The nine award recipients are nominated and then thoroughly reviewed and selected by an ad hoc committee of previous faculty and staff awardees.

Student awardees were selected based on excellence in academics and leadership as documented through extracurricular activities. Faculty member awardees were selected based on excellence in teaching, research, service, collegiality, and assessment. The staff awardee was selected based on excellence in job performance, dependability, and punctuality.

Congratulations to these award winners:

Undergraduate Student 

Michael Castro

• Major: English
• Writing Center Head Tutor
• Michael has worked diligently alongside his fellow teaching assistants to provide support and tutoring services to students pre- and post-pandemic. His leadership, positive attitude, and genuine desire to assist peers have elevated the Writing Center’s outreach and support services. 

Graduate Student 

Jean Santos

• Major: Master of Science in Clinical Psychology
• Jean is a highly motivated graduate student. She has been involved in two manuscripts submitted to peer-review journals and presented at seven local and international conferences. As a teaching and research assistant, Jean has helped many students with their research projects. She is also the president of the Psi Chi Chapter at UOG, where she leads recruitment efforts.

Staff 

Teryn Catahay

• Customer Service Representative, CLASS Dean’s Office
• Teryn has provided excellent customer service to faculty, students, patrons, and other UOG employees on campus. She has helped with implementing sanitizing protocols in the Dean’s Office and communicates the protocols to patrons. Teryn has also helped with organizing Green Zones in CLASS buildings for students to use during the pandemic.

Teaching, Full-time Faculty 

Lei Bao, M.A.

• Instructor of Critical Thinking and Logic, Division of Humanities
• Bao has immersed himself in critical thinking instruction and working with students since joining the college. He works closely with his colleagues on curriculum, assessment, and planning. Following publication, a book he wrote on critical thinking will be used in all critical thinking classes in the coming semesters.

Teaching, Part-time Faculty

Merissa Bunton, Ed.D.

• Online Faculty, Division of English & Applied Linguistics
• During the transition to online learning, Bunton immediately offered assistance and resources to help faculty members with remote learning. Additionally, she has worked with the Writing Center to assist tutors and launch a Moodle course for the center. Her commitment, diligence, and willingness to help others have impacted the University as a whole.

Assessment, Faculty

Rika Dunlap, Ph.D.

• Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Division of Humanities
• Dunlap sees and understands the value of assessment. She works with the University Assessment Committee to advance understanding among the faculty and champions the college's efforts to improve learning assessment.

Collegiality, Faculty

Debra Cabrera, Ph.D.

• Assistant Professor of Sociology, Micronesian Studies, and Women & Gender Studies, Division of Social & Behavioral Sciences
• Cabrera puts in the time, energy, and commitment to fulfilling UOG's mission. She works hard to find solutions to problems and finds ways to foster collaboration. Her positive outlook and commitment to UOG reach far and wide. Cabrera is professional and extends respect and courtesy to all whom she encounters.

Service, Faculty

Andrea Sant, Ph.D.

• Professor of English and Women & Gender Studies, Division of English & Applied Linguistics
• During her first sabbatical year, Sant took the initiative to become certified in several online teaching modalities. She subsequently enhanced her online teaching and compiled a range of resources for her teaching colleagues. When the COVID-19 pandemic struck, Sant generously offered guidance to students and faculty who had a difficult time transitioning to online learning.

Research, Faculty

Francis Dalisay, Ph.D.

• Associate Professor of Journalism, Division of Communication, Media & Fine Arts
• Within 2019-2021, while teaching full-time for the Communication & Media Program, Dalisay has had 8 manuscripts published in peer-reviewed journals. Dalisay was awarded an $875,000 grant from the National Cancer Institute for research on the prevention of substance use among Guam's adolescents under the U54-University of Guam Cancer Research Center and University of Hawaii Cancer Center partnership.  He will co-lead that study.  He also served as the lead project scholar for a Mellon Foundation grant awarded to the Northern Marianas Humanities Council, for research on news use, media literacy, and civic engagement in the CNMI.