2023–24 Presidential Award for Outstanding NTE Faculty: Service

Kayleigh Duncan, instructor of computer science

Kayleigh Duncan, an instructor of computer science at Wright State University, is the 2023–24 recipient of the President’s Award for Outstanding Non-Tenure Eligible Faculty: Service.

“Kayleigh Duncan is passionate about all aspects of student success and education and provides an excellent example of what student-focused service should be,” said Darryl Ahner, Ph.D., professor and dean of the College of Engineering and Computer Science.

Duncan engages students in and out of the classroom and provides them with unique opportunities to engage in innovative ways with course material and computer engineering.

“Students are first in everything she does,” Ahner said.

In addition to her classes, Duncan is the undergraduate program coordinator and chair of the Undergraduate Studies Committee in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering. She also serves on the College of Engineering and Computer Science’s Undergraduate Curriculum Committee, the IT Committee and the Reynolds and Reynolds Leadership Scholarship Committee.

“She goes way beyond what can be expected of a lecturer,” said Thomas Wischgoll, Ph.D., professor and interim chair of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, “and is a vital contributor to the department’s information technologies and cyber security program, where she covers a significant portion of the classes.”

As the faculty advisor for the Association of Computing Machinery Wright State Student Chapter, Duncan works with students to organize the department’s annual programming contest and coordinates student participation at the National Cyber League each semester.

“When a volunteer for outreach activities is needed, Kayleigh is always ready to support the university,” Ahner said.

In the spring of 2023, Duncan took a prime role in helping with the department’s Make-It-Wright Hackathon, in which students quickly collaborated to design software or hardware to solve a supply-chain problem.

“The event was such a success,” Wischgoll said, “that the industry partners are hoping to perform another Hackathon with our department and are replicating our event’s layout for other Hackathons across the world.”

Duncan supports efforts to increase diversity among computer science and computer engineering students. She took a group of female undergraduate and graduate students to the Ohio Celebration of Women in Computing to explore careers in IT, network with their peers and meet mentors from other universities and industry.

In another initiative, she received support from the Wright State University Foundation Student First Fund to reinvigorate the laboratory and collaborative space for students to work on projects outside the classroom.

Her roots at Wright State are as a student: Duncan earned her bachelor’s degree in computer engineering and her master’s degree in computer engineering from Wright State.

“In all regards,” Ahner said, “Kayleigh is a great asset for our students and the College of Engineering and Computer Science.”