Vision Awards 2018
Vision Award for Excellence in Community
Dr. Kenya Crosson is the recipient of the 2018 Vision Award for Excellence in Community, which recognizes faculty and staff who have made significant contributions to enhancing the climate for diversity and inclusion within the School for students, faculty and staff.
Dr. Crosson, associate professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Engineering Mechanics, received multiple nominations for this award. In particular, nominators remarked about her service as a mentor for the School's minority engineering students and, in 2017, the Office of Multicultural Affairs recognized Dr. Crosson for her commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion at the University of Dayton. Dr. Crosson's community activities also include her ongoing participation in the School's METEC Camp and diversity outreach programs as well as her service as an LTC Fellow for Faculty Development in Diversity and Inclusion. Furthermore, Dr. Crosson's supporters championed her passion and commitment for the enhancement of diversity and inclusion campus-wide. Congratulations, Kenya!
Vision Award for Excellence in Innovation
Dr. Sid Gunasekaran is the recipient of the 2018 Vision Award forExcellence in Innovation, which recognizes faculty and staff for their significant contributions to the education of our students through innovative teaching strategies and who provide unique experiential learning experiences with a record of continued demonstrated success in the classroom or engagement in the scholarship of teaching and learning.
Dr. Gunasekaran, assistant professor, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, received numerous recommendations. The Vision Awards Committee selected Dr. Gunasekaran for this award because of his willingness to teach outside of his discipline. He served as a faculty fellow for the Institute of Applied Creativity and Transformation (IACT), a KEEN Fellow for the Visioneering Center and developed courses for the Hanley Sustainability Institute. Also noted, was Dr. Gunasekaran's development of innovative teaching spaces and equipment through the LTC. Dr. Gunasekaran has fostered highly innovative pedagogical techniques in his classes, including portfolios and the use of “Passion Projects.” KEEN Magazine and Aerospace America also featured his innovative techniques. Congratulations, Sid!
Vision Award for Excellence in Scholarship
Dr. Andrew Sarangan is the recipient of the 2018 Vision Award for Excellence in Scholarship, which recognizes faculty and staff who have made a significant contribution in the area of scholarship including traditional research or other forms of knowledge generation or a demonstrated commitment to lifelong learning.
Dr. Sarangan, professor, Department of Electro-Optics and Photonics, received multiple submissions for this award, which highlighted Dr. Sarangan's prolific authoring and co-authoring of over 100 journal articles and conference proceedings as well as a textbook and book chapters. He also has received significant funding totaling over $6M at the University of Dayton. Dr. Sarangan was influential in the groundbreaking Nanofab Laboratory (aka “cleanroom”) and built it to what it is today for research and designing nanoscale electronic and photonic components. His mentoring skills with electrical and electro-optics graduate students are renowned. Among his notable activities, Dr. Sarangan landed an NSF-NUE grant to advance nanotechnology curriculum for undergraduate students at the University of Dayton and Sinclair Community College through an innovative delivery method for nanofabrication process demonstrations by electronically linking the cleanroom with the classroom in real time between the University and Sinclair College. Congratulations, Andrew!
Vision Award for Engagement and Service
Ms. Margaret Mount is the recipient of the 2018 Vision Award for Engagement and Service, which recognizes faculty and staff who have demonstrated excellence as servant leaders who reflect the manifestations of the Marianist Charism of people of community, discipleship of equals and leaders in mission.
Ms. Mount, senior administrative assistant, Department of Engineering Management, Systems and Technology received numerous recommendations for this award. The Vision Awards Committee recognized Ms. Mount for her long-term service to the School of Engineering and for being an active Marianist Educational Associate (MEA). In addition, they recognized her abundant services as the co-founder of the School's MEA Welcome Committee, her willingness to help and support faculty, staff, and students in the School and across campus, her prayerful support of people in their time of need, and her participation in Project Linus and other service activities. Especially revealing to the Committee was Ms. Mount's instrumental leadership in the formation of the School of Engineering Breakaway at Bergamo Center, which has become an annual faculty and staff retreat, as well as her service and commitment as an advocate for our School's international students. Her servant-leadership and daily compassionate interactions with faculty, staff and students demonstrates and supports our University of Dayton Marianist Charism. Congratulations, Peg!