UC Blue Ash professors, staff reap awards

Faculty and staff members from the University of Cincinnati (UC) Blue Ash College are being recognized in a variety of ways for exceptional work in the classroom and in their profession.

The recent honors are from international organizations, as well as the university.

Brenda Refaei, associate professor of English, and Sarah Wolfe, director of Student Life at UC Blue Ash, have been named Engaging Excellence in Equity Fellows by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

As part of the exclusive fellowship, Refaei and Wolfe each receive a $3,000 grant and will travel to Chicago this summer to meet with other fellows to share best practices and brainstorm opportunities to enhance the way they engage, retain and graduate minority students. Wolfe was also recognized this spring with UC’s Outstanding First-Year Advocate Award.

Stacey Benton, assistant professor of veterinary technology, is the recipient of the Outstanding New Advising Award – Faculty Academic Advising from NACADA: The Global Community for Academic Advising. Benton was one of only two national winners selected for this category.

Professors Rita Kumar (English) and Brad Mallory (biology) are recipients of UC’s Marian Spencer Equity Ambassador Award. Kumar and Mallory were honored for their ongoing effort to make diversity and inclusion a focus when developing workshops and projects for the Learning and Teaching Center they co-direct at UC Blue Ash.

“Equity and inclusion have always been important in our Learning and Teaching Center,” says Kumar. “In the past two years we have built on earlier initiatives and broadened the scope of our equity and inclusion activities because of faculty interest and a growing demand to meet the needs of our diverse student body.”

Michele Kegley, professor and director of the Bachelor of Technical and Applied Studies (BTAS) program at UC Blue Ash, is the recipient of UC’s Jack Twyman Award for Service Learning. The award honors the work Kegley leads in requiring that BTAS students perform service-learning projects with local nonprofit organizations prior to graduating from the program.

Cindy Jones, director of the College Credit Plus (CCP) program at UC Blue Ash, was recently presented with UC’s Marilyn Kershaw Legacy Award for Courage and Perseverance.

Professors Amy Gultice (biology), Charlotte Skinner (mathematics) and Angie Woods (Spanish) have all been selected for induction into UC’s Academy of Fellows for Teaching and Learning. Members are honored for their excellence in teaching and contributions to student learning and assessment.

“This impressive recognition is a tribute to the outstanding work our faculty and staff do every day at our college,” says Robin Lightner, dean of UC Blue Ash. “We see evidence of it in the success of our students and it’s gratifying to see their excellence recognized by the university, as well as outside organizations.”