UNC Hussman honors faculty and staff with awards for excellence in teaching and service
The close of the spring 2023 semester brought with it the UNC Hussman tradition of honoring the outstanding contributions of faculty and staff with annual awards and cash prizes totaling nearly $20,000.
At its final schoolwide meeting of the 2022-23 academic year, the school recognized two staff members and five faculty members for excellence in teaching and service to the school community.
This year’s faculty and staff award winners include:
· Crystal Brown, Undergraduate Hub Coordinator
Staff Excellence Award
· Joseph Czabovsky, Associate Professor
Richard Cole Service Award
· Livis Freeman, Teaching Associate Professor
Edward Vick Teaching Innovation Award
Richard Cole Service Award
· Gary Kayye, Teaching Assistant Professor
Edward Vick Teaching Innovation Award
· Lee Meredith, Adjunct Instructor
Val Lauder Teaching Award
· Joseph Penaloza, Administrative Support Specialist
Staff Excellence Award
· Amanda Reid, Associate Professor
David Brinkley Teaching Award
“The faculty and staff of UNC Hussman demonstrate a deep commitment and willingness to give of themselves to serve our students and our community every year,” said Raul Reis, dean of the school. “It’s wonderful to witness the appreciation within our community for one another through the nomination process and celebration of the winners of our annual faculty and staff awards. This year’s honorees are an amazing and very deserving group, and I’m very happy and full of gratitude and appreciation for all of them”
Staff Excellence Award
Undergraduate Hub Coordinator Crystal Brown and Administrative Support Specialist Joseph Penaloza were each honored with a Staff Excellence Award recognizing teamwork, creativity, commitment, flexibility and a positive attitude.
As the face of the Undergraduate Hub, Brown interacts with each person who visits the Hub. She provides administrative support to each area in the Hub — academic advising, career services and global programs. She also helps manage the production of the Hub’s weekly newsletter to students; assists with course and classroom scheduling; coordinates tours for prospective students; and fields a steady stream of inquiries from students, parents, faculty, staff and campus colleagues.
Brown’s nominations described her as a team player with initiative and flexibility who is delightful, dependable and hardworking with an infectious positive attitude. She was described as so instrumental in the daily life of the school that “the school would not be able to function effectively without her.”
A versatile administrator, Penaloza carries out many HR and facilities-related responsibilities. He serves as the TIM administrator, parking coordinator and access request coordinator for the school; performs general facilities management functions; manages student appointments, unpaid visiting scholars and affiliates; and coordinates the school’s professional development program.
Penaloza’s nominations often mentioned a bright, kind and welcoming smile with which he performs his work supporting students and colleagues beyond the call of duty. He was described as dependable, committed, attentive to detail, thorough, kind, friendly, responsible and a joy to be around. “Joseph does everything, everywhere, all at once,” wrote one nominator.
Val Lauder Teaching Award
Adjunct Instructor Lee Meredith, an award-winning broadcaster and journalist who began teaching courses at UNC Hussman in 2018, was honored with the 2023 Val Lauder Teaching Award.
The award, named for the trailblazing journalist who taught in the school for many years, recognizes a non-full-time faculty member for excellence in teaching. Nominators cited Meredith’s joy for teaching and his dedication to helping students learn and succeed.
He served as vice president and general manager for Raycom Media in four different television markets over a 20-year span. During that time, he was named "GM of the Year" by Broadcasting & Cable, selected as "Broadcaster of the Year" by the Louisiana Association of Broadcasters and inducted into the Silver Circle by the Nashville/Midsouth chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.
Meredith began his career as a television news reporter, before moving to producing and news management roles. During his tenure with Raycom, Meredith was a leading advocate for television news operations to accelerate the distribution of news content onto digital platforms. His aspiration as an educator is to honor the role of the Fourth Estate and to help equip students with improved critical thinking skills so they can better navigate careers in today’s dynamic media environment.
Richard Cole Service Award
Associate Professor Joseph Czabovsky and Teaching Associate Professor Livis Freeman were each honored with the Richard Cole Service Award in recognition of their work to create a collaborative culture within the school. The award is named for Dean Emeritus Richard Cole who served as UNC Hussman dean from 1979-2005.
Czabovsky’s creative and professional work, as well as his research, focuses on diversifying and disrupting strategic communication, public relations and advertising. Within this realm, he often examines under explored types of publics, such as minority and niche communities. Though the industry sectors he examines are diverse – from politics to entertainment to investor relations – the objectives of his work are the same, as he seeks to create a better understanding of the diversity of publics, improve the way we measure and evaluate efforts and disrupt the tactics we are using to reach these diverse publics.
Czabovsky is an active collaborator with faculty, staff and students to build community and help move the school forward. He is an important voice serving as an at-large faculty member on the Dean’s Cabinet. He led faculty and alumni in building the new 12-month strategic communication area of study. And although not a formal member of the school’s curriculum committee, he has assisted with structure change discussions and recommendations. Czabovsky helped with the planning and promotion around the school’s first observance of the international Transgender Day of Visibility, and he has also helped build up community of Asian students within the school.
Freeman, a public relations and advertising instructor who also won a 2023 Edward Vick Teaching Innovation Award, founded a public and community relations company called 4ourFans, Inc. in 2001 to help professional athletes create their charitable identities and personal brands. He serves on the board of directors for the UNC School of Social Work and The Daily Tar Heel where he also serves as the faculty adviser. Freeman has served on more than a dozen charitable boards and is particularly passionate about his service to Ronald McDonald House of Chapel Hill for more 13 years in various roles including president, vice president, secretary and adviser.
He is recognized as a vibrant and intentional collaborator among UNC Hussman students, faculty and staff. He is a long-time contributor to the school’s DEI efforts and serves on the Access, Belonging, Inclusion, Diversity and Equity (ABIDE) committee. Freeman’s collaborative service extends beyond the DEI space, spearheading special events and leading workshops like the Public Relations Student Society of America’s resumé and cover letter workshop. And he helps our UNC Hussman students and recent grads navigate the media and journalism industry through mentoring and career preparation.
He leads the school’s Chuck Stone Program, an initiative inspired by Professor Emeritus Charles “Chuck” Stone’s lifelong commitment to increasing the voices of diversity in all areas of mass communication. The Stone Program is centerpiece in the school’s efforts to recruit diverse students, bringing 12 rising high school seniors to campus for a week of intensive workshops, teaching and mentoring. the students beyond their time in the summer program.
David Brinkley Teaching Award
Associate Professor Amanda Reid, who has taught media law courses in the school since 2018, was honored with the 2023 David Brinkley Teaching Award. Reid also serves as an adjunct professor at the UNC School of Law and faculty co-director of the UNC Center for Media Law and Policy.
The Brinkley Award, named for the legendary broadcast journalist who was inducted into the NC Media & Journalism Hall of Fame in 1989, recognizes excellence in teaching and a commitment to helping students inside and outside the classroom.
Prior to entering academia, Reid worked as a commercial litigation associate with Holland & Knight LLP where her projects included assisting clients with trademark and copyright applications, a copyright trial in federal court and a patent case through a Markman hearing. She has also served as an elbow clerk for two federal judges.
Reid received multiple nominations from across the spectrum of the UNC Hussman community — undergraduates, graduate students and other faculty members.
Student nominators described Reid as one of the most interesting lecturers they’ve had in their four years at Carolina. “Dr. Reid takes complicated legal concepts and translates them into approachable and thought-provoking hypothetical situations,” wrote one student. “She keeps students engaged and excited about the constantly evolving nature of media law.”
Edward Vick Teaching Innovation Award
Teaching Associate Professor Livis Freeman and Teaching Assistant Professor Gary Kayye were each honored with a 2023 Edward Vick Teaching Innovation Award that recognizes creativity and innovation in teaching that meaningfully enhances student learning experiences.
The award is named for Edward Vick, a 1966 graduate of the school who was an innovative advertising executive who was inducted into the NC Media & Journalism Hall of Fame in 1996.
Freeman, who was also recognized this year with a Richard Cole Service Award, leverages his professional and entrepreneurial experience in teaching and mentoring students. Through the 4ourFans company he founded to work with professional athletes, Freeman created an
internship program that has given more 60 students around the country the chance to get valuable experience in public and community relations.
He is a former Teaching Fellow for the Institute of African American Research’s Initiative for Student Learning to Advance Truth and Equality (AAR-SLATE) and an honors thesis adviser. He has also been recognized with a 40 Under 40 Leadership Award by the Triangle Business Journal and as a Carolina Pride “Hometown Hero.”
A colleague nominating him for the award described Freeman as a creative force both as an entrepreneur and as a popular member of the Carolina faculty — and an outstanding professor and mentor whose creativity and innovation in teaching has enhanced the learning experiences of the school’s advertising and public relations students.
Other nominations cited his engagement with top brands in his courses; innovative work around service; and the development of an innovative new course that has been popular with students and helps change their mindsets about the job application process. The school’s first “Career Exploration and Preparation” course gives them the skills to adapt and excel during difficult job interviews.
Kayye, a former winner of the Val Lauder Teaching Award who has taught courses in the school since 2009, has worked in technology, branding and marketing for more than 25 years. He teaches multiple courses in the school covering new media and its impact on the future of advertising, marketing and PR; a personal and professional branding class; and principles of advertising.
Kayye founded the rAVe [PUBS] AV news publication and is the director of the full-service creative rAVe Agency. He has also served as vice president of sales and marketing for Extron and executive VP at AMX Corporation. He has worked on branding campaigns for dozens of tech companies like Cisco, HP, Epson, Sony and Zoom. He is a former winner of AVIXA’s Educator of the Year award and the NSCA Instructor of the Year award. He has been the keynote speaker at more than 310 technology shows and events. He also co-founded the Swim for Smiles Foundation — a non-profit that hosts athletic events for local kids to raise money for the UNC and Duke children’s hospitals.
Kayye received multiple nominations for the Vick Award, with one citing the “nuggets of wisdom and pieces of life advice” he shares to help students through their careers and lives.
A student nominator wrote: “In his classroom we are students, but we are also creators and innovators. He is an innovator himself, but it takes a special person to teach others to be innovative thinkers."
Another student said: “I hope every student is as lucky as me and finds a professor that inspires them to be the most creative, driven version of themself the way that Gary Kayye has inspired me and countless others at UNC Hussman.”