2021 Founders' Day Honorees

The Founders’ Day Awards celebrate the outstanding academic achievements of our faculty members and students. As we recognize these achievements, we remember the efforts of those women and men who made this university a reality, and we prepare for the accomplishments of the future.

In an extraordinary time, our faculty and students have continued to show they are innovative and resilient.

Here are the 2021 honorees:

Students Awards

Founders’ Day Award

Ryan Polk, College of Arts and Humanities
Isabella Bustamante, College of Community Innovation and Education
Riley Shurack, College of Health Professions and Sciences and Burnett Honors College
Jaylen Brown, College of Business
David Wright, College of Sciences and Burnett Honors College
Chloe Geller, College of Engineering and Computer Science
Cathy Le, College of Medicine
Chloe Frye, College of Nursing
Elizabeth Hewitt, Rosen College of Hospitality Management
Victoria Alexander, College of Undergraduate Studies and Burnett Honors College
Melissa Siver, College of Optics and Photonics

Honors in the Major Undergraduate Thesis Award

Zachary Stein ’20, B.S. in aerospace engineering
Jacob Howard ’20, B.S. in biomedical sciences, minors in philosophy and religion and cultural studies
Sarah Swiersz ’20, B.S. in interdisciplinary studies, minors in environmental studies and geosciences
Jenna Dovydaitis ’20, B.A. in political science and B.S. in biology

Award for Outstanding Master’s Thesis

Daniela Diaz ’20MS, environmental engineering
America Edwards ’20MA, communication

Award for Outstanding Dissertation

Lin Hu ’20PhD, materials science and engineering
Jasara Hines ’08MA ‘20PhD, texts and technology

Faculty Awards

Pegasus Professors

Issa Batarseh, College of Engineering and Computer Science
Cristina Fernández-Valle, College of Medicine
Luis Martínez-Fernández, College of Arts and Humanities
Marshall Schminke, College of Business
Jeffrey Stout, College of Health Professions and Sciences

Reach for the Stars

Adrienne Dove, College of Sciences
Helen Huang, College of Engineering and Computer Science
Amber Southwell, College of Medicine
Mel Stanfill, College of Arts and Humanities
Thomas Wahl, College of Engineering and Computer Science

Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching

College Awardees:

Marc Consalo, College of Community Innovation and Education
Nicole Damico, College of Community Innovation and Education
Peter Delfyett, College of Optics and Photonics
Ray Eddy, Rosen College of Hospitality Management
Francisco Fernandez-Rubiera, College of Arts and Humanities
Martha Garcia ’97 ’00MA, College of Arts and Humanities
Edward Gonzalez-Tennant, College of Sciences
Amanda Groff ’03 ’07MA, College of Sciences
Duncan Hardy, College of Arts and Humanities
Alicia Hawthorne, College of Medicine
Erica Hoyt ’93 ’19EdD, College of Nursing
Alla Kourova, College of Arts and Humanities
Eunkyung “Muriel” Lee, College of Health Professions and Sciences
Tamra Legron-Rodriguez ’08 ’13PhD, College of Sciences
Tammy Muhs ’11PhD, College of Sciences
Tian Tian, College of Engineering and Computer Science
Dana Wallace, College of Business Administration
Danielle Webster, College of Health Professions and Sciences
Taylar Wenzel ’11EdD, College of Community Innovation and Education
Grace White, College of Sciences

University Awardee:

Amanda Groff ’03 ’07MA, College of Sciences

University Excellence in Graduate Teaching

College Awardees:

Danielle Atkins, College of Community Innovation and Education
Christopher Blackwell ’00 ’01MS ’05PhD, College of Nursing
Cheryl Briggs, College of Arts and Humanities
Xiaoxiao Fu, Rosen College of Hospitality Management
Joseph Kider Jr., College of Graduate Studies
Axel Schülzgen, College of Optics and Photonics
Matt Stock, College of Health Professions and Sciences
Kenneth Teter, College of Medicine
Güneş Tezcür, College of Sciences
Dingbao Wang, College of Engineering and Computer Science

University Awardee:

Matt Stock, College of Health Professions and Sciences

Excellence in Research

College Awardees:

Sarah Bush, College of Community Innovation and Education
Debopam Chakrabarti , College of Medicine
Hassan Foroosh, College of Engineering and Computer Science
Peter Hancock, College of Sciences
Duncan Hardy, College of Arts and Humanities
Joseph Kider Jr., College of Graduate Studies
Kathleen Richardson, College of Optics and Photonics
Marshall Schminke, College of Business Administration
Matt Stock, College of Health Professions and Sciences
Ladda Thiamwong, College of Nursing
Wei Wei, Rosen College of Hospitality Management

University Awardee:

Kathleen Richardson, College of Optics and Photonics

Excellence in Mentoring Doctoral Students

University Awardees:

Xin He, College of Business Administration
Luis Rabelo, College of Engineering and Computer Science

Excellence in Instructional Design

University Awardee:

Kathleen Bastedo, Division of Digital Learning

Excellence in Librarianship

University Awardee:

Peter Spyers-Duran ’05MS ’07MS, UCF Libraries

Excellence in Faculty Academic Advising

University Awardee:

Amanda Groff ’03 ’07MA, College of Sciences

Excellence in Professional Service

University Awardee:

Keri Watson, College of Arts and Humanities

20-Year Service Award

Laura “Junie” Albers-Biddle ’86 ’93MEd ’14EdD, College of Community Innovation and Education
Linan An, College of Engineering and Computer Science
Issa Batarseh, College of Engineering and Computer Science
Steven Berman, College of Sciences
Tarek Buhagiar ’97MS, College of Business: Department of Economics
Shawn Burke ’92, College of Graduate Studies
Suryanarayana Challapalli, College of Engineering and Computer Science
Sabatino Dibernardo, College of Arts and Humanities
Mark Dickie, College of Business: Department of Economics
Matthew Gerber ’98 ’00MS ’05PhD, College of Engineering and Computer Science
Fon Gordon, College of Arts and Humanities
Anthony Grajeda, College of Arts and Humanities
Richard Harrison, UCF Libraries
Florencio Hernandez ’18MBA, College of Community Innovation and Education
Randall Hewitt, College of Community Innovation and Education
Bari Hoffman ’96 ’98MA, College of Health Professions and Sciences
Steven Hornik, College of Business
Anna Maria Jones, College of Arts and Humanities
Mikhail Klimov ’99MS, Office of Research
Richard Lapchick, College of Business
Dan Marinescu, College of Engineering and Computer Science
Stefanie Mayfield Garcia, College of Business: Department of Marketing
Thomas “Rudy” McDaniel ’99 ’01MA ’03 ’04PhD, College of Arts and Humanities
Christopher Niess, College of Arts and Humanities
Eugene Paoline, College of Community Innovation and Education
Sumanta Pattanaik, College of Engineering and Computer Science
Tison Pugh, College of Arts and Humanities
Benjamin Rockmore, College of Business
Kirk Scammon ’91 ’96MS, Office of Research
Claudia Schippert, College of Arts and Humanities
Yongho Sohn, College of Engineering and Computer Science
Walter Sotero, College of Sciences
Steven Spencer, College of Arts and Humanities
Terrie Sypolt, UCF Libraries
Suren Tatulian, College of Sciences
Nizam Uddin, College of Sciences
Rajan Vaidyanathan, College of Engineering and Computer Science
Mark Winton ’84 ’88MA, College of Community Innovation and Education
Graham Worthy, College of Sciences
Shin-Tson Wu, College of Optics and Photonics

30-Year Service Award

David Brunner, College of Arts and Humanities
Alain Kassab, College of Engineering and Computer Science
Mansooreh Mollaghasemi, College of Engineering and Computer Science
Robert Peale, College of Sciences
Mary Lou Sole, College of Nursing
Jeffrey Sonne, Office of Research
Morgan Wang, College of Sciences

40-Year Service Award

Michael Hampton, College of Sciences
Samuel Richie ’80 ’83MS ’89PhD, College of Engineering and Computer Science
Robert Rivers, College of Arts and Humanities

Professor Emeritus and Emerita