Angelo State 2016 Faculty Excellence Awards

Dr. Erin L. Ashworth-King of the Department of English and Modern Languages, Dr. Christine L. Purkiss of the Department of Teacher Education and Dr. William A. Taylor of the Department of Security Studies and Criminal Justice have been named the winners of Angelo State University’s 2016 President’s Awards for Faculty Excellence.

Ashworth-King received the award for Faculty Excellence in Leadership/Service. Purkiss is the award winner for Faculty Excellence in Teaching. Taylor received the award for Faculty Excellence in Research/Creative Endeavor. Each received $2,500 and Signature Presidential Recognition Awards. Purkiss and Taylor will be ASU’s nominees for the Texas Tech University System Chancellor’s Awards for Excellence in Teaching and Excellence in Research.

They, along with 31 other faculty nominees, were honored at the seventh annual Faculty Recognition Dinner sponsored Thursday, May 5, by the ASU Faculty Senate.

An associate professor of English, Ashworth-King has been an outstanding advocate for both the Department of English and Modern Languages and the university as a whole. In her department, she is the advisor for the graduate program and faculty sponsor for both the National Council of Teachers of English student organization and the Sigma Tau Delta national honor society for students of English. She also serves on several departmental committees, was a member of two college dean search committees, and is active in ASU’s annual Writers Conference in Honor of Elmer Kelton. Currently secretary of the ASU Faculty Senate, she also serves on the Faculty Research Enhancement Grant Committee and University CORE Curriculum Committee, and she helped organize ASU’s hosting of the regional Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival. She is also a faculty representative and advisor for the annual Discover ASU and New Student Orientation events. She is the general editor and business manager of ASU’s Concho River Review literary journal and is on the editorial board of The Quatrain creative writing project. In addition to mentoring ASU undergraduate and graduate student research, she is active in the 16^th Century Society and Sam Houston State University Conference on Medieval and Renaissance Thought.

Purkiss, an associate professor of teacher education, embodies for both her students and her peers the belief that anyone can learn. She uses a variety of instructional strategies in her classes and models effective instruction for future teachers so that they leave her classes with a toolbox they can use in their own teaching careers. In her role as manager of the secondary education program in the Department of Teacher Education, she created and implemented an online course to meet the needs of students seeking secondary teacher certification, and she also restructured her science methods course to meet evolving accreditation and state mandates. She also provides formal training for her peers in using the Taskstream cloud-based assessment software, as well as with instructional strategies, materials and advice. She stays current on issues and trends in her field with memberships in professional organizations and also dedicates many hours to ASU student organizations. She is the faculty advisor for the Kappa Delta Pi international honor society for education and was a member of the first cohort of ASU Community-Engaged Faculty Fellows who develop courses to enhance student involvement in the community. She has also received Teacher Quality Grants from the U.S. Department of Education for her program titled “Earth Science: It’s Elementary,” which focuses on providing local and area fifth-grade teachers with effective methods to teach earth science.

Taylor, an assistant professor of security studies, has established himself as one of the university’s most prolific researchers and writers. Over the past five years, he has been awarded 10 national grants and fellowships to fund his research and publications. His second book, “Military Service and American Democracy: From World War II to the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars,” is scheduled to be published later this year through University Press of Kansas. His first book, “Every Citizen a Soldier: The Campaign for Universal Military Training after World War II,” was published in 2014 and won a Crader Family Book Prize Honorable Mention from the Crader Family Endowment for American Values. He has also contributed to 11 other books and has published over 55 reference articles and book reviews in more than 15 history and military journals. Considered one of the top authorities on civil-military relations, he was a featured speaker for ASU’s Civil War Lecture Series and Great War Lecture Series. In addition to his research, he continues to teach a full course load and has served on numerous university committees. He was recently announced as the new interim chair of the Department of Security Studies and Criminal Justice, effective May 15.

Other faculty nominees in the Excellence in Leadership/Service category were Charlene D. Bustos, assistant professor of teacher education; Kristi L. Cordell-McNulty, assistant professor of psychology; Pamela B. Darby, clinical instructor in nursing; Connie A. Heimann, professor of biology; Won-Jae Lee, professor of criminal justice; Kimberly K. Livengood, associate professor of curriculum and instruction; Sangeeta Singg, professor of psychology; Mark S. Sonntag, professor of physics; Thomas W. Starkey, assistant professor of social work; and James F. Villers, assistant clinical professor of physical therapy.

Other nominees in the Excellence in Teaching category were Dionne T. Bailey, professor of mathematics; Jacqueline G. Brown, associate professor of nursing; Lesley L. Casarez, assistant professor of curriculum and instruction; Kristi L. Cordell-McNulty, assistant professor of psychology; Drew A. Curtis, assistant professor of psychology; Crosby W. Jones Jr., professor of biology; R. Kelly Michael, assistant professor of nursing; Mark B. Motl, professor of computer science; Kendra L. Nicks, assistant clinical professor of physical therapy; Gayle L. Randall, instructor in management and marketing; Joseph I. Satterfield, professor of geology; and Jeff Womack, associate professor of music.

In the Excellence in Research/Creative Endeavor category, the other nominees were Timothy Bonenfant, associate professor of music; Heather J. Braden, associate professor of physical therapy; Donna B. Gee, professor of teacher education; Crystal M. Kreitler, assistant professor of psychology; Cody B. Scott, professor of animal science; Sangeeta Singg, professor of psychology; Cheryl K. Stenmark, assistant professor of psychology; Ned Strenth, professor of biology; and James W. Ward, assistant professor of geology.