UNH Today

Every year, a chosen few of UNH’s outstanding faculty members from each college and school receive Faculty Excellence Awards in recognition of their achievements in teaching, scholarship and service. University-wide awards recognize public service, research, teaching and engagement. The 2025 award recipients include:

Melissa Aikens, 2025 Excellence in Teaching Award, COLSA

Aikens exemplifies excellence in teaching through her dedication to transforming the student experience in the life sciences. She has been the cornerstone of Biology 412, a large Discovery D-Lab course, reshaping it into a model of evidence-based pedagogy. Through active learning, peer instruction, and innovative group work, she has created a welcoming and rigorous classroom environment that deepens student understanding, builds community, and reduces attrition in this critical gateway course.

Her impact is exemplified by this comment from a first-year student: “Your class was always a highlight of my week, and I found the lectures so interesting and valuable. I was so impressed by how you were able to make the big room feel small and make the material so engaging. I also really appreciated the group work aspect of this course, and it was just overall awesome to be able to experience a course like this taught by someone who was so good at making a big lecture fun and not scary!”

In addition to her teaching, which includes upper-level and graduate classes, Aikens was instrumental in bringing peer-led team learning to foundational biology courses. Her undergraduate and graduate advisees consistently highlight her respect, empathy, and ability to inspire confidence. A leader in STEM education scholarship, she has advanced teaching practices within the College of Life Sciences and Agriculture (COLSA) and across UNH, shaping how faculty engage students in mastering quantitative skills.

Thomas Alsip, 2025 Excellence in Teaching Award, COLA

Tom Alsip, assistant professor of theatre and dance, exemplifies pedagogical innovation, student-centered mentorship, and unwavering dedication to the craft of teaching. Beginning his time at UNH during the challenging period of COVID-era instruction, which was particularly difficult in his discipline of musical theatre, Alsip quickly established himself as an exceptional educator, inspiring his students with resilience, creativity, and compassion.

Alsip’s teaching evaluations consistently reflect his extraordinary impact, with glowing reviews in courses for majors and non-majors alike. His classes combine the utmost professional rigor with a nurturing atmosphere that empowers students to take artistic risks. Students frequently cite his classes as the most transformative experiences of their academic careers and commend him for the ways he prepares them for careers in the performing arts.

Beyond the classroom, Alsip redesigned the musical theatre curriculum to better integrate musicianship, acting, and dance, and has also spearheaded vital professional enrichment initiatives. He reimagined the New York City [Theatre] Showcase and leads annual student trips to the Southeastern Theatre Conference, efforts that directly launch students into meaningful professional careers.

Colleagues and students praise his deep industry knowledge, joyful classroom presence, and extraordinary mentorship. Through innovative teaching, program leadership, and exemplary collegiality, Alsip has transformed UNH’s musical theatre program and continues to recruit and inspire new cohorts of artists.

Jess Carson, 2025 Excellence in Public Service Award, Carsey School of Public Policy

Carson is the founder and director of the Center for Social Policy in Practice and a research assistant professor at the Carsey School of Public Policy. She has built an impressive research agenda examining families, poverty, childcare, and nutrition needs in New Hampshire and New England.

Carson mentors a seven-person research team while also providing leadership to multidisciplinary teams across academic, NGO, and government agencies. Her work on the child-care crisis and related issues of poverty, preschool availability, and food access represents cutting-edge research with significant policy implications that serve those same families and children. She has secured multimillion-dollar grants and served as principal investigator on multiple competitive grants.

Carson studies how policy affects people, focusing on how legislative and administrative decisions shape access to resources available through work, the social safety net, and community settings. She focuses on the structural issues surrounding access to early childhood care and education, the multidimensional nature of food access, and measuring how policy and program effects vary within and across rural places. Her work is applied in nature, and she is passionate about helping nonprofit partners get the data they need to continue their good work.

Melissa Christensen, 2025 Excellence in Teaching Award, UNH Franklin Pierce School of Law

Building community, confidence, and trust, while always pushing students to pursue continuous growth through a caring and creative approach, has earned Christensen the 2025 UNH Excellence in Teaching Award.

Teaching Legal Analysis, Writing, and Research at the UNH Franklin Pierce School of Law, Christensen’s ability to provide comprehensive feedback on every aspect of writing reinforces with her students that each one belongs and can succeed in the classroom. Her caring manner also transcends academics, as students have said her kindness emboldened them to be better people and reach their full potential in all aspects of their lives.

She previously served as assistant counsel for the Philadelphia Corporation for Aging, the Area Agency on Aging for Philadelphia County, and has worked in the legal office of the University of Chicago Medical Center and multiple law firms. Christensen is an alumna of the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts, and earned her J.D., with a Health Law Certificate, from Loyola University Chicago School of Law.

Christensen’s unwavering dedication, outstanding contributions, and commitment to excellence will leave an indelible legacy in the law community for generations of students. As one student noted, “One unique quality that makes her an excellent teacher is how personally invested she is in each student’s success. She made time to meet one-on-one, offered thoughtful feedback, and made legal writing, often a daunting subject, feel approachable and empowering.”

Serita Frey, 2025 Excellence in Research Award, COLSA

Frey is a professor in the department of natural resources and the environment whose research has fundamentally changed how we think about soil. Throughout her career, she has challenged some of the most fundamental assumptions about soil biology. She has questioned long-held beliefs about the roles of bacteria versus fungi in healthy soils, pioneered a trait-based approach to understanding fungal communities, and demonstrated that microbial community structure and physiology are critical regulators of how soils respond to warming.

Frey’s work connects microbial mechanisms to climate feedbacks on a global scale. Rather than simply documenting which fungi are present, she asks how their functional characteristics respond to changing environments and what this means for forests and soils. Her long-term experiments at Harvard Forest have revealed how different fungal groups respond to warming and nitrogen deposition, with profound implications for forest carbon storage and climate change feedback.

Frey has published 139 peer-reviewed papers and has been cited more than 37,000 times. She is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the Ecological Society of America and a three-time Clarivate Highly Cited Researcher, placing her among the top 0.1% of global scientists by citation impact. She has secured $20 million in competitive funding and received the prestigious Francis Clark Distinguished Lecturer award in 2024 from the Soil Science Society of America.

Frey is a co-founder of the Soil BioME Center, and she has mentored 47 students and postdoctoral researchers who consistently produce outstanding science. She is generous, kind, and highly collaborative, always quick to recognize others’ successes. Her work has been featured in outlets including Smithsonian Magazine and Scientific American, and she frequently shares her science with broader audiences, including farmers and other land managers.

Patricia Halpin, 2025 Excellence in Teaching Award, UNH Manchester

Professor of biological sciences and biotechnology at UNH Manchester, Halpin demonstrates faculty excellence through innovative teaching, impactful outreach, and global research collaborations. Since joining UNH Manchester in 1999, she has transformed science education through hands-on, student-driven learning. Halpin’s classrooms are lively and engaging, featuring physiology songs, dramatizations, debates, and team-building activities that make complex ideas clear and memorable.

Her passion for science extends far beyond the classroom. Halpin shares her expertise with the community through STEM outreach in rural New Hampshire and Australia, and with ESOL students in the EXCELL in STEM program. These practical experiences spark curiosity and encourage young learners to explore science through experimentation and data collection. She also mentors undergraduate researchers who design and evaluate K–12 outreach programs, many of which have been presented at international conferences.

A respected leader in her field, Halpin was named a fellow of the American Physiological Society in 2024 and previously served as chair of its teaching section. Her research collaborations span the globe, including partners in Brazil, Pakistan, India, New Zealand, and Australia. The APS has honored Halpin with the 2018 Dale J. Benos Professional Service Award and the 2017 New Investigator Award. She also received the Campus Compact for New Hampshire Presidents’ Good Steward Award in 2016.

Cindy Hartman, 2025 Excellence in Teaching Award, CHHS

Hartman, associate professor of recreation management and policy, is an exceptional educator whose influence extends well beyond the classroom. Over her years at UNH, Hartman has built a reputation as both a gifted teacher and a thoughtful curriculum leader, inspiring students while strengthening programs across the college.

In the classroom, Hartman is known for her ability to connect theory to practice through experiential learning. Whether guiding students in Recreation and Event Leadership, Youth Culture and Programs, or graduate-level courses such as Concepts of Recreation and Leisure, she challenges them with real-world applications, hands-on projects, and opportunities to test their skills in professional contexts. Students consistently praise her courses for being engaging, rigorous, and transformative. As one student noted, “Cindy fosters a welcoming and inspiring classroom environment where students feel heard and valued. She is an exceptional professor who brings out the best in her students.” Another wrote, “Her guidance in resume writing and professional skills has been instrumental to my career preparation.”

Hartman’s impact also shines through her mentorship. She supports students in their academic and professional growth, often going above and beyond to help them secure internships, pursue research, and prepare for meaningful careers. Colleagues describe her as a mentor to students, adjunct instructors, and junior faculty alike, creating a culture of collaboration and continuous improvement in teaching across the College of Health and Human Services (CHHS).

Her leadership in curriculum development and accreditation further underscores her dedication. Hartman played a pivotal role in the department’s successful reaccreditation process and continues to guide curriculum enhancements that strengthen student learning and career readiness. Her efforts have directly shaped the evolution of new programs, such as Tourism and Event Management, ensuring that CHHS remains responsive to both student needs and industry trends.

Mark Henn, 2025 Jean Brierley Award for Excellence in Teaching, COLA

Henn has been a dedicated part of the UNH psychology department since 1984, first as a graduate student and now as a principal lecturer. Over the course of more than four decades, Henn has touched the lives of thousands of students, and his enthusiasm for teaching remains as vibrant as ever.

Henn’s classes are unforgettable. Walk past one of his classrooms and you might see him climbing on tables, dramatically yelling “yes!” in response to a student insight, drawing connections between course content and that day’s headlines, or even lying on a bed of nails. His teaching is dynamic, engaging, and deeply human. He challenges students to think critically, stay curious, and be better citizens. He embodies the very best of what college teaching can and should be.

With at least 14 different course preparations under his belt, including topics as diverse as statistics, social psychology, belief in the paranormal, behavior modification, and behaviorism, culture, and contemporary society, Henn – a Fulbright Scholar – brings extraordinary breadth and depth to his work. He generously shares his expertise with students and colleagues alike. His advice is always thoughtful, grounded in evidence-based practice, and generously offered.

Jessica Lepler, 2025 Excellence in Teaching Award, COLA

Lepler, associate professor of history with a specialization in early America, transforms the study of the past into a deeply engaging and accessible experience. Her classes are known for their intellectual rigor, creative assignments, and innovative methods, and they are filled with warmth, compassion, and respect. She is commended by students for being engaging, thoughtful, and helpful. Lepler designs courses that foster active learning, intellectual curiosity, and critical thinking, incorporating what Professor Kurk Dorsey has described as “unusual methods.” These have included visits to the UNH Dairy (for her History of Animals course), the organization of newspaper labs, and extending invitations to colleagues to discuss various aspects of animal research.

From delivering “impeccably planned” lectures to mentoring undergraduate researchers and doctoral students, she ensures that every learner is heard, challenged, and supported. Lepler fosters meaningful learning experiences by creating a classroom built on mutual, communal learning where complex histories are explored through thoughtful dialogue and interdisciplinary exploration.

Beyond the classroom, she demonstrates leadership in teaching innovation, such as co-developing the Professionalization for Historians graduate seminar, and she played a key role in the history department’s curriculum revision, ensuring greater accessibility and cohesion across the major.

Mark Lyon, 2025 Award for Excellence in Teaching, CEPS

Lyon is an expert in the interdisciplinary field of applied mathematics. He has been widely recognized by both students and colleagues as an outstanding educator and scholar since joining UNH in 2008. He teaches courses at both the undergraduate and graduate levels in the department of mathematics and statistics and contributed to the conception and success of interdisciplinary programs in the College of Engineering and Physical Sciences (CEPS) including Integrated applied mathematics (IAM) and data science and analytics. His intellectual generosity has earned him a reputation as a highly respected teacher and mentor.

Lyon’s warm personality and deep understanding of course material help him create an open and engaging learning environment for students. He has an exceptional ability to explain complex mathematical concepts in ways that are approachable without oversimplifying. His courses are well-crafted to support each student’s success, and he is consistently available to assist them through his nearly unlimited office hours. One student in his course MATH 753, Introduction to Numerical Methods I, noted that “Dr. Lyon was one of my most impactful instructors while I was at UNH. He framed numerical methods in a practical way that allows me to make quick use of them in my job as an engineer.”

In addition to being a notable teacher, Lyon is a dedicated and supportive graduate mentor. He has demonstrated an unparalleled commitment to his graduate students and their success. He provides technical insight and poses probing questions in just the right measure to encourage growth and ensure progress. His patient guidance has helped his students overcome many obstacles, both personal and professional. As one of his former Ph.D. students in the IAM program remarked, “Dr. Lyon has had a profound impact on my education, and I am sincerely grateful for his guidance, support, and inspiration.” Another advisee stated, “he has had a transformative impact on my education at UNH and has been central to my growth as a Ph.D. student.”

Aside from his exceptional work as a teacher and mentor, Lyon has been a key catalyst for the development and implementation of interdisciplinary academic programming and research in CEPS and at UNH broadly.

John (Jack) Mayer, 2025 Distinguished Professor Award, COLA

Mayer is a bit of a rock star in the psychology department. If you have ever heard the term “emotional intelligence” then you have unknowingly encountered Mayer’s scholarship. Historically, perspectives on personality relied on IQ as the traditional measure of human intelligence. However, Jack and others realized that there are several other components of human intelligence, one of them being our ability to assess the emotional state of ourselves and others.

Mayer and his colleagues subsequently developed a widely used measure of emotional intelligence that has become a national standard among psychologists. He is also a blogger for Psychology Today, the popular magazine for general readers, and he is an op-ed writer for prominent publications such as The New York Times.

One might assume that Mayer would be a bit aloof or hard to reach, given his international reputation as a scholar. On the contrary, he is one of the most down-to-earth individuals and is a constant presence in the department. He regularly teaches two undergraduate classes each semester and those courses are highly sought after by students. He also mentors a group of undergraduates who work with him and his graduate students in his lab. Impressively, many of his students have gone on to secure notable positions at academic institutions.

Mayer’s students often describe having a strong relationship with him as a mentor, as he is generous with his time and deeply supportive of their growth. He also listens to and supports other faculty in the department.

Scott McNamara, 2025 Outstanding Assistant Professor Award, CHHS

McNamara exemplifies the highest standards of academic excellence, innovation, and service. Since joining UNH, he has emerged as a national leader in adapted physical education (APE), advancing equitable access to quality physical education for individuals with disabilities.

A prolific scholar, McNamara has authored more than 65 peer-reviewed publications in leading journals such as Adapted Physical Activity Quarterly, British Journal of Educational Technology, and the Journal of Teaching in Physical Education. His research addresses critical issues in policy, teacher preparation, and evidence-based practice while introducing innovative tools such as his widely recognized podcast, What’s New in APE, which translates complex research into accessible professional learning. His scholarship has garnered more than $1.3 million in external funding, including a major federal grant supporting the development of UNH’s APE graduate program.

As an educator, McNamara is known for his mentorship, creativity, and dedication to student success. He has developed engaging, research-driven curricula that prepare future educators to lead inclusive programs. His leadership and service to professional organizations, including SHAPE America and the International Federation of Adapted Physical Activity, have earned him national recognition through honors such as the Helen M. Heitmann Young Scholar Award, the David P. Beaver APA Professional Young Scholar Award, and the IFAPA Young Professional Award.

Weiwei Mo, 2025 Outstanding Associate Professor, CEPS

Mo’s achievements as a prolific educator and researcher and her tremendous service within the university and environmental engineering profession have earned her the 2025 Outstanding Associate Professor Award. Since 2015, Mo has been an active faculty member in the department of civil and environmental engineering (CEE), where she has made outstanding contributions to both the education and research missions of UNH.

She has developed three sustainability-related courses since joining UNH, that formed the backbone of the sustainability area for civil and environmental engineering majors as well as many other majors, such as ocean engineering and environmental studies. Each year, many students praise Mo’s teaching, noting that her approach strengthens their engineering and scientific foundations, enhances systems-level thinking and develops strong analytical skills, all essential qualities for successful engineers and scientists.

An internationally recognized researcher, Mo is frequently invited to present at global conferences. Her research focuses on enhancing the sustainability of water and energy infrastructure, working to reduce the economic, environmental, and social impacts on society. For her seminal contributions to the field of sustainability, she received UNH’s Platinum Sustainability Award in Faculty Research in 2022. Her publications on the energy-water nexus have received extensive citations from both the research and professional communities, contributing important insights toward developing carbon-neutral water supply and wastewater treatment systems.

A dedicated collaborator, Mo has been instrumental in developing sustainability-focused courses for UNH and conducting research that addresses pressing real-world problems. Nearly all her work connects directly to challenges faced by local communities. She is one of the six founding members and the current vice chair of the public policy section of the International Society of Industrial Ecology (ISIE).

Gregg Moore, 2025 Excellence in International Engagement Award, COLSA

Moore has demonstrated career-spanning dedication to international engagement of citizens, students, faculty, and government officials. His work enhances coastal resilience by coupling restoration, education, and outreach. Moore has been conducting these activities through UNH for 20 years, during which he and his team have worked in 15 nations (13 Caribbean countries, the United Arab Emirates, and Bangladesh), trained international graduate students, funded and mentored international undergraduate interns, and engaged thousands of citizens in the countries where he has worked. His international work, presently centered in the Caribbean, is successful in part because of the strong partnerships and relationships that he and his team have forged with local agencies.

A hallmark of Moore’s effort is that he focuses on authentic relationship building. No matter where he is working, he understands the importance of meeting people where they are and acknowledging their individual values and sense of place. He says, “Successful coastal restoration is built on a foundation of stewardship. If a community isn’t invested in protecting a coastal resource, then efforts to sustain and restore the coast are not likely to succeed.” Building opportunities to foster leadership at a local scale is critical to Moore and is one of the reasons that he brings so many diverse international students to train and study at UNH. He mentors them with the intent that his students return to their homes and communities as the local experts.

Moore was honored in 2022 with the UNH Sustainability Gold Award. His work has been featured in press releases and popular articles in BBC, BVI Beacon, USFS International Programs News, UNH Today, and his innovative “Post Cards from the Field” series, which offers research briefings written by his graduate students.

Moore’s international engagement activities have improved coastal environments here and in more than a dozen other nations, have globalized UNH’s curriculum, elevated the university’s profile, and increased the diversity of UNH’s student body.

Lucy Salyer, 2025 Graduate Faculty Mentor Award, COLA

Salyer has been one of the most valuable members of the university’s graduate faculty since she arrived at UNH in 1989. Her students praise her skills as a scholar, teacher, and mentor in every sense of the word. Her mastery as both a teacher and scholar led to her being named the Lindberg Prize winner in the College of Liberal Arts (COLA), the highest honor in the college.

Throughout her career, Salyer has been sought after by MA and Ph.D. students for her compassion, insight, and ability to ask the right questions. She has taught generations of graduate students how to understand a historiographical argument, how to write a research paper, and how to engage in high-level debate about important issues. Her doctoral advisees’ topics show the breadth of her expertise, with dissertations on such widely dispersed topics as the forced removal of Aleuts during World War II, tourism in 19th-century Maine, and the creation of Serbian immigrant communities in the United States. A review of the dissertations in the departmental collection suggests that she has been involved with about half of the ones written in the last 30 years.

One student recalled that in her teaching “Lucy sets a high bar, and her classrooms are places of deep scholarly engagement.” She added that “Lucy has modeled intellectual risk-taking as a vital piece of crafting a scholarly career.”

Paul Robertson, 2025 Excellence in Teaching Award, COLA

Robertson, senior lecturer of classics and director of the Hamel Center, is an exceptional interdisciplinary scholar with remarkable versatility, teaching in both the classics and humanities programs on subjects as wide-ranging as Greek mythology, Latin, the cognitive science of religion, the Greek New Testament, the Copernican Lens (an honors course team-taught across the colleges), Greek and Roman religion, and humanities courses on evil, power, and responsibility.

Robertson is a dynamic and passionate instructor who is capacious in his thinking and generous in his collaboration with students and colleagues. He has mentored many undergraduate students, supporting their presentations at conferences, directing their independent studies (INCOs, SURFs, JROPS and IROPS), and co-authoring book chapters and peer-reviewed articles with them.

His passion, dedication, dynamic teaching, and deep commitment to student success are leaving a lasting impression on generations of students. One former student described him as “a celebrity on campus to anyone who has had the pleasure of meeting him, and the salesperson of classics and humanities majors.” He is known for “mak[ing] the ancient world feel alive through a variety of immersive activities” and for creating intellectually stimulating and inclusive environments that empower students to engage deeply with complex historical and theoretical material.

Lee Pozzi Rush, 2025 Excellence in Clinical Engagement Award, CHHS

Rush exemplifies the qualities the Excellence in Clinical Engagement Award recognizes. Throughout her 29-year career at UNH, she has not only fostered the development of future social work professionals in our programs but has also been an invaluable asset to the broader social work community in New Hampshire. She provides exceptional mentorship to both students and internship supervisors, facilitating strong, supportive partnerships that result in meaningful, hands-on learning experiences. Her ability to troubleshoot challenges, mediate conflict, and adapt to the evolving needs of both students and agencies has been a hallmark of her leadership.

For the past decade, Rush has partnered with community mental health centers throughout New Hampshire to provide training to support workforce needs and offers workshops on ethical practice through the New Hampshire Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers each year. These critical consultations and training sessions strengthen the practice of social workers throughout our region, ensuring that the field remains dynamic and responsive to evolving community needs.

Rush is deeply invested in the success of College of Health and Human Services (CHHS) students, continually demonstrating genuine care for their growth and development. She maintains a small private practice, which ensures that she remains current on contemporary approaches to engaging and working with clients. Her students greatly appreciate her ability to connect theory and practice with real-world examples drawn from her decades of professional practice.

Peter Zaimes, 2025 Excellence in Teaching Award, Paul College

Zaimes is an exceptional educator whose dynamic, student-centered teaching style makes even the most challenging quantitative subjects engaging and accessible. Since joining Paul College as a lecturer in 2018, he has built a diverse portfolio across undergraduate and graduate programs, teaching courses in business statistics, decision making, operations management, and the sports analytics course he developed from a student club he founded.

Zaimes is known for connecting academic rigor with real-world application. Through interactive exercises, technology-enhanced activities, and industry partnerships, he ensures students leave his courses not only with knowledge but also with practical skills to launch their careers.

He consistently earns stellar evaluations, with students praising his ability to make complex subjects relatable. One noted, “He provides a plethora of real-world examples to help students think outside of the classroom and see how these concepts are really all around them.” Another shared, “Professor Zaimes is a very down-to-earth instructor with a good sense of humor; he is able to keep class engaging.”

Beyond the classroom, Zaimes invests deeply in student growth. He mentors on résumés, interviews, and career planning, and has guided honors theses, independent studies, and student teams in research competitions. His leadership in launching the sports analytics program has given students direct experience with clients and industry professionals, including the Boston Bruins and Philadelphia Flyers. These opportunities help students build confidence, expand professional networks, and position themselves for success.