Faculty Excellence Awards Celebrate Outstanding Contributions

More than 40 faculty members received honors for scholarship, teaching innovation, mentoring, community engagement, and leadership during Trinity’s first Faculty Excellence Awards ceremony on October 17.

Intended to be an annual event, the awards are the outcome of a faculty committee convened around ways to recognize and celebrate outstanding contributions of faculty members.

“Trinity College is consistently recognized for the quality of teaching that benefits our students and our world,” said President Joanne Berger-Sweeney at the awards ceremony in the Washington Room of Mather Hall. “Today we celebrate our faculty not only for their scholarship but for their unwavering commitment to nurturing minds and the liberal arts.”

Faculty committees selected the majority of this year’s recipients from more than 100 nominations. Chemistry Professor Tim Curran, who joined the faculty in 2000, received the Career Achievement Award.

The Center for Hartford Engagement and Research (CHER) faculty, staff, and directors chose the Community Engagement Award. The student mentoring award was based on mentoring activity data.

“These awards reflect the initiative of Trinity’s forward-looking task force on faculty workloads, and they contribute to our goal of building a culture of recognition,” Dean of Faculty Sonia Cardenas said. “The recipients are outstanding faculty members, but what’s truly remarkable is seeing Trinity’s faculty engage in vitally impactful work every day.  We can all be inspired by their accomplishments as teachers, scholars, and mentors.”

2024 Trinity College Faculty Excellence Awards

Career Achievement Award

In recognition of consistently strong lifetime contributions across teaching, scholarship, and service/leadership.

• Tim Curran, Vernon K. Krieble Professor of Chemistry

Teaching Innovation Prize

In recognition of a recent example of curricular or pedagogical innovation enhancing student engagement and learning.

• Dang Do, assistant professor of political science
• Alisha Holland, lecturer and coordinator of introductory psychology
• James Truman, director of peer tutoring in writing and senior lecturer in the Allan K. Smith Center for Writing and Rhetoric

Teacher Scholar

In recognition of research excellence and a promising project.

• Tanetta Andersson, senior lecturer in sociology
• Chris Swart, principal lecturer and laboratory coordinator in neuroscience

Outstanding Scholar

In recognition of completion in the past year of significant scholarship impacting a field or public discourse, highlighting arts and humanities, social sciences, or STEM disciplines.

• Kent Dunlap, professor of biology
• Michael Grubb, associate professor of psychology
• Peter Kyle, associate professor of theater and dance
• Ewa Syta, associate professor of computer science

Mentoring Students Prize

In recognition of faculty who have successfully performed an exceptional number of mentoring-intensive activities.

• Aidalí Aponte-Avilés, senior lecturer in language and culture studies
• Arianne Bazilio, assistant professor of chemistry
• Benjamin Carbonetti, senior lecturer in human rights studies
• Elizabeth Casserly, associate professor of psychology
• Chandranil Chakraborttii, assistant professor of computer science
• Brian Chin, assistant professor of psychology
• Glenn Falk, professor of the practice in public policy and law
• Eric Galm, professor of music
• Christoph Geiss, professor of physics and environmental science
• Jonathan Gourley, principal lecturer and laboratory coordinator in the environmental science program
• Laura Holt, professor of psychology
• Maminur Islam, assistant professor of computer science
• Reo Matsuzaki, associate professor of political science
• Tennyson O’Donnell, directory of the Allan K. Smith Center for Writing and Rhetoric, and Allan K. Smith principal lecturer in English composition
• Michael Puljung, assistant professor of neuroscience and chemistry
• Sally Seraphin, assistant professor of neuroscience
• Madalene Spezialetti, associate professor of computer science
• Chris Swart, principal lecturer and laboratory coordinator in neuroscience
• Chris Swist, lecturer in music and director of recording arts
• Jia-Hui Stefanie Wong, assistant professor of educational studies

Academic Leadership Award

In recognition of faculty whose recent efforts on campus advanced the college’s mission and built inclusive community.

• Peter Kyle, associate professor of theater and dance

Professional Engagement Award

In recognition of recent leadership in or contributions to one’s profession, elevating Trinity’s reputation.

• Michelle Kovarik, Gregory G. Mario ’87 professor of chemistry
• Christopher Houlihan, John Rose Distinguished college organist, director of chapel music, and artist-in-residence

Community Engagement Award

In recognition of a recent outstanding contribution that enhances the reciprocal and impactful exchange of knowledge with Hartford-area partners.

• Serena Laws, assistant professor of public policy and law
• Anna Terwiel, assistant professor of political science

Mid-Career Research Award

In recognition of faculty with a strong record and planned trajectory to promotion to full professor.

• Tasmin Jones, Ellsworth Morton Tracy lecturer and associate professor of religious studies
• Kari Theurer, associate professor of philosophy
• Kifah Hanna, associate professor of language and culture studies

Senior Faculty Mentoring Award

In recognition of exceptional contributions to mentoring faculty.

• Stefanie Chambers, John R. Reitemeyer Term Professor of Political Science