Five faculty members received high honors during the Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College (SMWC) Faculty Appreciation Day on April 24. The ceremony in the Ariens Atrium honored Pomeroy Faculty Excellence Award winners Douglas Sperry, Ph.D. — for scholarship, Bill Riley — for teaching, and Tracy Richardson, Ph.D. — for service.
Kathleen Pickrell, an adjunct faculty member in the nursing department, received the Outstanding Adjunct Faculty award and Gina Baird, adjunct faculty member in the art therapy graduate program, was honored with the Alumni Faculty Leadership Award.
Faculty members also showcased their scholarly work and projects during the event. “Today, we recognize the work of our entire faculty, and we celebrate their many accomplishments,” said Janet Clark, Ph.D., vice president for academic and student affairs.
Clark also announced that Kathryn Myers, the former director of SMWC’s paralegal program who passed away last year, was honored posthumously by the American Association for Paralegal Education with the inaugural Lifetime Achievement Award.
Pomeroy Faculty Excellence Award for Scholarship
Douglas Sperry, Ph.D., associate professor of psychology, has been a member of the SMWC faculty since 2013. Sperry won the same award in 2015 and he continues to make new and significant contributions to the field of developmental psychology through language socialization and ethnographic inquiry. Last year, he had three articles published in peer-reviewed journals including the European Journal of Social Theory and Child Development. The Society for Research in Child Development lists the article in Child Development among the top 10 downloads of 2018. Over 15 different media outlets, including NPR, covered his article, “Reexamining the verbal environments of children from different socioeconomic backgrounds,” which takes a close look at the 1995 seminal work of Hart and Risley on word gap.
Sperry has been lead author or co-author in 10 research presentations in 2018-19 alone, and an invited blogger for the Brown Center Chalkboard, ran by the Brookings Institution, a non-profit public policy organization based in Washington, D.C.
Besides his own research, Sperry has helped many students find their own passion and skill in psychology research. Since 2017, four SWMC undergraduate students have presented work at conferences both regionally and nationally under his direction. He sets a high bar and example of professionalism in research and practices.
Pomeroy Faculty Excellence Award for Teaching
Bill Riley, MFA, assistant professor of English, has been teaching at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College since 2016. A favorite among campus students, his philosophy is to help students be career-ready. He believes in project-based learning to prepare students for future careers. He also provides opportunities for students to network with area professionals by bringing these role models to his classrooms as guest speakers.
Riley instills the importance of service to his students. In one previous class project, his professional writing students worked with local child care agencies to secure grant funding through the United Way of the Wabash Valley. In another, his students researched and proposed programs for the Sisters of Providence HOME (memory initiative) program.
His course evaluations are consistently stellar and students write about his support and encouragement.
Pomeroy Faculty Excellence Award for Service
Tracy Richardson, Ph.D., professor of music therapy, director of the Master of Arts in Music Therapy program, and music and theatre department chair, has been a member of the SMWC faculty since 1995. Richardson, an alumna of the College, received the same award in 2013. In addition to being a chairperson and graduate director, she also currently serves as faculty assembly president. She is also a member of the Graduate Council and the Graduate Program Directors Committee.
Richardson created the Music Therapy Equivalency Distance (MTED) program a few years ago, which boasts consistently high enrollment. She is active in the field of music therapy through her service with the American Music Therapy Association on which she has recently served on the Commission on Education and Clinical Training of the 21st Century Music Therapist, the Competency Review Task Force, and as co-chair of the Faculty Forum Steering Committee.
Richardson is also active in her local community through organizations promoting arts and music. She currently serves on a new arts commission formed by the Vigo County School Corp., and as a board member for the Wabash Valley Musicians Hall of Fame, which not only recognizes deserving musicians but also gives funds and instruments to children in local schools each year. As a consultant for the Union Health Foundation, she developed a proposal and a series of presentations resulting in a $350,000 campaign to establish a music therapy program at Union Hospital.
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