Each year, the Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching (CELT) acknowledges the efforts of Stony Brook educators who use exceptional teaching practices, dispositions and proficiencies. Moreover, these instructors demonstrate outstanding passion for teaching, personal concern for students, and a devotion to inspire and nurture a learning desire in their students.
The 2022 Celebration of Teaching and Mentoring was held on May 5 in the Melville Library.
Congratulations to this year’s CELT Celebration of Teaching Award Winners:
Excellence in Teaching an In-Person Course: Santina Abbate, School of Nursing
Tina Abbate is a clinical assistant professor at Stony Brook University’s School of Nursing. She completed her PhD in nursing, master’s of science in nursing, master’s of public administration and bachelor’s of science in nursing at Binghamton University. Abbate began her teaching career at Binghamton University and joined the faculty at Stony Brook in 2015. She currently teaches in the Department of Undergraduate Studies in both live and online class environments. Abbate’s focus of research encompasses active learning strategies and retention of information.
Excellence in Teaching an Online Course: Sotiria Everett, Department of Family, Population and Preventive Medicine
Sotiria Everett is a registered dietitian (RD) and clinical assistant professor in the Department of Family, Population and Preventive Medicine’s Nutrition Division at Stony Brook University. She teaches several core and concentration courses in the online MS in nutrition graduate program and advises students who are matriculated in the program. She serves as a preceptor for the department’s dietetic internship, mentoring students who are on the path to become registered dietitians. Everett has also taught nutrition courses for the School of Dental Medicine and nutrition classes in the Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook. As an RD who is board certified in sports dietetics, she counsels student athletes at Stony Brook, supporting them in optimal nutrition strategies to maximize their athletic performance.
Everett is active in the professional associations in her field. She serves as corresponding secretary for the Long Island Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (LIAND), a member of the Collegiate and Professional Sports Dietitian’s Association and the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. In 2021 she won the “Excellence in Practice Registered Dietitian Award” from LIAND. Everett received a bachelor’s of science degree in microbiology, with a minor in modern Greek from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, a master’s of science degree in nutrition and exercise physiology from Teachers College, Columbia University, and a doctoral degree in nutrition education from Teachers College, Columbia University.
Excellence in Assessment: Liliana Dávalos, Ecology and Evolution
Liliana M. Dávalos is professor of conservation biology at Stony Brook University. Her focus is on biodiversity and conserving the world’s life support systems into the future. In her research, she uses genetics, genomics, and statistical tools to discover mechanisms of extinction and survival. She received her BSc in biology from the Universidad del Valle, Cali, Colombia and a PhD in ecology, evolution, and environmental biology at Columbia University. She has published more than 90 research papers, including work appearing in high-impact journals such as Science, Nature, and Current Biology. Dávalos is a 2012 National Academies of Sciences Education Fellow in the Life Sciences, a 2013 Kavli Frontiers of Science Fellow for outstanding early career, and has advised the United Nations Office of Drug and Crime on deforestation since 2007. She is co-editor of The Origins of Cocaine (2018) with Professor Paul Gootenberg, co-author of the 2016 World Drug Report, and co-editor of Phyllostomid Bats (2020) with Ted Fleming and Marco Mello.
The David L. Ferguson Award for Inclusive Teaching: Zaida Corniel, Hispanic Languages and Literature
Zaida Corniel is a lecturer of Spanish and Caribbean literature and its diaspora in the Department of Hispanic Languages and Literature at Stony Brook University. Her work is focused on tourist discourse and representation of the Caribbean subjectivities in contemporary narratives, including literature, performance, propaganda, visual art and films. She is the author of the short story collection Para adolescentes, premenopáusicas y especialistas de la salud. Her work has been included in the journals Estudios Sociales, Guaraguao, Caudal, and on Hanging Out, Bilingual Publication of Essays and Creative Writing by Caribbean Authors, among other publications. Her plays, De mujeres and Ay Fefa, Where is the Wind?, have been staged in the United States and the Dominican Republic.
At the celebration, the following Mentor Awards were presented by the Office of the Provost:
Danling Jiang, Professor, College of Business
Erez Zadok, Professor, Computer Science
Marci Lobel, Professor, Psychology
Thomas Weinacht, Professor, Physics and Astronomy
Clinton Rubin, SUNY Distinguished Professor, Biomedical Engineering
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