Faculty and Staff Earn Recognition
Sophia Hutton receives both Crimson Spirit Award and AP Contribution Award
2020 Crimson Spirit Recognition
Sophia Hutton, SoE administrative manager, received WSU’s Crimson Spirit Award in March. Hutton is always tackling multiple jobs for the School, managing the office and staff, helping the faculty, assisting the director, facilitating faculty searches, and helping advise graduate students. Her nominator says “She is one of the hardest and busiest workers I have seen on the WSU Campus.”
Hutton is a critical thinker who is always solving problems and anticipating challenges: “She sees the big picture… and always makes sure things are done from start to finish.” Creative problem-solving is one of her strongest skills.
She focuses on the people of SoE – whether faculty, staff, students, or graduate students – and she is welcoming and helpful no matter how busy she is. Her nominator notes that “Students come to her because they trust her.” She willingly shares her time and expertise.
In short, Hutton is committed to providing the best service possible to the School of the Environment! She is recognized for creative problem-solving skills, anticipating needs, exceeding expectations, and providing superior service.
Administrative Professional Contribution Award
Several of Sophia Hutton’s SoE colleagues wrote letters to support her nomination for a Contribution Award from the WSU Administrative Professional Advisory Council. Following is a sampling of their commendations: Hutton’s efforts have become increasingly critical to ensuing the School of the Environment functions as smoothly as possible, especially given that SoE extends across five campuses and two colleges. She combines well-honed technical capabilities, amazing people skills, a magnetic personality, and an incredible work ethic to form a dynamic package that has played a big part in forming the unit’s identity and forging esprit d’corps among the staff and faculty of SoE. This spring semester provided a prime example of the enormous load she carries. In addition to performing her usual duties (which take up all of a normal person’s time), Hutton ran two (successful!) faculty searches, coordinated an accreditation site visit (in Forestry), trained new members of SoE support staff, and coordinated transition to online instruction in response to the coronavirus. She has been a constant in an ever-changing atmosphere, bringing sunshine to students, faculty, and staff with her smile and laugh – even by distance.
Katie Cooper and Steve Bollens honored in WSU Showcase 2020
In recognition of their scholarly achievements and professional acumen, Catherine “Katie” Cooper, associate professor, received the Association for Faculty Women’s Samuel H. Smith Leadership Award for 2020, and Stephen Bollens, professor and director of the Multi-Campus Planning and Strategic Initiative, received the Sahlin Faculty Excellence Award for Leadership.
“This year’s honorees have made exceptional contributions to their disciplines, to the state and nation, and to the University community,” said Vice Provost Laura Hill, who co-chairs the Showcase Steering Committee. “Please extend your congratulations to them, and join us in celebrating their accomplishments at Showcase events this month.”
Michelle Hendrickson receives 2020 Crimson Spirit Award
SoE fiscal analyst Michelle Hendrickson was honored in May with a WSU Crimson Spirit Award. One of the four people in SoE who nominated her for the award said Hendrickson “took over the huge job of managing budgets for grants and contracts for all faculty here in Pullman at a time when the job had been vacant for some time. She had a huge hole to climb out of from day one. She got her arms around the job in an amazingly short period.”
Another nominator noted: “In the short time she has been in her current position, Michelle has been super-helpful, skilled, and a quick learner to become a great fiscal analyst and beyond. She is always cheerful and has a great work ethic and work spirit. She follows through on every request.”
Hendrickson’s efforts have increased grant submissions and awards by 15% in three short months of being certified. She is very responsive to faculty needs in proposal submission and budget management, heads off problems before they occur, and is excellent at followup.
“She is kind, tenacious, attentive to details, and displays a superior Crimson spirit,” a third nominator said. “She maintains calm under pressure and exceeds all expectations, by continuously seeking knowledge to better serve the WSU community in and outside of SoE.”
A final nominator sums it all up: “Michelle is absolutely stellar. She is organized, articulate, always on time, politely persistent, possessed of keen judgment in how to deal with people who may not behave their best under pressure. Besides all this, she has a wonderful, supportive, caring spirit! We are so lucky to have her in our Pullman office.”
Hendrickson was recognized for exceeding expectations, providing superior quality service, expressing genuine interest, possessing creative problem-solving skills, and following up to ensure issues were resolved.
William Schlosser wins WSU Oaks Academic Technology Award
The WSU Office of Academic Outreach & Innovation (AOI) honored William “Dr. Bill” Schlosser, instructor in SoE, with the Oaks Academic Technology Award of 2020.
The Oaks award, named in honor of visionary innovator Muriel Oaks, WSU dean emeritus, recognizes a faculty member’s innovative application of an existing technology to transform teaching and learning in their classroom.“
Schlosser was recognized for his innovative use of multiple software tools to give students a platform to effectively complete environmental research activities and present their findings following the system-wide transition to distance learning in spring 2020. He will receive $3,000 in faculty development funds and a trophy in recognition of his achievement.
“The ability to adapt and use new technology to enhance student learning is becoming increasingly important, especially recently,” said Rebecca Van de Vord, assistant vice president of AOI. “We are very happy to be able to recognize faculty who enthusiastically embrace and effectively utilize the innovative tech tools that are becoming even more impactful in these changing times.”
Stephanie Hampton receives Ramón Margalef Award
The Ramón Margalef Award is presented to scientists and educators for excellence in teaching and mentoring in the fields of limnology and oceanography. Stephanie Hampton, professor in SoE and director of the Center for Environmental Research, Education, and Outreach, received the 2020 Ramon Margalef Excellence in Education Award Recipient for her outstanding contributions in the training and mentoring of young scientists with an emphasis on collaboration, data sharing, and networking that have engaged researchers at all levels. The award was to be presented in June at the ASLO-SFS Summer Meeting in Madison, Wisconsin.
Hampton’s research spans the fields of limnology, time series analysis, and under-ice ecology. Throughout her career, she has been a leader in discussions and community efforts to embrace effective collaboration, open science, transparency, and reproducibility. Her papers on managing large data sets and collaborative science are highly cited and were among the earliest to address this emerging issue. She has served as interim director of Community Engagement and Education at DataONE, managing director at Science for Nature and People, and deputy director at the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS). As director of CEREO at WSU, she brought together faculty, staff, and students from across the University to work directly with industry and government professionals to address large-scale issues surrounding global environmental change. She also serves as division director for the Division of Environmental Biology at the National Science Foundation.
Beyond being well-respected for her research and leadership, Hampton excels at mentoring. She takes a very active approach to mentoring, consistently provides opportunities for early career scientists to take leadership roles. Her mentees cite her “implicit trust and confidence in our ability” and her continued guidance and support as critical to their own career development.
“Stephanie Hampton is a leader who, by example and action, is transforming aquatic science to be more open and more inclusive. Her superb mentorship has guided many forward so they, like her, can make important contributions. We are pleased to honor her many contributions with the 2020 Margalef Award,” said ASLO President Michael Pace.
Marcia Ostrom receives 2020 Smith Teaching and Learning Grant
SoE associate professor Marcia Ostrom received a Samuel H. and Patricia W. Smith Teaching and Learning Grant from the WSU vice provost for Academic Engagement and Student Achievement in the amount of $5,000 for her proposal “Enhancing Learning Outcomes in Online School of Environment.”
Mark Swanson named Faculty Mentor of Year by Interfraternity Council
Acknowledging his dedicated mentorship as a Faculty Fellow to student members of Sigma Phi Epsilon, the WSU Interfraternity Council named Mark Swanson, associate professor in SoE, their Faculty Mentor of the Year.
“There is no one who deserves the IFC Faculty Mentor of the Year Award more than Dr. Swanson. He regularly spends time investing in our members by coming to chapter meetings and [engaging in] weekly deep, meaningful talks. Dr. Swanson motivates members to push to be their very best and work diligently through any adversity that we will come up against throughout our lives. Washington State University SigEp is lucky to have a Dr. Swanson as a shining example of what a good man is.” –Blake Gurney, President (2019-20), Washington Alpha Chapter, Sigma Phi Epsilon
Kara Whitman receives award for excellence in undergraduate teaching
WSU’s Richard G. Law Excellence Award for Undergraduate Teaching recognizes outstanding teaching by faculty in the University Common Requirements (UCORE) Program. Kara Whitman, instructor in SoE, received the award in spring 2019.
Named for the director of General Education at WSU, 1990–2009, the award acknowledges the important role played by general education faculty across the University in helping undergraduates attain WSU Learning Goals and Outcomes, especially outside their major area of study.
Recognizing that effective leaders in all areas need to draw on a breadth of knowledge and skills from a variety of disciplinary fields, faculty receiving this award inspire curiosity and understanding of an area of study. Their classes encourage development of the lifelong learning skills of integrating and synthesizing concepts in order to solve real problems.
The award is open to all faculty on all WSU campuses whose teaching has included at least one UCORE class for the past three academic years.
Katie Cooper recognized for excellence in teaching science & math
SoE associate professor Catherine “Katie” Cooper was honored with the Tom & Julie Lutz Science and Mathematics Teaching Excellence Award at the 7th annual College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) Appreciation and Recognition Social in spring 2019. She was among 16 faculty, six staff, and six graduate students from across the college who were recognized for their contributions to the WSU community and their commitment to excellence.
Allan Felsot honored with regional Excellence in Teaching Award
A curiosity for the world and the yearning to know how it works is what brought Allan Felsot to the world of science and it is what inspired in him an interest and passion for teaching and academia at the college level. He brings this passion to his students, which is what has led to his regional teaching award.
Felsot, the academic director for the math and science sector of the College of Arts and Sciences at Washington State University Tri-Cities and professor of entomology, received the Pacific branch of the Entomological Society of America’s award for excellence in teaching in spring 2019.
SoE: Connecting Earth and Life