President's Awards for Excellence
Each year the university's most prestigious honor, the President's Award for Excellence,
is bestowed to faculty and staff excelling in the areas of research, teaching, artistic
activity, faculty service and staff service.
Meet this year's recipients.
Jeffrey Bell
President's Award for Excellence in Research
For the second time in his 29-year Southeastern career, Professor of Philosophy Jeffrey Bell has been named the President’s Excellence Winner in Research.
Gerard Blanchard
President's Award for Excellence in Teaching
When Gerard Blanchard began teaching at Southeastern in 1998, his teaching was very “traditional,” consisting of lectures and demonstrations with paper homework exercises that did not give his students much of an opportunity to learn from their mistakes. However, once he was exposed to the concepts of active learning and self-correcting materials, he decided to apply those to his courses.
Read About Gerard Blanchard >>
Cherissa Vitter
President's Award for Excellence in Faculty Service
The 2023 President’s Award Winner for Excellence in Faculty Service is Cherissa Vitter, assistant professor of IB education. A faculty member since 2015, she is responsible for coordinating the International Education Programme and teaching courses leading to the IB Educator Certificate in Teaching and Learning.
Ron Abel
President's Award for Excellence in Staff Service
Director of Upward Bound Ron Abel, this year’s recipient of the President’s Excellence Award in Staff Service, grew up in Southeastern’s backyard, attending Southeastern Laboratory School. He says since he and Southeastern have grown up together, it was only natural that he would want to work at Southeastern as an adult.
