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.

2023 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.

The Teaching Innovation and Excellence Awards recognize faculty members who have achieved excellence in undergraduate teaching. This year’s awardees are:

• Amber D. McWilliams, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Chemistry
• Emma M. Howes, Associate Professor in the Department of English
• Arianna Fognani, Assistant Professor Italian in the Department of Languages and Intercultural Studies
• Joshua L. Knight, Teaching Associate in the Department of Visual Arts

The Graduate Teaching Award is awarded annually to a faculty member who has made significant contributions to graduate education. This year’s awardee is:

• Sheena A. Kauppila, Assistant Professor of Higher Education Administration, Education Sciences and Organizations

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 recipient is:

• Cheng-Yuan "Corey" Lee, Associate Professor in the Department of Educational Studies

Inclusive Pedagogy awardees are faculty members who have adopted inclusive teaching practices to create equitable learning environments.  This year’s awardees are:

• Benjamin Sota, Associate Professor in the Department of Theatre
• Anna E. Mukamal, Assistant Professor of Digital Cultural and Design in the Department of English
• Kristi R. McIntyre, Senior Lecturer in the Department of English

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:

• Cari Borisuk, Lecturer in the Department of Management & Decision Sciences
• Xinyi Tan, Assistant Professor in the Department of Languages and Intercultural Studies
• Kate Stringer Clary, Assistant Professor in the Department of Interdisciplinary 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:

• Charles R. Clary, Associate Professor in the Department of Visual Arts
• April N. Abbott, Assistant Professor in the Department of Marine Science.

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:

• Jennifer Mokos, Assistant Professor of Honors and Women's and Gender Studies in the HTC Honors College
• Jaime McCauley, Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology

The University Service Award recognizes faculty who have made outstanding contributions to the life of the university.  Our awardees are:

• Wendy M. Weinhold, Associate Professor in the Department of Communication, Media, and Culture

Congratulations to all our awardees!

Faculty Recognition

HTC Teacher-Scholar Award

International Recognition

New Award Announcements

Special Awards from the Honors Convocation

Professor of the Year

Distinguished Student

Adviser of the Year

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.