The Provost's Awards Lecture Series is intended to honor and showcase the recipients of the Provost's Awards and provide them an opportunity to present, share and discuss their work with the campus. Another goal of this series is to raise the level of academic and intellectual discourse among our colleagues, and to further enrich connections with others across the campus.

Thursday, October 25, 2018

Henry Madden Library, Room 2206 (2nd Floor)

2017-2018 – Innovation

Rajee Amarasinghe, Department of Mathematics

"Path of Least Resistance: Integrating Teaching, Research, and Service with the Help of Your Colleagues"

As faculty of a comprehensive university, Dr. Rajee Amarasinghe knows that we are expected to engage and excel in teaching, research, and service. To some, this may appear to be an intimidating task involving three completely different areas of activities. However, Dr. Amarasinghe has found ways in which we can integrate these activities while enjoying our work and fulfilling the expectations of the tenure process and beyond.

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2017-2018 – Faculty Service

Carolyn Cusick, Department of Philosophy

“Service as Opportunity: Tales of a Life Long Learner”

Opportunities abound on university campuses. Opportunities for classes, clubs, and committees. Opportunities for new learning, improvement, or awareness of possibilities. Opportunities for students, faculty, staff, and community members. But busy faculty often ignore and miss out on many of these opportunities. In this talk, Dr. Carolyn Cusick will share bits of her own journey in higher education from wide-eyed, curious undergrad to junior faculty committed to institutional and community service and argue that service can be seen as an opportunity rather than a burden.

Thursday, November 8, 2018

Henry Madden Library, Room 2206 (2nd Floor)

2017-2018 – Promising New Faculty

Qin Fan, Department of Economics

“Opportunities and Challenges for Local and Regional Economic Development:
the Synergy of Teaching, Research, and Service”

Human capital-represented by the share of college graduates-and the quality of life in a community were found to significantly contribute to economic growth. Dr. Qin Fan and her co-authors are also learning that human capital and quality of life are mutually reinforcing. Larger share of college graduates and better amenity and quality of life factors—air quality, open space views, pleasant climate, and coast, for example—give economic growth an additional boost. Dr. Fan will specifically discuss how her experience working with students and being involved in community service shape her research agenda and how she incorporates her research into the classroom and engages her students in community service supporting community economic development.

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2016-2017 – Promising New Faculty

Alison Mandaville, Department of English

“Comics in the Classroom: Valley Water Voices”

Comics are a great teaching tool. Dr. Alison Mandaville will discuss – and show – why comics strategies work so well across disciplines to engage students, support learning, and foster critical thinking. Dr. Mandaville will share a student research project assignment, "Valley Water Voices", for which students read about and researched the role of water in the Central Valley community and then presented their work in comics form. She will also discuss how this assignment could be adjusted to any discipline, from Engineering to English.

Thursday, November 29, 2018

Henry Madden Library, Room 2206 (2nd Floor)

2017-2018 – Promising New Faculty

Ignacio Hernandez, Department of Educational Leadership

“Community College Transfer Students at Fresno State”

For transfer students, coming to Fresno State requires numerous adjustments to the new environment and institutional culture, including larger classes, increased academic rigor, new friends, a larger campus and a new location. Dr. Ignacio Hernandez will share the findings from a research project using data from the Office of Institutional Effectiveness at Fresno State.

2016-2017 – Promising New Faculty

Susana Hernandez, Department of Educational Leadership

“Moving beyond enrolling to Serving: The role of Hispanic Serving Institutions in higher education”

Hispanic Serving Institutions play a critical role in the American higher education landscape. Dr. Susana Hernandez will share the role faculty and student affairs educators play in ensuring Latinx students are supported