Every year the College of General Studies awards various faculty and staff for their work during that academic year. The awards are: Excellence in Research and Scholarly Activity, Excellence in Teaching, Outstanding Staff, and Excellence in Service. We are proud to announce the winners this year below!
Excellence in Research and Scholarly Activity Award: Chris Yogerst
Chris Yogerst is a film and popular culture historian, associate professor of communication at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and regular contributor to the Los Angeles Review of Books. Chris has written three books on film history, including most recently Hollywood Hates Hitler (University Press of Mississippi, 2020). His next book, a biography of the Warner brothers, is due out in 2023 from the University Press of Kentucky.
Excellence in Teaching Award: Mohan Thapa
Mohan Thapa, PhD., is an Associate Professor of Mathematics at UWM at Washington County and has been teaching there since August 2011. His research in graduate school was in numerical linear algebra, in specific, solving quadratic eigenvalue problems. In the last several years, his research has been shifted to mathematical textbooks and various teaching pedagogies. Mohan has been moving from a traditional lecture-based teaching method to a student-centered learning method. The Active Learning approach is one of the student-centered learning methods, and it engages students through discussions, group projects, and other methods.
Outstanding Staff Award: Sara Pagliaroni
Sara Pagliaroni’s career at the Waukesha campus has spanned 22 years, during which time she has worked as a TRiO writing specialist, a campus writing specialist, the Online Writing Lab director, and a tutor coordinator. She enjoys both helping students develop as writers and training students to become tutors. Sara volunteers as a success coach for the Back on Track program, a member of the Support for Underprepared Students Committee, and a reader of scholarship essays. She enjoys participating in campus events that encourage students’ social and academic development: Pancake Day, Paper Palooza, and Immersion Excursion.
Excellence in Service Award: Tim Thering
Professor Tim Thering started full-time teaching on the Waukesha campus in the Fall of 2002. He has offered a variety of U.S. history courses over his tenure including the Vietnam War, U.S. Labor History, Recent American History, Film as Social History, History and Literature of African Americans, and both halves of the U.S. survey. He is currently finishing up a 3-year stint as the first Campus Administrator on the Waukesha campus and previously served over a year as Interim Associate Dean. He is a past recipient of the UW-Colleges Chancellor’s Award “for inspiring UW-Waukesha students, faculty, and community members to understand and appreciate the power of racial diversity and equity.” His current academic research focuses on Catholic activists opposed to the Vietnam War.