Cal U’s Faculty Professional Development Center has recognized four professors for excellence in service, grants, research and teaching.
Award-winning faculty: Dr. Michael Perriotti (left), Dr. Elizabeth Gruber, Dr. Sheri Boyle and Dr. Justin Hackett.
Award recipients Dr. Sheri Boyle, Dr. Elizabeth Gruber, Dr. Justin Hackett and Dr. Michael Perrotti were recognized at the FPDC’s annual Merit Award Luncheon and at Commencement.
The FPDC merit award recipients are chosen by faculty committees. The awards are meant to assist faculty in their efforts to provide high-quality education for Cal U students.
Boyle, an associate professor and chair of the Department of Social Work, will receive the Service and Service Learning Award.
Also the program coordinator of Cal U’s Master of Social Work program, she is engaged in a wide array of activities in which she serves the University and the community.
Through her involvement with the Hartford Partnership Program for Aging Education (HPPA), Cal U’s MSW students rotate through three agencies that serve older adults and become better educated and prepared to be leaders who provide services to older adults. She also works with graduate and undergraduate social work students on domestic violence issues in Fayette County, Pa.
She and Dr. Gruber recently were awarded a $1.9 million Health Resources and Services Administration grant from the Department of Health and Human Services.
This interdisciplinary project with Counselor Education and Social Work departments will prepare Cal U students to serve rural communities in southwestern Pennsylvania as school counselors, mental health counselors and social work practitioners.
Boyle has been an aide to Rep. Nancy Pelosi and a clinical social worker at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC.
For more than a year she is co-leading a collaborative group focused on building relationships and communication among the Cal U community by establishing a campuswide dialogue program.
A professor and chair of the Department of Counselor Education, Gruber will receive the Grants and Contracts Award.
She believes her grant-writing informs her teaching and her teaching informs her grant-writing, which encourages her to do additional research she can bring into the classroom.
The HRSA grant she and Dr. Boyle were awarded includes $300,000 annually, or $1.2 million in all, to provide stipends for 30 Cal U graduate students as they complete the lengthy field placements required to earn a master’s degree.
A 600-hour field placement, or internship, is required for students in Cal U’s accredited counselor education program. The accredited social work program requires students to complete 660 hours in their advanced practicum.
The project focuses on medically underserved areas in Allegheny, Fayette, Greene, Washington and Westmoreland counties.
Since 1999 Gruber has brought in nearly $2.5 million in grants. Many of these incorporate a service component with the campus and local community.
The FIPSE drug and alcohol prevention and VAWA Violence Against Women grants written by Gruber have made a significant impact in developing consortia of professionals and community members to address alcohol and drug abuse, as well as dating and domestic violence.
Hackett, an associate professor in the Department of Psychology, will receive the FPDC Research Award.
His main research interests lie in applied psychology and program evaluation, specifically the application of psychological science to better society.
Since arriving at Cal U in fall 2013, he has published 13 peer-reviewed journal articles and given four invited talks and eight paper presentations at international and national conferences.
One of his talks, Antecedents and Consequences of Global Identification, was given at the annual meeting of the International Society of Political Psychology in Edinburgh, Scotland.
Last month, Hackett and three Cal U advanced psychology students attended and presented at the annual meeting of the Society of Personality and Social Psychology in Atlanta, Ga.
Along with his research team, Hackett has made 20 poster presentations, including research from Cal U students.
This spring he is teaching the newly developed Social Psychology Lab course, which is designed to increase students’ understanding of the research process.
More specifically, the course combines a review of the foundations of psychological research with a focus on advanced procedural methods and techniques for social psychological research. Not only are students in the course developing novel ideas, but they also are following through with data collection and analyses.
Perrotti, an assistant professor in the Department of Secondary Education and Administrative Leadership, will receive the FPDC Teaching and Learning Award.
He is the department’s graduate coordinator, managing three Advanced Studies in Secondary Education, Master of Arts Teaching, and Master of Educational Studies programs. Perrotti also serves as the department’s webmaster and researcher.
He has taught both undergraduate and graduate courses in secondary education at Cal U.
Perrotti serves on numerous committees, include the University Curriculum Committee; PASSHE grant reviewer, subcommittee chair; Council for CAEP Accreditation of Teacher Education Portfolio; and Professional Development School Collaborative Advisory Board.
He has been a regular Discovery Day participant since joining Cal U, in 2013, and has served as an Open House student recruiting participant.
One student stated, “Dr. Perrotti pushes every student to become better, he shows that he cares for each student, and he is very involved in making sure each one of us succeeds in the classroom as well as our daily lives.”
Another student commented that Dr. Perrotti “is an amazing professor. He makes class engaging, interactive with hands-on learning, and gives great advice."