Faculty Recognition

Recognizing the impactful, supportive, and phenomenal work of UAA faculty is core to our mission to center faculty excellence. To acknowledge these exceptional faculty, the Center for Advancing Faculty Excellence (CAFE) created the CAFE Oh Wow awards, which has many categories. Explore all the awardees below!

Excellence in Teaching Award

This award recognizes faculty that are not just exceptional in their field, but in their teaching practices and supporting students. These faculty excel in mentoring students, advising, developing curriculum or learning resources, and are innovative in their teaching methods.

  • 2023-24

    Herminia Din

    Dr. Herminia Din is a Professor of Art and Art Education and has proven her teaching excellence to her peers for the past 21 years, 15 of them as the chair of the Bachelor of Fine Arts program. Her teaching gives students hands-on experiences that address diversity and global significance. She's used online exhibitions to create opportunities for students to approach themes of political and social differences and challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic. She initiated the Winter Design Project that would become Winterfest at UAA, for which she received the UAA Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Sustainability in 2013 and 2019. She also partners with the community on fine arts curriculum and held professional development courses for Anchorage School District art teachers. Notably, all of Dr. Din's undergraduate teaching research projects have centered around critical issues such as plastic pollution in the Arctic and the innovative Junk to Funk initiatives that are rooted in community participation. She has an unwavering commitment to supporting both her students and colleagues. Her incorporation of high-impact practices, community engagement, research/creative activity, and innovative solutions to arising challenges are just a few of the reasons why she is receiving this much-earned reward.

    Herminia Din

    Grace Leu-Burke

    Grace Leu-Burke is an Associate Professor in the School of Allied Health and Program Director of the Medical Laboratory Science (MLS) Department. Grace has embedded student research into the MLT/MLS program, allowing all students to gain vital real world research experience that has been recognized nationally and internationally. Leu-Burke and her students have presented at the American Society for Clinical Laboratory Science Annual meeting and the American Society for Microbiology. She also uses Open Educational Resources in her course by using existing resources and also creating her own, showcasing her relentless dedication to students. Grace's tireless efforts in support of the MLT/MLS program and her student's learning make her a worthy candidate for this award. 
    Grace Leu-Burke

    Alexa Filanowicz 

    Alexa Filanowicz is an Associate Professor in the School of Social Work. She is a leader in creatively integrating simulation into the social work curriculum, creating an engaging online Zoom simulation for the entirely-remote Masters of Social Work program. She has partnered with the UAA Interprofessional Health Sciences Simulation Center to develop standardized patients for social work simulations. She is very committed to interprofessional education through simulation, and she has helped organize several interprofessional simulations, including a Peer-Centered Crisis Response Simulation. Her creative responses to arising challenges in her department and in online learning show her to be deserving of this award. 
    Alexa Filanowicz
  • 2022-23
     
  • 2021-22
     

Promoting Success of Fellow Faculty Award

These awards recognize the faculty who go above and beyond in supporting other faculty at UAA through mentorship, promoting faculty career development, assisting with promotion and tenure (P&T), and supporting faculty wellness and faculty experience.

Read about the awardees below.

  • 2023-24

    Douglass Bourne

    Douglass Bourne is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Writing who plays a critical role in promoting P&T with fellow faculty and continues to work toward improving processes around P&T that will have a lasting impact on faculty success at UAA. 
    Douglass Bourne

    Debra Crawford

    Debra Crawford is a math instructor in the Department of Quantitative Studies who proactively helps her fellow faculty understand course technologies, offers advice and resources, talks with faculty about pedagogy, finds solutions to difficult situations, and regularly mentors faculty. Despite being term faculty, she has been around for a long time and is the go-to adjunct coordinator in her department. People gravitate to her for help because she will go out of her way to help colleagues come up with solutions together.
    Debra Crawford

    Melissa Chlupach

    Melissa Chlupach is an Assistant Professor with the Dietetics and Nutrition Program. She voluntarily steps up in welcoming new faculty and regularly checks in on them, helping them succeed in their new role at the university. She goes above and beyond to provide a welcoming and supportive environment, and that extra support for new and junior faculty is essential for their longevity at UAA, and it shows her dedication to the success of UAA faculty and students. 
    Melissa Chlupach
  • 2022-23
     
  • 2021-22
     

CAFE Engaged Faculty

CAFE Engaged Faculty are faculty who are regular participants in CAFE programs throughout the year. Thank you for attending and developing your teaching practice through our events!

  • 2023-24

    The following people attended 10 or more CAFE programs, thank you for staying engaged and committed to your professional development!

    Kristin Riall, Luke Doherty, Michelle Mishaan, Gerad Smith, Jodi Jacques, Megan Bennett, Katja, Perat, Pradeeban Kathiravelu, Taylor Keister, Larissa Todd, Buffie Cubit, Danny Elmore, Kimberly Pace, James Peniston, Skyler Kern, Jenna Baldiviez, Michelle Moar, Emily Faerber, Shane Schaar, Sharyl Toscano, Joseph Warren, Stacy Gordon, Ryan, Harrod, Becky Butler, Steffi Kim, Eric Croft, Holly Coffey, Keri Baker, Yeqing Yuan, Jennifer Bernard, Jenny Campbell, Laura Stoddard, Page, Brannon, Christina Pearson, Paola Banchero, Amy Turnbull, Samantha Merritt, Morgan Erisman, Martin Case, Matthew Prnka, Dacia Davis, Kaori Shimizu, Andreas Veh, Zhi Tao, Amy Bishop, Morgan Brissette, Carri Shamburger, Sarah Kirk

  • 2022-23
     

CAFE presenters

Thank you to all the presenters who shared their insight and experience to other UAA faculty! If you have an idea for a future program or a presenter who should lead a session, email uaa_cafe@alaska.edu. 

  • 2023-24
    Ray Ball, Paola Banchero, Anna Bjartmarsdottir, Jennifer Booz, Douglass Bourne, Page Brannon, Jennifer Brock, Tracey Burke, Shane Castle, Lindsey Chadwell, Sara Childress, Andria Cross, Matthew Cuellar, Liz Dennison, Aaron Dotson, Sandra Ehrlich, Mary Jo Finney, Kim Frost, Ray Garcelon, Trevor Gillespie, Rachel Graham, Andrew Harnish, Britteny Howell, Melanie Hulbert, Jodi Jacques, Carrie King, Nick Kramer, Anne Lazenby, Jen McClung, Vanessa Meade, Ben Morton, Eric Murphy, Cameron Nay, Kristen Ogilvie, Megan Ossiander-Gobeille, Kimberly Pace, Tara Palmer, LuAnn Piccard, Travis Rector, Libby Roderick, Stephen Rollins, Kathryn Schild, Simone Staley, Benjamin Stevens, Stasia Straley, Michael Votava, Katie Walker, Paul Wasko, Shawnalee Whitney, Deanne Woodard, Michele Yatchmeneff, Angelia Trujillo, Sunny Mall, Brandon Briggs, Cindy Trussell, Colin McGill, Deborah Mole, Provost Denise Runge, Erik Carlson, Jennifer McKay, Julie Wrigley, Jenna Amber, Joseph Bruner, Jackie Cason, Mark Fitch, Nina Ketelsen, Pradeeban Kathiravelu, Steven Johnson, Tonia Dousay, Taylor Keister, Yasuhiro Ozuru