Danny Vélez, associate vice president for Admissions and Recruitment,
was named to the Excelencia in Education policy fellows.
Photo Credit:
Cory Morse
Alexis Brown, Laker Food Co. chef, earned a bronze medal at the
National Aramark Culinary Excellence Competition.
Faculty and staff members who have given presentations, were
recognized for outstanding contributions or had their research
published are detailed below. The campus community can submit
a sketch online for future publication.
Sketches Danny Vélez, associate vice president for Admissions
and Recruitment, was among seven people selected for the 2024 cohort
of Excelencia
in Education policy fellows. The fellows come from institutions
that have earned the Seal of Excelencia, a national certification
recognizing institutions that go beyond enrollment to intentionally
serve Latino students across key areas of data, practice and leadership.
Information Technology's eLearning Team received the
Catalyst Award by Anthology, the university's partner in the
implementation of the Blackboard Ultra Learning Management System. As
a Leading Change category winner, the team was recognized for its
dedication to implementing Ultra in innovative and comprehensive ways,
successfully driving this change across the entire campus.
Alexis Brown, Laker Food Co. chef, earned a bronze
medal at the National Aramark Culinary Excellence Competition in San
Antonio, Texas. To advance to the national competition, Brown won the
Midwest ACE Competition in June by preparing a Thai curry pork tenderloin.
Jennifer Smart, associate professor and graduate
program director of audiology, received the 2024 Outstanding Service
Award from the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association for her
work with Special Olympics. Each year, the award is presented to an
individual or group who has made a significant contribution on behalf
of people in their communities with unserved speech, language or
hearing needs. The award will be presented at the ASHA conference in
Seattle this fall.
Two students, Andrew Franklin and Joel
Kreiner, were finalists for National Association of
Collegiate Esports awards. Franklin was nominated as broadcast
producer of the year and Kreiner as social media producer of the year.
Kylie Ambu, inclusion host and producer for WGVU
Public Media, has been named one of Current’s 2024 Rising Stars in
Public Media. Ambu is among 35 exceptional early- and mid-career
professionals recognized for their outstanding contributions to the
public media industry.
Kelley Senkowski, instructional technology project
specialist, wrote a book, Titanic Jessie &
Lifeboat #9, about her great-grandmother's experience aboard the Titanic.
Dana Hebreard, Talent Link program specialist for the
CLAS Center for Experiential Learning, gave a presentation on
the inaugural Laker Accelerated Talent Link Program at the Michigan
Career Development Association conference.
A Seidman College of Business planning team, along with other faculty, staff and students, planned an event for Ottawa Hills High School students who were competing in a scholarship contest.
Leanne Kang gave a presentation about research and oral histories of former GRPS students, staff and faculty at a community event. The project was funded by the Kutsche Office of Local History.