2021-2022 Provost's Awards for Faculty

Dear Seattle University Community,

It gives me great pleasure to announce the recipients of the 2021-2022 Provost’s Awards, recognizing the outstanding contributions of faculty. 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. I'm grateful to all of the applicants for uplifting faculty excellence. Please join me in celebrating this year's recipients, who will be recognized at the May 19 Faculty Convocation.

2021-2022 Provost’s Award for Excellence in Research, Scholarship and Creative Endeavors for Tenure/Tenure Track Faculty

Associate Professor Brian Fischer

Brian Fischer 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 over $850,000 in funding. Dr. Fischer has mentored 21 undergraduate students from 6 departments in NIH-funded research projects. This work has resulted in 17 peer reviewed journal publications, with 6 undergraduate students being coauthors. His research has been published in Nature, Nature Neuroscience, and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. This work has been featured as journal cover articles and written about in the press, for instance, his recent work with students Julia Gorman, Oliver Tufte, and Anna Miller was the cover article for PLoS Computational Biology. 

2021-2022 Provost’s Award for Excellence in Service for Tenure/Tenure Track Faculty, two recipients

Associate Professor Carolyn Stenbak

Professor Carolyn Stenbak 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

Kirsten Moana Thompson is Professor and 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, and also serves on Faculty Welfare Committee and a number of other university committees. She 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). She is currently working on three other books, Color, Visual Culture and American Cel Animation; Bubbles; and Animated America: Intermedial Promotion.

2021-2022 Provost’s Award for Outstanding Service for Term Faculty

Senior Instructor Hilary Hawley

Hilary Hawley, PhD, is a Senior Instructor in the English Department where she has taught since 2008. She 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 CAS Senior Instructor Promotion Committee. She also models service for her students through the inclusion of community-engaged learning in nearly all of her courses, providing students with hands-on experience toward empowering leaders for a just and humane world.

A special thanks to thanks to the members of the Provost's Awards Committee for their thoughtful effort in selecting this year's recipients

• Ronald Slye (Committee Chair), School of Law
• April Atwood, Albers School of Business & Economics
• Mary Kay Brennan, College of Arts & Sciences
• Christie Eppler, College of Arts & Sciences
• Ted Kalmus, College of Education
• Helen Liu, College of Arts & Sciences
• Ann McNally, College of Science & Engineering
• Claus Portner, Albers School of Business & Economics
• Diane Switzer, College of Nursing

Sincerely,

Shane P. Martin
Provost