The College of Health Sciences distributed end-of-semester awards to faculty and staff members during the College’s annual holiday event Dec. 14. Interim Dean Deb Riebe, Associated Deans Brian Quiiliam and Sue Adams, and Assistant Dean Cindie Cruger handed out awards for excellence in research, teaching and service, as well as a staff excellence awards. Winners include:
Excellence in Research: Assistant Professor of Psychology Amy Stamates
Amy Stamates joined the URI faculty in 2019. Stamates’ work examines factors that may contribute to or exacerbate alcohol use and the experience of alcohol-related consequences among young adults. She is particularly interested in the construct of ‘impulsivity’ and the ways in which impulsive behavior contributes to problematic alcohol use among young adults.
Since starting at URI, Stamates has 24 peer reviewed publications, including in Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research, a leading addictions’ journal. She has excelled in grant writing, and was accepted to the Advanced-K Scholar Career Development Program hosted at Brown University, which resulted in a funded K01 application. She applied for and received NIH LRP that has been extended for additional years. She also applied for and received a RI Foundation INBRE award and resubmitted a NIH R21 application.
Stamates’ dissertation research was awarded the College of Science Lee Entsminger Outstanding Ph.D. Dissertation Award from Old Dominion University in 2020. She also received the G. Alan Marlatt Early Career
Presentation Award from the American Psychological Association (APA) Division 50 in 2020.
Excellence in Teaching: Associate Professor of Health Studies Natalie Sabik
Natalie Sabik has been instrumental in developing new classes that meet the needs of
students. She has several teaching accomplishments, including redesigning HLT 200: Interdisciplinary Health Studies to focus on ethics and health disparities. She was awarded the teaching resource award by the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues in 2018 for one of her new assignments, an interdisciplinary project to apply interdisciplinary perspectives to current health issues. Sabik also worked with the career and experiential learning office to integrate a community partner into HLT 200 prior to the pandemic so students could develop and present health communications research to the RI prevention coalition.
Sabik developed a new class, HLT 312: Intersecting Social Identities and Health, as she recognized the critical need for students to understand the idea of intersectionality and apply this to health disparities research. She was awarded the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues 2023 Innovative Teaching Award for the Intersectional Toolbox, a resource developed for this course to teach about intersectionality.
Excellence in Service: Teaching Professor of Kinesiology Allison Harper
Allison Harper has been at URI for 14 years, during which she has been extremely active in service to URI at all levels, and regularly takes on projects that will benefit her colleagues, department, students, advisees, and the college, all done in addition to a 4-4 teaching load. While too numerous to list, Allison’s recent departmental
service projects included three faculty/internship coordinator search committees, the Kinesiology Student Engagement Committee, Exercise Science Undergraduate Committee, and chair of the curriculum
committee.
Harper serves the College of Health Sciences on both the CHS Curriculum and Strategic Planning committees, and she is a regular volunteer for Open Houses, Welcome Days, and graduations. She also served as a Brightspace
Faculty Mentor from 2019-2021, providing faculty in the College with training and support during the learning management system transition. She continues to be the go-to person for kinesiology when Brightspace questions arise.
Most recently, Harper led the college in meeting the President’s initiative to create a health and wellness course for the broader URI community. She piloted the new class this fall and will present the class more broadly beginning in the spring.
Staff Excellence: Administrative Assistant Jill Wainwright
Jill Wainwright has been in her role for five years, primarily focusing on supporting the undergraduate programs and as the administrative assistant for the Psychology Department chair. She has a kind spirit, will help anyone problem solve, or step up to help with any task.
Wainwright is very creative, often considering solutions and offering her input. She is very caring of students and will go the extra mile to make sure the needs of more than one thousand undergraduate Psychology students are met. Over the past year, Wainwright has stepped up to meet departmental needs while another staff member was out on leave. Her efforts are felt across the department, and faculty members uniformly praise her work.