Southern Miss Celebrates Faculty and Staff Achievement at Annual Awards Ceremony
Mon, 05/18/2026 - 09:03am | By: David Tisdale
The 黑料视频 honored a select group of individuals who embody the institution鈥檚 mission as educators, researchers and leaders during the annual Faculty and Staff Awards Ceremony held May 8 on the Hattiesburg campus.
Awards presented at the event included those supported by the and the Southern Miss Research Foundation. Faculty, staff and graduate students, along with the categories of achievement they were recognized in, are as follows:
Provost Faculty Fellows
Dr. Joseph Jones, Dr. Jeffrey Parr, Dr. Nancy Speed and Dr. Brandley Winton
Sabbaticals
Dr. Matthew Casey, Dr. Sara Jordan, Dr. Karen Kozlowski, Dr. Chao Meng and Dr. Xiadong Zhang
Ready for Life Awards
Ready for Life Champion 鈥� Individual: Julia Bradley and Claire Hamilton
Ready for Life Champion 鈥� School/Program: School of Construction and Design, School of Health Professions
Ready for Life Emerging Champion 鈥� Individual: Allison Mull
Ready for Life Emerging Champion 鈥� School/Program: Legal Studies Program, School of Marketing, School of Psychology
Ready for Life 鈥� Special Commendation: School of Performing and Visual 黑料视频 and Jacob Cotton
Aubrey Keith Lucas and Ella Ginn Lucas Endowment for Faculty Excellence Award
Dr. Nicole Camlin; Dr. Matthew Casey; Dr. Banu Elmadag; Dr. Faqing Huang; Dr. Karen Kozlowski and Dr. Matthew Ward (jointly awarded); Dr. Masha Krsmanovic; Dr. Katherine Lee; Dr. Joseph Peterson; Jennifer Torres; Dr. Alana Turner; Dr. Sangamanatha Ankmnal Veeranna and Dr. Donald Yee
Excellence in Teaching and Learning
Faculty Leadership Institute Fellows: Dr. Hugh Broome; Dr. Jacob Esplin; Dr. Sarah Mangrum; Dr. Lisa Morgan; Dr. Jeffrey Parr; Dr. Donald Sacco; Dr. Stephanie Smith and Dr. Mayantoinette Watson
Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Fellows: Terry Cullum; Dr. Danny Lee; Dr. Laura Matthews; Dr. Marion Patti; Dr. Rebecca Powell; Dr. Jae-Hwa Shin; Dr. Christopher Smith; Dr. Kelly Tillis; Dr. Zikai Zhou and Dr. Melissa Ziegler
Innovative Teaching Mini-Grants: Dr. Alyson Brink; Dr. Lila de Tantillo; Susan Dobson; Dr. Matthew Hoggatt; Dr. Danny Lee and Dr. Nancy Speed
Summer Grants for Improvement of Instruction: Dr. Vishal Arghode; Amy Carey; Dr. Gretchen Goode; Sabrina Holley; Dr. Danny Lee; Wendi McLain; Dr. Dustin Odom; Dr. Brett Stamm; Dr. Haiyan Tian and Dr. Melissa Ziegler
Advancing Excellence in Teaching Grants: Dr. Patrick Biber; Dr. Aisha Ghimire; Amber Hatten; Dr. Songjie He; Dr. Katherine Lee; Dr. Laura Matthews; Dr. Candice Salyers; Hillary Scales-Lewis; Dr. Christopher Smith; Dr. Christopher Spaide; Dr. Wei Wang; Tammy Williams-Loggins and Dr. Melissa Ziegler
Coursera Mini-Grant: Dr. Lashanda Brumfield; Kevin Buckley; Dr. Stacy Creel; Dr. Ali Dogru; Dr. Banu Elmadag; Dr. Mohsen Foroughi-Sabzevar; Dr. Aisha Ghimire; Dr. Chris Gleason; Dr. Shinhee Park; Dr. Sabrina Reed; Dr. Jae-Hwa Shin; Alexis Stoner; Dr. Wei Wang; Dr. Gallayanee Yaoyuneyong; Dr. Zikai Zhou and Dr. Melissa Ziegler
AI for Social Good: Dr. Ali Dogru, Dr. Mohammed Rashid, Hillary Scales-Lewis, Dr. William Thompson IV and Dr. Melissa Ziegler
Excellence in Online Teaching Award: Dr. Douglas Bristol
Outstanding Service-Learning Faculty Award: Dr. Vickie Reed
Graduate Mentor of the Year: Dr. Zhe Qiang
Emerging Graduate Mentor Award: Amber Hatten
Honors College Mentor of the Year: Dr. Stacey Reeves and Dr. Donald Yee
Drapeau 黑料视频 for Undergraduate Research Mentor of the Year Award: Dr. YanLin Guo
Association for College and University Educators (ACUE) Faculty Development Institute
ACUE AI in Higher Education Endorsement: Dr. Katie Angus; Terry Cullum; Dr. Eric Dahlen;
Dr. Mary Funk; Benjamin Goudy; Dr. Danny Guillory; Dr. Andrew Herridge; Dr. Alecia
Hollis; Dr. Mark Huff; Dr. Kelli King; Dr. Danny Lee; Dr. Michelle McLeese; Dr. LynLee
Morgan; Dr. Joyce Powell; Dr. Jae-Hwa Shin; Dr. Nancy Speed; Alexis Stoner; Dr. Tyler
Surber and Dr. Melissa Ziegler
ACUE Distinguished Teaching Scholars: Dr. Casey Maugh Funderburk; Dr. Riley Galloway;
Dr. Kaeli Gretter; Dr. Danny Guillory; Dr. Timothy Guttman; Dr. Mirsala Kamari; Dr.
Theofanis Kitsopoulos; Jessica Lee Matthews; Dr. Anna Swann; Dr. Amonia Tolofari and
Dr. Charles Walter
Division of Student Affairs and Enrollment Management Awards
Joe Paul Rising Star Award: Andrew Garrett
Peter Durkee Superstar Award: Lemuel Boyer
Student Affairs Champion: Shirley Arnold
Distinguished Friends of Student Affairs: William Hamilton and Martha Allen Price
Golden Momentum Award: Teresa Crum
University Research Innovation Awards
Academic Partnership Award: Dr. Derek Patton
Applied Research Award: Nick Rahimi
Basic Research Award: Dr. Kim de Mutsert
Creative Research Award: Jennifer Torres
Graduate Student Research Award: Saydul Akbar Murad and Saba Shahid
Multidisciplinary Research Award: Dr. Stephanie Smith
Research Advocate Award: Sermin Aras
University Excellence Awards
Staff Excellence Awards:
Service Maintenance/Skilled Craft Technical Award: Heath Trusell, Physical Plant
Office Personnel: Richard Baker and Stacy Henly
Professional: Dr. Sirena Cantrell and Dr. Joyce Powell
Jessie H. Morrison Award: Darcie Conrad and Sharon Hughes
Staff Service Award: Jasmine Coleman-Miller, Colleen Johnson, Mandy Nace and Charlotte Roberts
Faculty Excellence Awards
Nina Bell Suggs Endowed Professorship: Dr. Boran Ma and Dr. Alison Hubbard
Junior Faculty Outstanding Creative Research Award: Dr. Borislava Iltcheva
Junior Faculty Outstanding Research Award: Dr. Ke Gong and Dr. Bradley Winton
Junior Outstanding Teaching Award: Dr. Masha Krsmanovic
Excellence in Teaching: Dr. Joanne Tran
Excellence in Service: Dr. Ali Dogru
Excellence in University Librarianship: Melissa Brooks