By Beverly Makhani, Office of Undergraduate Education
PULLMAN, Wash. – The Washington State University Office of Undergraduate Education (OUE) recognized the outstanding achievements of 42 students, faculty and staff; one residence hall; and four Pullman High School students at its annual awards and recognition event:
Richard G. Law Excellence Award for Undergraduate Teaching: Clif Stratton, history instructor, and Rich Zack, entomology professor, create student-centered general education courses in the University Common Requirements (UCORE) curriculum that promote integrated and lifelong learning for non-majors. Both are 
involved in outcomes assessment – from their own courses to program and college levels.
Wrote one student about Stratton, “There was no time when I left his class without new world issues to think about,” while another said Zack, “makes his course a part of students’ lives.”
Excellence in Support of Undergraduate Research: LeeAnn Tibbals, pre-nursing specialist in the WSU Health Professions Student Center, for more than a decade has been a key member of teams that create large-scale events where undergraduates can present their research. The most recent was the 2014 WSU Showcase for Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities (SURCA).
International Tutor Training Program Certification: The Center for Advising and Career Development (CACD) reports that 12 WSU students and four Pullman High School students completed this rigorous certified tutor program, which is offered through the College Reading and Learning Association, a nonprofit professional development organization:
• Scott Blaine, a biochemistry/molecular biology pre-med student
• Keith Frank, a political science student with criminal justice and business minors
• Holly Giermann, an architecture major
• Nick Hayward, a computer science major with a Japanese minor
• Jaeyoung Heo, a Running Start student from Pullman High School, taking STEM classes at WSU
• Stephanie Her, a Running Start student from Pullman High School, taking STEM classes at WSU
• Jonathan Hrehov, a mechanical engineering student
• Moritz Lange, a Running Start student from Pullman High School, also taking STEM courses at WSU
• Wenhao Lin, a mechanical engineering student
• Corbin Mellow, a mechanical engineering student
• Haleigh Miller, a basic medical sciences student in pre-pharmacy
• Jesse Miller, a physics and astrophysics major with Spanish and math minors
• Ryan Pendleton, a financial markets and finance student
• Yixuan Ren, a genetics-cell biology and molecular biology major with a economics minor
• Rachit Singh, the fourth Running Start student from Pullman High School, taking STEM classes in physics, math, and computers at WSU, and
• McKenzie Wright, a political science student with an anthropology minor
Harold and Jeanne Rounds Olsen Award for Undergraduate Excellence in Writing: Undergraduate students Amber Allshouse (an accounting major in the Global Campus); Jesse Ashcraft (humanities, Global Campus); Shannon Ellerton (accounting, Global Campus); James Pappas (humanities, Global Campus); Athena Lemon (microbiology, WSU Pullman); Haleigh Miller (basic medical sciences, Pullman); Jamie Morgan (nursing, WSU Vancouver); Teresa Straub (neuroscience, Vancouver); and Monica Walbruch (English, Vancouver).
Stanley P. Williams Award for leadership as a trained peer tutor in the Writing Program’s Writing Center: Undergraduates Shandra Clark, English and women’s studies major, Ana Schmidt, English major, and Veronika Vazquez, environmental science major with a geology minor.
Harold and Jeanne Rounds Olsen Writing across the Curriculum Graduate Fellowship: Johnna Lash, graduate student and teaching assistant in English, received this award for her accepted proposal to the national Computers and Writing Conference.
Susan H. McLeod Writing Across the Curriculum Travel Grant: Edie-Marie Roper and Kerry Clark, both graduate students and teaching assistants in English, received awards for travel to the Conference on College Composition and Communication.
Learning Communities Excellence Award: Mary Kovel, instructor in history, and Matthew Jeffries, (residential education) hall director and instructor of a section of Pathways to Academic Success Seminar (UColl 104) within Olympia Hall, charted new ground to bridge the learning and living components of First-Year Focus.
Common Reading Excellence Award: History instructor Ken Faunce, residential education director Jena Doolittle and staff from Stephenson North Hall were recognized for outstanding contributions to the programming surrounding this year’s common reading book, “Being Wrong,” by Kathryn Schulz.
Norma C. Fuentes and Gary M. Kirk Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Research: Students Vikram Chandra, Vanessa Delgado, Joseph Lawhead and Michele Reinelt were recognized for their “exceptional quests for discovery” as evidenced by their presentations at the SURCA.
WSU Emeritus Society Awards for Undergraduate Achievement in Scholarship and Research: Undergraduate students Brittany Wouden, Zoey Henson, Travis King and Amanda Thomson.