KOKOMO, Ind. – Indiana University Kokomo honored faculty for distinction in teaching, community service, research, and diversity, at its annual Fall Convocation.
Adam Smith, associate professor of business, was honored with the highest teaching award granted from IU Kokomo, the Claude Rich Excellence in Teaching Award.
Smith was selected for his focus on career readiness through experiential learning. He had co-led 14 student trips, supervised 55 interns, worked on 10 student research projects, and helped form the Human Resource Student Association, among other accomplishments.
He was grateful to be acknowledged by his colleagues.
“Receiving this honor inspires me to continue my work with student and community engagement,” he said. “I hope I can continue to live up to that standard.”
Kristen Snoddy, senior lecturer in English, received the Virgil Hunt Service Award.
Snoddy was “incredibly honored” to receive the commendation for outstanding service by faculty or staff, because she knows many of the past recipients. She is president of Meals on Wheels, a CASA volunteer, and has assisted at Bona Vista for many years, leading student service learning projects there.
“You help people and you do service because it’s what you want to do, and it’s the right thing to do,” she said. “To receive public recognition is icing on the cake.”
Dmitriy Chulkov, professor of economics and management information systems, was awarded the senior faculty research award, while Hisako Masuda, associate professor of biochemistry, was recipient of the junior faculty research award.
Chulkov said the research award highlights the exciting scientific and creative work being done on campus. Described as “one of IU Kokomo’s most established researchers,” he was selected for his scholarly work on aspects of management decisions and reversibility, and his publication in the journal Applied Economics.
“I am truly honored to be selected for the senior faculty scholarship award, as our campus has many wonderful researchers in natural sciences, social sciences, economics, business, and many other areas,” he said. “I am happy to bring the spotlight to research done in our School of Business.”
Masuda said while teaching is the more visible part of her professional life, she appreciates the chance to have the research component recognized as well. Her current work focuses on how bacteria respond to external stresses and metabolically degrade environmental pollutants, such as plastics and hydrocarbons, with a future goal of environmental and clinical applications.
“As a campus, we have a culture that supports research as an important aspect of our professional endeavors,” she said. “It’s nice to have that work acknowledged.”
Rosalyn Davis clinical associate professor of psychology, and Kate Aguilar, coordinator of student life and campus diversity, were honored with the Chancellor’s Diversity Award.
Davis was pleased to have her work to make the campus more inclusive acknowledged. She serves as the faculty diversity liaison, and completed a campus climate survey. She also planned the first-ever Juneteenth celebration to IU Kokomo.
“It’s very much an honor that our work is respected by others, and continues to be recognized,” she said.
Aguilar called it “an incredible honor” to receive the award. She was noted for founding a minority mentoring program, establishing diversity scholarships, and bringing the IU Latino Leadership Conference to campus.
“I’m really proud of the work our entire campus does around diversity and inclusion,” she said. “I think it’s wonderful that it’s a priority for us, and I am honored to be a small part of it.”
Trustees Teaching Award recipients were Angela Coppola, assistant professor of health sciences; Josephine Dibie, lecturer in business, Adam Smith, associate professor of business, Peter Tupa, lecturer in mathematics; Ziaoqiong (Crystal) Wang, assistant professor of finance; and Chen Zhong, assistant professor of informatics.
Indiana University Kokomo celebrates 75 years as north central Indiana’s choice for higher education.