Coker University recently recognized a number of employees and departments as part of its 2021 Staff and Faculty Awards were held. Nominated by their fellow members of the Coker community, each honoree was selected based on their work and commitment to the University.
This year’s winners include:
Rising Star Award: This award recognizes the contributions of a new faculty and staff member with two years or less of employment at Coker. Recipients of this award demonstrate the following criteria:
2021 Rising Star Award Winners:
Faculty - Assistant Professor of Dance Natalia Schradle
Staff - Director of Student Engagement Dominique Fowler
Staff Excellence Awards: This award recognizes a staff member from each of five divisions who demonstrates excellence in their service to the University. The five divisions include:
Division 1: Administration, HR, Finance, Kalmia Gardens, and Institutional Advancement
Division 2: Student Services
Division 3: Athletics
Division 4: Academic Affairs/ Institutional Effectiveness
Division 5: Dining, Housekeeping, Maintenance, Facilities, Security
These staff members exhibit exemplary professionalism and achievement in advancing the mission and goals of the University. Recipients of this award demonstrate the following criteria:
2021 Staff Excellence Award Winners:
Division 1: Associate Director of Marketing & Communications Alec Gaschen
Division 2: Dean of Student Success Whitney Watts Bedard
Division 3: Director of Student Athlete Affairs & Event Management Aaron Beebe
Division 4: Assistant to the Provost and Coordinator of Disability Services Jennifer Rhodes
Division 5: Cynthia Jennings
Improving Our Workplace Award: This award recognizes individuals or a team (one Faculty and one Staff) whose efforts in striving towards goals set forth in the University’s strategic plan serve as a positive change agent that results in improved work processes and increased efficiency. Nominators were required to explain how the nominee’s initiatives demonstrated one or both of the following criteria:
Examples include cost-saving initiatives, student service initiatives, development, preservation or dissemination of knowledge that enhances student or employee experiences, process improvements which positively affect students or employees or enhance safety, etc.
2021 Improving Our Workplace Award Winners:
Faculty - Assistant Professor of Sociology and Criminology Danny Malone
Staff - IT Department
Innovation in Teaching Award: This award recognizes innovation in educational or training experiences for students. It aims to recognize (4 Faculty - 3 full-time and 1 part-time) individuals or a team’s efforts that measurably impact student engagement, retention, graduation, performance, or some other measure of student success, whether in a classroom, project, program, or learning environment. Nominators were required to quantify the impact of the individual or team’s efforts through the following criteria:
2021 Innovation in Teaching Award Winners:
Full-Time 1 - School of Visual and Performing Arts Faculty
Full-Time 2 - The Math Program Team: Associate Professor of Mathematics Rachel Manspeaker; Assistant Professor, Coordinator of the Math Program, and Director of the Center for Quantitative Literacy Valerie Granger; Associate Professor of Mathematics Peter Nguyen; Special Instructor in Mathematics James Sweeny; and Adjunct Professor Taylor Belcher
Full-Time 3 - Biology Faculty
Part-Time - Professor Nathan Schradle
As part of this year’s awards ceremony, Coker University President Natalie J. Harder presented the 2021 President’s Award Winner to Darlene Small, Coker’s Director of the Center for Diversity, Interfaith, and Inclusion Education.