Dr. Annette Levi, professor of agricultural enterprise, was chosen for Fresno State’s 2022 Provost’s Award for Excellence in Teaching, introduced Dr. Xuanning Fu, Fresno State’s interim provost and vp for Educational Affairs.
The Provost’s Awards additionally honored the next college:
- Dr. Steve Blumenshine, professor of biology — Analysis, Scholarship and Artistic Accomplishment Award
- Dr. Amila Becirbegovic, assistant professor of recent and classical languages and literatures — College Service Award
- Dr. Mark Baldis, Division of Kinesiology and Dr. Janine Nkosi, Division of Sociology — Excellent Lecturer Award
5 college members had been chosen for the Promising New College class of the Provost’s Awards in recognition of their exemplary achievements in educating, analysis, inventive actions and/or service amongst non-tenured, tenure-track college. The honorees are:
- Dr. Luis Fernando Macías, assistant professor of Chicano and Latin American research
- Dr. Kimberly Stillmaker, assistant professor of civil and geomatics engineering
- Mai Der Vang, assistant professor of English
- Dr. Ettore Vitali, assistant professor of physics
- Dr. Varaxy Yi Borromeo, assistant professor of academic management
The Provost’s Awards had been established in 1993 to acknowledge the excellent educating, analysis and repair that’s central to the mission of Fresno State.
Honorees present college students with a stimulating setting that fosters studying and affirms the College as an mental and cultural chief within the Central Valley.
The awardees might be celebrated throughout an occasion at 3 p.m. Thursday, Could 12, within the North Gym, Room 118.
Excellence in Educating
Dr. Annette Levi (agricultural enterprise) has taught in quite a lot of topic areas for the Division of Agricultural Enterprise since she joined Fresno State in 2008. She integrates work expertise and scholarly actions to create skilled studying environments for her college students. Her largest influence within the division is integrating high-impact educating practices into this system. She has labored with the Richter Heart to develop a service-learning course to have college students interact with native nonprofits. She was assigned an internship course the place she developed an inventory of ag enterprise majors and alumni and despatched them notifications about skilled alternatives. And Levi organized and provided research overseas applications to China and Chile so college students might learn the way meals grown in these areas get to tables all over the world. She later developed service-learning research overseas applications to Africa.
Analysis, Scholarship and Artistic Accomplishment Award
Dr. Steve Blumenshine’s (biology) work is in fish ecology and bioenergetics, aquatic habitat evaluation, water high quality and watersheds. He has acquired greater than $1.5 million in analysis funding since 2013, has a powerful report of publications in peer-reviewed journals and over 100 displays in conferences. In 2018, he acquired the School of Science and Arithmetic Excellent College Analysis Award and has acquired two U.S. Fulbright awards, one for analysis in Germany and the opposite in Thailand. His method and success consists of the mixing of scholars into his analysis group and dealing with exterior collaborators to extend publicity of utilized analysis and implementation within the classroom. Blumenshine, who began at Fresno State in 2001, was not too long ago appointed director of the California Water Institute Analysis and Training Division.
College Service Award
Dr. Amila Becirbegovic (fashionable and classical languages and literatures) is a German language specialist who is without doubt one of the lead researchers, translators and writers on the president’s Process Power to Assessment the Naming of the College Library. She helps to learn paperwork which can be in German to root out secrets and techniques and to construct empathy and acceptance so we don’t stay in worry of the previous. She is a genocide survivor, having escaped the focus camps in Bosnia. Her experience is in how visible media impacts the reminiscence of genocide. Becirbegovic has served on many College committees, together with as chair of the library subcommittee working to make sure that college have a voice within the library’s collections and practices. She serves on the manager committee for the School of Arts and Humanities and was chosen as the faculty’s honors cohort chief and can design a course round her analysis on genocide, reminiscence and trauma.
Excellent Lecturer Award
Dr. Mark Baldis (kinesiology) has been a lecturer within the Division of Kinesiology for greater than 21 years educating within the areas of train science, athletic coaching, normal kinesiology and bodily schooling. He has taught full programs within the Division of Bodily Remedy and he’s routinely a visitor teacher within the Departments of Biology, Public Well being, and Meals Sciences and Diet. Bladis has served because the train science possibility coordinator and director of the Human Efficiency Laboratory for greater than 10 years. He’s instrumental in guiding and coordinating the train science curriculum. He acquired the School of Well being and Human Service’ College Mentor Award and the College’s Campus Advisor’s Community Excellent Advisor Award. Bladis holds 9 professionally-related certifications and/or licensures and has performed hundreds of hours {of professional} persevering with schooling. He has integrated these certifications and coaching into the programs he teaches creating alternatives for train science college students to additionally receive their very own skilled certifications.
Dr. Janine Nkosi (sociology) has served as a lecturer since 2011 and has introduced transformative vitality to schooling by means of community-based analysis and service-learning experiences. She makes use of her experience to make an influence on the group whereas additionally educating college students the significance of public scholarship for social change. She trains college students to survey group members, to research their knowledge and to mirror on their very own lived experiences. Collectively, she and her college students had been instrumental in working with group organizations to analyze evictions and encourage the passage of the Rental Housing Enchancment Act in 2017 within the Metropolis of Fresno. She is main a staff of scholar organizers in her programs to advocate for reasonably priced housing insurance policies and tenant protections in Fresno, addressing a housing disaster worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Promising New College
Dr. Luis Fernando Macías (Chicano and Latin American Research) got here to Fresno State in 2017 and has made exemplary achievements in educating, analysis and repair but in addition in serving as an advocate for college students of shade, particularly those that are undocumented. He co-chairs the College’s Basic Training Evaluation Subcommittee and serves on curriculum committees for the School of Social Sciences and the Chicano and Latin American Research division. He participates within the ED Program Graduate Group, is co-chair of the School of Social Science’s Worldwide Training Committee and serves on the Honors and Scholarships Committee. Macías has revealed 4 peer-reviewed articles and authored a manuscript within the Journal of Increased Training. He acquired the Provost’s Award for Extraordinary Educating in Extraordinary Occasions in 2020 and the School of Social Science Excellent Educating Award.
Dr. Kimberly Stillmaker (civil and geomatics engineering), an alumna of the Lyles School of Engineering, joined Fresno State as a tenure observe assistant professor in 2016. She teaches quite a lot of undergraduate and graduate programs in civil engineering and had an influential function in designing and growing a brand new freshmen introduction to engineering course. Stillmaker invested in studying new methods to show in the course of the pandemic and has continued to be an efficient teacher. Her analysis is in structural engineering and gender fairness in engineering. She is a key contributor in a multi-campus grant of $1.25 million from the Nationwide Science Basis to concentrate on an intercampus networking and mentoring system and a systemwide college development dashboard to extend the illustration of ladies within the engineering professoriate.
Mai Der Vang (English) maintains an energetic writing and publishing portfolio, most not too long ago gaining consideration for the discharge of her second guide of poetry titled “Yellow Rain,” which was reviewed by main nationwide publications and is a finalist for 2 prime nationwide poetry awards. She got here to Fresno State in 2018 to share her pleasure for poetry with a various scholar physique. She coordinates the Grasp of Advantageous Artwork’s Philip Levine Prize for Poetry; created and advises Hmong American Ink and Tales, an area for Hmong American college students to develop as writers; serves on various committees; and partnered with the Laureate Lab Visible Wordist Studio on a mission of experimental inventive artwork/poetry-making workshops. She is educating a brand new seminar, “Refugee Poetics,” which provides voice to those that have historic displacement.
Dr. Ettore Vitali (physics) joined Fresno State in 2018 and was tasked with organising a brand new analysis program in computational physics. He wasted no time getting began and recruited a proficient and motivated group of scholars. He has supervised unbiased research programs and chaired grasp’s thesis commitments and arrange plans to develop new programs. In 4 years, he revealed eight analysis papers, three of which had been with college students. Vitali additionally created a brand new educating technique in the course of the pandemic for his computational lessons counting on “stay programming” the place he coded stay whereas college students gave recommendations and requested questions in actual time making the category really feel extra like a analysis staff. Vitali was honored in 2020 with the Provost Award for Extraordinary Educating in Extraordinary Occasions.
Dr. Varaxy Yi Borromeo (academic management) serves because the graduate program coordinator for the Grasp of Arts in Increased Training Administration program, coaching increased schooling and scholar affairs professionals. She is deeply dedicated to fairness, inclusion and social justice and has devoted her scholarship {and professional} service to advance these efforts. Since becoming a member of Fresno State in 2018, Yi has revealed peer reviewed articles, two guide chapters, one coverage report and has different manuscripts underneath evaluation and/or in progress. She served as adviser of the Cambodian Pupil Affiliate at Fresno State, as chair of the Kremen Faculty of Training and Human Improvement Instructional Fairness Committee and as president of the Asian College and Employees Affiliation. She was not too long ago appointed by Fresno State President Saúl Jiménez-Sandoval to co-chair the Anti-racism Process Power.
