President Maimon Honors Award Winners at Luncheon

At a luncheon on Monday, September 28, President Elaine Maimon hosted the honorees named at this year’s Convocation. The three GSU Faculty Excellence Award winners, the two winners of the Educators' Legacy Award, and the Baysore Award honoree joined President Maimon for a celebration of their achievements.

This year's Faculty Excellence winners were: Associate Professor of Management Information Systems, Carlos Ferran; Academic Support Professional and Coordinator for New Student Programs and Cohort Advising, LaTonya Holmes, and Professor of English, Rosemary Johnsen. Each was awarded $6,000 prizes for their outstanding contributions to GSU.

Dr. Ferran teaches in three disciplines – accounting, (MIS) management information systems, and strategic management – and earns high praise from his students in all three. He is a leader in developing interactive online instruction and has presented on this topic at state conferences. He is an active researcher in the areas of technology and economics. Not only does he superbly represent GSU as a teacher and researcher, he also has an extensive service record at the university.

LaTonya Holmes has been serving GSU students since 2002, but in 2012 she accepted a most important assignment – preparing for our first freshman class. She developed multiple innovations – developing orientation activities, launching an extensive peer mentoring program to support both faculty and students during our first year of cohort classes, and served as THE academic advisor for all freshmen in the Class of 2018.

Rosemary Johnsen publishes peer reviewed papers and book reviews about British and Irish fiction and contributes to GSU’s reputation at national conferences. She has been active in developing the new General Education curriculum and has participated in the HLC Assessment Academy.

Geoff Bates, Director and Curator of the Nathan Manilow Sculpture Park is this year's winner of the Baysore Award. Presented in memory of Dr. Gerald C. Baysore, Associate Vice President of Academic Affairs, who, for 18 years, served GSU with distinction, the award is the highest honor GSU can bestow on its employees.

In announcing Geoff Bates as the Baysore winner, President Maimon said, “He has elevated our Sculpture Park – it is internationally recognized and people come from all over the world to see our sculptures. Geoff works with our grounds people to make sure that the areas surrounding the sculptures emphasize and complement the art. When New Yorker art critic Peter Schjeldahl visited the park, he praised us for this integration. Geoff works with arts organizations in the area to promote GSU and art in general. He leads tour groups, is an excellent writer, plans exquisite (and successful!) events. Geoff inspires our campus commitment to Living in the Midst of Art.”

The Educators' Legacy Awards were presented to K-12 teachers who were nominated by members of the freshmen class as being inspirational influences to their lives. This year, DDP students were also asked to nominate inspiring community college teachers.

The winners were Adam Page, an English teacher from Metea Valley High School in Aurora, who was nominated by freshman Darcarius Brown, and Joel Archuleta, an Advisor at Richard J. Daley College, nominated by DDP student Wendy Harootunian.

Darcarius Brown said for his former teacher, Page was “a kind and wonderful teacher who taught me a lot in the two years he was my teacher – sophomore and junior years. He pushed me to become a better writer, giving concise and valuable feedback – much needed when writing.”

Wendy Harootunian’s praise of her advisor, Archuleta was just as ringing. “He has not only helped me and supported me, but has been one of my biggest cheerleaders. This man was a wealth of knowledge and an invaluable resource – especially to this adult student.”