Coastal Carolina University's Deborah Breede, Ph. D., was one of 12 honorees for the Sun Belt Conference's inaugural Faculty Member of the Year Awards, the league announced on Monday, June 24.

This award recognizes a faculty member from each Sun Belt institution who displays valuable classroom skills such as developing relationships, being a good communicator and showing a passion for teaching, engaging and inspiring students, while also separating themselves from their peers outside the classroom by regularly attending athletics events and displaying enthusiasm for the athletics department.

"These educators continue to go above and beyond to positively impact the lives of students and student-athletes at our Sun Belt universities. We are honored to recognize their dedication to student success on their respective campuses," said Sun Belt Commissioner Keith Gill.

A Professor of Communication, Breede teaches communication and women's and gender studies at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, as well as serving as the coordinator for the graduate programming in the Department of Communication, Media and Culture at Coastal Carolina University.

Over the years, Breede has received numerous accolades, including the 2009-10 ZONTA Gold Star Award awarded by ZONTA International. In addition, on campus, Breede has also garnered the 2018-19 Coastal Carolina Student-Athlete Faculty Member of the Year Award and the 2010-11 Patricia Singleton-Young Award for Outstanding Student Advocacy awarded by the CCU Office of Student Activities and Leadership.

"Dr. Breede has gone above and beyond the call of duty not only for student-athletes but the student body in general," stated Kelsey Briggs a recent women's track student-athlete graduate and the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee President. "Dr. Breede is well known as an avid fan of Coastal Carolina's student-athletes. She is always cheering them on in their sport and in the classroom."

Additionally, Ethan Howard, a communication major and football student-athlete at CCU stated, "Dr. Breede is an amazing teacher and is always pushing for you to reach your full potential."

Breede earned her Ph.D. in Communication from the University of South Florida in 2005 and M.A. in communication in 1999 from Florida Atlantic University.

The concept for the award originated at the Sun Belt's 2018 Fall Meeting during conversation between the Sun Belt Ambassadors, a collection of student-athletes from around the conference, and Faculty Athletic Representatives. It was then decided that each institution would submit an honoree to the conference office to recognize annually.

"This marks the inaugural Sun Belt Conference Faculty Award at all of our member institutions and we recognize that faculty members play a vital role in the student-athlete experience," said Arkansas State Faculty Athletic Representative Karen McDaniel, Ph.D. "Our Sun Belt student ambassadors started this initiative last fall as a way of recognizing faculty on our campuses who are great teachers going over and beyond to help students. Faculty Athletics Representatives worked with the student ambassadors to establish criteria for this award to honor these exceptional faculty members. I believe this is a testament to how much students appreciate their faculty."

The Sun Belt Conference's 12 honorees come from nearly 10,000 full-time faculty members. The combined enrollment across the conference is more than 160,000 students with student-athletes comprising more than 3,100.