Faculty Excellence

Provost Shane P. Martin recently announced this year’s recipients of the Provost’s Awards, recognizing outstanding contributions of faculty in research, scholarship, creative endeavors and service. 

“This year the Provost’s Awards Selection Committee received many applications in the areas of scholarship and service that attest to the extremely high caliber and dedicated engagement of our faculty,” says Martin. “I’m grateful to all of the applicants for uplifting faculty excellence.”

Here’s more on the 2021-22 recipients:

Provost’s Award for Excellence in Research, Scholarship and Creative Endeavors
(Tenure/Tenure Track Faculty)

Associate Professor Brian Fischer
Brian Fischer, PhD, is an Associate Professor in the Mathematics department and he has been promoted to Professor (effective Academic Year 2022-2023). Dr. Fischer uses statistics to develop models for how neural circuits support perception and behavior. His work focuses on how barn owls localize sounds. Since joining Seattle University in 2011, Dr. Fischer’s research in computational neuroscience has been supported by multiple grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), totaling more than $850,000 in funding. Dr. Fischer has mentored 21 undergraduate students from six departments in NIH-funded research projects. This work has resulted in 17 peer reviewed journal publications, with six undergraduate students as coauthors. His research has been published in Nature, Nature Neuroscience and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 

Provost’s Award for Excellence in Service 
(Tenure/Tenure Track Faculty)

Associate Professor Carolyn Stenbak
Professor Carolyn Stenbak, PhD, has served as the Faculty Shepherd for the Center for Science and Innovation project since 2017. Through her work in this role, Dr. Stenbak has drawn upon her expertise as a virologist, educator and mentor to help design modern science facilities that support student, staff and faculty needs. As Faculty Shepherd, Dr. Stenbak has served as a leader and voice for the College of Science and Engineering, interfacing with both campus and community stakeholders throughout the numerous phases of the design and construction of the new Sinegal Center for Science and Innovation and the renovation of the Bannan Center. Dr. Stenbak has supported the faculty and staff throughout this project, facilitating communication and connections between the users of the buildings and the design and construction team. Through her enduring efforts, Dr. Stenbak has made a significant and lasting contribution to the advancement of teaching and scholarship in STEM disciplines at Seattle University.

Professor Kirsten Moana Thompson
Professor Kirsten Moana Thompson is director of Film and Media and the Vice President for Policies on Academic Assembly. She chairs the Faculty Handbook Revision Committee and co-chairs the Reigniting Our Strategic Directions Working Group on Scholarship: Mission, Culture and Infrastructure. She also serves on the Faculty Welfare Committee and a number of other university committees. Thompson teaches and writes on animation and color studies, as well as American cinema and Pacific studies. She is the co-editor of Animation and Advertising (with M. Cook, Palgrave, 2019), the first book to examine the relationship of animation with non-theatrical media and author of Apocalyptic Dread: American Cinema at the Turn of the Millennium (2007); Crime Films: Investigating the Scene (Columbia UP: 2007) and Perspectives on German Cinema (1996). Currently, she is working on three other books: Color, Visual Culture and American Cel Animation; Bubbles and Animated America: Intermedial Promotion.

Provost’s Award for Outstanding Service
(Term Faculty)

Senior Instructor Hilary Hawley
Hilary Hawley, PhD, is a Senior Instructor in the English Department where she has taught since 2008. Dr. Hawley is the director of Core Learning and Engagement Programs, which includes the university’s first-term SUCCESS seminars and other first-year engagement initiatives, and the coordinator of the Common Text program. In addition to her formal roles within the Core, she also sits on the University Core Curriculum and Core Executive Committees, the University Operations Council, the Student Conduct Review Board and the College of Arts and Sciences Senior Instructor Promotion Committee. She also models service for her students through the inclusion of community-engaged learning in nearly all her courses, providing students with hands-on experience toward empowering leaders for a just and humane world.