University News

Provost’s Award for Academic Excellence in Multicultural Teaching: Tracy Davis, Department of Counselor Education and College Student Personnel.
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Provost’s Award for Academic Excellence in University/Community Service: Minsun Doh, Department of Recreation, Park, Tourism and Hospitality.
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Provost’s Award for Academic Excellence in Enhanced Learning with Technology: Joel Gruver, School of Agriculture.
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Provost’s Award for Outstanding Academic Advisor: Ashley Wilkinson, Quad Cities Academic Advising Center.
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Provost’s Award for Academic Excellence in Teaching: Chris Sutton, Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Geographic Information Sciences.
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Provost’s Award for Academic Excellence in Scholarly/Creative/Performance/Professional Activities: In Lee, School of Computer Sciences.
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WIU Provost Awards for Excellence Winners Announced

October 23, 2023

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MACOMB/MOLINE, IL - - Five Western Illinois University faculty members and one academic advisor have been named the 2023 Provost's Awards for Excellence winners. The award selection committee consisted of a faculty member from each college and the University Library.

The awards were presented Wednesday, Oct. 18 by WIU Provost Manoochehr Zoghi.

This year's award winners are:

Provost's Award for Academic Excellence in Multicultural Teaching: Tracy Davis, Department of Counselor Education and College Student Personnel.

The selection committee said Davis' promotion of multicultural education has provided immeasurable service to the WIU community.

"Davis designed, developed and recruited students for the Organizational Justice, Equity and Inclusion doctoral track for the Educational Leadership Program. He received grants from the Interfaith Youth Core to diversify the curriculum. He has worked to diversify the faculty and staff at WIU. He advises and supports students of color so they can thrive at WIU. He has published many articles and books about social justice education, mindfulness and contemplative practices, sexual assault prevention, identity and men's development," a nominator said.

Provost's Award for Academic Excellence in University/Community Service: Minsun Doh, Department of Recreation, Park, Tourism and Hospitality.

Doh distinguished her nomination in the selection committee with her continuity, breadth and depth of service.

"Doh's service provides connections not only within WIU, but also to local, national and international organizations. Between her service to the department and campus, Doh served on more than 20 committees during the time reviewed. Additionally, she served our region through her service with the Macomb Convention and Visitors Bureau, Nauvoo Tourism Office and Samaritan Well, Inc. Internationally, she serves as a board member for the Korea Marketing Management Association. Our committee was very impressed with the breadth of Doh's service and how it connected local, regional and international organizations to WIU. Doh did all of this without sacrificing her involvement with students. Doh works tirelessly and uses her service as a way to connect students in service that goes beyond the University." a nominator said.

Provost's Award for Academic Excellence in Enhanced Learning with Technology: Joel Gruver, School of Agriculture.

The selection committee recognized Gruver for not only his technical proficiency, but his willingness to be both creative and flexible to accomplish the goals of his courses and research.

"Several years ago, Gruver wanted to improve student interactions that allowed for anonymous responses and created an Interview Archive (IA) program. His development of the web-based platform, Interview Archive, in collaboration with the WIU Center for Innovation in Teaching and Research, was used extensively by nearly 1,400 Agriculture students to archive interview questions/responses from farmers to create a comprehensive snapshot of trends in the industry. This demonstrates excellence in enhancing student learning outcomes as a result of deploying technology. To his credit, Gruver did not become so enamored with his creation that he refused to consider alternatives but instead began using other software that could accomplish comparable purposes. When cost or a lack of flexibility with commercially available software became a problematic factor, he returned to the IA and with CITR assistance, used various applications/technologies (e.g., TopHat, Acidly, the native WesternOnline Survey Tool) daily in his classes to bolster student engagement and provided numerous artifacts supporting its effectiveness. His incorporation of smartphones, both during in-person and Zoom-based class sessions, demonstrates excellence in raising student awareness, understanding and deployment of technology," a nominator said.

Provost's Award for Academic Excellence in Scholarly/Creative/Performance/Professional Activities: In Lee, School of Computer Sciences.

The selection committee said Lee exemplifies excellence in scholarly and professional activities and epitomizes the intent of this award.

"During the three year evaluation period, Lee's highly impressive research record encompassed 10 refereed articles published in a variety of high-impact well-reputed journals. Two of his works are among the top 2% of published research in their respective areas based on various citation merits. Lee's research spans diverse and emerging areas in the Information Systems (IS) field in business disciplines, such as Cloud Computing, Cybersecurity and Service Robots. As a result of his research activities during the three year evaluation period, Lee received an appointment as a Research Fellow at the prestigious INTI International University in Malaysia and a special invitation from the Editor of Business Horizons as one of the most prestigious authors who appeared in the top 15% of the most highly cited Business Horizons articles over the past five years. Additionally, Lee has served on seven different journal editorial review boards and as the series Editor of Advances in E-Business Research (AEBR) for IGI Global providing multidisciplinary references for instructors, researchers and professionals interested in the most up-to-date research on the concepts, issues, applications and trends in the e-business field. Based on his editorial board work, Lee was given the 2020 Outstanding Reviewer Award from the Asia Pacific Journal of Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Lee presented his research at four professional conferences during the evaluative period and was awarded the 2021 and 2022 Distinguished Research Awards at the MBAA International Conference for his cybersecurity research. Lee also served and continues to serve as the Vice President for the International Society of Business," a nominator said.

Provost's Award for Outstanding Academic Advisor: Ashley Wilkinson, Quad Cities Academic Advising Center.

WIU-QC College of Business and Technology (CBT) Advisor Ashley Wilkinson has been named the Outstanding Academic Advisor of the Year by the WIU Council of Academic Advisors.

"Wilkinson is a valuable part of our CBT advising team. Based on the Quad Cities campus, she is often the face of CBT for our majors. She steps up and takes on roles in addition to her advising role to help the QC campus with larger events. Wilkinson's 10th-day caseload count this fall was 270 students, including nine unique majors and two unique student populations. She works with students pursuing business majors and Information Systems. Recently, she has taken on all online students with majors in our School of Accounting, Finance, Economics and Decision Sciences (AFED). These are four fully online degrees with specific requirements and online offerings. Wilkinson quickly learned degree requirements, plans and sequences and jumped right in to help the online majors. Learning new programs is difficult, but she never complained and selflessly did longer prep and follow-ups for appointments so students were given quality advice in their program," a nominator said.

Provost's Award for Academic Excellence in Teaching: Chris Sutton, Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Geographic Information Sciences.

The selection committee said Sutton was chosen as the recipient of the award for a variety of reasons.

"Sutton's innovation in teaching an astounding number of classes, his retooling of courses during a time when his department had lost two faculty members, the adjustments he made during the relevant period due to changes in technology, and the letters of recommendation submitted on his behalf all gave insight into Sutton's passion for teaching and his dedication to the profession. His statement regarding his teaching philosophy echoes this passion and gives the committee insight on why his students respond so positively to him. Another factor in the decision to select Sutton was his innovative teaching project that took the students out of the traditional classroom and into the community to gather the data needed to complete their project. Not only does this hands-on type of learning appeal to the students, it is a way for these students to represent WIU out in the community and help build stronger ties between the University and the city of Macomb," a nominator said.

Posted By: University Communications (U-Communications@wiu.edu)
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