UHCL faculty and staff recognized for university service

July 24, 2020 | UHCL Staff

University of Houston-Clear Lake announced the recipients of the 42nd annual Faculty and Staff Awards earlier this year on the university’s website. The 2020 award recipient list, based on length of service to the university, identifies employees who have reached impressive milestones at 5-year increments up to 40 years’ service. The university’s newest retirees were also listed.

Staff awards included the recognition of Javier Gutierrez, a painter in the university’s Facilities Management and Construction. Gutierrez received the 2020 Hugh P. Avery Prize, the President’s Distinguished Staff Service Award. The Distinguished Service Award was renamed in 1991 to honor a longtime employee who initiated UHCL’s staff-recognition program. Nominees for the Avery Prize are submitted by faculty and staff and reviewed by a subcommittee that makes a recommendation to the president.

The 2020 Staff Merit Awards were given to:
• Tiffany King, Associate Director, Campus Visits, Office of Admissions
• Veronica Ortiz, Program Coordinator I, Center for Faculty Development
• Marlene Thomas, Administrative Assistant III, Neumann Library
• Abby Varela, Assistant Director, Human Resources Services, Office of Human Resources

In other annual honors, the recipients of the Outstanding Lecturer and Outstanding Adjunct awards were:
• Anne Gessler, College of Human Sciences and Humanities
• Viola Vela, College of Education

The President’s Distinguished Faculty Awards program was established in 1983 and recognizes faculty members with achievements in research, service and teaching. Recipients can only be nominated by their faculty colleagues.
• Thomas Schanding, associate professor of psychology in the College of Human Sciences and Humanities, received the Distinguished Research Award; 
• Alix M. Valenti, professor of Legal Studies and Management in the College of Business, received the Distinguished Service Award; 
• Christal Seahorn, assistant professor of Writing in the College of Human Sciences and Humanities, received the Distinguished Teaching Award.

Of the service awards, 66 faculty and staff members received five-year awards, 17 received 10-year awards, 16 received 15-year awards, 14 received 20-year awards, four received 25-year awards, six received 30- and 35-year awards respectively, and four received a 40-year award. Twenty-two faculty and staff members retired this year. A total of 132 people received awards, representing over 1,640 cumulative years of service.