Every year, the Office of the Provost recognizes seven outstanding faculty members who demonstrate excellence in various areas of advising, teaching and research through a series of Faculty Awards of Distinction.
The College of Charleston 2023 Distinguished Faculty Award recipients were announced at the Celebration of Faculty on Thursday, April 27, 2023, in the School of Sciences, Mathematics, and Engineering Building. The full list of faculty members recognized this year – including those named emeriti faculty and those granted tenure and promotion, renewals, positive third-year reviews, post-tenure reviews and sabbaticals – is available in the 2023 Celebration of Faculty Program.
Morgan Hughey, Assistant Professor of Health and Human Performance
William V. Moore Distinguished Teacher-Scholar Award: Morgan Hughey
Morgan Hughey, assistant professor of health and human performance and Honors College faculty fellow, received the 2023 William V. Moore Distinguished Teacher-Scholar Award, which honors faculty members selected by their peers as exemplifying the teacher-scholar model. The recipients’ exemplary scholarship and teaching have enriched the intellectual lives of students throughout their careers.
Hughey joined the College in 2017 with the goal of providing high-quality instruction and mentoring for undergraduate students. Her success as an educator can be seen in students choosing the public health major specifically after taking her introductory course. In addition, all of Hughey’s research involves students. She has received thousands of dollars in internal funding for her student research efforts, and her collaborative projects have yielded more than $175,000 in external grant funding.
Heath Hoffmann, Professor of Sociology and Anthropology
Distinguished Teaching Award: Heath Hoffmann
Heath Hoffmann, professor of sociology, received the 2023 Distinguished Teaching Award, which honors those faculty members who are outstanding among the College’s many exceptional teachers.
Hoffman joined the College in 2003. His teaching style continually evolves but always has three common threads: a student-centered approach to teaching, advising and mentoring; a focus on developing students’ ability to apply sociological ideas to contemporary problems; and intentional implementation of pedagogical innovations. An innovative, engaging and passionate educator who uses both in-person and online formats, Hoffmann approaches teaching with the goal of incorporating critical thinking and relating sociology to the real world with which the students can identify.
Heather Crosby, Adjunct Lecturer of History
Distinguished Adjunct Faculty Teaching Award: Heather Crosby ’97
Heather Crosby ’97, adjunct lecturer of history, received the 2023 Distinguished Adjunct Faculty Award, which honors adjunct faculty members who are outstanding among the College’s many exceptional teachers.
An ardent educator, role model and historian, Crosby joined the College in 2013 and has since converted many of her students to history majors and minors. An advisor for the Paranormal Activities Club, Crosby approaches her students with the conviction that, in order to understand one’s impact on the world, one must be engaged in the topic, the materials, the questions, the discussions and the historical events.
Sorinel Oprisan, Professor of Physics
Distinguished Research Award: Sorinel Oprisan
Sorinel Oprisan, professor of physics, received the 2023 Distinguished Research Award, which recognizes those faculty members who have a significant career of research, demonstrated by the body of a faculty member’s scholarly and/or creative works within the past few years and evaluated based on their quality and significance as well as their quantity.
Oprisan joined the College in 2005 and has taught a wide range of courses, from algebra- and calculus-based introductory physics to upper-level (bio)physics. An outstanding and internationally recognized scientist, Oprisan actively engages students in his groundbreaking research, which has significantly expanded the world’s knowledge of computational neuroscience. He has mentored almost 50 undergraduate research students, and 17 of his peer-reviewed research papers have undergraduate co-authors.
Kathy Béres Rogers, Professor of English
Distinguished Service Award: Kathy Béres Rogers
English professor Kathy Béres Rogers received the 2023 Distinguished Service Award, which recognizes the outstanding contributions of a colleague who, beyond his or her required duties, has a sustained career of serving the College community in an outstanding and distinguished manner.
Béres Rogers also serves as the director of medical humanities – a minor with ties to the Medical University of South Carolina that she shepherded from concept to an interdisciplinary program – and co-advisor for the Neurodiversity Initiative. A passionate educator, who focuses on service learning, Béres Rogers joined the College in 2008 and has since contributed to all three pillars of the College’s strategic plan by increasing interdisciplinary and interinstitutional partnerships and fostering dialogue around neurodiversity as a facet of diversity and inclusion.
Marcia Snyder, Senior Instructor of Finance
Distinguished Advising Award: Marcia Snyder ’93
Marcia Snyder ’93, senior instructor of finance, received the 2023 Distinguished Advising Award, which recognizes a faculty member who has demonstrated sustained dedication to students in the area of academic advising.
Snyder, who also serves as the assistant dean of student learning and chair of the School of Business Continuous Improvement and Assessment Committee, joined the College in 1997. In all her roles at the College, Snyder is an ever-present advisor. She creates a safe space for her advisees to acknowledge academic obstacles, take personal responsibility and create solutions by cultivating a mentoring relationship of respect and trust. In addition to giving expert advice to individual students, she also contributes to ensuring the best possible academic resources for students in academic programs in the School of Business.
George Dickinson, Professor of Sociology and Anthropology
Distinguished Undergraduate Mentor Award: George Dickinson
George Dickinson, professor of sociology, received the 2023 Distinguished Undergraduate Mentor Award, which recognizes faculty colleagues who provide “exceptionally high quality mentoring to undergraduate students in individual research or creative projects throughout their careers.”
Since joining the College in 1985, Dickinson has become known for coaching beginning faculty. He has mentored more than 100 students through bachelor’s essays, independent studies and internships, with the goal of exposing them to the scientific method and for the joy of seeing students grow empowered from working with data. Dickinson’s success as a mentor and educator is demonstrated by the number of former students who return to visit after graduation.
