Faculty and staff members from each college were recognized for excellence in teaching, advising, research and other categories today during UCF’s annual Founders’ Day ceremony.
The University Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching: Taylar Wenzel, College of Education & Human Performance. Wenzel received her doctorate in curriculum and instruction from UCF and her master’s and bachelor’s in elementary education from the University of Florida. Before she became a UCF visiting instructor in reading and language in 2008, she was an elementary school teacher in Seminole County.
Winners from each college were: Farrah M. Cato, Tison Pugh, Charlotte Trinquet du Lys and Stephanie Vie, College of Arts & Humanities; Gary Nichols and Carlos Valdez, College of Business Administration; Constance Goodman and Taylar Wenzel, College of Education & Human Performance; Dennis Filler and Arup Guha, College of Engineering and Computer Science; Robin M. Kohn and Amanda Raffenaud, College of health & Public Affairs; Kelly Allred, College of Nursing; Enrique del Barco, Aubrey Jewett, Karen Mottarella, Beatriz M. Reyes-Foster and Sandra M. Wheeler, College of Sciences; and Jill Fjelstul, Rosen College of Hospitality Management.
The University Award for Excellence in Graduate Teaching: Robert Peale, College of Sciences. Peale, a professor of physics, received his doctorate and master’s in physics from Cornell University and his bachelor’s at the University of California, Berkeley. In 1989-1991 he was a research associate at Lehigh University before joining UCF in 1991.
Winners from each college were: Barry Mauer, College of Arts & Humanities; Ann Marie Whyte, College of Business Administration; Thomas D. Cox, College of Education & Human Performance; Tuhin Das, College of Engineering & Computer Science; William Hanney, College of Health & Public Affairs; Diane Andrews, College of Nursing; Mercedeh Khajavikhan, College of Optics & Photonics; Robert E. Peale, College of Sciences; and Fevzi Okumus, Rosen College of Hospitality Management.
The University Award for Excellence in Professional Academic Advising: Vanessa B. Cogswell, Rosen College of Hospitality Management. Cogswell, who works in the Office of Student Services, joined Rosen in 2011. Her responsibilities include planning, developing and implementing assessment tools to increase retention rates. She received her master’s in education from Southern Illinois University Carbondale and her bachelor’s from Bethune-Cookman University.
University Award for Excellence in Research: Shin-Tson Wu, College of Optics & Photonics. Wu has been a major contributor to research in liquid crystal displays and high-brightness and high-resolution smart phones, televisions and computers. He is a UCF Pegasus Professor and was one of the first six inductees in 2014 to the Florida Inventors Hall of Fame. Wu has been at UCF since 2001 after earning his bachelor of science degree in physics from the National Taiwan University and his doctorate in physics from the University of Southern California.
Winners from each college were: Humberto Lopez, College of Arts & Humanities; Ze Wang, College of Business Administration; Eleazar Vasquez III, College of Education & Human Performance; Hassan Foroosh, College of Engineering & Computer Science; William J. Hanney, College of Health & Public Affairs; Mollie W. Jewett, College of Medicine; Shin-Tson Wu, College of Optics & Photonics; Peter Hancock, College of Sciences; and Asli Tasci, Rosen College of Hospitality Management.
The Award for Excellence in Librarianship: Terrie Sypolt, Division of Information Technologies & Resources. Sypolt is the College of Education & Human Performance librarian and provides research assistance, library instruction, and collection development for all departments in the college.
The University Award for Excellence in Professional Service: Vicky Zygouris-Coe, College of Education & Human Performance. Zygouris-Coe is a professor of reading education in the School of Teaching, Learning and Leadership, where she has taught undergraduate and graduate level literacy courses. She has been a leader in Florida literacy initiatives and for years has collaborated with the DOE in consulting in core literacy initiatives for K-12 and teacher-education sectors.