Each year, Southeastern President John L. Crain bestows the University’s most prestigious honor, the President’s Award for Excellence, to faculty and staff excelling in the areas of research, teaching, artistic activity, faculty service and staff service. Meet this year’s recipients.
UNCLASSIFIED STAFF SERVICE
Annette Baldwin
A University Counseling Center employee for the past 18 years, Annette Baldwin has always looked up to those who have served Southeastern beyond what was necessary. She is now helping those within the community as well as excelling professionally by initiating and overseeing the Terrell Conference, which provides continuing education to mental health professionals, and Lion Up Recovery, a collegiate recovery program that is the first of its kind in Louisiana.
RESEARCH
Alan Cannon
Dr. Alan Cannon’s life-long love of math shows in his passion for his work—and in his extensive list of renowned contributions to and publications within his field. A 27-year Southeastern employee, the mainstay of his research has focused on nearrings, which provide the analogue for nonlinear functions. He additionally mentors junior faculty and undergraduate students to make their own impact by helping them hone their research skills.
ARTISTIC ACTIVITY
Keith “Skip” Costa
As a faculty member since 2013, Skip Costa has made huge strides regionally, nationally, and internationally for artistic innovation within his InterARTS™ approach to dance and movement studies. Costa, who is director of dance and instructor of contemporary dance, choreography, and performance, has mesmerized viewers across the globe with his choreography, while also demonstrating outstanding leadership and abundant energy for Southeastern’s dance program.
FACULTY SERVICE
Laura Fazio-Griffith
For Laura Fazio-Griffith, service is more than mere child’s play. A faculty member since 2010 and a registered play therapist, she has worked diligently to enrich the profession of counseling and the professional development of counseling students and the mental health practitioner community at large. Her efforts have led to Southeastern being named an Approved Center of Play Therapy Education and Training Site, making it one of only three such sites in the state.
TEACHING
Aileen Mootoo-Robertson
Aileen Mootoo-Robertson began her career as an instructor of French at Southeastern in 1994, consistently striving along the way to offer the best learning experiences for her students and inspiring them to achieve success in all that they do. Exemplifying Southeastern’s cornerstone of caring, she also seeks to enrich students outside of the classroom by coordinating the Foreign Language Festival and Black History Month, serving as the French Club advisor, spearheading French Study Abroad programs, and more.
