SRU presents 2024 President’s Awards and recognizes employee service milestones
From left, recipients of the Slippery Rock University 2024 President’s Award for Outstanding Service Musiette Clay and Amanda Nichols were recognized at a ceremony, April 2.
April 2, 2024
SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. — Slippery Rock University has announced its 2024 President's Awards. These annual awards recognize faculty and staff for their outstanding service and job performance. Each award has its own selection committee, but all the awards are approved and released by the Office of the President.
Recipients were recognized across two ceremonies, April 2, at the Smith Student Center: SRU's Employee Service Recognition Celebration and the University's Celebration of Achievement. Recipients of the award for outstanding service were recognized at the Employee Service Recognition Celebration, as well as employees with service milestones (10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35 and 40 years).
Established in 1981 and funded by SRU supporters, the late Donna and Robert McMullen, '51, the President's Award for Outstanding Service recognizes extraordinary commitment to University service and citizenship beyond the scope of an employee's job function. This includes active participation in on- and off-campus activities that benefit the University. Doug McMullen, an SRU Foundation, Inc. board of directors emeritus member, and his wife, Linda, continue to sponsor the award. Each of the recipients of the President's Awards for Outstanding Service receives a $1,000 cash award.
The 2024 recipients of the President's Award for Outstanding Service were Musiette Clay, assistant professor of exploratory studies and academic progress and department chair, and Amanda Nichols, payroll and student employment manager.
Clay, who has worked at SRU for more than six years, provides support for students in all academic majors but especially for exploratory students, a group that has increased its fall-to-spring persistence rate from 80% to more than 94%. This includes 100% of her department's underrepresented students persisting to spring semester for the first time in recent history. She has also served the campus community in a variety of ways, including as a member of the Transfer Advocacy Council, Faculty Athletic Council, Rock Studies Administrative Committee, Academic Outreach Team, Middle States accreditation self-study group, Office of Disability Services Faculty Advisory Board, and many others.
Nichols manages several important functions of University operations, including student-employee job postings and clearances, ensuring campus jobs are filled and student employees are educated about the hiring process. She has served as interim director of SRU's employee Leadership Development program since August 2022, and she's played an integral role in relaunching SRU's Claire Schmieler Institute for Professional Women, which prepares non-faculty women for leadership opportunities within SRU and other higher education institutions. She has worked at SRU for more than 13 years, all while serving the University in a variety of ways that go above and beyond her immediate job responsibilities.
The following awards were presented at the Celebration of Achievement:
- President's Awards for Scholarly and Creative Achievement: Boris Brimkov, assistant professor of mathematics and statistics, for his publication, "The Many Face(t)s of Zero Forcing," and Betsy Kemeny, associate professor of recreational therapy, for her research project, "Therapeutic Riding or Mindfulness."
- President's Awards for Excellence in Teaching: Lisa Ann Goldsmith, instructor of theatre, and Jeffrey Musyt, assistant professor of mathematics and statistics.
- President's Award for Outstanding Academic Advising (Emerging Category, fewer than three years' experience): Joseph Fiedor, associate professor of physical therapy.
- President's Award for Outstanding Academic Advising (Experienced Category, three or more years' experience): Beth Ann Rice, associate professor of psychology.
The following employees were also recognized for milestone anniversaries at the Employee Service Recognition Celebration:
10 Years
Whitney Angelini
Rocco Cremonese
Michele Crytzer
Cassandra Eisenreich
Miranda Falso
George Lengyel
Allison Marburger
Toni Mild
Dillyn Taylor
15 Years
Brenda Best
Michael Boone
Jody Brandon
Anita Culley
Stentor Danielson
Jeremy Dicus
Martin Donahue
Heather Getsay
Nicole Hahna
Heike Hartmann
Heather Hertel
Jonathan Holtz
Stacy Hrizo
Dallas Jackson
David Krayesky
Jason Kush
Beth Larouere
Don LeFevre
Rebecca Lindey
Kathleen Melago
Margaret Michaels
Melissa Nard-Mitchell
Marnie Petray-Covey
Li Pu
Todd Roxberry
Paul Scanlon
Jodi Sindlinger
Jeffrey Smith
Kenneth Snyder
Roger Solano
Bryan Spory
Jason Stuart
Mark Van Lieu
Lisa Marie Weinzetl
Linda Zane
20 Years
Tiffany Aloi
Jennifer Carben
David Champion
Wayne Cochran
Andrew Colvin
Frank Davis
Claudia Fischer
Athula Herat
Robert Isherwood
Wenhao Liu
Jaya Mani
Christine Pease-Hernandez
Christine Walsh
Donald Zapien
Michael Zieg
Traci Zillifro
25 Years
Jacqueline Berkstresser
Cheryl Dolan
Shawn Lutz
Henry Magusiak
Bradley Montag
Jeffrey Ward
30 Years
Christopher Cole
Patricia Pierce
35 Years
Joseph Cali
Beverly Lumley
40 Years
Robin Mowry
MEDIA CONTACT: Justin Zackal | 724.738.4854 | justin.zackal@sru.edu