IU Kokomo faculty earn teaching awards
Staff receive honors for instructing, research, creative activity
Indiana University Kokomo faculty and staff received campus awards for excellent teaching, distinguished research, and experiential learning during the annual spring convocation.
Those recognized included Tara Kingsley and Jamie Oslawski-Lopez, receiving the Claude Rich Excellence in Teaching award, the campus’s highest honor for teaching. Stephanie Medley-Rath earned the Distinguished Research and Creative Activity award, and Nicholas Baxter, Gloria Preece, and Adam Smith were honored with Experiential and Active Learning awards.
Kingsley, professor of education, earned recognition for her leadership in the scholarship of teaching. The teaching award committee commended her for testing teaching strategies in the classroom, evaluating them, reflecting on how to best apply them, and then writing and publishing her findings.
She was also lauded for mentoring peers and students and serving as principal investigator on two state-awarded teaching grants.
Oslawski-Lopez, assistant professor of sociology, was commended for “extensive evidence of effective teaching” after receiving numerous teaching grants, and the national research award she received from the American Sociological Association for her work using podcasts as educational materials. Her self-reflection demonstrated how her teaching philosophy, pedagogical innovation, curricular development, and mentoring contributed to building her effectiveness in teaching.
Medley-Rath, associate professor of sociology, received the distinguished research and creative activity award. The awards committee noted she published eight peer-reviewed articles, five book chapters, and presented her research at half a dozen regional and national conferences, and successfully collaborated with faculty in and outside IU.
They also noted her dedication to student research and mentorship, including utilizing five undergraduate students as co-authors or co-presenters.
“Furthermore, she has helped mentor over a dozen students through their undergraduate research resulting in 26 student presentations at regional conferences and IU research symposiums,” committee members said.
Baxter, assistant professor of sociology, received the Experiential and Active Learning Award for a collaborative digital ethnography project implemented in his introduction to sociology class.
Preece, assistant dean of the School of Business, director of the M.B.A. and M.P.M. programs, and assistant professor of personal financial planning and marketing, and Smith, associate professor of management, shared the award for a project in their combined undergraduate and graduate-level international management course that culminated in a 10-day trip to Denmark and Sweden. They led 20 students to research sustainable business practices in those countries and compare them to U.S. business practices.
Faculty who received IU awards included Sarah Heath (W. George Pinnell Award), and Melinda Stanley (President’s Award for Excellence in Teaching and Learning Technology).