2024 Faculty Achievement Award Winners to Be Honored at FSU Convocation

2024 Faculty Achievement Award Winners to Be Honored at FSU Convocation

May 8, 2024 8:00 AM

Outstanding Graduating Seniors Also Recognized for Academic Excellence and Leadership

Four recipients of the 2024 Faculty Achievement Awards will be honored at the Frostburg State University Honors Convocation on Wednesday, May 22, at 6 p.m. in the Pealer Recital Hall of FSU's Woodward D. Pealer Performing Arts Center. The awards are made possible through generous gifts to the FSU Foundation, Inc. In addition to the faculty awards, outstanding graduating seniors will also be recognized at the convocation by their departments for academic excellence and leadership.

This year's co-award winners for teaching are Dr. Michael Murtagh, Department of Psychology, and Dr. Jodi Welsch, Department of Educational Professions. The Academic Achievement award winner is Gerry LaFemina, Department of English and Foreign Languages, and the recipient of the University and Community Service award is Dr. Justin Dunmyre, Department of Mathematics.

Murtagh has revolutionized counseling psychology education with his commitment to empirically validated interventions. Not only has he enriched the graduate program with essential courses and specialized training on PTSD, but his innovative teaching techniques are also very impactful and bring enjoyment to the educational process. Known for his rigorous feedback mechanisms, Murtagh offers detailed critiques that significantly enhance students' counseling skills. His multifaceted instructional methods, from case studies to multimedia, engage students to foster a thorough understanding of complex material, and his dedication to high academic standards ensures the development of competent therapists.

Welsch has demonstrated continued success throughout her career as an education professor. She teaches courses in literacy education and guides seminars in teacher education for undergrad and graduate programs. Welsch brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to her role. She is dedicated to enhancing student learning experiences, demonstrated by her commitment to effective student-centered teaching through continuous growth and adaptability. Welsch constantly refines and improves her course designs, content and teaching practices to ensure alignment with changes in the field. She has started to include social-emotional learning in her course organization and activities to ensure equity for all students. Focusing on practical applications of learning, the content Welsch teaches is applicable to her students' field experience and future careers.

LaFemina's contributions to poetry and creative nonfiction are exemplary. His recent accomplishments include two book publications, an edited book and more than two dozen published poems in an assortment of journal outlets. He has made significant contributions as an English professor to his academic discipline, serving on panels, publishing scholarly work and through a collaborative exchange of ideas at a residency in Lichtenstein, and he was also the recipient of multiple grants devoted to the honing of his craft. LaFemina's literary prowess celebrates the region's history and culture at venues that span the local to the international.

Dunmyre's commitment to service is evidenced not just by his long history of membership on multiple committees but by his dedication to their work through the many leadership roles he has assumed. These include serving as vice chair of the Faculty Senate, chair of the General Education Review Committee, co-chair of the Faculty Evaluation Working Group, co-director of the Center for Teaching Excellence Advisory Group and co-chair of the FSU self-study working group for accreditation standards focused on the design and delivery of the student learning experience for the Middle States Commission on Higher Education. Dunmyre was instrumental in developing the FSU ACHIEVE Mathematics Initiative and serves his profession as a Teaching Support Group mentor for early career math faculty. With this award, he becomes the sixth FSU faculty member to have been honored in all three Faculty Achievement Award categories.