12/10/2025
The campus community gathered Dec. 8 to honor 39 colleagues for their achievements during the SUNY Cortland 2025 Teaching, Research and Service Awards Ceremony held in the Corey Union Function Room.
“I am continually impressed with the amazing teaching and scholarship accomplished every day by our SUNY Cortland faculty,” said Ann McClellan, provost and vice president for academic affairs, about the event.
“Not only do they excel in the classroom by providing innovative teaching, but they also exceed university expectations for impactful scholarship. I am truly lucky to work with such outstanding colleagues,” she said.
SUNY Cortland President Erik J. Bitterbaum gave the opening remarks. McClellan announced the awardees.
The awards were presented as follows:
Award: Excellence in Teaching Award - Tenure Track
To: Anisha Saxena, associate professor, History Department
Description and previous recipients list
Award: Fine Teaching Development Award
To:
- Abigail Droge, assistant professor, English Department; and
- Bridget Hier, associate professor, Psychology Department
Award: Rozanne M. Brooks Dedicated Teacher Award
To: Laura Gathagan, professor, History Department
Description and previous recipients list
Award: Rozanne M. Brooks Internationalized Curricular Development Award
To: Kent Johnson, associate professor, Sociology/Anthropology Department
Description and previous recipients list
Award: Excellence in Academic Advising
To: Katie Silvestri, associate professor, Literacy Department
Award: Teaching Innovation Grant
To: Tyson Luneau, assistant professor, History Department; and Dianne Wellington, Literacy Department
Award: Outstanding Achievement in Mentoring Undergraduate Research
To: Christopher Badurek, professor, Geography Department
Award: Excellence in Research, Scholarship and Outreach
Description: Presented to Cortland faculty and staff who obtained external funding in the previous year.
To: Katherine Hicks, professor, Chemistry Department
To: Elizabeth McCarthy, associate professor, Biological Sciences Department
To: Eric Edlund, associate professor, Physics Department
To: Li Jin, professor, Geology Department; and Andrea Davalos, associate professor, and Mary Beth Voltura, associate professor, Biological Sciences Department
To: Mary Cannito-Coville, associate professor, Sociology/Anthropology Department
To: Ben Wilson, professor, Economics Department; Andrea Harbin, professor, English Department; and Anisha Saxena, associate professor, History Department
To: Bekeh Ukelina, professor, History Department
To: Nance Wilson, professor, Literacy Department
To: Ryan Wainwright, senior financial aid advisor, Financial Aid Office
Award: 2025-26 Faculty Research Program
Honorees: Obidiah Atkinson and Seunghyun Baek, assistant professors, Physical Education Department; Project Title: “Impact of a Sport-Based Positive Youth Development Program in Rural New York State”
Honoree: Laura Davies, professor, English Department; Project Title: “Teaching Argument Writing in High School ELA Classrooms, 2000-2025”
Honoree: Laura Eierman, associate professor, Biological Sciences Department; Project Title: “Application of environmental DNA (eDNA) techniques to detect and assess Diadema antillarum abundance and other important species on Belizean coral reefs”
Honorees: Xiaoping Fan and Jeongkyu Kim, assistant professors, Physical Education; and Xiaoye Xu, assistant professor, Psychology Department; Project Title: “Examining the Impact of a SEL-Infused After-School Program on Children”
Honoree: Laura Gathagan, professor, History Department; Project Title: “25 Women Who Shaped Medieval Lordship”
Honoree: Cody Harrington, assistant professor, Childhood/Early Childhood Education Department; Project Title: “Experiences with bar tasks and unit coordination within multiplicative reasoning provide a glimpse into Mathematical Knowledge for Teaching pre-service teachers”
Honoree: Mason Kim, associate professor, Political Science Department; Project Title: “The Divergent Paths of Migrant Worker Activism: A Comparative Study of South Korea and Taiwan”
Honoree: Tyson Luneau, assistant professor, History Department; Project Title: “Haussmann in the Maghreb: French Colonial Urbanism in North Africa, 1830-1962”
Honoree: Hollis Miller, assistant professor, Sociology/Anthropology Department; Project Title: “Eating at Ing’yuq: Archaeofauna and Subsistence Strategies during the Russian Colonial Period”
Honoree: Jason Page, assistant professor, Recreation, Parks and Leisure Studies Department; Project Title: “BRIDGE Girls (Building Relationships and Independence through Dynamic Group Experiences): A LEGO® Based Therapy Study”
Honoree: Geunhye Park, assistant professor, Health Department; Project Title: “Investigating the Effects of Technology Use on Mental Health Outcomes Among Older Adults During COVID-19: insights from the National Health and Aging Trends Study (NHATS)”
Honoree: Maria Timberlake, associate professor, Foundations and Social Advocacy Department; Project Title: “Humanistic Behavior Support: New Teachers and Competing Theories”
Honoree: Jeffrey Werner, professor, Chemistry Department; Project Title: “Soluble Products From PET Plastic Degradation in the Aquatic Environment, and Potential Impacts on Oysters”
Honoree: Sarah Wolf, assistant professor, Chemistry Department; Project Title: “Understanding Confined Molecular Glasses”
Honoree: Xiaoye Xu, assistant professor, Psychology Department; Project Title: “Social contexts and young adults’ emotion regulation in daily life: An ecological momentary study”
Award: Dr. Peter Di Nardo ’68 and Judith Waring Outstanding Achievement in Research
To: Teagan Bradway, professor, English Department
Project Title: “Queer Theory for Everybody”
Description and previous recipients list
Ann McClellan, provost and vice president for academic affairs, introduced honorees.
Christopher Badurek, geography, was honored for his role in mentoring undergraduates.
Dominick Fantacone, director of research and sponsored programs, left, presented a faculty research award.
Faculty and staff enjoyed the ceremony’s Hollywood red-carpeted theme.
Geology and biological sciences faculty members were awarded for their interdisciplinary scholarship.
President Erik J. Bitterbaum opened the ceremony with remarks.