DSU Announces 2015 Faculty Excellence Awardees

Delaware State University recently named three faculty members as the institution’s 2015 Faculty Excellence Award recipients.

Faculty Excellence Award for Teaching – Dr. Frank Gazda, associate professor of music

Dr. Gazda, a Department of Music faculty member since 2007, maintains a teaching philosophy that undergraduate music students need to receive a strong grounding in the fundamentals of their craft, need to see the relevance of these fundamentals to their success, and need to be encouraged to be curious about all aspects of their music. Dr. Gazda’s approach to teaching is to guide, mentor, and teach every student as an individual with individual needs, goals and learning styles. He also exposes his students to as many successful professionals as possible. His teaching activities have included revamping the applied music curriculum for low brass instruments to reflect contemporary trends in literature and pedagogy and other curriculum revisions. Additionally, he is active with performance and pedagogical research to enhance teaching.

Faculty Excellence Award for Research – Dr. Hacene Boukari, associate professor of physics

A physics faculty member since 2010, Dr. Boukari’s research at DSU has focused on understanding biomacromolecular interactions and nanotransport phenomena in complex systems and their possible roles with biological functions as well as biological pathologies. He has been successful in securing external funding from national organizations such as the National Institute of Health (NIH), National Science Foundation (NSF), Department of Defense and Department of Education – $800,000 as a principal investigator (PI) and $8.5 million as a co-PI. The funding has been used for laboratory equipment and to support the undergraduate and graduate students he mentors. He has numerous publication , presentations, and invited speaking engagements, and his students also actively present their scholarly works.

Faculty Excellence Award for Service – Dr. Melissa Harrington, professor of biological sciences

Dr. Harrington, a 14-year faculty member in the Department of Biological Sciences, has an active record of service at all levels from departmental service to professional and community service. She has served on numerous committees in her department as well as in the College of Mathematics, Natural Sciences and Technology. Dr. Harrington’s University service includes mentoring faculty in the grant writing process as well as collaboration with numerous faculty across several disciplines writing grants for research, teaching, community outreach and student scholarships. She has received over $18 million in funding as a PI or co-PI, and has assisted colleagues with grants that have brought over $2 million to DSU. Other service includes being the director of neuroscience for the statewide INBRE network, directing summer science camps for middle school students, and serving on review panels for NIH and NSF.