes exceptional work by faculty guiding student research and creative activity that enriches undergraduate students\u2019 lives beyond the classroom. These awards convey Chapman University\u2019s mission to provide personalized education of distinction and acknowledges faculty for their efforts to provide high-impact learning experiences to our students.<\/p>\n

Faculty Excellence in Scholarly and Creative Activity, Service to the University, and Teaching<\/h3>\n

Chapman’s Faculty Excellence awards are given by the Faculty Research and Development Council and the Provost\u2019s Office. Recipients are also chosen by their peers for their exceptional contributions to the university. The awards are given to faculty who demonstrate excellence in one of three categories: Scholarly and Creative Activity, Service to the University, and Teaching.<\/p>\n

This year, Dr. Rosalee Hellberg<\/strong><\/a>, assistant professor of food science, and Dr. Georgiana Bostean<\/strong><\/a>, assistant professor of environmental science, health & policy,\u00a0were both chosen to receive a Faculty Excellence in Achievement in Scholarly and Creative Activity. Dr.\u00a0Christopher S. Kim<\/strong>\u00a0was chosen to receive a Faculty Excellence in Service Award. Halina Goetz<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0instructor of mathematics, was chosen to receive a Faculty Excellence in Teaching Award. (Read this thoughtful piece written by Goetz on what tutoring is and is not.<\/a>)<\/p>\n

Tenure and Promotion<\/h3>\n

For the 2017-18 academic year, Schmid College’s Roman Buniy, Ph.D.<\/a> was awarded tenure and promoted to associate professor of physics. At last year’s ceremony, Buniy was awarded the 2016-18 Junior Wang-Fradkin Professorship in recognition of exceptional merit in scholarly activity.<\/p>\n

2017-2018 Personalized Education<\/h3>\n

Dr. Mohamed Allali<\/strong><\/a>, associate professor of \u00a0math and computer science, was awarded the 2017-18 Personalized Education award for his\u00a0project, Enhancing the Teaching of Digital Image Processing Through Interdisciplinary Technology-Based Course Materials<\/em>.<\/p>\n

2017-2018 Scholarly\/Creative Activity Awards<\/h3>\n

These awards are given by\u00a0Faculty Research and Development Council annually\u00a0to support select faculty projects in the following academic year. Schmid College faculty were again honored for their works:<\/p>\n

Dr. Amir Ahsan<\/strong><\/a>, assistant professor of physics, and Dr. Surya Nauli<\/a> in the School of Pharmacy to support their project\u00a0Mathematical Modeling and Computer Simulation of Primary Cilia<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Dr. Jennifer Funk<\/strong>\u00a0to support her project\u00a0Applying Next Generation Sequencing Techniques to Understand Plant Response to Climate Change<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Dr. Rosalee Hellberg<\/strong>\u00a0to support her project\u00a0Rapid Detection of Salmonella in Pet Food Using a Combination of Immunological and DNA Based Methodologies<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Dr. Melissa Rowland-Goldsmith<\/strong><\/a>, associate professor of biological sciences, and Dr. Marco Bisoffi<\/strong><\/a>, associate professor of molecular biology and Head of the Faculty of Chemistry, Biochemistry, and Food Science, for their co-teaching of cancer biology courses.<\/p>\n

Years of Service<\/h3>\n

Several among Schmid College’s faculty were recognized for their many years of teaching and dedicated service to the Chapman community:<\/p>\n