Circle of Excellence 2020
NSU announces 2020 Circle of Excellence recipients
(Tahlequah, Oklahoma) - Northeastern State University has announced the 2020 Circle of Excellence Award honorees.
NSU faculty members were nominated by their peers in one of the three categories: teaching, research and service. A selection committee of past honorees chose the best in each category for this recognition.
The 2020 Circle of Excellence Award honorees are: Dr. Sung-Kun Kim for research, Dr. Janaki Iyer for teaching and Dr. Lucas Foster for service.
Iyer is an assistant professor of biology in the Department of Natural Sciences. She joined NSU in 2017 and has taught a variety of biology-based courses. Iyer employs different learning strategies in her classrooms to promote the overall growth and development of her students. In addition to teaching, she enjoys conducting research with students and learning about new technologies.
Kim is a professor of chemistry in the Department of Natural Sciences. His research aims to understand the interactions between enzymes and ligands and develop probes to detect important proteins or mutated genes. Kim has numerous publications in journals such as Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, The EMBO Journal, Journal of Biological Chemistry and more. He enjoys doing research with students and is passionate about teaching chemistry and biochemistry.
Foster is an associate professor of mathematics in the College of Science and Health Professions. He has been teaching at NSU, his alma mater, since 1997 and has enjoyed a multitude of opportunities to serve his university, community and profession. He is currently serving as a volunteer with CASA, the Statistics Program chair at NSU, and the president of the Tahlequah Public Schools Foundation, while also representing NSU on the Conference Committee of the Research Council on Mathematics Learning.
“The Circle of Excellence Honor represents the best of the best faculty at Northeastern State University,” Dr. Renée Cambiano, Faculty Council president, said. “I truly feel that the faculty at Northeastern State, as stated in our Mission have high expectations for student success, provide quality teaching, challenging curricula and engage in research and scholarly activities that impact our communities and this honor highlights these achievements.”
Each faculty honoree of the Circle of Excellence Award receives $2,500 that he or she can receive as a check or use for professional development. The office of Academic Affairs and the NSU Foundation provide help and support for this award.
For more information, contact Cambiano at cambiare@nsuok.edu.