CLASS announces award recipients during annual recognition ceremony

The College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences honored the recipients of distinguished alumni awards, faculty excellence awards, and student paper competitions during the annual CLASS Awards Ceremony Oct. 24 in the Biosciences Building at Central Michigan University. 

Alumni awards

The CLASS Alumni Awards of Distinction recognize our outstanding alumni and their contributions to our communities. Our four alumni award recipients are highly skilled practitioners in their fields, they make a positive impact with a global reach, and have broadened our understanding of the human condition through scholarly and creative endeavors.

• Hasnul Insani Djohar, MA ’13, CLASS Alumni Award of Distinction for Global Engagement
• Dennis Hand, ’06, ’08, ’12, CLASS Alumni Award of Distinction for Professional Practice
• Christina Otto, ’14, CLASS Alumni Award of Distinction for Public Service
• Kidada E. Williams, ’96, MA ’98, CLASS Alumni Award of Distinction for Scholarly Activity

CLASS Student Paper Competition

The Student Paper Competition is awarded to students who submit papers written for classes at the 300 level and above within the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences. Applicants can submit research papers, essays, creative works, theoretical papers, reviews of research, or papers presented at professional conferences.

• Jasmine Alpert (HST 496WI), “‘Still They Cry More Blood’: How the Aftermath of the Yellow Fever Epidemics Affected Views on Medicine in Philadelphia”
  Faculty Sponsor: Andrew Wehrman (History)
• Colleen Fantozzi (REL 302), “Rock Stars, Witches, Punks, and Feminists”
  Faculty Sponsor: Laurel Zwissler (Religion)
• Ana Marie Partridge (SPN 475), ”An Outlook on the Field of Translation: The Emergence of AI”
  Faculty Sponsor: Carolina Gutiérrez-Rivas (World Languages)

Shapiro Prize in Social and Behavioral Sciences

The Shapiro Prize in Social and Behavioral Sciences is awarded to the student who has written the best social or behavioral science research paper based upon empirical data during the previous academic year.

• Angeline Petras-Gourlay (HON 499), “‘Are You Sure?’: The Use of Debiasing Techniques in Juror Judgments of Guilt”
  Faculty Sponsor: Kyle Scherr (Psychology)

Faculty teaching awards

The CLASS Excellence in Teaching & Learning Awards recognize faculty members who go above and beyond what is expected in creating exceptional learning opportunities for our students. Our teaching awards recipients are experts in their fields, effective and creative in promoting student learning, inspire students to high achievement and receive high praise from them in return, and are admired advisors and mentors to future educators.

• Major Nicholas J. Andrychowski, Department of Military Science and Leadership
• Susan Grettenberger, Social Work Program, School of Politics, Society, Justice and Public Service