Kent State University at Stark faculty members Kim R. Finer, Ph.D., and Leslie Heaphy, Ph.D., were honored recently with the President’s Faculty Excellence Award, given by Kent State President Beverly Warren. The award recognizes exceptional performance that leads to the achievement of national or international recognition.
Fourteen Kent State faculty were given awards, with Finer and Heaphy the only two professors honored from a regional campus.
As a professor in the Department of Biological Sciences, Finer has received two national teaching awards: The Innovation in Education Award from the Exxon Education Foundation and the Association of American Colleges and Universities' National Model Course Developer in 2002 for the SENCER (Science Education for New Civic Engagements and Responsibilities) program. She also was recognized for her expertise in microbiology education by the American Society for Microbiology and appointed as a Waksman Foundation Lecturer (one of 18 lecturers worldwide) from 2003-2005. Finer has received $387,000 in external funding to support science education initiatives, most recently being selected this year as one of 20 grant participants in an National Science Foundation-funded "Flipped Classroom" workshop held by the National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science. Finer has authored four science education textbooks and served on three editorial boards.
Heaphy is the coordinator of the Honors Program and an associate professor in the Department of History at Kent State Stark. Heaphy teaches courses in Asian history, 20th-century U.S. and sports history and history survey classes. Heaphy was the winner of the 2015 Ohio Academy of History Distinguished Teaching Award. Her book, The Negro Leagues, 1869-1960, was a finalist for the Seymour Medal for the Best Book on Baseball. In addition, Heaphy served as the editor of seven books on baseball, as editor of Black Ball, a national peer-reviewed journal, and as co-editor of the Encyclopedia of Women in Baseball. Heaphy's contributions to the history of baseball earned her the Bob Davids Award from the Society for American Baseball Research and invitations to be a panelist at the Major League Baseball All-Star Fan Fest for multiple years in a row.
“Outstanding teaching is an integral part of Kent State Stark’s mission and Professors Finer and Heaphy are very deserving of this significant recognition for that reason,” said Dean Denise A. Seachrist, Ph.D. “The campus is proud of these two fine educators as well as all of our faculty. We are especially gratified that President Warren has recognized the exceptional teaching faculty at Kent State Stark.”
The President’s Faculty Excellence Awards were established in 2015.
Read Kent State University’s news release for more information.