Faculty Excellence Awards

Ami Shah, Associate Professor of Global Studies

The Faculty Excellence Award in Teaching recognizes faculty who embody a commitment to excellence in their ability to communicate knowledge and inspire students. This year, the award is presented to Dr. Ami Shah, Associate Professor of Global Studies.

Dr. Shah’s nomination package highlights her dedication to fostering a robust, learner-centered experience and embedding a pedagogy of relationality, community, and care.

Colleagues praise Dr. Shah for prioritizing learning as a continuous journey rather than a product. She excels at communicating knowledge in a clear, organized, and comprehensible manner, providing highly constructive and useful feedback, and she inspires students to demonstrate their intellectual command over course material through dynamic, creative mediums such as her “unessay project” where students produce short documentaries, create paper maché objects, or construction an entire Dungeons and Dragons world.

Her commitment to fostering inclusive and supportive classroom environments ensures students feel empowered as students and as humans. Dr. Shah is also credited with cultivating the kind of relationships we know are vital for student success. As one student recalled, “After Professor. Shah’s class I knew everyone’s name and at least a little about them; she connected us and created a community in the room”.

Another student shared that Dr. Shah is an amazing teacher because she “puts forth challenges that truly hook her students. She knows exactly what questions to ask and what guidance to give to help her students fall in love with whatever they are learning.”

Congratulations to Dr. Ami Shah as the 2025 recipient of the Faculty Excellence Award in Teaching.

The Faculty Excellence Award in Advising

Dr. Neal Yakelis, Professor of Chemistry

The Faculty Excellence Award in Advising recognizes a faculty advisor who embodies the qualities of effective and caring concern for student academic progress. This award celebrates those who assist students in discovering, defining, and attaining their educational goals by providing guidance, support, and resources.

This year, we honor Dr. Neal Yakelis, Professor of Chemistry, whose comprehensive, compassionate, and personalized approach to advising has profoundly shaped the academic and vocational journeys of countless students.

Dr. Yakelis is an exceptional advisor for both Chemistry majors and Pre-Health advisees. He is instrumental in assisting students in planning their academic schedules, whether finding creative ways to incorporate study away within a highly scaffolded degree track or ensuring students that they can graduate in their planned timeline.

A hallmark of Dr. Yakelis’s advising is his focus on the student as a whole person. His impact is perhaps best captured by the student who shared: “I never knew how much I needed someone to tell me that they could see me in science, and Dr. Yakelis saw me”.

Dr. Yakelis is a cornerstone of the Pre-Health Sciences Advising Team. For over a decade, he has managed the majority of one-on-one advising for students during the stressful and complicated application cycle to medical, dental, and pharmacy schools. His advising includes reviewing personal essays, conducting mock interviews, and guiding students on finding and reflecting upon meaningful clinical and community service experiences. His commitment to these students is a direct driver of PLU’s admission rates to medical and dental schools, which are approximately double the national averages.

For his unwavering support, expertise in navigating complex academic and vocational paths, and his profound ability to make students feel seen, supported, and empowered, we proudly honor Dr. Neal Yakelis with the Faculty Excellence Award in Advising.

Faculty Excellence Award in Mentoring

Dr. Maria Chávez, Professor of Political Science

The Faculty Excellence Award in Mentoring was established through a gift from the late Tom Carlson, Professor of Biology, and recognizes faculty members who serve as personal or professional guides to students or colleagues as a role model, confidant, critic, friend, teacher, or co-learner.

This year, we honor Dr. Maria Chávez, Professor of Political Science for her compassionate, comprehensive, and profoundly practical mentorship.

Dr. Chávez’s impact as a role model and confidant for students who self-identify as Hispanic and/or Latine is without measure. As a Latina academic, she creates a bond of trust by openly sharing her journey as a daughter of migrant workers and a first-generation college student. For students who often feel out of place in predominantly white disciplines, Dr. Chávez ensures they know they belong. She is a fierce advocate for students, validating their experiences and empowering them to, as a colleague observed, push forward in power. Her approach is so inspiring that one student aptly described her as “courageous, inspiring, and bad-ass”. Another student shared: “I have taken numerous courses with many professors but there has only been one professor that I feel cared for and truly seen by: Maria Chávez”.

Dr. Chávez’s mentorship extends to her colleagues, where she is a steadfast supporter. One colleague shared that Maria has “by far provided the greatest degree of support, structure, guidance, kindness, generosity, and exceptional mentorship for my career.”

For the way she inspires and advocates for students and colleagues, and for her profound ability to equip her mentees with the courage, skills, and belief necessary to succeed in their careers and their lives, we honor and congratulate Dr. Maria Chávez with the Faculty Excellence Award in Mentoring.

K.T. Tang Faculty Excellence Award in Research

The K.T. Tang Faculty Excellence Award in Research is made possible by an endowment established by Wilfrid Chan, a 1974 alumnus, in honor of his former professor, Dr. K. T. Tang. It is particularly poignant to bestow the K.T. Tang awards this year in light of K.T.’s passing in late November of 2025. 

The K.T. Tang Award recognizes up to two faculty scholars who have demonstrated significant contributions to their disciplines through rigorous, substantial, and ongoing research and the widespread dissemination of their work.

This year, we honor two colleagues, Dr. Jessica Sklar, Professor of Mathematics, and Dr. Justin Eckstein, Associate Professor of Communication.

Dr. Jessica Sklar, Professor of Mathematics

Dr. Sklar’s research is built upon a foundation of exceptional expository writing, making complex mathematical ideas accessible to a broad audience. She earned national recognition for this skill, including the Mathematical Association of America’s Carl B. Allendoerfer Award for her article “The graph menagerie: abstract algebra and the Mad Veterinarian”.

In recent years, Dr. Sklar’s scholarship has expanded into innovative, collaborative, and nationally recognized forms. A powerful example is her central role in Mathemalchemy, a large-scale, multimedia art installation created by a team of 24 mathematical artists and artistic mathematicians. 

This project, which has been touring internationally since 2022, masterfully blends artistic beauty with rigorous mathematical principles. Dr. Sklar’s contribution is the delightful story of Tess the Tortoise, who ambles down Zeno’s Path toward Integral Hill.

Beyond her publications and artistic collaboration, Dr. Sklar has authored an open source textbook, highly valued by students at PLU and elsewhere. Her work exemplifies what a liberal arts education can foster: curiosity, creativity, and the ability to synthesize ideas in unique and meaningful ways. As a colleague wrote, “Jessica is a scholar who brings math to life in ways that resonate with people both inside and outside the academic world”.

For her exceptional scholarly achievements, we honor and congratulate Dr. Jessica Sklar with the K.T. Tang Faculty Excellence Award in Research.

Dr. Justin Eckstein, Associate Professor of Communication

A central pillar of Dr. Eckstein’s scholarship is his groundbreaking work on sound and argument. As one colleague noted: “no scholar has fully explored the auditory dynamics of argument—the fundamental idea that sounds communicate as sounds (and not, for instance, as merely the expression of speech). His research is a remarkable and innovative achievement”.

Dr. Eckstein’s most recent scholarly achievement is his book, Sound Tactics: The Acoustics of Protest Rhetoric. In this monograph, Dr. Eckstein traces how political movements deploy sounds, or silence, to draw attention, create collective identity, and call power to account, analyzing case studies such as the Casserole protests of Montreal and the mobilization of the Parkland, Florida Kids.

Dr. Eckstein is also committed to applying his research to democratic engagement, including by offering concrete interventions for improving civic conversations.

In recognition of his established, innovative, and robust research trajectory, Dr. Eckstein was awarded the prestigious New Investigator Award by the Rhetorical and Communication Theory Division of the National Communication Association. His work has spawned a special issue of Argumentation & Advocacy, a special forum in Informal Logic, and earned him the Daniel Rohrer Outstanding Research Award.

For his exceptional contributions to his field, we proudly honor and congratulate Dr. Justin Eckstein with the K.T. Tang Faculty Excellence Award in Research.

The Faculty Excellence Award in Service

Dr. Jacob Egge, Professor of Biology

The Faculty Excellence Award in Service recognizes a faculty member who demonstrates academic leadership and who influences the life of the university through service in areas of faculty governance, the university, and the community beyond. This award celebrates those who exhibit a consistent record of service through engagement in activities that benefit the university, their profession, and the community through lives of thoughtful inquiry, work, leadership, and care.

This year, we honor Dr. Jacob Egge, Professor of Biology.

Dr. Egge’s most defining institutional contribution is his leadership of the Core Curriculum Committee. As chair, he successfully guided the monumental General Education curriculum reform. A colleague noted that implementing the revised curriculum not only showcased Jacob’s ability to effectively communicate complex information but also highlighted his ability to foster collaboration across diverse constituent groups.

As the Faculty Representative to the Board of Regents, Dr. Egge kept faculty apprised of and engaged with the business of the Regents by sharing accurate and relevant information. In Spring 2019, he created a standing committee organization chart that is still used on the faculty governance website and has been borrowed by faculty governance at other Independent Colleges of Washington.

Dr. Egge’s commitment extends deeply into the broader community, where he utilizes his expertise in biology for public benefit – from bringing classes to the Morse Wildlife Preserve and Nature Conservancy to curating the Burton Ostenson Natural History Museum and generously sharing its resources.

In all his roles, Dr. Egge tackles what needs to be done without seeking recognition. As a colleague observed, Dr. Egge “embodies the very spirit of service, consistently going above and beyond his duties to make impactful and lasting contributions in whatever he sets out to do”.

For his extraordinary leadership in faculty governance, his selfless commitment to protecting and sharing scientific resources, and his deep service to the wider community, we honor and congratulate Dr. Jacob Egge with the Faculty Excellence Award in Service.