Each year, the College of Education and Human Ecology recognizes the incredible work of our dedicated faculty and staff with a variety of awards. These awards honor the outstanding contributions that help the college achieve its vision, mission and goals.
Congratulations to the recipients of the 2024 EHE Distinguished Faculty and Staff Awards! These recipients were recognized at the EHE Faculty and Staff Convocation on August 14.
See the video below of Dean Don Pope-Davis surprising each recipient by informing them of their award.
EHE Distinguished Staff Award
Shannon Romey, Senior Academic Advisor, Office of Undergraduate Education
This award honors outstanding EHE staff who create an environment that fosters respect, integrity, fairness and professionalism.
Romey is recognized for her exceptional contributions to teamwork, collaboration and student support in her office. She handles a caseload of 350 students, building strong rapport and providing holistic advising. Her impact on students is evident through their gratitude and success stories.
EHE Distinguished Staff Leadership Award
Carlotta Penn, Senior Director of Partnerships and Engagement, Office of Equity, Diversity and Global Engagement (EDGE)
This award honors exceptional staff leadership within the college. Recipients motivate others by mentoring or coaching, provide excellent service and create an environment that reflects EHE’s mission, vision and goals.
Penn leads EHE’s collaboration on a number of important international programs, such as EHE’s ongoing partnership with the University of Tsukuba. Her commitment and leadership foster an environment that has advanced our goals and serves to increase the visibility of the college.
EHE Distinguished Teaching Award
Brett Zyromski, Associate Professor, Department of Educational Studies
This award honors individuals for excellence in teaching that encourages inquiry, reflection and innovation. Recipients value multiple perspectives and infuse technology while encouraging scholarship and collaboration.
Zyromski has been recognized among his students as being highly supportive and respectfulive of their work. Students note his decolnonlonized approach to mastery learning, his leadership in professional development and his guidance in developing critical thinking.
EHE Distinguished Faculty Service Award
Peter Sayer, Professor, Department of Teaching and Learning
This award honors individuals who make extensive contributions to furthering the mission of EHE. Their contributions allow faculty, staff and students to focus positively on achieving excellence.
Sayer has made exceptional contributions both to his department and to the local and global community. He has served as chair of graduate studies and chair of promotion and tenure. He is committed to community engagement and to international initiatives, such as his recent work in Indonesia as part of the Buckeye Language Education Resource Center.
EHE Distinguished Research Award
Jay Kandampully, Professor, Department of Human Sciences
This award honors individuals who advance the field through transforming and integrating knowledge, facilitating learning, solving compelling problems, contributing to public policy, evaluating practices and programs or interpreting knowledge for relevant audiences.
Jay Kandampully, is nationally and internationally recognized as one of the premier intellectual leaders in his discipline, with a sustained record of accomplishment that spans over 25 years. His research focuses on two key streams: hospitality management and service management. His innovative work has created new knowledge that benefits not only students and faculty at Ohio Sstate, but also regional, national and global communities.
EHE Outstanding Staff Team Award
Office of Accreditation, Placement and Licensure
- Robyn Yates, Data Management
- Tony Smith, Data Analyst
Office of Information Technology
- Darren Parsons, Deputy CIO
- Sheng-Bo Chen, Back End Application Developer
This award honors an outstanding group of EHE staff members who work as a team to advance the mission, vision, core values and community pillars of EHE.
This team has demonstrated outstanding work in their commitment to data security and user experience. They are recognized for the expertise they bring to their projects and the cutting-edge work that they do to support the college’s goals.
The Rudine S. Bishop Diversity Enhancement Award
Stephanie Power-Carter, Professor, Department of Teaching and Learning
This award honors faculty or staff who have demonstrated commitment to enhancing the diversity of the college. The individual chosen for this award will have clearly demonstrated their belief in the value of breaking down barriers and diversifying the college.
Power-Carter is committed to creating an inclusive environment in everything she does, from her focus on scholarship opportunities for graduate students to her work with Weinland Park Elementary School. Her dedication extends far beyond her classroom; she works to create and maintain opportunities for community engagement.
EHE Faculty Impact Award
Brian Focht, Professor, Department of Human Sciences (posthumously)
This award honors outstanding EHE senior faculty who have made significant and sustained contributions to their fields of study and reflected excellence in all aspects of their career, including teaching, research, leadership and service.
“Every once in a while, you run into individuals that seem to have a presence that impacts the environment and the people around them. Brian represented such a person. He brought to the job a level of energy and engagement that allowed him to do things in new and different ways.
He demonstrated a commitment to values that are important to our college – such as equity, diversity, inclusion and, most importantly, social justice. He demonstrated this commitment in his scholarship, his words and his actions, and he took them all very seriously.
We are celebrating him this year with the Faculty Impact Award because of the quality of work that he has done historically and the difference he has made in the lives of students in our community and our colleagues on our leadership team.”
- Dean Don Pope-Davis
