University of Houston-Downtown / Faculty & Staff / Faculty Senate

2019-2020 Senate

The 2019-2020 senate is now in session. The new senate held its first meeting on August 20, 2019...CLICK IMAGE to view a short 2018-2019 senate business video....

2019 FacultyAwards

The 2019 UHD Faculty Awards Ceremony and Reception was held on Tuesday, April 16, 2019, in the TDECU Tour Room. This year there were 35 award recipients, and a new category was awarded—the Distinguished Professor Award...Click image to view the Program.

UHD Faculty Senate President-elect Dr. Michael Duncan emceed the 2019 Faculty Awards Ceremony and Reception to present this year's awards to UHD tenured/tenure-track faculty and lecturers and adjuncts for their excellence in teaching,

service, scholarship, and creative activities. Awards were also given for funded faculty leave and years of service. Another part of his job, Dr. Duncan stated is to keep saying “awesome” over and over…

Provost Dr. Eric Carl Link welcomed everyone to the ceremony and congratulated the 2019 service award winners. He stated that some years ago he participated in a gedanken experiment and learned “You can take away buildings,

administration, and students and some work can continue, but you can't take away faculty…No university can do the work that we do without faculty because the work that UHD faculty are doing is the heart and soul of what we do as a university."

UHD President Dr. Juan Sánchez Muñoz at the podium

Faculty Senate President Dr. Hsiao-Ming Wang gave the senate report and stated that the senate plays an important role not only in continuing traditions but in communicating with administrators on different issues, and that made this year's

senate session especially unique since we have a new provost and inherited the full cycle of senate oversight including the traditional routines and tasks that cycle in every two to three years.

Dr. Elizabeth Hatfield presented the five awards for faculty work: Outstanding Adjunct, Outstanding Lecturer, Excellence in Scholarly/Creative Activity, Excellence in Service, and Excellence in Teaching. Dr. Hatfield expressed her gratitude to be

able to celebrate some “amazing colleagues.” She stated that “each finalist is truly a treasure for UHD, and someone who brings great things in serving our campus, in serving our students, and in bettering all of the best parts of UHD.”

Dr. Stacie DeFreitas presented the Funded Faculty Development Awards. She stated that there was an excellent pool of candidates whose work covers a diverse range of topics. “Decisions were based on a rubric that looked at expected

project significance, applicant qualifications, and proposal quality. Applicants were very deserving of their awards and this presents an awesome opportunity for them to immerse themselves in their research and produce something very exceptional from it."

Dr. Ohaness Paskelian presented the Distinguished Professor Award—a new faculty award category added this year. He stated, "one thing that weighed heavily in the committee’s decision was the candidate’s ability to include students in all

three aspects of research, service, and teaching which made this year’s winner the most eligible recipient for this award. Her students showed appreciation for her work and also demonstrated the difference and the impact that she has had on their lives.

Dr. Eric Link presented the Faculty Years of Service Awards. He conceded that as a young professor he didn’t understand the "hubbub" of recognizing years of service, but now he realizes "these are the most amazing awards for significant

achievements that can be made. We all have chose this profession--and commitments are exemplified by people who have served 20-35 years as a testament to what it means to build a faculty that can create an identity and culture of excellence at UHD."

UHD Faculty Awards

2019 Faculty Awards Program
2018 Faculty Awards Program
2017 Faculty Awards Program

Last updated 4/17/2020 6:15 AM