Announcing Winners of the Faculty Awards and Service Excellence Awards

May 5, 2023

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to announce the recipients of NYUAD’s 2022-2023 Faculty Awards and the Service Excellence Awards for staff. These awards showcase the commitment to excellence embodied by members of our faculty and staff. We are delighted that the nominations for this year’s awardees recognize those in our community who go above and beyond in their work at NYUAD. We invite the entire community to join us in congratulating the winners at celebratory events on May 11, 2023.

NYUAD Service Excellence Awards

The NYUAD Service Excellence Awards recognize and celebrate NYUAD administrative, academic, and research staff who demonstrate core institutional values at an exceptional level in the performance of their roles. The members of the Service Excellence Awards Committee thoughtfully evaluated the nominees based on the following criteria: integrity, respect, customer focus, teamwork, collaboration, adaptability, innovation, diversity, and inclusion. Those who hold managerial positions were also evaluated on mentoring, modeling, and motivating. This year’s winners are:

• Abdishakur Abdulle, Associate Director, Public Health Research Center
• Dana Alshaibani, Administration Coordinator, Social Science Division
• Jacqueline Jacob, Manager, Student Professional Development, Career Development Center
• Chris Pye, Director of Production, The Arts Center
• Enas Qudeimat, Head of CGSB Administration and Outreach, Center for Genomics and Systems Biology
• Aasna Sijapati, Office of Social Responsibility Assistant Instructor, Office of Global Education and Outreach
• Katie Stanworth, Communications and Outreach Manager, Science Division

Attend the Service Excellence Awards celebration on Thursday, May 11, from 11am GST in the Conference Center (A6), room 007. Find out more and register on the faculty and staff intranet and student portal.

NYUAD Faculty Awards

The NYUAD Faculty Awards are bestowed on NYUAD standing faculty who embody the values and mission of the University. The work of award recipients truly exemplifies the central pillars of faculty engagement in research, teaching, and service. The recipients were evaluated with great care by the Award Review Committee and selected by the NYUAD leadership for their transformative research, teaching excellence, and distinguished service. 

Transformative Research Award

• Kemal Celik, Assistant Professor of Civil and Urban Engineering, Engineering Division
• Marsha Ginsberg, Associate Arts Professor of Theater, Arts and Humanities Division
• Justin Stearns, Professor of Arab Crossroads, Arts and Humanities Division

Award for Teaching Excellence

• Sohmyung Ha, Assistant Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Engineering Division
• Angelyn Hilgendorf, Senior Lecturer, Academic Enrichment
• Ilya Spitkovsky, Professor of Mathematics, Science Division

Distinguished Service Award

• Olivier Bochet, Associate Professor of Economics, Social Science Division
• Nizar Habash, Professor of Computer Science, Science Division

Attend the Faculty Awards celebration on Thursday, May 11, from 1:30pm GST in the Conference Center (A6), room 007. Find out more and register on the faculty and staff intranet and student portal.

Lunch will be served in-between the celebrations from 12:15pm in the Conference Center (A6), Lower Atrium.

We extend warmest congratulations to all the winners, and also to all who were nominated! Together they stand for the extraordinary dedication to NYUAD’s mission, hard work, and community mindedness of all of our faculty and staff.

We look forward to celebrating our faculty and staff with you.

Mariët, Arlie, Natasha, and Kirsten