2025 Faculty & Staff Awards

The College of Human Sciences & Education Engagement Award recognizes a CHSE staff member who has demonstrated collaboration across university audiences (e.g., Students, families, individuals, non-profit agencies or government institutions) for the mutually beneficial exchange of knowledge and resources that address complex human and information issues to elevate quality of life across the lifespan.​ This year's recipient is Bethany Hager, PhD.

As stated in her letter of support, Dr. Hager's "programs are distinguished not only by their impact but by their emphasis on collaboration and sustainability. Dr. Hager designs initiatives that foster long-term partnerships with school districts, non-profit organizations and community stakeholders. These partnerships lead to measurable improvements in teacher retention, student engagement and community trust in educational systems. Her work exemplifies the kind of reciprocal engagement that the CHSE seeks to promote."

Dr. Hager is director of Louisiana A+ Schools at LSU. She holds a PhD in Leadership & Human Resource Development from LSU and has raised more than $5 million to enhance K-12 education by integrating the arts into core curricula, fostering more engaging and equitable learning environments. She has received several awards, including LSU’s Betty C. Harrison Scholarship, the Academy for Human Resource Development’s Cutting-Edge Award, and was one of ten graduate students selected nationally to conduct research in Japan.

The College of Human Sciences & Education Mentorship Award recognizes a faculty member who demonstrates sustained excellence in mentoring students and/or other faculty members. Mentoring may include support and guidance in areas of teaching, research, service, academic achievement and/or professional development. Faculty members may be recognized who have initiated or created departmental or university-wide mentoring programs. This year's recipient is Edward A. Gibbons III, PhD.

As stated in his nomination letter, "Dr. Gibbons exemplifies the core values of mentorship through his unwavering dedication to students, a transformative teaching philosophy rooted in human connection and a consistent commitment to guiding others toward purpose, growth and professional excellence."

Dr. Gibbons is an Associate Professor of Professional Practice in the School of Leadership & Human Resource Development. His research interests include change management, executive coaching, needs analysis, veterans transition to college and workforce and organizational development. Before transitioning into academia full-time, Dr. Gibbons worked in executive leadership and consulting, leveraging his expertise in organizational diagnosis, performance improvement, and strategic workforce development. He previously consulted with Success Labs, where he helped companies in the industrial sector with leadership development, executive coaching, organizational development, and succession planning. His coaching experience includes work with Fortune 500 and 1000 companies such as Fluor Federal Petroleum, CF Industries, Genesis Energy, Albemarle Corporation, and Axiall Corporation.

The College of Human Sciences & Education Outstanding Faculty Service Award recognizes a CHSE faculty member who has a proven record of exceptional service to the profession, school, college or university. This year's recipient is Tao Jin, PhD.

As stated in his letter of recommendation, "Since stepping into the role of Associate Director in January 2025, he has been an indispensable partner in leadership, skillfully managing the complex course schedule for our rapidly growing graduate student body of over 1,000 students. His meticulous planning ensures that we can responsively add course sections to meet student demand each semester. Beyond these logistical feats, Dr. Jin has been instrumental in fostering a vibrant and inclusive student community by coordinating monthly virtual coffee hours,semesterly town hall meetings, and orientation sessions for new students. He also meticulously conducts all assessment analyses forour four graduate programs and general education courses, a critical function for our continuous improvement."

Dr. Jin is Associate Director and an Associate Professor in the School of Information Studies. Over the years, he has promoted and/or served for various professional organizations, such as the Association for Information Science and Technology, Special Libraries Association, Strategic and Competitive Intelligence Professionals, Canadian Association for Information Science, ARMA International, and the Institute of Certified Records Managers. He previously served on editorial boards of the Canadian Journal of Information and Library Science and the Journal of Information and Knowledge Management. He advises students who are interested in special libraries, knowledge management, and records and information management. He is also the program coordinator for the Graduate Certificate in Records and Information Management. 

The College of Human Sciences & Education Distinguished Teaching Award recognizes a CHSE faculty member with superior undergraduate or graduate-level teaching and related activities. This year's recipient is Rhonda Norwood, PhD.

Her letter of support states, "While working with Dr. Norwood at LSU, she consistently demonstrates a level of pedagogy, care for students and innovation in designing curriculum that is unmatched. Her courses are known not only for their academic rigor, but also for the engaging environment she brings to both on campus and asynchronous online courses. Her expertise in course design and delivery is unlike any I have ever come across. Her courses are developed in such a way that students talk about her courses and course content long after they have completed one of her classes. In both formal evaluations and anecdotally, students indicate how she makes complex concepts easily understood through her examples, the active learning strategies employed in the classes, and the thoughtful discussion that occur. Students from diverse backgrounds and varying levels of skill seem to readily connect with Dr. Norwood and to grow from their interactions with her."

Dr. Norwood is an Assistant Professor of Professional Practice in the School of Social Work. She has 25 years of clinical and supervisory experience in a variety of agency settings and private practice. Her area of expertise is infant mental health, which includes working with young children and their families and perinatal mood disorders. Dr. Norwood’s area of research interests include integrating effective interventions with child welfare services, parental representations of their children and children’s narratives as representations of their relationships and worlds.

The College of Human Sciences & Education Outstanding Impact Award is given to a faculty member whose publications, programs, or exhibitions (e.g. projects, colloquia, laboratories) in the human sciences and education fields have had a significant societal impact. This year's recipient is Scott Wilks, PhD.

As stated in his nomination letter, "Dr. Wilks's contributions embody the highest ideals of the College of Human Sciences & Education Outstanding Impact Award. His scholarship informs national conversation on aging; his programs strengthen the health workforce; and his partnerships extend the university's reach into communities where the need is greatest. Most importantly, his work enhances the lives of individuals experiencing dementia and the care partners who support them."

Dr. Wilks serves as the W.H. "Bill" LeBlanc LSU Alumni Association Professor in the School of Social Work and Director of the LSU Healthy Aging Research Center. His career has maintained a tightly focused research agenda on enhancing geriatric health and wellbeing, specifically relating to Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (ADRD). He has earned financial support from a number of various organizations, including the Health Resources and Services Administration, the American Geriatrics Association, the John A. Hartford Foundation of New York, the AARP Louisiana chapter, Poydras Home of New Orleans and Alzheimer's Services of the Capital Area. To date, Dr. Wilks has earned approximately $12.5 million dollars directed toward his geriatrics research, teaching and training. He holds two lifelong, national titles: Fellow with the Gerontological Society of America and Hartford Foundation Faculty Scholar in Geriatric Social Work.

The College of Human Sciences & Education Exemplary Leadership Award recognizes a faculty member who significantly impacts the academic enterprise of the university through their leadership and service. The award recipient demonstrates a high degree of professionalism, is committed to the strategic mission of the university, and encourages others to support and work toward the public good through innovative initiatives. This year's recipient is Edward Benoit, III, PhD.

His letter of nomination states, "Dr. Benoit's leadership style is characterized by a high degree of professionalism, strategic thinking, and a genuine commitment to the public good. He consistently encourages and enables others to work toward shared goals, whether by engaging with external doctoral programs, such as the Doctor of Design in Cultural Preservation, hosting all-faculty retreats to implement a new strategic plan and revision of the MLIS core courses, or simply being the first to volunteer for service. He leads by example, with a clear vision for the future and the practical, data-driven steps needed to achieve it."

Dr. Benoit is an Associate Professor and interim director of the School of Information Studies. He coordinates the archival studies and cultural heritage resource management programs. His research focuses on participatory and community archives, non-traditional archival materials, climate change, and archival education. He is the founder and director of the Virtual Footlocker Project, which examines the personal archiving habits of the 21st century soldier in an effort to develop new digital capture and preservation technologies to support their needs. He also directs PROTECCT-GLAM, an IMLS-funded project focused on identify climate-change-related risks for galleries, libraries, archives and museums. Dr. Benoit is also an affiliated faculty member in the LSU College of Art & Design's Doctor of Design in Cultural Preservation program.

The College of Human Sciences & Education Outstanding Staff Service Award recognizes a CHSE staff member who has a proven record of exceptional service to the profession, school, college or university. This year's recipient is Mary Nunnery-Williams.

As stated in her letter of nomination, "What distinguishes Mary most is that her service is never transactional or performative. It is part of who she is. Whether she is supporting a school principal through a crisis, helping a grieving family, presenting to LSU students, or organizing community events, she leads with sincerity and a genuine desire to make people feel seen, valued and supported. CHSE is stronger because of her work, and the Louisiana A+ network continues to thrive because she invests heart and skill into every relationship she builds." 

Nunnery-Williams serves as the Manager of Schools and Community Relations at Louisiana A+ Schools. With over a decade of experience in Louisiana schools, she has consistently demonstrated her commitment to enhancing the educational experience for students and fostering solid relationships within the community. She is pivotal in bridging the gap between schools and the broader community. In this capacity, she utilizes her expertise to cultivate partnerships, facilitate communication, and implement initiatives supporting educational excellence and community engagement.

The College of Human Sciences & Education Early Career Award recognizes a CHSE faculty member who has demonstrated extraordinary performance in teaching, research or service within eight years after receipt of the doctoral degree. This year's recipient is Nicholas Fears, PhD.

His letter of nomination states, "Dr. Fears has a highly competitive record of peer-reviewed publications (n=22), extramural funding ($1.03M awarded and $499K pending as PI), and scholarly presentations (n=76). He has also also significantly contributed to teaching with more than 700 students taught and more than 2,100 credit hours generated. Numerous students mentored and served, including serving on three hiring committees and as an active member of multiple campus intitiatives like Multidisciplinary Institute for Neuroscience Disorder and Early Childhood Education Institute."

Dr. Fears is an Assistant Professor in the School of Kinesiology, which he joined in August 2022. His research focuses on the development of the dynamic relationships between motor, visual, and cognitive processes. He is interested in how these relations affect the performance of activities of daily living in neurodivergent populations (i.e., autism, developmental coordination disorder). The goal of his research is to improve the lives of neurodivergent people by adapting their environments and providing support for them to achieve their goals. Dr. Fears is the director of the Human Development & Daily Life (HuDDL) Lab. He serves as principal investigator on grants funded by the Department of Defense and Louisiana Board of Regents.

The College of Human Sciences & Education Distinguished Research Award recognizes a CHSE faculty member who has demonstrated a sustained record of excellence in research and scholarly productivity. This year's recipient is Guillaume Spielmann, PhD.

His letter of support states, "In his first 10 years at LSU, he established a premier immunology and cell culture laboratory, a well-funded and focused research agenda (h-index = 25; i10-index = 37), and qualified group of graduate and undergraduate students to assist in his research laboratory (including funding from LSU Disocver Undergraduate Research Stipend.) Since graduating with his PhD in 2012, Dr. Spielmann has received internal and external grants as a Primary or Co-investigator totaling well over $7 million...Dr. Spielmann has authored 64 peer-reviewed manuscripts (14 as primary author), 1 textbook, 5 book chapters, and many published abstracts at the regional, national, and international level. Many of the manuscripts Dr. Spielmann has published were in top-tier jounrlas with impact factors > 10."

Dr. Spielmann is an Assistant Professor in the School of Kinesiology and an adjunct Assistant Professor at Pennington Biomedical Research Center. His research focuses on the impact of various psychological and physiological stressors on the immune system. In particular his research centers on the influence of obesity, physical inactivity, microgravity and poor aerobic fitness on premature immune aging. He is also interested in the impact of physical inactivity, aging and latent viral infections on immune cells bioenergetics and systemic dysmetabolism.