Saint Mary's College is proud to recognize four professors with prestigious faculty awards for demonstrated excellence inside and outside of the classroom and dedication to students and their profession. The Academic Leadership Council, a college leadership body made up of administrators, faculty, and staff, and students, votes on the most deserving recipients after reading through nominations. The vote results are kept secret until the honors are bestowed.
The recipients were announced at the Faculty Award Luncheon on February 14.
The Kevin J. and Marijo Rogers Kelly ’77 Faculty Service Award
John J. Cergnul, assistant professor of business administration and economics, was honored with The Kevin J. and Marijo Rogers Kelly ’77 Faculty Service Award. This award recognizes a faculty member who demonstrates exceptional commitment to local, regional, national, or international service to his/her academic field.
Cergnul is notable for his service to the College and to the local community. For the past 11 years, he has served as the Saint Mary’s faculty advisor to the Vivian Harrington Gray Notre Dame/Saint Mary’s Tax Assistance Program. Through this program, accounting students prepare tax returns for low income taxpayers in the community. Cernul is also actively engaged in other service activities both on and off campus. He is a member of the Board of Directors of Saint Claire Darden Health Care System and is the faculty advisor to the Lady Accountants of Tomorrow (Accounting Club). He has previously served as chair of the Faculty Assembly and has been a member of the Faculty Compensation Committee, the Finance and Budget Committee of the Board of Trustees, and the President’s Financial Advisory Group.
Karen Bush Schneider Faculty Scholarship Award
Thomas F. Bonnell, PhD, professor of English, was honored with the Karen Bush Schneider Faculty Scholarship Award.
Bonnell has developed a vast research network in regional, national, and international scholarly organizations, helping to put Saint Mary’s College on the map in the world of literary scholarship. For over 30 years, Bonnell has produced a steady stream of journal articles and conference papers, earning along the way a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship, an NEH Summer Stipend, an Andrew W. Mellon Fellowship at the Library Company of Philadelphia, a Bibliographical Society of America Grant, and several Senior Warnock Fellowships at the Beinecke Library of Yale University, among other grants and fellowships. In 2008, his monograph, The Most Disreputable Trade: Publishing the Classics of English Poetry 1765-1810, was published by Oxford University Press, a prestigious imprint one normally associates with major research universities. Bonnell recently joined an international team of editors working on a project to trace the composition of James Boswell's Life of Samuel Johnson through its many drafts, and he has put the results of this research in two volumes published by Yale University Press.
Awards Luncheon Gallery
Donald R. and Nora Barry Fischer ’73 Faculty Award for Teaching Excellence
Ranjan Rohatgi, PhD, assistant professor of mathematics and computer science, was honored with the 2020 Donald R. and Nora Barry Fischer ’73 Faculty Award for Teaching Excellence.
Rohatgi is known as an effective and innovative teacher. A senior student said, “As Saint Mary’s addresses the importance of social responsibility, he lives out the mission statement of the College through his teaching and his work outside the classroom. Rohatgi is passionate about gender equality and multicultural diversity and inclusion. Already an excellent educator, he continues to seek ways to improve his teaching and enhance his courses.”
In the classroom, Rohatgi is organized and clear in his presentation of material; he is thoughtful and innovative in his choice of presentation method; and he is incredibly engaging. Students appreciate his willingness to help them individually both in and out of the classroom. Rohatgi excels at teaching and mentoring students in his upper-division courses, and encourages students to take what they learn in these courses and go beyond this. He has supervised an impressive number of students in research projects and senior comprehensive projects. He has been the advisor for both student organizations in his department and for two other College clubs. He is active in promoting social justice initiatives on campus and serves on the President’s Council on Inclusivity and Multicultural Diversity. He has worked to improve the campus climate, to support international students, to increase the use of open source materials at Saint Mary’s, and to promote study abroad opportunities for students in the STEM fields. And so much more.
Carmi and Chris Murphy Award for Student Mentorship of the Senior Comprehensive
Leonard Sanchez, professional specialist of social work and gerontology, was honored with the 2020 Carmi and Chris Murphy Award for Student Mentorship of the Senior Comprehensive.
Sanchez is known for his dedication in mentoring students to develop their Senior Comprehensives and, in so doing, supporting their success at Saint Mary’s College and beyond their years on campus. He assists all department majors in developing state of the art, technologically advanced, e-portfolios that have not only been used for their Senior Comprehensive Written Portfolios, but are also submitted by students to graduate programs for admission and funding, for seeking career positions, and for educating others in the community about what students have gained through their education at Saint Mary’s College. This year alone he has mentored 20 students to accomplish this.
Students consistently comment on the mentoring, commitment, and interest that they receive from Sanchez. He spends countless hours working with students in developing their Written Senior Comprehensives, including teaching students the technology of developing their e-portfolios, and in preparing for their Oral Senior Comprehensive exams.