Recognizing Faculty, Staff & Students for Outstanding Achievement
Walking through Coastal Carolina University's exquisite campus, one may become too entranced by its forested beauty to recognize the amazing community of faculty, staff and students that continue to uphold the school's latin motto, Ex Libertate Veritas – From Liberty, Truth. Every group at Coastal is special. Our faculty go the extra mile to ensure that students are capable professionals; students take initiative to gain practical skillsets and achieve academic prestige. Our staff members are the buttresses of the university, augmenting it for future generations. Without these three key groups, Coastal would not be the thriving university that it is. This page has been designed to recognize our wonderful Coastal community, and ensure that its achievements are known.
2024 Faculty Innovation and Excellence Awards
The Faculty Innovation and Excellence Awards highlight accomplishments across all areas of university life, spanning teaching excellence and innovation; research, scholarly, and creative accomplishments; and outreach and service, to celebrate the distinctive manifestations of our teacher-scholar model.
To access the evening's gallery of images, click here.
The Teaching Innovation and Excellence Awards recognize faculty members who have achieved excellence in undergraduate teaching. This year’s awardees are:
- Jaime J. McCauley, Associate Professor of Sociology
- Hannah V. Liebreich, Assistant Professor of Sociology
- Amanda B. Masterpaul, Lecturer of Women's and Gender Studies
- Krystin Santos, Lecturer of English
- Erin Slaughter, Visiting Assistant Professor of Fiction Writing
The Graduate Teaching Award is awarded annually to a faculty member who has made significant contributions to graduate education. This year’s awardee is:
- Elizabeth P. Baltes, Associate Professor of Art History and Director of the M.A. in Liberal Studies Program
The Student Success Award winner is given to a faculty member who has worked to support student academic success, as evidenced by improved student performance, persistence, and outcomes. This year’s recipients are:
- Siming Guo, Associate Professor of Physics and Engineering Science
- George Wesley Hitt, Associate Professor of Physics and Engineering Science
Inclusive Pedagogy awardees are faculty members who have adopted inclusive teaching practices to create equitable learning environments. This year’s awardees are:
- Tiffany Hollis, Associate Professor of Educational Studies
- Sandrine Schaefer, Assistant Professor of Visual Arts
- Chelsey Simmons, Lecturer of Educational Studies
The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Award is presented to a faculty member who has made outstanding contributions in the scholarship of teaching and learning. This year's awardee is:
- Stephen B. Borders, Associate Professor of Public Health
Global Engagement through Student Mobility and Global Engagement through Community Engagement, as well as International Research, Scholarly and/or Creative Collaboration awards for excellence in raising awareness of global engagement. These were awarded to the following faculty:
- Matthew Cobb, Assistant Professor of Intelligence & Security Studies
- Xinyi Tan, Associate Professor in the Department of Languages and Intercultural Studies
- Shengsheng Zhou, Lecturer of Chinese
- Tripthi Pillai, Professor of English
- Ina Seethaler, Associate Professor of Women's and Gender Studies
The Research Excellence Award is given to faculty members who have made outstanding contributions in research, scholarly, or creative activity that advance a body of disciplinary or interdisciplinary knowledge. This year’s awardees are:
- William M. Jones, Jr., Professor of Computing Sciences
- Ashlyn Pope, Assistant Professor of Visual Arts
The Public Engagement, Outreach, and Service Award is granted to faculty who have made outstanding professional contributions in the form of public or community scholarly engagement or outreach, and/or service to the community. Our joint awardees are:
- Carolyn Dillian, Professor of Anthropology
- Katie Stringer Clary, Assistant Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies
The University Service Award recognizes faculty who have made outstanding contributions to the life of the university. Our awardees are:
- Ina Seethaler, Associate Professor of Women's and Gender Studies
Congratulations to all our awardees!
Faculty Recognition
Recognizing Our Incredible Students
Honors Convocation »
CCU's student body is capable of amazing feats. Accordingly, we have designated a myriad of success programs to enable students to achieve their goals, expand their professional portfolios, and become capable leaders both during and after their time at Coastal. For more information, see our student success page.