2010 Faculty Excellence Awards Presented

Delaware State University has named the recipients of its 2010 Faculty Excellence Awards. The faculty members are:

 

Dr. Elizabeth Mansley – Faculty Excellence Award for Teaching

An assistant professor of sociology who has been with DSU since 2007, Dr. Mansley’s teaching philosophy is to foster an active, cooperative learning environment that offers students multiple avenues to develop their sociological perspectives. She has developed two new upper-level sociology courses, and in her role as chair of the department’s Curriculum Review Committee she has led the successful effort to split the program into two separate degree-conferring majors.

 

In her University service, Dr. Mansley has chosen to serve on committees that have the greatest impact on teaching, such as serving as the chair of the Honors Council, secretary of the Academic Affairs Committee, advisor of the Sociology and Criminal Justice Club and as a member of the Teaching Effectiveness Committee.

 

Dr. Sam Hoff – Faculty Excellence Award for Service

A George Washington Distinguished Professor and a professor of the Department of History, Political Science & Philosophy, Dr. Hoff has been with the University since 1989. He currently serves as the director of the DSU Law Studies Program – for which he in credited with being instrumental in establishing – and the graduate director of the College of Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences.

 

He serves on the University’s Honors Council and Faculty Senate, and is the chair of the DSU Student Disciplinary Appeals Council, the Faculty Senate Faculty Research Committee, as well as the Academic Policy Committee of the Graduate Council and various other department committees.

 

Dr. Draboljub Pokrajac – Faculty Excellence Award for Research

An associate professor of computer and information sciences who has been at DSU since 2002, Dr. Pokrajac has been the principal investigator on two research grants totaling more than $1 million. He has also been a co-principal investigator on major grants connected with the University’s Center for Research and Education in Optics Sciences as well as the Applied Mathematics Research Center. The total amount of grants for which he has provided grant writing and research leadership at DSU exceeds $11 million.

 

He is the author of 17 journal papers, 108 peer-reviewed conference papers, two book chapters and has served as the co-editor of two books. Among the numerous graduate and undergraduate students he has supervised, several have won prizes and have participated as presenters and co-authors at research conferences.

 

Dr. Gulnihal Ozbay – Faculty Excellence Award for Advising

A research associate professor in the Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources who has been at DSU since 2003, Dr. Ozbay is currently supervising four graduate research projects, has supervised nine other previous graduate students, and has served on more than 10 graduate students’ research committees.

 

Dr. Ozbay has led students and research staffs in research programs in marine aquaculture, habitat restoration and water quality issues. She has also served as an academic mentor with the Office of Student and Academic Support Services.