Winners of the fall 2012 Wright State Learning Communities Awards

(L-R) Back row: Jason Deibel, Ph.D., Dan Krane, Ph.D., Penny Sobocinski, Leah Miller, Devon Berry, Ph.D. Front row: Alyxis Camden, Ashley Marshall, Urmimala “Urmi” Chaudhuri, Karli Lightner, Mary Chace, Alex Oxner

Wright State University faculty, staff and students who provided an excellent learning opportunity for first-year students last fall were recognized April 23 with Learning Community Awards. Eleven people received recognition for their work in teaching First Year Seminars.

Faculty and staff recipients:

• Devon Berry, Ph.D., Holly Jackson Award for Outstanding Innovation in Co-Curricular Activities, with Alex Oxner
• Mary Chace, Ph.D., Outstanding Faculty Commitment to a First Year Learning Community Award
• Jason Deibel, Ph.D., Outstanding Collaboration, with Alyxis Camden
• Dan Krane, Ph.D., Doug Saul Award for Excellence in Learning Community Instruction, with Ashley Marshall

Student recipients:

• Alyxis Camden, Peer Mentor, Outstanding Collaboration, with Jason Deibel
• Urmimala “Urmi” Chaudhuri , Peer Mentor , Outstanding Innovation in Teaching
• Karli Lightner, Peer Mentor, Doug Saul Award for Excellence in Learning Community Instruction
• Ashley Marshall, Peer Mentor, Doug Saul Award for Excellence in Learning Community Instruction, with Dan Krane
• Leah Miller, Peer Mentor, Outstanding Collaboration to a team supervised by First Year Programs staff, with Penny Sobocinski
• Alex Oxner , Peer Mentor, Holly Jackson Award for Outstanding Innovation in Co-Curricular Activities, with Devon Berry
• Penny Sobocinski , Peer Mentor , Outstanding Collaboration to a team supervised by First Year Programs staff, with  Leah Miller

About the recipients and award categories:

Doug Saul Award for Excellence in Learning Community Instruction

A faculty/peer mentor team and a peer mentor supervised by First Year Programs staff were the 2013 recipients of the Doug Saul Award for Excellence in Learning Community Instruction.

Dan Krane, professor and faculty president, and peer mentor Ashley Marshall taught a research and laboratory opportunities learning community for science majors.

Peer mentor Karli Lightner taught a learning community for business majors, with the highest evaluation results of all fall 2012 nominees.

Outstanding Faculty Commitment to a First Year Learning Community award

Mary Chace, assistant professor and program advisor of Community Health Education in the College of Education and Human Services co-taught the explorations in community health and wellness learning community for education majors with peer mentor Michele Coale.

Coale nominated Chace for the Outstanding Faculty Commitment to a First Year Learning Community award, which recognizes a faculty member’s significant and active role in the learning community’s experiences, exemplifying a commitment to first-year students and learning community goals.

Holly Jackson Award for Outstanding Innovation in Co-Curricular Activities

Devon Berry, the director of innovation and community partnerships, interim director of research for the College of Nursing and Health and clinical assistant professor, and junior psychology major Alex Oxner, were the winners of this year’s Holly Jackson Award for Outstanding Innovation in Co-Curricular Activities for their learning community for nursing majors. The award rewards innovative out of class activities and experiences.

Outstanding Innovation in Teaching award

Peer mentor Urmimala Chaudhuri, a graduate student majoring in microbiology and immunology, was recognized for her sports and society learning community.

The award recognizes an innovative use of integrating technology into learning communities often including the use of multimedia, email discussions and other uses of technology.

Outstanding Collaboration award

Jason Deibel, assistant professor of physics, taught the year-long learning community for physics majors with peer mentor Alyxis Camden, a senior majoring in physics and mathematics.

Senior psychology major Leah Miller and senior English major Penny Sobocinski co-taught the understanding personality learning community for psychology majors.

This recognizes excellent collaboration between colleges, Academic and Student Affairs, instructors, faculty, and organizations both on and off campus.