2020 Faculty Award Winners

The Arnold School is proud to announce the recipients of the 2020 Faculty Awards: James A. Keith Excellence in Teaching Award, Faculty Research Award, and Faculty Service Award.

"Each year in the Arnold School, faculty are nominated for special recognition of career accomplishments in the core academic areas of teaching, research and service. The competition is intense, and the selection of winners is very difficult because so many of our faculty excel nationally in one or more of these areas," says Dean Thomas Chandler. "This year’s selections of Dr. Torres, Dr. McDermott and Dr. Kaczynski bear this out. All three are exceptional faculty and the entire Arnold School is quite proud to call them our own!"

James A. Keith Excellence in Teaching Award: Myriam Torres

Myriam Torres, a clinical associate professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics and the director of the Consortium for Latino Immigration Studies, has received the James A. Keith Excellence in Teaching Award. Torres received this award in recognition of her outstanding contributions to teaching, including the epidemiology courses she leads and her instrumental roles in developing the UofSC in Costa Rica: Global Health program and the redesign of the Master of Public Health core curriculum.

“Teaching has been a passion of mine for a long time. Students keep your creativity and desire to learn alive,” Torres says. “Teaching is a big responsibility because the students we interact with today will be the public health leaders of tomorrow.”

Faculty Research Award: Suzanne McDermott

Suzanne McDermott, a professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics and director of the Disability Research and Dissemination Center, is the recipient of the Faculty Research Award. A recent winner of the American Public Health Association’s Disability Section Allen Meyers Award for Research, Teaching and Advocacy, McDermott received the Faculty Research Award for her outstanding scholarly research record, which includes more than 130 peer-reviewed papers, over $50 million in competitive funding and her role as co-editor of the Disability and Health Journal.

“My research is focused on identification of risk factors during pregnancy that result in neurodevelomental disabilities in children and the lives of people with disability,” McDermott says. “I am passionate about making the world more inclusive, since people with disabilities cut across all ages, races/ethnicities, sex/genders, incomes, education, and other demographics.”

Faculty Service Award: Andrew Kaczynski

Andrew Kaczynski, an associate professor in the Department of Health Promotion, Education, and Behavior and director of the Built Environment and Community Health (BEACH) Lab, has been recognized with the Faculty Service Award. Kaczynski received this award for his contributions to the public health profession (e.g., co-chairing the 2019 Active Living Conference), commitment to university research (for which he received the Distinguished Research Service Award in 2018), and leadership of research projects that benefit the community (e.g., creation of a mobile app to improve parks).

“I greatly value service and the opportunities to represent the Arnold School locally and nationally that my position at UofSC has afforded me,” Kaczynski says. “It’s also been personally rewarding because my research, teaching, and service opportunities have often been synergistic, whether that’s working on applied research projects with LiveWell Greenville or chairing a conference or committee for one of my favorite professional organizations.”

Arnold School of Public Health