Education and human development celebrates high achievers with annual award ceremony
Rising Star Award recipients, left to right: Dale Brown (doctoral), Logan Bockheim (master's) and Whitney Lewis (undergraduate).
Whitney Lewis at left with Tayler Boelk, the Esprit de Corps Award recipient.
From left to right, College of Education and Human Development Interim Associate Dean Luchara Wallace; Dr. Celeste Shelton-Harris, recipient of the Part-Time Teaching Excellence Award; and Terri Benton-Ollie.
Christy Chambers, recipient of the Staff Excellence Award.
KALAMAZOO, Mich.—The College of Education and Human Development held its annual end of the year celebration on April 21 to award students, staff and faculty for their accomplishments. The event was held at the Gilmore Theater Atrium, and started with a dinner before awards were passed out. Nine awards in total were given celebrating academic achievement, scholarly research, staff and teaching excellence and collegiality.
"It's an event every year where get an opportunity to recognize the contributions of faculty and staff within the college and students," says Dr. Kristal Ehrhardt, interim dean of the College of Education and Human Development. "We all look forward to it because it gives us the time to gather together and celebrate the good work that particular individuals do, but that the colleges as a whole completes and does."
One award the college is particularly excited to bestow is the Rising Star Award. This award is given to one undergraduate, master's and doctoral student who has demonstrated outstanding potential in scholarship, teaching and/or professional leadership at WMU. The recipient also demonstrated a quality of performance that indicates that they will continue to develop into distinguished members of their profession.
"I feel very lucky to be receiving this this award because it lets me know that the work my colleagues and I have been doing is making an impact," says Logan Bockheim, recipient of the Rising Star Award for a master's student. "It also gives me hope for the future that we have so much more to learn and achieve by continuing together to make a difference. I've seen growth, and I can't wait to see where this line of work takes me."
Award recipients
- Tayler Boelk, Esprit de Corps Award
- Christy Chambers, Staff Excellence Award
- Whitney Lewis, Rising Star Award, undergraduate
- Logan Bockheim, Rising Start Award, master's
- Dale Brown, Rising Star Award. doctoral
- Dr. Carla Adkison-Johnson, Trailblazer Award
- Dr. David Szabla, Trailblazer Award
- Dr. Celeste Shelton-Harris, Part-Time Teaching Excellence Award
- Dr. Summer Davis, Mary L. Dawson Teaching Excellence Award
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