Excellent teachers honored

Prior to giving her annual convocation address, Dr. Elaine Maimon honored three distinguished faculty members with excellence awards for their superior accomplishments in education.

The 2012 honorees were Dr. Diana Galante, Associate Professor of Mathematics, Dr. Raven James, Assistant Professor in the Department of Addiction Studies, and Dr. Jason Zinshiem, Assistant Professor of Communication studies.

Each of the award recipients received a $6,000 cash prize for their outstanding contributions to university life.

"It was such a great honor to be named one of the Excellence Award winners because there are so many folks around GSU who truly do excellent work in the areas of teaching research, and service. It is truly humbling to be counted among their ranks," said Dr. Zingsheim.

Dr. Zingsheim believes that the best way to follow up this honor is to continue doing the things that he has always done.

Dr. James agrees, "While it is certainly an honor to be chosen, I don't feel pressure to be greater as I always perform to the standards I was judged upon.  I enjoy serving, doing research and teaching so my dedication to these areas is one of personal passion. That being said, I love what I do!" she said.

Dr. Zingsheim added, "I was really surprised. I knew I had been nominated and that I was amongst the finalists, but there was no indication from anyone that I had been selected as a winner. In my case, it was a relief to know that President Maimon would be calling the names in alphabetically."

The highest honor that GSU can bestow, the Baysore Award is given in the memory of GSU's former Vice President of Academic Affairs, Dr. Gerald C. Baysore .

This year's award was presented to Dr. Larry Cross, Associate Professor in the College of Education.

More than a dozen of Cross's colleagues joined together to write a truly moving nomination praising him for his integrity and commitment to preparing effective teachers.

"The Baysore Award is presented each year to the individual that has demonstrated the qualities that Dr. Baysore exemplified; absolute integrity, total competence, generous dedication, and unfailing civility," said Dr. Maimon.