Hall of Fame
CHHS Awards
CHHS Minority Faculty Scholar Excellence Award
This award recognizes and promotes outstanding research and creative endeavors among minority faculty members (racial or ethnic minorities, i.e., non-White race individuals, Hispanic ethnicity individuals, or persons with a disability) in the college. A plaque and a monetary award are to be granted to the winner.
CHHS Minority Faculty Scholar Excellence Award FY24
Award Recipients:
FY 2024 - Raymund Narag
FY 2023 - Sujung Cho
Ernest J. and Mary C. Simon Distinguished Faculty Award
The Ernest J. and Mary C. Simon Distinguished Faculty Award is intended to acknowledge, celebrate, and reward extraordinary lifetime achievement with respect to teaching and other activities directly related to the education and general welfare of students of the College of Health and Human Sciences (CHHS) at Southern Illinois University Carbondale (SIUC).
CHHS Ernest J. and Mary C. Simon Distinguished Faculty Award
Award Recipients:
- FY 2025 – Valerie E. Boyer
- FY 2024 – Tammy Rinehart Kochel
- FY 2023 – Maria Claudia Franca
CHHS Early Career Faculty Excellence Award
The purpose of this award is to recognize an early-career faculty member in CHHS who has made significant contributions to their discipline. In establishing this award for excellence in a faculty member’s early career (i.e., first five years as a tenure-track assistant professor), CHHS will recognize someone who demonstrates excellence in scholarship and professional accomplishments.
Early Career Faculty Excellence Award
Award Recipients:
- FY 2025 - Eric Lee
- FY 2024 - Wasantha Jayawardene
Female Faculty Scholar Excellence Award
The purpose of this award is to recognize a CHHS Female Faculty Scholar who has made significant contributions to their discipline. CHHS will recognize a female faculty scholar who demonstrates excellence in scholarship and professional accomplishments, which are essential to the life of the University.
CHHS Female Faculty Scholar Excellence Award
Award Recipients:
- FY 2024 - Michelle Kibby
- FY 2023 - Tammy Kochel
Mike Behrmann Spirit Award
The Mike Behrmann Spirit Award recognizes a College of Health & Human Sciences employee who embodies the CHHS mission, exhibits enthusiasm in their work, motivates and inspires colleagues and students to be successful, and consistently promotes CHHS and SIU in a positive light. The recipient of this award acts as a role model, is encouraging of others, and is committed to helping CHHS and SIU succeed.
Award Recipients:
- FY 2024 - Denise Croft
- FY 2023 - Breanne Pleggenkuhl
- FY 2022 - Philip Anton
CHHS Scholar of the Year
The purpose of the CHHS Scholar of the Year Award is to promote research and creativity in the College. The nominee for Scholar of the Year is selected by the College Research Committee.
CHHS Scholar Of the Year Award
Award Recipients:
- FY 2025 - Wasantha Jayawardene
- FY 2024 - Xiaoli Li
- FY 2023 - Justin McDaniel
- FY 2022 - Sandra Collins
Service to the College for Administrative Professional/Civil Service Staff
For the purposes of this award, service to the College is defined as a collection of actions, attitudes, and behaviors that promote a vision of pride and community from within the College. Award nominees create “a culture where all employees embrace their responsibilities for the recruitment and retention of students, and act as goodwill ambassadors” to the College. Such individuals may:
- Advance the Mission of the College
- Accomplish Job Duties in an Exemplary Manner
- Improve Job and Workplace Efficiency, Productivity, Safety, and Environment
- Improve Workplace Morale
- Model Exemplary Personal and Professional Behavior
- Support the Job Performance of Other Employees
- Increase Job Knowledge and Expertise
Award Recipients:
- FY 2025 - Debbie Simpson
- FY 2024 – Kristina Benson
- FY 2023 – Patricia Martens
- FY 2020 – Chad Waters
Marlene Rotbart Matten Excellence Award
The Marlene Rotbart Matten Excellence in Health Research Award Endowment will fund an annual award(s) to support health-related research at the Master's or Doctoral level, broadly defined to include basic and applied research.
Award Recipients:
- FY 2025 - Tamera Coulter
- FY 2024 - Jessica Hinojosa
- FY 2023 - Claudia Ford
- FY 2022 - Titas Roy and Rebecca Seward
CHHS 3MT
This research communication competition was originally developed by The University of Queensland (UQ) in 2008. Over time, the contest has exploded in popularity, and 3MT contests now occur worldwide at over 600 universities/institutions across 65 countries. SIU Carbondale is one of the participating institutions. Three Minutes Thesis
The 3MT competition challenges students to summarize their research or scholarship for a non-specialist audience using only three minutes of speech, using pre-determined guidelines and a single PowerPoint slide. A panel of judges scores each student to determine a winner.
Award Recipients:
- FY 2025 - Chesmi Kumbalatara, Julian Cifuentes
- FY 2024 - Julian Cifuentes, Pablo Andrews Ledesma Castro
- FY 2023 - Julian Cufuentes and Manish Goyal
- FY 2022 - Seyvan Nouri
Teacher of the Year
This award recognizes tenured/tenure-track faculty who demonstrate outstanding teaching, high-quality classroom performance, innovation, and commitment to student learning outcomes and inclusive excellence in education. A plaque and monetary award are to be granted to the winner.
Tenure Track Teacher of the Year
- FY 2025 - Daniel Hillyard
- FY 2024 - Kelli Whittington
- FY 2023 - Jennifer Walker
NON-Tenure Track Teacher of the Year
- FY 2025 - Lisa Bickel
- FY 2024 - Kimberly Parr
- FY 2023 - Paul Echols