Faculty Awards

The winner of this year’s award for Excellence in Collegiality is Professor Latria Graham. Professor Graham is relatively new to us but is already well-known for her hospitality to faculty, staff, and students. She routinely gifts flowers and snacks to those who visit the break room on the East Wing of the second floor of Allgood Hall. She gives thoughtful notes and encouraging words to her colleagues, and welcomes all to her office. Her nominator wrote, “Latria’s hard work is also heart work. We are incredibly fortunate to have her at AU-even more so to have her as a colleague in Pamplin.” 

This year’s Excellence in Teaching by a Pamplin Lecturer Award is Professor Daphne Maysonet. Professor Maysonet regularly teaches English Composition, receiving praise from students and faculty alike for her teaching of this core course. Her chair wrote, “Students consistently praise her teaching. They note how she meets students where they are and makes writing seem unintimidating. They also appreciate how she ties writing to contemporary culture and makes classes interactive.” You will often see students lined up outside of Professor Maysonet’s office door, waiting to speak with her as she is on campus almost daily with her door open. In addition to the classroom, Professor Maysonet helped organize a partnership with the Jessye Norman School of the Arts in fall 2024 and the Young Writer’s program. 

This year’s winner comes from the Department of Social Sciences. Nominated by eight colleagues and selected unanimously by Pamplin’s Promotion and Tenure Committee, she stands out as an exemplary professor whose commitment to teaching and student success sets a high standard at Augusta University. She consistently engages and challenges her students through thoughtfully designed courses and continual innovation. She works to ensure that learning remains both rigorous and relevant. Student feedback reflects the deep impact of her teaching—students praise her methodology, her approachability, and the genuine support she provides. Her influence is both profound and lasting. Dr. Ginn’s unwavering dedication to her students and her discipline exemplifies the very best of what teaching can be.

The winner of this year’s award for Excellence in RSCA, Dr. E. Nicole Meyer, exemplifies faculty excellence through sustained, high-impact achievement in research, teaching, and service. Her accomplishments in 2025 alone mark her as an exceptional scholar and a leader in her field. Her scholarly productivity is remarkable in both scope and caliber. In one year, she conceived and published two co-edited journal special issues—including a double special issue—alongside four peer-reviewed articles and chapters and ten scholarly book reviews. Her work appears in top journals and is recognized for its interdisciplinary reach across trauma studies, feminist theory, memory studies, postcolonial scholarship, and Holocaust studies. Her ongoing book projects have drawn interest from multiple international and university presses. The strength of her scholarship is further reflected in exceptionally positive NEH Fellowship reviews and her receipt of the 2025 Michael Delahoyde Award for distinguished contributions in editing, as well as being selected by the National Humanities Center to participate in the Summer Writing Institute. Congratulations to Dr. E Nicole Meyer on being this year’s outstanding RSCA faculty and the College’s Outstanding Faculty Member.

This year’s winner of the William A. Bloodworth, Jr. Award for Excellence in Performance of Facilities Services goes to Mr. Michael Epperly. Mr. Epperly is a Groundskeeper on our beautiful Summerville Campus, and he consistently demonstrates what it means to be an outstanding employee. He is highly reliable, rarely calls out, and frequently volunteers to work additional hours to support special events. We are truly grateful to have Mr. Epperly as a member of Facilities Services and as a valued member of Augusta University.

This year’s William A. Bloodworth, Jr. Award for Excellence in Part-Time Teaching goes to Roxana de la Jara Martinez. Ms. Martinez has been teaching in Pamplin for several years and consistently receives exceptionally positive feedback from students. Her students appreciate that she challenges them to speak and learn entirely in Spanish—even in 1000-level courses. They often comment that she fosters a growth mindset through thoughtful and intentional course design, and that she gives them ample time for skill application and practice. Most importantly, she creates an inclusive and welcoming classroom environment where students feel encouraged and safe to participate.

Dr. Michael Katz (Psychological Sciences) “Profiles of Therapist Technique in Community Practice in Relation to Patient Crying: A US Pilot”

Dr. Robert Saunders (Music) “Let's Jam: A Community Music Method”

Dr. Blaire Zeiders (Social Sciences) “The Arthurian Catechism: Reading Literature as Liturgy in Early Modern England”

• Dr. Emily Boykin (Social Sciences)
• Dr. Thom Loyd  (History, Anthropology, and Philosophy)
• Joseph Bradshaw (History, Anthropology, and Philosophy)

• Dr. Robert Saunders (Music), Summer 2026
• Dr. Melanie O'Meara (Art and Design), Summer 2026
• Dr. Vy Nguyen (Psychological Sciences), Summer 2026

• Dr. Deborah Richardson (Psychological Sciences) AU Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Award 2025-2026

Jane Hodges, Psychology. Jane Hodges leaves behind a legacy at Augusta University that is as warm as it is enduring. Since joining the psychology department in 2009 as an adjunct instructor before becoming a lecturer, she has shaped countless students through her teaching of courses ranging from introductory psychology and diversity to psychology of adjustment and the positive psychology course she developed herself. Her dedication extended well beyond the classroom—advising more than 100 students annually with patience, insight, and genuine care. Her promotion to senior lecturer last year was a fitting recognition of her talent, but her true impact is reflected in the lives she touched and the colleagues she inspired. The Department of Psychological Sciences will feel her absence deeply, yet her influence will continue to resonate through the students and faculty she supported with such compassion and commitment.