The George Washington University held its third annual faculty honors ceremony on Wednesday at the Jack Morton Auditorium to celebrate faculty accomplishments. Oscar and Shoshana Trachtenberg Faculty Prizes were given to Michael Castleberry, professor of special education, for university service; Stuart Licht, professor of chemistry, for scholarship; and Christopher Cahill, professor of chemistry and international affairs, for teaching excellence.
“This is a special time in our academic year when we step back a bit and recognize the truly outstanding work so many of you do,” Provost Steven Lerman said during opening remarks.
Former George Washington University President Stephen Joel Trachtenberg, who attended the event, established the Oscar and Shoshana Trachtenberg Faculty Prizes in honor of his parents. Graduate student Alyssa Abraham, B.A. ’12, called each winner onstage to accept his award.
“I’m going to take the Trachtenberg award as a motivational incident,” Dr. Cahill said. “Going forward, I’d like to focus not only on effectiveness but making sure we’re motivating our students and providing the necessary challenges and rigor to bring out their best.”
Kimberly Acquaviva, an associate professor at the School of Nursing, presented the recipients of the Morton Bender Teaching Awards. The $1,000 prizes can be used for faculty development activities, and this year they went to Mary Buckley, associate professor of theatre and dance; Elise Friedland, assistant professor of classics; Jennifer Elizabeth Halvaksz, assistant professor of physical therapy and health sciences; and Karen Schlumpf, lecturer in clinical research and leadership.
Dr. Acquaviva also announced the Writing in the Disciplines (WID) prizes for faculty members who teach WID courses. Jonathan Hsy, assistant professor of English, won the WID Distinguished Teaching Award, and Catherine Woytowicz, professorial lecturer in science policy, won the WID Best Assignment Design Award.
Graduate teaching assistants were also recognized: Catherine Rose Hendry of the Department of Biological Sciences, Julia Mary Macdonald of the Department of Political Science and Qianyi Zhao of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering received the Philip J. Amsterdam Graduate Teaching Award.
Other honors included the Silver Anniversary awards for faculty members who completed 25 years of continuous full-time service at the university. Inductees to the Society of the Emeriti and those who won national awards, including Fulbright Scholarships, for the 2012-13 year were also recognized.
Closing remarks came from President Steven Knapp, who cited the importance of research and scholarship, service and teaching at the university.
“Those are all essential aspects of what it means to be a member of the faculty,” he said. “But our most important product are the alumni—in other words, the students we turn into lifelong learners through everything we do as a faculty.”