Career Impact Awards

Brought to you by the Pomerantz Career Center, the Career Impact Awards recognize and celebrate award-winning students, staff, faculty, and business partners who have gone above and beyond to provide Hawkeyes with career resources, guidance, and opportunities in support of career success.

2024 Ceremony

Wednesday, May 1
3-5 p.m.
Levitt Center for University Advancement

2024 Keynote Speaker

Clarissa Chun, Head Coach
Iowa Women’s Wrestling

2024 Awards and Recipients

Faculty and Staff Awards

Alexandra Nica
Associate Professor of Instruction and DUS, Economics
María Márquez Ponce
Graduate Teaching Assistant, PhD Candidate, Spanish
Clayton Peterson
Associate Professor of Instruction, HHP
Linda Myers
Academic Program Management Manager, BSN
Colleen Kelley
Senior Academic Advisor
Luis Aranda
Interim Director of Center for Inclusive and Academic Excellence
Dana Thomann
Associate Professor of Instruction, Rhetoric
Mike Durney
Assistant Professor, Accounting
David Murhammer
Professor, Chemical & Biochemical Engineering, Reseacher, Center for Biocatalisis & Bioprocessing, Investigator, Environmental Health Sciences Research Center
Mike Sneller
3D Design Product Designer at Protostudios, Office of Innovation
Debra Trusty
Associate Professor of Instruction, Classics, Museum Studies Coordinator
Monica Hall
Clinical Nurse Coordinator
Elizabeth Heineman
Professor of History & Gender, Women's & Sexuality Studies
Rodica Curtu
Professor, Mathematics
Jennifer New
IISC Community Engagement Specialist
Sarah Hardin
Lecturer, Sport and Recreation Management
John Zielke
Adjunct Faculty, Sociology & Criminology
Valentyna Bezugla
Visiting Instructor, Mathematics
Kimberly Fiock
Staff Scientist, Department of Pathology
Yong Chen
Professor & Interim DEO, Industrial & Systems Engineering, Researcher Iowa Technology Institute

Highly Engaged Employers

AmeriCorpsIowa City VA Health Care System
Arrive LogisticsJohn Deere
Cedar Rapids Community School DistrictLeepfrog
ChildServeMoLo Solutions
College Community School DistrictNorthwestern Mutual - Eastern Iowa
Collins AerospacePrincipal Financial Group - Corporate Headquarters
Community NeuroRehabPwC
Cottingham & ButlerRSM US LLP
CRST The Transportation Solution, IncSchneider
Echo Global LogisticsState Farm Insurance Companies
EpicTarget
EY LLPTechtronic Industries, NA (TTI)
Goosehead InsuranceTransamerica
GreatAmerica Financial ServicesUline
HNI CorporationUnityPoint Health - Trinity
Holmes Murphy & Associates 

Student Employee of the Year Awards

Alexis Belme
Stanley Museum of Art

Anna Giudici
Epidemiology

Cameron McKnight
Parking and Transportation

Emily Hartman
Communication Sciences and Disorders

Grace Cacini
Iowa Reading Research Center, College of Education

Katherine Lyu
International Student and Scholar Services

Maya Barros
Internal Medicine, Division of Cardiovascular Medicine

Rachel Woodley
Parking and Transportation


Student Supervisor of the Year Awards

Nicholas Benson
Office of Community Engagement

Amanda Jensen
Chemical and Biochemical Engineering

Charles Bermingham
Psychological and Quantitative Foundations

Erliang Zeng
Division of Biostatistics and Computational Biology, College of Dentistry

Jayme Johnson
Provost Office

Monica Hall
Otolaryngology

Whitney Zahnd
Health Management and Policy


Closing the Gap Grant Recipients

Congratulations to the instructors awarded in the second round of course development funds to enhance or create experiential learning in their course or create a new experiential course.

Paula Amad, Department of Cinematic Arts, Moviegoing Memories from the Midwest 
Experiential learning includes community engagement, place-based research and production and preservation of professional oral history recordings focused on the social dimensions of moviegoing memories of family and community elders. This course will be the first community-engaged course in the department, bridging film studies and film production. 

Inara Verzemnieks, Department of English, CNW:2991 & CNW:2992 - Publishing I & Publishing II 
After introducing key concepts of literary publishing, experiential learning reinforces them through extended practice putting students in charge of all aspects of the publishing process. Students produce a literary publication from scratch, taking on various roles and responsibilities from soliciting commissions, editorial oversight, copyediting, design, budgeting, and marketing to produce and bring to press a bespoke publication by the end of the semester. In the second course, students work as part of a professional publishing house to bring a book to publication, culminating in a book launch event. These creative, project-based courses also end in real world events, allowing students to grapple with various roles, skills, challenges, and decisions relevant to not only their professional development but to seeing the immediate impact it has on the audience reception of their works. Each course will reach 40-80 students per semester. 

Jennifer Sterling, Department of Sports, Media, & Culture, SMC:4500 - Sport, Media & Culture Capstone 
Experiential learning includes community-engagement with national or local partners to contribute to recommendations and advocacy for equity in sports coverage or access to sport. The community-engaged projects will help students grapple with and understand the contemporary U.S. sports’ relationship with the media and how it intersects with other institutions, politics, economics, demographics, and culture. The capstone and community-engaged projects culminate this new program of study’s curriculum, giving students the opportunity to synthesize and apply the skills they have developed through their prior course work.  

Anneke Sanders, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, BMB:3140 - Experimental Biochemistry 
Experiential learning includes flipping the course from learning and practicing techniques to allowing students to act as researchers. Students will frame hypothesis instead of following pre-designed research questions, test their hypotheses, and perform quantitative data analysis of their acquired data. They will then communicate findings and conclusions, reflecting at various points on the experience and outcomes, and allowing students to see a full research project from design to completion. The course provides access to genuine research experiences to 60 students each semester it is taught. 

Katherine Mellen, Department of Health and Human Physiology, HHP:3820 -Community Wellness Guided Practicum 
Experiential learning includes partnership with the UI Food Pantry to plan, implement, and evaluate hands-on pantry activities including, cooking demonstrations, nutrition education, and health screenings. The course increases access to local experiential learning by reducing barriers to students such as transportation and financial costs. It allows students to evaluate and synthesize knowledge through client and staff feedback and poster presentations.  

David Supp-Montgomerie, Department of Communication Studies, COMM:2829 - Leadership for Civic Dialogue 
Experiential learning includes student facilitation of peer civic dialogues. After content framing, students will practice active listening, effective questioning, and balancing structure and openness through 5 workshops and then put their skills to use in real and relevant situations by acting as facilitators for the Division of Student Life’s Day of Dialogue events.  

Kanika Arora, College of Public Health, CPH:3700 - Methods of Program Implementation and Evaluation 
Experiential learning includes community partnerships to design, implement, and evaluate public health interventions. Community partners will provide students with an identified need in their community, answer questions, and provide feedback on proposed plans, allowing students to apply concepts taught in class, preparing them for situations they will encounter after graduation, and meeting needs of Iowa communities where public health departments are understaffed and/or overwhelmed following the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Learn more about Closing the Gap 

2023 Ceremony

Jan Jensen

Associate Head Coach, Iowa Women's Basketball

Profile

Highly Engaged Academic Departments

Accounting, Tippie College of BusinessGeographical & Sustainability Sciences, College of Liberal Arts & Sciences
Marketing, Tippie College of BusinessBiology, College of Liberal Arts & Sciences
Business Analytics & Information Systems, Tippie College of BusinessComputer Science, College of Liberal Arts & Sciences
Finance, Tippie College of BusinessSociology & Criminology, College of Liberal Arts & Sciences
Management & Entrepreneurship, Tippie College of BusinessElementary Education, College of Education
Statistics & Actuarial Science, College of Liberal Arts & SciencesJournalism & Mass Communication, College of Liberal Arts & Sciences
Communication Studies, College of Liberal Arts & SciencesPolitical Science, College of Liberal Arts & Sciences
English, College of Liberal Arts & SciencesPublic Health, College of Public Health
Enterprise Leadership, Division of Interdisciplinary Studies 

Highly Engaged Employers

AmeriCorpsIowa City Community School District 
Arrive LogisticsJohn Deere
Avenue LogisticsJohnson County
Beacon Hill Staffing GroupLeepfrog Technologies, Inc.
BerganKDVMercy Hospital Iowa City
Cedar Rapids Community School DistrictMoLo Solutions
ChildServeNorthwestern Mutual - Eastern Iowa
Collins AerospacePrincipal Financial Group- Corporate Headquarters
Conservation Corps Minnesota & IowaRHM Staffing Solutions
CrewRSM US LLP
Des Moines Public SchoolsState Farm Insurance Companies
Echo Global LogisticsSwoon
Eight Eleven Group - Parent Company of Brooksource, Medasource & Calculated HireSystems Unlimited, Inc
EY LLPTechtronic Industries, NA (TTI)
Four Oaks Family & Children ServicesThe Hershey Company
GartnerTransamerica
GEICOUSG
Goosehead InsuranceWellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield
HNI Corporation 

Exceptional Campus Partner

This year's Exceptional Campus Partner award goes to the CLAS Advising Network.


Student Employee of the Year Awards

Student Employee of the Year: Overall Winner

Erica Blaha, Office Assistant
UI Health &  Wellness

 
Student Employee of the Year: Science, Health, & Engineering Category Winner

Lauryn Renze, Student Laboratory Assistant/Eye Call Technician
University of Iowa Institute for Vision Research

 
Student Employee of the Year: Campus Services Category Winner

Natalie Davis, Admissions Representative, Student Event Assistant 
Office of Admissions

 
Student Employee of the Year: Certificate of Distinction Recipients

Drew Dupont, Student Statistician
Enrollment Data Analytics, Office of the Provost

Lauren Fergus, Student Team Leader C3G Natural History Study 
Molecular Otolaryngology and Renal Research Laboratories 

Jada McDonald, Outreach and Programming Assistant
Women’s Resource and Action Center

Isabella Mullins, Sustainability Intern
Office of Sustainability and the Environment

Chase Thurman, Fitness Lead
Recreational Services

 

Student Supervisor of the Year Awards

Student Supervisor of the Year: Overall Winner

Jim Hall
Art Library, School of Art & Art History

 
Student Supervisor of the Year: Certificates of Distinction Recipients

Nicholas Bowman
Public Policy Center, Educational Policy & Leadership Studies

Ruth Chimenti
Department of Physical Thearpy and Rehabilitation Science

Leslie Flynn
John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center

Marie Gaine
Pharmaceutical Sciences and Experimental Therapeutics (PSET)

Genevieve Johnson
ITS-Research Services

Kate Ralston
Provost Office Administration

 

Closing the Gap Grant Recipients

Congratulations to the instructors awarded in the first round of course development funds to enhance or create experiential learning in their course or create a new experiential course.

Irene Lottini, Department of French and Italian, Faculty-led study abroad, ITAL:2330 – Mafia, Anti-Mafia, and Social Sustainability

Mark Bruckner, Department of Theater Arts, THTR:2690 – Sound Excursions: The Evolving Soundscape and the Reverberations of Human Activity 

Matthew McGill, Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, CBE:4460 – Process and Design for Technologies, Science Sensors, and Satellites   

Paul Dilley, Department of Classics, CLSG:3001 – Archaic and Classical Periods

Nicholas Martini, Department of Political Science, POLI:3001 – Hawkeye Poll 

Adam Brummett, Department of Chemistry, Faculty-led study abroad, ABRD:3049 – Sustainable Chemistry along the Rhine River: Germany, Switzerland, and France 

Elizabeth Menninga, Department of Political Science, POLI:3527 – Civil War Research Lab 

Beatrice Mkenda, Department of French and Italian, SWAH:2002 – Intermediate Swahili II 

Ray Fagenbaum, Department of Health and Human Physiology, HHP:3700 – Healthcare Communications 

Julie Gros-Louis, Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, What Animals Can Teach Us about Being Human

Emilie Maurel-Destruel, Department of French and Italian, FREN:3007 – French Phonetics

Learn more about Closing the Gap