Recent Faculty, Staff, and Student Awards

A snapshot of our faculty's most recent academic and funding awards:

2022 Awards

  • Anthony Ferraro, Associate Professor in Human Development and Family Science, was named the recipient of the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU) Board on Human Sciences 2022 Undergraduate Research Mentor Award. The award recognizes a faculty member in human sciences for exceptional performance as a research mentor to undergraduate students.
  • Anthony Ferraro, Associate Professor in Human Development and Family Science, was awarded the College of Health and Human Sciences Hulsing Mentoring Award, recognizing his exceptional mentoring of undergraduate and graduate students.
  • Elaine Johannes, Kansas Health Foundation Distinguished Professor of Community Health and Extension Specialist, has received several recent grants and contracts to support health-related community engagement projects, including supporting vaccination education projects, building a network of Extension professionals to provide grant writing assistance to local communities, and replenishing the Kansas public health workforce through scholarships and internships or K-State’s Master of Public Health students.
  • Kari Morgan, Teaching Associate Professor in Integrative Human Sciences, was selected as the recipient of one of two 2022 K-State Global Campus Excellence in Online Teaching awards. This award is given to a faculty member who has provided outstanding online teaching, course development, mentoring of students, and service to the field of continuing education.
  • Kari Morgan, Teaching Associate Professor in Integrative Human Sciences, was awarded the College of Health and Human Sciences Dawley-Scholar Award for Faculty Excellence. The award recognizes outstanding achievement in the area of student development resulting in the personal, professional, and educational growth of one or more undergraduate and/or graduate students.
  • Chelsea Spencer, Research Associate Professor, was awarded the College of Health and Human Sciences Faculty Research Excellence Award for superior accomplishment in research, scholarly activities, and discovery.
  • Amber Vennum, Associate Professor in Couple and Family Therapy leads Relevate, a multidisciplinary team of researchers and practitioners who make research-based information about interpersonal relationships accessible to all. The Relevate team won the Priester Award for Innovation at the National Health Outreach Conference.
  • Bradford Wiles and Anthony Ferraro, Associate Professors in Human Development and Family Science, were awarded a $200,000 grant from Child Care Aware of Kansas to provide guidance and resources in conducting community-level child care-related needs assessments to local coalitions in need of support.

2023 Awards

  • Brooke Balderson, doctoral student in the Couple and Family Therapy program, was one of 10 winners of Research and the State, a poster forum for K-State graduate students. Her presentation was titled, “How the Role of Self of the Therapist Work in Supervision Impacts Therapeutic Growth and Development.” Brooke will now represent K-State at the Capitol Graduate Research Summit in Topeka in March 2024.
  • Jennifer Francois, Professor of Practice in Early Childhood Education, shared that as part of her work with KCCTO their new Infant-Toddler Specialist Network projects were renewed for $1.7 million for a 2nd year. This project is funded by the Kansas Department for Children and Families and is part of our larger Infant-Toddler Specialist Network program. It supports technical assistance and training for childcare providers in 2 areas: 1) supporting children with disabilities in childcare and 2) infant and early childhood mental health.
  • Alisha Hardman, Associate Professor in HDFS, has been elected as the new Affiliate Councils president-elect to represent the Affiliate Councils on the National Council on Family Relations.
  • Alisha Hardman, Associate Professor of HDFS/Prevention Science, was featured in the Emmy award winning film “On the Farm” from Mississippi State University: https://www.onthefarm.life/

Dr. Elaine Johannes, Extension Specialist and Associate Professor, has received three major awards this fall semester, recognizing her outstanding engagement in the area of community health.

  • Dr. Johannes received the Samuel J. Crubmine Medal from the Kansas Public Health Association. Dating back to 1946, the Samuel J. Crubmine Medal, KPHA’s highest award, has been given for meritorious service and state, regional, or national recognition related to the improvement of the health of Kansans and/or the environment of the state.
  • Dr. Johannes was also recognized with the 2023 North Central Region Award for Individual Excellence in Extension from the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, Cooperative Extension, and the Association of Public & Land-Grant Universities.
  • Lastly, Dr. Johannes was awarded the Outstanding Engagement Award by the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities Board on Health and Human Sciences. This award recognizes a campus-based or state-level faculty member with exceptional creativity and scholarship in the development, application, and evaluation of outreach, Extension, and public service programs.
  • Elaine Johannes, Extension Specialist and Associate Professor, and colleague, Priscilla Brenes, received $120,000 in grant funding from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment’s Community Clinical Linkages Program to prevent diabetes among Kansans through the implementation of the National Diabetes Program.
  • The Kansas State Student Speech-Language-Hearing Association, the organization for students in the Communication Sciences and Disorders program, was awarded 2023 Bronze Chapter Honors by the National Student Speech Language Hearing Association.
  • Brett Mallon, Conflict Resolution Program Chair, was invited to be a co-editor for a special issue of the Journal of Ethnic Studies, which was published earlier this year. The focus of the issue is a reflection on the Northern Ireland peace process and the Good Friday Agreement, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. In addition to co-editing, Brett also contributed two co-authored articles that were included in the special issue.
  • Bradford Wiles, Associate Professor and Extension Specialist, provided an interview for KSNT about access to quality, affordable, early childhood care and education in Kansas. https://www.ksnt.com/news/local-news/the-worrisome-state-of-childcare-in-northeastern-kansas/
  • Bradford Wiles ARCHER (Applied Research in Child Health and Enhancing Resilience) lab signed a contract for $23,582 with Reno County Head Start/USD 308 to conduct their 5-year community assessment in preparation for their next 5-year grant application. This contract has funded a graduate student for the 23-24 academic year.

Additional Information

Learn more about internal and external funding awards earned within the College of Health and Human Sciences.