Amanda B. Poole
Professor, Department of Anthropology, Geospatial, and Earth Sciences
Distinguished Faculty Award for Teaching
A cultural, environmental, and applied anthropologist, Amanda Poole has been a member of the IUP faculty since 2009. She teaches courses in cultural, applied, and environmental anthropology; Africa; anthropology of religion; and sociocultural theory. Her teaching is grounded in a commitment to helping students connect anthropological ideas to real-world issues and develop skills to apply anthropology beyond the classroom. Poole discovered her love of teaching as a Peace Corps volunteer in Eritrea. That experience, and the disruption caused by war and displacement, shaped her long-term scholarly and teaching interests in forced migration, refugee studies, political ecology, and the anthropology of the state. At IUP, Poole is known for high-impact, community-engaged teaching that brings students into direct contact with ethnographic methods, applied research, and public-facing work. She has helped lead the anthropology internship program and has mentored students in collaborative research on sustainability, community development, and regional challenges in Appalachia. In 2023, she served as a Fulbright Specialist in Madagascar. Coauthor of Hosting States and Unsettled Guests: Eritrean Refugees in a Time of Migration Deterrence, she brings her research into the classroom to deepen students’ understanding of global inequality, resilience, and human agency.
Andrea Palmiotto
Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology, Geospatial, and Earth Sciences
Distinguished Faculty Award for Research
Trained in zooarchaeology and certified by the American Board of Forensic Anthropology, Andrea Palmiotto leads the Forensic Science program at IUP. In 2020, she led the development of a partnership with the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, resulting in international field schools that train students in forensic archaeology methodologies while contributing to the agency’s humanitarian mission of recovering and identifying unaccounted-for service members from past US conflicts. In 2024, she led the establishment of a decomposition research station, a dedicated outdoor space in which students gain observation and research experience in forensic taphonomy and related topics. Additionally, she has received numerous grants and contracts, including a prestigious Wenner-Gren award, to support her research. Her forensic anthropology interests include past conflict casualty resolution, commingled human remains, and human decision making. Her zooarchaeology interests include ancient bone tool technologies, mobility and trade, and collaboration with descendant groups. These diverse interests have resulted in unique professional collaboration, research, service, and mentorship opportunities. Since arriving at IUP in 2018, she has secured over $1 million for her research, which frequently involves students and has resulted in numerous publications. She holds an undergraduate degree from the University of South Carolina and a PhD from the University of Florida.
Timothy A. Paul
Associate professor and director of Bands, Department of Music, Theatre, and Dance
Distinguished Faculty Award for Creative Arts
Timothy Paul came to IUP in 2015 after serving as associate director of Bands at the University of Oregon. He completed his doctorate at the University of Colorado, his master’s at Florida State University, and post-baccalaureate study at the North Carolina School of the Arts. Under his leadership, ensembles have performed at major conferences, including the College Band Directors National Association Eastern Division Conference, the Midwest International Band and Orchestra Clinic, the Texas Bandmasters Association Convention, and state and regional National Association for Music Education and Music Educators Association conferences. His honors have included the Phi Beta Mu Florida Chapter Distinguished Director Award, the John Philip Sousa Foundation’s Sudler Flag of Honor, and the national UMI/ASBDA Distinguished Young Band Director Award. An active guest conductor, clinician, and speaker, he is committed to advancing new music through commissioning projects with leading composers. He has published work in the Journal of Band Research, and he coauthored Winds and Hymns: A Resource Guide to Hymns, Chorales, and Spirituals in Select Wind Band Literature. In 2014, he founded the International Fellowship of Conductors, Composers, and Collaborators (IFC3), which promotes collaboration through performances, workshops, and recordings and has released five albums.
Gian S. Pagnucci
Professor and Chair, Department of Language, Literature, and Writing
Distinguished Faculty Award for Service
A member of the IUP faculty since 1995, Distinguished University Professor Gian Pagnucci has served as department chair for 16 years and is cochair of the IUP Council of Chairs. His current committees include the Academic Affairs Committee; the Academic Computing Policy Advisory Committee; the College of Arts, Humanities, Media, and Public Affairs Leadership Council; the University Budget Advisory Committee; and the IUP-APSCUF Executive and Representative Councils. He also cochaired the Academic Restructuring Implementation Advisory Committee and served on IUP’s Middle States Commission on Higher Education Accreditation Steering Committee. Additionally, he is a faculty mentor for the Fulbright Distinguished Awards in Teaching Program for International Teachers. One of his main contributions at IUP is serving on dissertation committees. At last count, he had directed 64 dissertations and had been a reader for 158. He teaches doctoral English courses and undergraduate writing courses and recently taught a course on the literature of superheroes, one of his scholarly interests. He has served as president of the Pennsylvania College English Association for eight years and served as vice president of the Indiana Free Library board for eight years. He has an extensive list of scholarly publications and has given over 150 professional presentations.
Michelle S. Fryling
Executive Director of Communications and Media Relations
Distinguished Staff Award for Service
Since joining the IUP community in 1992, Michelle Fryling has been responsible for thousands of press releases, online news posts, and internal communications. Her work involves responding to media inquiries in a timely fashion, even at night and on weekends, and collaborating with faculty and staff to publicize successes and to promote programs and events. Her efforts have resulted in media coverage in publications and on broadcast stations all over the world. Highlights include more than 650 published articles on IUP’s proposed college of osteopathic medicine, work with the Office of Public Safety and University Police on emergency communications, and 11 years of service as public information officer for the Indiana Area Collaborative Team, which works proactively to keep the community safe. An Indiana native, Fryling has been a volunteer leader for many nonprofits, including the United Way and Quota International, for which she has traveled across the US and to Canada and Australia. She is a recipient of Indiana County’s Female Civic Leader Award and ATHENA Leadership Award. An active member of the Indiana County ATHENA recipients group, she is committed to developing programs and events that mentor young people through the international organization’s leadership program.
About the University Senate Awards
Distinguished Faculty Award for Teaching
The primary mission of IUP is to teach, and the university has received national and international acclaim because of the quality and dedication of the faculty. In appreciation of outstanding teaching ability, IUP presents this award. Past recipients are Mohammed E. Ghobashy, 1978; Irwin Marcus, 1979; Frank Viggiano Jr. and Mark A. Plivelic, 1980; Robert A. Patsiga, 1982; Ronald M. Weiers, 1983; Howard E. Tompkins, 1984; Conrad J. Gates, 1985; Ronald L. Marks, 1986; Francis W. Liegey, 1987; Joann E. Walthour, 1988; Robert J. Stonebraker, 1989; Mary Lou Zanich, 1990; Terry T. Ray, 1991; John W. Kuehn, 1992; Barbara A. Kraszewski, 1993; Gary J. Olmstead, 1994; Hilary L. DeMane, 1995; Rebecca A. Stoudt, 1996; Mary Ann Cessna, 1997; Sherrill J. Begres, 1998; William McPherson, 1999; Ronald A. Juliette, 2001; Laurence D. Kruckman, 2002; Linda J. McPherson, 2003; Thomas R. Lord, 2004; James J. Jozefowicz, 2005; Sally M. McCombie, 2006; Dan J. Tannacito, 2007; Richard J. Lamberski, 2008; David J. LaPorte, 2009; Becky A. Knickelbein, 2010; Lynne B. Alvine, 2011; Fredalene B. Bowers, 2013; Ajawad I. Haija, 2014; DeAnna M. Laverick, 2015; Joann M. Migyanka, 2016; Lisa Hammett Price, 2017; P. Michael Kosicek, 2018; John Lipinski, 2020; Prashanth N. Bharadwaj, 2021; Todd N. Thompson, 2022; Crystal Machado, 2023; Gloria Park, 2024; and Jeffrey Santicola, 2025.
Distinguished Faculty Award for Research
Research endeavors frequently culminate in the publication of scholarly articles and books that reflect favorably both on the individual faculty member and on the university. IUP presents this award for these scholarly contributions and for the institutional recognition they invoke. Past recipients are Joseph C. Clark, 1978; Vincent Miller, 1979; June K. Phillips, 1980; W. Wayne Smith, 1981; Arthur C. Hulse, 1982; Martin J. Morand, 1983; Donald A. Walker, 1984; Thomas R. Schaub, 1985; Patrick M. Hartwell, 1986; Gopal S. Kulkarni, 1987; Robert J. Ackerman, 1988; Charles D. Cashdollar, 1989; James M. Cahalan, 1990; Mary H. Micco, 1991; Devki N. Talwar, 1992; Edward W. Gondolf, 1993; Abbas J. Ali, 1994; Stephen K. Sanderson, 1995; Edward M. Levinson, 1996; Krzysztof (Krys) Z. Kaniasty, 1997; Charlene Pleger Bebko, 1998; Patrick D. Murphy, 1999; C. Thomas Ault, 2000; Prashanth N. Bharadwaj, 2001; John Zhang, 2002; Terry L. Peard, 2003; Alicia V. Linzey, 2004; Wang Xi, 2005; Narayanaswamy Bharathan, 2006; Gawdat Bahgat, 2007; Lynn A. Botelho, 2008; Abbas J. Ali, 2009; Kelli R. Paquette, 2010; John F. Sitton, 2011; Raymond P. Pavloski, 2012; Michael Sell, 2013; Shundong Bi, 2014; Benjamin L. Ford, 2015; Bitna Kim, 2016; Todd N. Thompson, 2017; Jeffery L. Larkin, 2018; R. Scott Moore, 2019; Dana Driscoll, 2020; Gloria Park, 2021; Lorraine J. Guth, 2022; Waleed E. Farag, 2023; Julie W. Ankrum, 2024; and Varinder M. Sharma, 2025.
Distinguished Faculty Award for Creative Arts
There are many avenues for scholarly or learned expression, and the creative arts provide, perhaps, the most visible of these avenues. Through public performances and exhibitions, IUP faculty members have brought acclaim and recognition to the university as well as to their particular media. The university annually considers candidates for this award based on their dedication to quality in the arts. Past recipients are Charles A. Battaglini, 1977; Ned O. Wert, 1978; Thomas J. Dongilla, 1980; Paul Ben-Zvi, 1981; Christopher L. Weiland, 1982; Ronald A. Juliette, 1983; John J. Dropcho, 1984; W. Delight Malitsky, 1986; Christopher L. Weiland, 1987; Donn W. Hedman, 1988; Carol A. Teti, 1989; Rosaly Roffman, 1990; James G. Staples, 1991; Jean J. Slenker, 1992; Ronald F. Smits, 1993; Mary Beth Leidman, 1994; Sarah J. Mantel, 1995; Dominic J. Intili, 1996; Maurice A. Kilwein-Guevara, 1997; Edward K. Simpson, 1998; Holly R. Boda, 1999; Annie-Laurie Wheat, 2001; Edward K. Simpson, 2002; Daniel J. Perlongo, 2003; Stanley L. Chepaitis, 2004; Chauna Craig, 2005; John E. Stamp, 2007; Patricia E. Villalobos-Echeverría, 2008; Richard J. Kemp, 2010; Barbara A. Blackledge, 2011; Joan E. Van Dyke, 2012; Kevin E. Eisensmith, 2014; W. Zachary Collins, 2015; Mary Beth Leidman, 2016; Stanley L. Chepaitis, 2017; David G. Martynuik, 2019; Stephanie B. Caulder, 2020; Jason W. Worzbyt, 2021; Sharon M. Massey, 2023; and Chauna Craig, 2025.
Distinguished Faculty Award for Service
This award recognizes either significant or sustained contributions to the university community or to the community at large. Service may be part of an extension of professional responsibilities that exceed the nominee’s nominal job description or may be distinguished service to the local, state, national, or international community. Past recipients are Isadore R. Lenglet, 1982; John E. Merryman, 1983; Richard D. Magee, 1984; Warner E. Tobin, 1985; Daniel DiCicco, 1986; J. Merle Rife, 1987; Lorrie J. Bright, 1988; Mark J. Staszkiewicz, 1989; Anthony G. DeFurio, 1990; Marlin E. Hartman, 1991; Charles D. Cashdollar, 1993; Connie J. Sutton, 1994; Melvin R. Woodard, 1995; Donna L. Streifthau, 1996; Darlene S. Richardson, 1997; Mary Ann Cessna, 1998; Fran Pollock Prezant, 1999; Jerry L. Pickering, 2000; Steven F. Jackson, 2001; Veronica Toombs Watson, 2002; Mary E. Williams, 2003; Linda S. Nelson, 2004; Gail S. Sechrist and Ramesh G. Soni, 2006; Caleb P. Finegan, 2007; Calvin O. Masilela, 2008; Jonathan B. Smith, 2009; Joseph W. Domaracki, 2010; Janet E. Goebel, 2011; David M. Piper, 2012; Edel M. Reilly, 2013; Sue A. Rieg, 2014; Michele R. Papakie, 2015; David G. Lorenzi, 2016; Justin D. Fair, 2017; R. Scott Moore, 2018; Gail S. Sechrist, 2019; Francisco E. Alarcón, 2020; David D. Chambers, 2021; Stephen B. Shiring, 2022; Lynn A. Botelho, 2023; and Mimi Benjamin, 2024.
Distinguished Staff Award for Service
With this award, the university recognizes staff members for their involvement in significant service. Past recipients are Raj Murthy and Michele A. Norwood, 2016; Evelyn (Lynnan) Mocek, 2018; Jessica Mulvihill, 2019; Julene J. Pinto-Dyczewski, 2020; Beverly P. Mastalski, 2021; and Cindy L. Varner, 2023.