Biology 2020 State of Department Awards
Texas A&M Biology hosted a virtual Awards Ceremony and State of the Department on June 22nd, highlighting the resiliency and commitment of the department and its members.
Elections & Grant Awards
Congratulations to Jennifer Bradford for election to University Staff Council, to Jen Dulin, who now represents CoS on the Council of Principle Investigators, to Heath Blackmon for MIRA award, and to Ben Herman, Michael Clough, and Asha Rao on an NSF RAPID award for developing COVID educational materials!
College & Department Awards
Congratulations to Dr. Asha Rao, winner of the College of Science LEAD Award for a faculty member who contributes to and supports diversity initiatives. Separately, she has also been awarded a diversity grant to help fund BioFirst students in research labs! Whoop!
Congratulations to Dr. Mark Zoran for his ACE Award from Multicultural Services division of Student Affairs for encouraging and directing attention to an improved environment for women through policy formation, goal-setting, programs, staff selection, etc. and positively promote women’s issues in the workplace. Whoop!
Congratulations to Susan Reed for her Department of Biology 2020 Staff Award. Susan manages the Biology Stockroom and handles one of the highest number of inventory items for a department on campus every year. She does outstanding work in those respects, as well as being an incredibly helpful member of the department, and her colleagues all agreed she deserves to be recognized for her efforts. Whoop!
Congratulations to McKensie Le Fevre for her Department of Biology 2020 Staff Award. McKensie is the Webmaster for the Department of Biology, and receives this award in recognition of her work to revive and improve the Department Website after a server loss over a Holiday break last year. She is also recognized for winning a President’s Meritorious Service Award for staff this year. Whoop!
Congratulations to Dr. Andy Tag for being awarded the Karl J. Aufderheide Award for Excellence in Teaching. Whoop! According to his nominators, “Dr. Tag’s commitment to student learning and his leadership in promoting effective teaching approaches have profoundly improved student success in our department. His efforts have also led to well-deserved recognition at the university and national levels… he has consistently gone above and beyond in all areas of teaching excellence”. Congratulations Dr. Tag!
Congratulations to Aldrin Lugena for being awarded the Roozbeh Arianpour Endowed Memorial Scholarship. The Roozbeh Arianpour Endowed Memorial Scholarship is to honor overall excellence in research by Biology Graduate Students. Whoop!
Congratulations to Yufeng Wan for being awarded the Lawrence S. Dillon Distinguished Graduate Student Award.The Lawrence S. Dillon Distinguished Graduate Student Award is for Research and Teaching by Biology Graduate Students. Whoop!
Congratulations to Dr. Andy Tag, Dr. Asha Rao, Dr. Deb Bell-Pedersen, and McKensie Le Fevre, recipients of the Heroes of the On-line Revolution Award. This award recognizes the hard work by Faculty and Staff, and in particular these four members of the Department, in the rapid transition to On-line Teaching as necessitated by the COVID-19 Pandemic. Whoop!
Congratulations to all and thank you for your hard work this past year!
