Eight faculty members were honored for their service to Marshall University during a faculty meeting on Tuesday, April 11, in the Don Morris Room inside the Memorial Student Center.

The Distinguished Service Awards recipients are Dr. Laura Adkins, a professor of mathematics in the College of Science, and Dr. Elizabeth Reed Smith, a professor of music in the College of Arts and Media.

To qualify for this award, they must have 20 years of service to the University, a history of distinguished service to the University or their respective college and a history of distinguished teaching that has been observed in peer, administrative and/or student evaluations. The recipients will both receive $1,000 each.

The Distinguished Artists and Scholars Award was presented to three individuals and one team of two. The recipients were Dr. Vicki P. Stroeher, a professor of music in the College of Arts and Media (senior recipient), Dr. Maria Serrat, an associate professor of biomedical sciences in the School of Medicine (senior recipient), Dr. Kyle Palmquist, an assistant professor of biological sciences in the College of Science (junior recipient) and, as a team, Dr. Wael Zatar, a professor of civil engineering, and Dr. Gang Chen, a professor of mechanical engineering.

To qualify for these awards, they must either be tenured or hold tenure-track appointments. The award was created in order to recognize distinction of artistic fields and scholarly activities on the part of the Marshall faculty. Senior recipients receive $2,000 each, the junior recipient receives $1,000 and the team will receive $2,000 to be split amongst themselves. 

The John and Frances Rucker Graduate Adviser of the Year award was awarded to Dr. Brittany Canady, assistant professor of psychology. This award acknowledges the contributions of Marshall’s outstanding graduate advisers.

Additionally, 18 retiring faculty members, six faculty award winners who were announced prior to the meeting and the recipients of the Hedrick Program Grant for Teaching Innovation will be recognized.

The 18 retiring faculty members are: Stephen Lawson, Ronald Bieniek, Ronald Martino, Bonita Lawrence, Donna Sullivan, Jo Dee Gottlieb, Ivan Muslin, Richard Begley, Jingping Zhang, Matthew Carlton, Denise Landry, Charles Somerville, Gwenyth Hood, David Yost, William Palmer, Pamela Mulder, Majed Khader and Kimberly Broedel-Zaugg.

The six additional award winners to be recognized are Dr. Rachael Peckham, a professor of English in the College of Liberal Arts, with the Charles E. Hedrick Outstanding Faculty Award Marshall; Dr. Jill Treftz, an associate professor of English in the College of Liberal Arts, with the Shirley Reynolds Outstanding Teacher Award; Dr. Timothy Bryan, an assistant professor of accounting; Dr. Mehdi Esmaeilpour, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering; Dr. Megan Marshall, an assistant professor of English, with the Pickens-Queen Teacher Award and Dr. Laura Stapleton, an instructor of mathematics in the College of Science, with the Council of Chairs Award for Excellence in Teaching.