UW-Eau Claire faculty honored with University Fellows, Karlgaard awards

Foundation donors realize that their support of UW-Eau Claire faculty impacts hundreds of students who learn from those faculty members each year, says Julia Diggins, vice president of the Foundation and University Advancement.

“Alumni who choose to support faculty at UW-Eau Claire do so because it directly impacts the quality of education and the overall student experience for our current students,” Diggins says.

“Faculty members play a central role in shaping the academic environment, providing mentorship and inspiring future leaders; it is support fondly recalled by our generous alumni. By supporting faculty, the Foundation ensures that we remain a university focused on teaching and learning. It is our goal to attract and retain the best educators at UW-Eau Claire.”  

2024-25 University Fellows

The University Fellows will work on a project of their choice over a period of three to five years, with awards of $10,000 or $12,500 per year paying for course overloads or a course release. Interested faculty submitted project proposals that were reviewed by a committee of college deans, who selected the recipients.

Blugold Excellence in Teaching University Fellow

Dr. David Jones, professor of English

Jones has been teaching English at UW-Eau Claire for 25 years, creating and leading teaching, research and service projects that link what he calls “everyday experiences with enduring questions that reverberate across culture, geography and time.” Jones has been a curricular innovator who developed and taught courses in four departments: English, liberal studies, communication and journalism, and the University Honors Program.

Jones says this award will assist in the progress of two large-scale projects currently underway: “Racing Toward Injustice,” a planned 60-minute documentary film that will examine the impact of current critical race theory bans on the lives and careers of Black faculty; and “Life is a Love Mix,” another 60-minute film project based on Jones’ draft memoir of his life in music and citizenship in the upper Midwest, a film to be directed by a graduate of the UW-Eau Claire English program.  

Jones’ significant contributions to university culture, scholarship and teaching during his career at UW-Eau Claire make him an excellent candidate for this fellowship, says Dr. Joanne Jahnke-Wegner, assistant professor of history.

“David Jones' legacy of excellence in teaching, administration, research and service has transformed this regional university into a destination for students committed to learning to think more creatively and critically about the world, and to act on that knowledge through scholarship and civic engagement,” Jahnke-Wegner says.

Blugold Faculty Fellow in Business

Dr. Frances Hawes, assistant professor, health care administration

In her fifth year of teaching at UW-Eau Claire, Dr. Frances Hawes is a key contributor as an assistant professor of health care administration in the management and leadership programs department.

Throughout her career she describes as grounded in teaching excellence, research, mentorship and active leadership, Hawes roots her work in student success and a commitment to high-impact undergraduate learning experiences. In addition to undergraduate teaching, Hawes is a teacher and curricular contributor to the MBA consortium program at UW-Eau Claire.

Hawes says this award will allow her to enhance the educational experiences she can offer students, particularly in expanding grief support initiatives. This award, she says, will “directly fund professional development and new interdisciplinary coursework on grief support” available to students.

Dr. Kristy Lauver, chair of the management and leadership programs department, cites the ways in which Hawes continuously demonstrates her dedication to student success.

“Dr. Hawes is always seeking new ways to connect with students and get them engaged in creative learning practices, both in and out of the classroom,” Lauver says. “Through this award, she will incorporate and implement all that she learns into her teaching, continually improving her contributions to our students.” 

Grace Lau Early Career STEM University Fellow

Dr. Tyler Doyon, assistant professor of chemistry and biochemistry

Dr. Tyler Doyon is a third-year assistant professor of chemistry and biochemistry at UW-Eau Claire, but has a teaching, research and mentoring reputation that belies his relatively short time on campus. For example, in his second year of teaching, Doyon was selected by students as the department Professor of the Year in 2023, an honor rarely, if ever, bestowed on faculty so early in their careers.

With a teaching emphasis on organic chemistry, Doyon is a prolific grant writer, mentor and scholar who was awarded a $10,000 WiSys Spark Grant in 2022, as well as other internal grants and subsequent external funding. Among other achievements, Doyon served as research mentor for the first Goldwater Scholarship winner from the chemistry and biochemistry department in over 20 years, Devin Sobottka in 2024.

Doyon says this award will provide the opportunity to expand his efforts to engage students and faculty with the community through outreach events that “demonstrate the exciting nature of science and promote scientific literacy and rebuild trust in science.”

Dr. Bart Dahl, professor of chemistry and biochemistry and fellow organic chemistry instructor, says he could not have more enthusiastically recommended Doyon for this fellowship.

“Tyler’s mentorship is second to none. He routinely mentors at least five to six students at a time, in a department where up to three students is typical for those who choose to mentor,” Dahl says.

“Tyler’s commitment to his students’ success is astounding. He holds them to the same standard to which he holds himself, and they meet that mark. I can think of no early career colleague more deserving of this award.”  

2023-24 Karlgaard Faculty Excellence Awards

The $10,000 awards are available annually to faculty in the departments of physics and astronomy, computer science and mathematics. The funding is provided by UW-Eau Claire alumni and longtime donors David and Marilyn Karlgaard to recognize faculty and encourage them to remain at the university.

“All three faculty recipients this year were selected because they epitomize our commitment to high-quality teaching, engaging our students in meaningful research experiences and being fully engaged members of their departments and our university,” says Dr. Aleks Sternfeld-Dunn, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.

Dr. Mounika Vanamala, assistant professor of computer science

Dr. Mounika Vanamala holds a Ph.D. in computer science from North Carolina A&T State University, and she joined the computer science faculty as an assistant professor in 2021. Her research focuses on cybersecurity, deepfake detection and various applications of machine learning. Vanamala’s scholarly productivity in this area is extensive; her Google Scholar page lists 38 publications since 2016, with 15 from 2023.

The recent UW-Eau Claire Celebration of Scholarship event highlighted Vanamala’s publication titled “Deep Learning and Machine Learning, Better Together than Apart: A Review on Biometrics Mobile Authentication,” published in the Journal of Cybersecurity and Privacy in 2023. The article reviews the use of behavioral and physiological biometrics for smartphone authentication, highlighting that hybrid deep learning and machine learning approaches can enhance security performance.

Dr. Alex Smith, chair of computer science, endorsed Vanamala’s teaching and mentoring in a recommendation for this award.

“Dr. Vanamala is effective at teaching computer science courses to a wide range of students, from beginning programmers to second-year students taking courses such as Database Systems, and to advanced students taking courses such as Software Engineering II,” Smith says.

“Moreover, her record of supervising undergraduate research projects is impressive. In the 2023-24 academic year alone, she collaborated with 12 undergraduate students on research projects, five of whom presented results at the National Conference on Undergraduate Research 2023 hosted by UW-Eau Claire. She is an outstanding researcher and teacher, greatly deserving of a Karlgaard Faculty Award.” 

Dr. Nathan Miller, professor of physics and astronomy

Dr. Nathan Miller joined the UW-Eau Claire faculty in 2002 and was promoted to full professor in 2014. Miller has mentored over 20 students in undergraduate research in topics such as stellar X-ray, solar physics, orbiting hot stars and the physics of sound. Throughout a robust history of publication, Miller has collaborated with faculty around the U.S., as well as colleagues in Belgium and Germany.

Miller teaches an array of astronomy courses from introductory courses through the most complex upper-level courses in the major. He conducts frequent community outreach through the Chippewa Valley Astronomical Society, Northwoods Starfest, Hobbs Observatory and the campus-hosted annual Astronomy Day.

Dr. Erik Hendrickson, chair of physics and astronomy, is pleased to see the recognition of a longtime colleague through this Karlgaard award.

“Nathan is a wonderful university colleague,” Hendrickson says. “In addition to his long history of mentoring students, he freely gives his time and energy in service to the department, university and our scientific community.” 

Dr. Sam Scholze, assistant professor of mathematics

Dr. Sam Scholze is an assistant professor of mathematics who arrived at UW-Eau Claire in 2017. His teaching is focused in the areas of computational harmonic analysis, functional analysis and operator theory.

Scholze is a key contributor to the mathematics department in statistics and applied mathematics, and some of his courses particularly well serve other majors such as physics, materials science and engineering and biomedical engineering.

Scholze is active in involving students in his research; he has mentored six undergraduate students in research projects since 2017. In addition to presenting their research at the university’s Celebration of Excellence in Research and Creative Activity, several of Scholze’s students have presented at state or national conferences.

“Dr. Scholze’s teaching also exemplifies his dedication to excellence in applied mathematics,” says Dr. Abra Brisbin, chair of mathematics.

“He is a dedicated and innovative instructor who assigns student projects to give students practice applying their mathematical skills to real-world questions. For example, he asks them to model the financial consequences of buying a house versus renting an apartment and investing the remainder of the money — a very practical application of mathematics.”