2020

Assistant Professor
School of Education

Early Achievement in Teaching

Specializing in literacy and social justice education, Jeanne Dyches has taught nine different undergraduate and graduate classes during her four years at Iowa State University, including several courses she developed. She created a new study abroad course for education majors, Disciplinary Literacy in Rome. In teaching evaluations, her students describe meaningful discussions that push them to consider new ideas, engage in critical self-reflection, and deliver equity-driven pedagogy. Dyches works to make the research and writing process transparent for her master’s and doctoral students, empowering them to offer their own important scholarly contributions. Dyches and her graduate students have co-published in top tier journals and co-presented at national conferences.

Assistant Professor
Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition

Mid-Career Achievement in Teaching

Matt Rowling demonstrates breadth and range in his teaching, having taught 12 different undergraduate and graduate level courses. He has created and developed four courses, including converting an existing course for online delivery. Regardless of course content, format, or size – and ranging from introductory to advanced classes — his students consistently rate his teaching as excellent. Continuously seeking professional development to further improve his teaching, he frequently flips his courses to develop the critical and independent thinking of his students. A devoted and tireless advisor, his open-door policy extends to students as he continues to mentor many long after they graduate.

Associate Professor
Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition

Career Achievement in Teaching

Since joining the faculty in 2009, Christina Campbell has transformed Iowa State University’s learning environment in medical nutrition therapy to stand among the best in the country. She teaches a graduate course for Registered Dieticians. She also is the lead instructor for the two core courses in medical nutrition and disease in which undergraduate dietetics majors learn the relationships among nutrients and health and disease. To ensure students’ success in their internships, their accreditation exam, and future dietetics practices – she creates a learning environment that is rigorous yet supportive. She challenges them to think critically with a deep understanding, so they are able to address the complex, real-life situations they will encounter as Registered Dietitians.

Associate Professor
Department of Apparel, Events, and Hospitality Management

Online Teaching Award

SoJung Lee demonstrates outstanding online teaching expertise. She leads the development of Iowa State University’s undergraduate and graduate curriculum in tourism, which bridges both the hospitality management and event management programs. She has conceived innovative curricular ideas in the areas of rural and agriculture tourism. Lee has developed three new hybrid courses and converted two traditional courses into online or hybrid formats. She has supported most of her online teaching initiatives with CHS online teaching grants, investments that have resulted in a two-fold increase in undergraduate tourism course enrollments. Most recently, she developed an online-research course that will be offered this summer to students in hybrid graduate programs offered by the Department of Apparel, Events, and Hospitality Management.

Assistant Professor
Department of Kinesiology

Early Achievement in Research

Since Jacob Meyer joined the Iowa State University faculty in 2017, his research on the mental health effects of exercise has added to the prestige of the kinesiology program through high-quality publications, internal funding awards, and significant external grant submissions, and the high impact of his research. He has gained national and international recognition for his work in exercise and mental health through major societies in his field and major news organizations including the New York Times. He provides new knowledge and critical expertise on the interplay between exercise and mental health that is often missing in behavioral health intervention research.

Associate Professor
Department of Human Development and Family Studies

Mid-Career Achievement in Research

Tricia Neppl has earned an international reputation for publishing important scientific findings that reflect theoretically elegant and methodologically rigorous research. From among more than 1,400 tenured and tenure-track faculty in the general discipline of human development and family studies, Academic Analytics ranks Neppl among the top 12% in journal article output and the top 13% for citations of her work by other researchers. She also provides outstanding research guidance and opportunities for a remarkably high number of students — from undergraduates to Ph.D. candidates. As her students frequently win competitive awards for their work, she is establishing a new generation of excellent scholars to address the impact of economic pressure, family processes, parenting, and health behaviors.

Assistant Professor
Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition

Early Achievement in Extension or Professional Practice

Shannon Coleman improves Iowans’ health by collaboratively ensuring safe, locally-produced foods for their consumption. The community-based programming she developed has helped hundreds of home-based food operators and small food processors understand science-based food safety practices and adopt them into their operations. She has also educated 4-H food and nutrition judges on food safety so they could impart knowledge on 9,000 4-H youth. More recently, she trained master gardeners to ensure safe food handling as they grew and donated 90,000 pounds of fresh produce to 100 food pantries and meal sites. She also helps diversify the pool of ISU-educated food and nutrition leaders by coordinating the ISU Cyclone Scholars Summer Research Experience, which draws undergraduates from throughout the U.S. who are considering graduate study.

Lura M. Lovell Faculty Fellow and Associate Professor
Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition

Nutrition and Wellness State Specialist
Human Sciences Extension and Outreach

Career Achievement in Extension or Professional Practice

Sarah Francis employs her research prowess to assess communities’ nutritional needs. She then meets those needs with impactful, research-based programming that optimizes the health of Iowans. By deeply understanding her target audiences, she pinpoints topics, learning strategies, and program structures that empower them to change behaviors in healthful ways. She is adept at bringing together Iowa State University students with underserved groups to ensure deep learning and better nutrition for all. The impact of the excellent statewide programs she develops is amplified as other states eagerly adopt and extend them to their constituents.

Associate Teaching Professor
Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition

Faculty Award for International Achievement

Erica Beirman is continually adding new learning opportunities for culinary food sciences students. Among the most impactful are the study abroad programs she has developed. She initiated a broad array of connections in Spain, Italy, and the United Kingdom that open doors to uncommon learning experiences for students. Her education-packed preparatory courses and itineraries emphasize what students will be learning at each venue, as her approach to study abroad is intently on education. From hands-on experience alongside Spanish chefs in restaurant kitchens in Valladolid to cheese processing in Parma, more than 70 students have gained more profound perceptions of the connections between food and culture as well as better understanding of themselves.

Associate Professor
School of Education

Faculty Award for Inclusive Achievement

Katy Swalwell advances teaching, research, and outreach that pushes the boundaries of the very definitions of diversity, equity, and inclusion. She elevates pedagogies that have been intentionally silenced – and models a reimagined learning environment where diverse strengths are honored, questions are realized, and arbitrary borders give way to deeper understanding. With care and authenticity, she instills in others a social justice lens that understands the differences between calling someone in and calling someone out. She innovates a wide range of learning opportunities for students, teachers, families, and communities, helping many see Iowa’s history – and Iowans – in a richer light.

Clerk II
Department of Kinesiology

Merit Employee Distinguished Service

Jody Burdick is an invaluable staff member in the Department of Kinesiology who sets high standards for herself to ensure things operate smoothly and effectively. While covering the front desk in person or online, she provides friendly support for visitors, graduate students, faculty, and staff. She draws on her historic knowledge of department affairs, gained over many years of dedicated service, to answer questions, offer gentle advice, and provide crucial continuity for her department. From assisting faculty with entering grades to ordering textbooks to processing evaluations, she also helps ensure the integrity of academic programs. Perhaps most importantly, she puts her whole heart into every task and treats each person she meets with kindness.

Clinical Associate Professor
Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition

Term Faculty Distinguished Service

Erin Bergquist consistently elevates the Iowa State University dietetic internship program by continually developing cutting-edge learning opportunities for the next generation of dietitians. She is known for developing groundbreaking international community rotations for dietetic interns in Ghana and India and partnering with a rotation in France. Having completed the rigorous Quality Matters teaching online certificate program, she models innovative, effective teaching. For instance, she developed nutrition simulations in ThinkSpace that engage interns in practicing advanced skills in a safe environment, asynchronously, to ensure skill development no matter where they are placed in the nation. She is a national leader, promoting the role of dietitians in the study and implementation of sustainable food and healthy water systems.

Program Coordinator I
School of Education

P&S Staff Early Achievement in Administration

Shari Miller is an inventive educator who cultivates understanding and partnerships that make college-going a reality for the underserved students from King and Moulton elementary schools in Des Moines. She combines a deep understanding of urban education with teaching experience and community involvement to increase the efficacy of the ISU 4U Promise program. She has developed relationships that led to greater contributions from others in the School of Education as well as by students in the Alpha Gamma Rho agriculture fraternity. She originated insightful field experience orientations and book studies that help build new narratives, co-wrote funding proposals, and represents ISU 4U Promise in School of Education activities related to education for social justice program.