College of Charleston Announces Distinguished Faculty Awards

^{Above (clockwise): Kathryn Pedings-Behling, Mike Giuliano, Anton Vander Zee, President Andrew T. Hsu, Susan Klein, Mike Duvall, Kwayera Davis ’05, Emily Rosko, Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost Suzanne Austin (photo by Catie Cleveland)}

Every year, the Office of the Provost recognizes outstanding faculty members who demonstrate excellence in various areas of advising, teaching and research through a series of Faculty Awards of Distinction.

The College of Charleston 2026 Distinguished Faculty Award recipients were announced at the Celebration of Faculty on Thursday, April 23, 2026, in the School of Natural and Environmental Sciences Building. Also recognized: those named emeriti faculty and those granted tenure and promotion, renewals, positive third-year reviews, superior post-tenure reviews and sabbaticals.

Congratulations to the below faculty members who received Distinguished Faculty Awards this year!

William V. Moore Distinguished Teacher-Scholar Award: Susan Klein

Susan Klein, chair of the Department of Studio Art, received the 2025–26 William V. Moore Distinguished Teacher-Scholar Award, which honors faculty members selected by their peers as exemplifying the teacher-scholar model. The recipients’ exemplary scholarship and teaching have enriched the intellectual lives of students throughout their careers.

Klein has a sustained record of nationally and internationally recognized scholarship in her field of studio art. She has a highly active exhibition record, placing her among the most accomplished artists at the College of Charleston.

Her exhibitions include a wide range of media, including oil paintings, paintings on silk and ceramic sculptures, and have been exhibited in galleries including the Asya Geisberg Gallery in New York City and the Frontviews/Haunt Gallery in Berlin, as well as the Maine Jewish Museum. She has won competitive residencies across the United Stated including the Vermont Studio Center to Jentel in Wyoming and had a residency at the Dunedin School of Art in New Zealand. Klein was the recipient of a prestigious Pollack-Krasner Foundation grant in 2020/2021.

In the classroom and in independent studies, Klein challenges her students to take creative risks and develop their own authentic artistic voice. Her colleagues say her leadership in the studio art department has “fostered a culture of intellectual rigor and creative ambition.” Klein has secured residencies for her students to display their art at Fort Moultrie and has recently partnered with Spoleto to have students’ work shown during the festival.

Studio art students speak highly of Klein with admiration, amazement and respect. She is very active in advising students with graduate school and career options. Her students have gone on to attend prestigious graduate programs, including Columbia University, Hunter College and the University of Wisconsin Madison.

Distinguished Teaching Award: Emily Rosko

Emily Rosko, professor of English, received the 2025–26 Distinguished Teaching Award, which honors those faculty members who are outstanding among the College’s many exceptional teachers, typifying high standards and commitment to teaching excellence throughout their careers.

Rosko’s teaching career over the past 16 years stands as a testament to what literature and the humanities have offered humanity and academic institutions for centuries: a space for authentic voice, rigorous craft, deep thinking and genuine human creation that leads to both personal and intellectual growth.

Rosko is recognized for a sustained record of excellence and an unwavering commitment to student learning at the College of Charleston. Her teaching is marked by consistency and excellence, with evaluation scores reflecting sustained effectiveness across courses and levels. She has shaped the Creative Writing program through a student-centered approach that challenges, supports and inspires writers at every stage of their development.

As an accomplished poet herself, author of three collections and recipient of fellowships from Stanford and the Poetry Foundation, Rosko  brings to her teaching not only scholarly expertise, but also the lived knowledge of a practicing artist.

She has mentored numerous students, guiding many toward publication and competitive graduate programs. Her impact is perhaps best reflected in the voices of her students, who regard her as “a once-in-a-lifetime professor” who “doesn’t just teach; she invests in her students,” creating courses and classroom environments where every student can learn and grow as writers as well as active listeners and collaborators. 

Distinguished Adjunct Faculty Teaching Award: Kwayera Alabama Davis ’05

Kwayera Alabama Davis ’05, adjunct faculty member in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, received the 2025–26 Distinguished Adjunct Faculty Teaching Award, which honors adjunct faculty members who are outstanding among the College’s many exceptional teachers, typifying high standards and commitment to teaching excellence throughout their careers.

Davis’ passion for astronomy began on a camping trip to Mt. Mitchell as a teenager, when a clear view of the Milky Way changed the direction of his life. He went on to major in physics with a concentration in astronomy here at CofC, earned his M.S. in astronomy and astrophysics at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor and eventually returned to teach at his alma mater.

Davis teaches a variety of introductory astronomy classes and co-teaches the NASA Space Mission Design course, a two-semester, NASA-funded project in which student teams collaborate with engineering students at the University of Alabama-Huntsville to design a mock mission and defend it before real aerospace professionals.

Beyond his teaching, Davis has developed new astronomy laboratory curricula and sustained the NASA Space Mission Design course over the years – a contribution his colleagues describe as an extraordinary service to the department and to the College.

Davis is known for his “unwavering commitment to student success and genuine passion for cultivating curiosity and critical thinking,” and for working patiently with students who arrive convinced they cannot do math, showing them it is a skill anyone can learn with practice.

This educator who once stood on a mountaintop and fell in love with the night sky, continues to inspire that same sense of wonder in his students, year after year.

Innovation in Teaching Award: Amy Langville and Kathryn Pedings-Behling

Amy Langville and Kathryn Pedings-Behling of the Department of Mathematics and Statistics received the 2025–26 Innovation in Teaching Award, which recognizes faculty members who integrate experiential learning, new technologies, research-based instructional strategies and innovative pedagogical approaches to improve student engagement, learning outcomes and overall success in face-to-face, hybrid, and online learning contexts. Recipients push the boundaries of traditional methods to foster engaging, dynamic and impactful learning experiences and also share their innovative practices with colleagues to promote a culture of teaching excellence and innovation within the institution.

Langville and Pedings-Behling have  nearly two decades of sustained collaboration transforming how students experience mathematics – particularly in courses that serve as gateways to STEM fields. At the heart of their work is the Deconstruct Calculus Series, a collection of seven guidebook-style journals that reimagine the traditional calculus textbook through hands-on activities, visual prompts, collaborative tools and personalized examples. Developed through years of classroom testing and research, these materials are used in Business Calculus and for parts of the calculus sequence. Complementing this work is CalcuComix, a Sloan Foundation Award–winning graphic novel coming out later this year that introduces mathematical ideas through storytelling. They have designed a suite of custom AI learning tools – including a 24/7 study companion for calculus students and simulated teaching environments for preservice teachers.

Their innovations span every dimension of teaching: content, format, technology and message. As one nominator noted, their approach is fundamentally “non-elitist,” grounded in the belief that every student can learn mathematics. Research from Pedings-Behling’s doctoral work further demonstrates measurable gains in student confidence and persistence, with particularly strong outcomes among women and underrepresented students.

Beyond the classroom, they have presented their work at national conferences, organized STEM education events that bring leading scholars to campus and actively mentored students and colleagues.

These two educators have not only reimagined calculus; they have reimagined what it means to belong in mathematics.  

Distinguished Undergraduate Mentor Award: Michael Giuliano

Michael Giuliano, associate professor of chemistry, received the 2025–26 Distinguished Undergraduate Mentor Award, which honors faculty members who have demonstrated a sustained commitment to and excellence in mentoring undergraduate students in individual research or creative projects by supporting and influencing students’ educational and career paths.

Giuliano joined the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry faculty in 2015. The focus of his lab is to better understand the complex three-dimensional structure of human signaling peptides, research that requires performing and interpreting highly advanced nuclear magnetic resonance experiments in addition to training in chemical synthesis and purification techniques. The thorough analysis of experimental spectra requires very detailed interpretation, well beyond what undergraduate students would typically learn in their coursework.

Giuliano works with his students to help them become effective science communicators. He encourages his students to present their research on campus, at statewide events and at regional and national meetings. His guidance in reading and revising drafts of bachelor’s essays is as thorough as it would be for a peer-reviewed publication, and some of these students have been co-authors of peer-reviewed articles.  

Another active role that Giuliano plays in his students’ development is editing their personal statements for fellowship applications and graduate school admissions. He takes his students’ professional development very seriously, and the results of his efforts, including their successful admission to competitive programs, speak for themselves.

Giuliano has effectively trained undergraduate research students in complex research activities and their interpretation, developed these students into effective science communicators and nurtured their professional development through individualized interactions to help them to discern the best path for their plans after graduation.

Through these interactions, Giuliano has truly distinguished himself as an outstanding mentor and deserving of our recognition. 

Distinguished Service Award: Anton Vander Zee

Anton Vander Zee, associate professor of English, received the 2025–26 Distinguished Service Award, which recognizes the outstanding contributions of a colleague who, beyond his or her required duties, has a sustained career of serving the College community in an outstanding and distinguished manner.

Vander Zee’s extraordinary and sustained career of institutional service has shaped student success, faculty governance and the College’s academic programs in lasting ways. 

Since joining the faculty in 2013, Vander Zee has taken on some of the most complex and demanding service roles at the College, and approached each with what his colleagues describe as “humility and humanity.”

As the sole director of the Office of Nationally Competitive Awards from 2013 to 2019, he mentored 315 students, 59 of whom earned prestigious awards, including Fulbright grants, Goldwater Scholarships and NSF fellowships, earning CofC multiple “Top Producer” designations from the Chronicle of Higher Education. His leadership so demonstrated the office’s value that the provost expanded and elevated it under Academic Affairs. 

Vander Zee’s service has extended across nearly every dimension of college life: coordinating the Honors First-Year Experience; serving a decade on the College Reads! committee; chairing the campuswide Advisory Committee on Tenure, Promotion, and Third-Year Review; leading curricular reform on the Faculty Curriculum Committee; directing the Spoleto Study Abroad Program; and stepping in as department chair following an unexpected vacancy.

His record reflects, in the words of his nominators, “a faculty member whose service is not only prolific, but transformative” – one who “regularly takes on work that others might avoid” and does so always in pursuit of lasting impact for students, colleagues and the institution. 

Distinguished Advising Award: Michael Duvall

Michael Duvall, associate chair of the Department of English, received the 2025–26 Distinguished Advising Award, which recognizes a faculty member who has demonstrated sustained dedication to students in the area of academic advising.

Duvall is widely recognized for his transformative approach to academic advising. His work emphasizes holistic student growth, intellectual coherence and purposeful academic planning.

He has reshaped advising in his department by championing developmental and learning‑centered models that treat advising as an extension of teaching. He has guided a shift away from transactional advising toward a more individualized, reflective practice. He created the department’s comprehensive OAKS advising site – now an essential resource for faculty – which centralizes guidance, best practices and time‑sensitive information. His efforts have strengthened faculty training, improved consistency in advising and fostered a shared departmental philosophy.

Duvall’s impact is especially notable in his support of English‑Teacher Education (EDEN) majors. He developed side‑by‑side requirement worksheets and cross‑departmental scheduling tools that help students navigate the complex demands of two degree programs. His initiatives have improved communication between the Departments of English and Teacher Education and reduced barriers that once hindered students’ progress.

Known for his generosity with time and expertise, Duvall is a trusted mentor to both students and colleagues. His advising is marked by empathy, problem‑solving and a commitment to supporting the whole student – whether guiding study‑abroad decisions, connecting students with career resources or helping them persevere through personal hardship.

Duvall continues to expand his advising expertise through ongoing professional development, modeling the reflective, student‑centered practice he encourages across his department.

Distinguished Research Award: Allan Strand

Allan Strand, professor of biology, received the 2025–26 Distinguished Research Award, which recognizes those faculty members who have a significant career of research, demonstrated by the body of a faculty member’s scholarly and/or creative works within the past few years and evaluated based on their quality and significance as well as their quantity.

Strand joined the faculty at College of Charleston in 1998 and is an expert in population dispersal. He is a highly collaborative scientist whose work has significantly impacted the field of ecology.

Strand has secured more than $4 million in extramural research funding and published over 60 peer-reviewed articles at the College, including high-profile manuscripts in journals such as Science and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA.

Strand has received several other awards of note at the College also, such as the Distinguished Teaching Award in 2017.