2026 Faculty Awards Winners

President’s Awards for Distinguished Faculty Leadership

Carey Andrzejewski

Emily R. and Gerald S. Leischuck Endowed Professor for Educational Leadership, Department of Educational Foundations, Leadership, and Technology Professor, College of Education

Carey Andrzejewski is the Emily R. and Gerald S. Leischuck Endowed Professor of Educational Leadership in Auburn’s College of Education. Since joining Auburn in 2008, she has spent 18 years advancing ethical research practices, strengthening faculty development and mentoring the next generation of scholars.

A central focus of her leadership has been protecting the integrity of Auburn’s research enterprise. Since 2013, she has served on the university’s Institutional Review Board, reviewing research involving human participants, guiding investigators through regulatory requirements and mentoring new committee members. She has also chaired multiple research misconduct inquiry and investigation committees, helping the university navigate complex ethical matters with fairness and accountability.

From 2021 to 2026, Andrzejewski served as an education consultant for Auburn’s Office of Research Integrity and Compliance, developing training and professional development initiatives that reached more than 1,200 members of the university community. She also created graduate courses in responsible research and scientific integrity, including GRAD 8200, which has served students across 11 colleges.

Her leadership has helped establish stronger institutional practices for research ethics, mentorship and accountability.

The Gerald and Emily Leischuck Endowed Presidential Awards for Excellence in Teaching

William Powell

Barkley Professor and Director of Choral Activities, Department of Music, College of Liberal Arts

Powell, a Professor of Music and Director of Choral Activities in the Department of Music, has taught and mentored Auburn students for more than two decades. Through his leadership of Auburn’s choral program, Powell combines rigorous musical training with experiential learning, leadership development, and individualized mentorship to prepare students for careers in music education, conducting, performance, and related fields. Powell directs several Auburn choral ensembles and works with undergraduate and graduate students representing a wide range of academic disciplines, emphasizing artistic excellence, intellectual curiosity, professional preparation, and leadership.

Providing students with authentic professional experiences is an important part of Powell’s teaching. He regularly gives students opportunities to conduct ensembles and develop their rehearsal and leadership skills. In addition to ensemble instruction and performance, Powell advises students on academic planning, graduate education, professional networking, conducting, research, scholarships, and career development. Many of his former students have gone on to careers as public and private school music educators, university professors, conductors, church musicians, arts administrators, and professional performers.

Michael E. Zabala

Auburn Alumni Engineering Council Associate Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Samuel Ginn College of Engineering

Zabala, the Auburn Alumni Engineering Council Endowed Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, is known for combining rigorous instruction with real-world applications, innovative learning experiences, and individualized student mentorship. Since joining Auburn in 2016, he has taught courses across the mechanical engineering curriculum, including statics, dynamics, and biomechanical engineering, while consistently earning some of the university’s highest student teaching evaluations. He also developed Engineering in the Arts, a study abroad course in Florence, Italy, that explores connections among engineering, art, history, and culture.

As director of the Auburn University Biomechanical Engineering Laboratory, Zabala also provides extensive opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students to participate in research. He has mentored 48 undergraduate researchers, 15 graduate students pursuing master’s and doctoral degrees, and 20 senior design students. Several of his undergraduate researchers have become coauthors on scholarly publications, while other students have presented research at conferences and pursued graduate study and fellowships.

Creative Research and Scholarship Awards

Category: Sciences, Biomedical Sciences, Engineering, and Agriculture

Rex Dunham

Butler-Cunningham Eminent Scholar in Agriculture and Environmental Science, School of Fisheries, Aquaculture & Aquatic Sciences, College of Agriculture

Dunham is honored for his work as a global leader in aquaculture genetics and biotechnology. In a career spanning multiple decades, Dunham has produced nearly 600 scholarly works, including nearly 300 peer-reviewed journal articles, 91 book chapters, and three books. His research has been cited more than 14,000 times, resulting in an H-index of 64.

Among his numerous achievements, Dunham’s work has resulted in the first release of genetically improved fish in the United States, the first production of a transgenic fish in the United States, the first production of xenogeneic catfish, and advances in targeted gene editing and gene insertion in fish. His research has benefited the agricultural economy in Alabama and beyond by enabling commercial-scale production of channel catfish and blue catfish hybrids, which now account for nearly 70% of U.S. catfish production. Dunham is a previous winner of the Creative Research and Scholarship Award in 2008.

Category: Fine Arts, Architecture & Design, Business, Social and Human Sciences

James Lindner

Alumni Professor, Department of Curriculum and Teaching, College of Education

Lindner is recognized for his prolific body of work in the field of agricultural leadership, education, and communication. Lindner’s work has been externally funded continuously for 25 years, and his publications have been cited over 7,700 times. He has conducted fundamental research on methodological approaches in social research broadly, and this work has been transformative in and beyond his own discipline. His H-index of 42 ranks highest in his field, and he is internationally acclaimed for his research on the adoption and diffusion of new agricultural technologies and on barriers to such innovations.

Lindner was named Distinguished Researcher by the American Association for Agricultural Education in 2013 and received the Outstanding Achievement Award from the Association for International Agricultural and Extension Education in 2005. He has given keynote addresses in the United States, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Ireland, the Netherlands, Peru, and other international locations.

Emerging Faculty Creative Research and Scholarship Awards

Category: Fine Arts, Architecture & Design, Business, Social and Human Sciences

Spencer Goidel

Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, College of Liberal Arts

Goidel, an assistant professor in the Department of Political Science, has established an impactful body of research examining the intersection of voter attitudes, democratic processes, and policy preferences. He has already written two books, with another forthcoming, twenty articles, a book chapter, and a book review.

A noted expert in the study of public opinion, voter behavior, and political communication, Goidel has produced scholarly works in top journals in his field, including the Journal of Politics, Public Opinion Quarterly, and American Politics Research. He has helped train election officials nationwide through 18 professional-certification sessions from 2023 to 2026 via Auburn's Institute for Election Administration Research and Practice and the national Election Center's CERA program.

Category: Sciences, Biomedical Sciences, Engineering, and Agriculture

Michael Howard

Assistant Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering, Samuel Ginn College of Engineering

Howard, an assistant professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering, is recognized as an authority on the simulation of soft materials, investigating how modeling can be used to understand their structure, function, and properties, including those made from nanoparticles and macromolecules. Howard has authored 66 peer-reviewed journal articles, including 27 as corresponding author, that have been cited more than 1800 times, and he has given 22 invited conference presentations and seminars. His work has been featured in early-career collections of The Journal of Chemical Theory and Computation, The Journal of Chemical Physics, and Soft Matter.

Howard has been recognized with two highly competitive early-career awards: the National Science Foundation CAREER Award and the American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund Doctoral New Investigator Award. Howard’s research has enabled a shift from trial and error discovery to rational, simulation guided design for materials relevant to a range of industries, including advanced materials such as coatings and optoelectronics, consumer products, separations, and healthcare applications.

Zutao Yang

Assistant Professor, College of Forestry, Wildlife and Environment

Yang, an assistant professor in the College of Forestry, Wildlife and Environment, is honored for his research on interactions between terrestrial ecosystems and the climate system, with particular emphasis on monitoring, quantifying, and mitigating climate-relevant trace gases. His work addresses some of the most pressing environmental challenges facing society and provides critical knowledge needed to improve climate predictions, evaluate mitigation strategies, and inform science-based environmental policy.

Yang received an early-career fellowship from the National Academy of Sciences, and he currently leads the development of the Global H₂ Budget for the Global Carbon Project, a major international scientific initiative. His research has appeared in premier scientific journals, including Nature, Science, PNAS, and Nature Communications, and has received more than 7,400 citations with an H-index of 44.

Provost Awards for Faculty Excellence in Research and Creative Scholarship Mentoring

Category: Undergraduate

Roy Hartfield

Walt & Virginia Woltosz Professor, Department of Aerospace Engineering, Samuel Ginn College of Engineering

Hartfield has demonstrated a commitment to student mentorship through nearly four decades of guiding Auburn students toward lives of scholarly accomplishment, professional leadership, innovation, and service. Through a distinctive "sandbox" approach, he provides a supportive environment where students can explore ideas, take intellectual risks, learn from setbacks, and develop the confidence to solve complex problems independently. Through classroom instruction, design projects, independent studies, undergraduate research, and graduate thesis and dissertation work, he has helped students become creative, resilient scholars and engineers.

The accomplishments of his former students reflect the lasting impact of this mentorship. Graduates now lead research programs, technical organizations, and innovative enterprises across government, industry, and academia, including positions with Boeing, Siemens, the U.S. Army, and aerospace and defense firms. Through an unwavering commitment to student success, Dr. Hartfield has strengthened Auburn's reputation for excellence in aerospace engineering education and innovation while preparing generations of students to become leaders in their professions and communities.

Category: Graduate

Amit Morey

Associate Professor, Department of Poultry Science, College of Agriculture

Morey has demonstrated a commitment to mentoring excellence through a personalized and multidisciplinary approach to student development. The impact of his mentorship is evident in the accomplishments of his students. He has chaired the committees of 18 graduate students and served on 17 additional graduate committees. Under his guidance, students have earned nearly 40 competitive awards, including recognition in international research and design competitions, master's thesis awards, the Auburn Graduate School's Outstanding Doctoral Student Award and Distinguished Dissertation Award, a USDA Research Excellence Award, and honors associated with patented food-safety and sustainability innovations.

Beyond the laboratory, Morey's commitment to student success extends through service as Graduate Program Officer and Assessment Coordinator, advising the Poultry Science Club, and mentoring the award-winning Auburn University Indian Student Association. Through dedicated mentorship, professional development, and student advocacy, he has helped cultivate a generation of accomplished scholars while strengthening Auburn's reputation for excellence in graduate education.

Alumni Undergraduate Teaching Excellence Awards

Rachel Cody

Assistant Clinical Professor and Doctor of Nursing Practice, College of Nursing

Cody is an accomplished educator and clinician whose teaching has made a lasting impact on students in the College of Nursing. Known for making complex clinical concepts approachable and relevant, she brings extensive real-world experience as an emergency nurse practitioner into the classroom through case studies, simulation, and evidence-based practice. Students consistently describe Dr. Cody as an intentional, accessible, and encouraging professor who challenges them to think critically while giving them the confidence and support to succeed.

Her influence extends well beyond the classroom, with former students crediting her mentorship with inspiring careers in critical care, cardiology, pediatric oncology, advanced practice nursing, and graduate education. She has also played an important role in Auburn’s undergraduate nursing curriculum, developing and leading courses in clinical judgment, pathopharmacology, trauma nursing, evidence-based practice, and transition to professional practice. Dr. Cody exemplifies the influence an exceptional teacher can have on both a student’s education and the professional they ultimately become.

C. Brooks Mobley

Associate Clinical Professor, School of Kinesiology, College of Education

Mobley is a dedicated educator in Auburn University’s School of Kinesiology whose enthusiasm for exercise science is matched by a genuine commitment to the success of his students. Known for making challenging material approachable and meaningful, he encourages students to move beyond memorization to understand the reasoning behind concepts and their application in professional practice. His engaging classroom environment accommodates different learning styles, encourages curiosity, and gives students opportunities to turn mistakes into deeper learning experiences.

Students consistently describe Dr. Mobley as approachable, patient, and generous with his time, often remaining after class to answer questions and provide individual guidance. His mentorship extends beyond academics, helping students navigate personal challenges, identify career paths, and gain the confidence to pursue graduate education and professional goals. Through a combination of academic rigor, compassion, integrity, and a sincere investment in his students, Dr. Mobley creates an educational experience that continues to influence his students long after they leave his classroom.

Emory Serviss

Senior Lecturer, Department of Marketing, Raymond J. Harbert College of Business

Serviss is a Senior Lecturer in Auburn University’s Harbert College of Business whose innovative approach to marketing education connects classroom learning directly to the rapidly changing professional world. During 12 years at Auburn, he has taught nearly 5,000 students and supervised 147 interns while earning recognition for teaching excellence at the department, college, university, and international levels. His courses incorporate hands-on experiences with Salesforce, digital marketing simulations, artificial intelligence, industry-recognized certifications, and projects for real organizations, ensuring that students graduate with skills that translate directly to the workplace.

Beyond the classroom, Dr. Serviss is deeply invested in mentoring students through internships, career planning, job searches, and professional transitions. His influence also reaches into the community through experiential projects that allow students to develop strategies for organizations, including East Alabama Health, MAX Credit Union, the Gogue Performing Arts Center, and Auburn University Credit Union. Dr. Serviss prepares students not simply to understand marketing, but to enter their careers ready to contribute.

Auburn University Award for Excellence in Faculty Outreach

Margaret Shippen

Professor, Department of Special Education, Rehabilitation, and Counseling, College of Education

Shippen's outstanding record of outreach exemplifies Auburn University's mission through more than two decades of service to correctional education programs across Alabama. Her work has consistently focused on expanding educational access, strengthening literacy and financial capability, and building the capacity of professionals and organizations serving incarcerated populations.

Beginning with a reading tutoring program at Bibb Correctional Facility in 2006, Shippen helped address critical educational needs through tutoring, resource development, professional training, and collaborative partnerships. She co-founded the Alabama Correctional Education Coalition, helping provide sustained educational and financial literacy programming in multiple Alabama Department of Corrections facilities. Her outreach has also included training Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles officers in counseling practices and supporting re-entry initiatives for individuals preparing to return to their communities. Shippen's collaborative outreach efforts have generated more than $1.8 million in external funding and produced 30 publications and 45 presentations, extending the impact of her work far beyond the institutions she serves.

Distinguished Graduate Faculty Lectureship

Michael D. Roberts

Humana Foundation-Germany-Sherman Endowed Distinguished Professor, School of Kinesiology, College of Education

Roberts has made an exceptional and sustained contribution to graduate education through outstanding teaching, mentorship, and scholarly leadership. For more than a decade, Roberts has been a central contributor to doctoral education in the School of Kinesiology, teaching courses that span research methods, training physiology, neuromuscular physiology, advanced laboratory techniques, nutrient timing, molecular exercise science, and exercise genetics. As the Auburn University Endowed Alumni Professor and Humana Foundation-Germany-Sherman Endowed Distinguished Professor in the School of Kinesiology, he has helped build one of the world's most productive exercise physiology laboratories.

His record includes more than 260 peer-reviewed publications, an h-index exceeding 60, more than 14,000 citations, over $5.5 million in extramural funding, and the training of 27 Ph.D. students. His graduate trainees have progressed to prestigious postdoctoral fellowships, faculty, and clinical positions, and have earned competitive NIH, American Physiological Society, university, college, and national research awards while publishing extensively as first authors and co-authors.