UHV faculty win excellence awards
The University of Houston-Victoria recently recognized three faculty members for their excellence in teaching, service and scholarship.
Winners of the annual UHV faculty awards for the 2024-25 academic year are:
- Teaching Excellence Award – Nadya Pittendrigh, associate professor of English
- Research and Scholarly Activity Excellence Award – Mark Ward Sr., professor of communication
- Distinguished Faculty Service Award – Keith Akins, associate professor of criminal justice
“Each of these faculty members represents areas of excellence that make UHV the outstanding university it is,” said Joann Olson, interim provost and vice president for academic affairs. “I applaud each of their efforts and their commitment to continual improvement and involvement.”
The Teaching Excellence Award was established in 1993 and is given to a UHV faculty member nominated by students in the fall and spring semesters of each year in appreciation of their excellent teaching.
“Receiving this award is gratifying,” Pittendrigh said. “We pour ourselves into teaching, so it’s encouraging when that is recognized, especially by students in my classes.”
Pittendrigh teaches a variety of English and creative writing courses for both undergraduate and graduate students. During the past year, she also worked with the UHV Nonprofit Center to create a project for her “Professional Writing” courses that allowed students to consult with and write content and grant proposals for area nonprofit organizations.
Collaboration and communication are big parts of Pittendrigh’s teaching emphasis, especially when it comes to working with students and finding ways to inspire them and build relationships.
“I try to help students make what they are learning about in all their classes connect with their lives, so that it's not merely academic or theoretical,” she said. “Learning should be a social, three-dimensional experience, something they engage with, question and apply. Watching UHV students develop from freshmen into graduating seniors is one of the most rewarding parts of this job.”
The Research and Scholarly Activity Excellence Award recognizes professors who have made outstanding research contributions to their scholarly communities during their time at UHV.
Mark Ward Sr. is a two-time honoree, having received the award previously in 2018, and last year was recognized with the Distinguished Faculty Service Award.
Ward has achieved a national reputation as an ethnographer of religious communication and media. In November, he was named by the Religious Communication Association as its 2024 Scholar of the Year while his volume “God Talk: The Problem of Divine-Human Communication” was recognized as Edited Book of the Year.
During his 15 years at UHV, Ward has published more than 40 scholarly articles and essays and has authored, coauthored, or edited eight books. His latest, “Inside Evangelicalism: The Culture of Conservative White Christianity,” was released in March.
Ward is also active in public scholarship through his monthly opinion columns in the Victoria Advocate. The columns demonstrate in plain language how communication research can help readers better understand issues of national and local concern.
“Active research and scholarship are not only vital in contributing original knowledge to our fields, but are also vital for the classroom,” Ward said. “By staying on top of our fields and contributing to them, UHV faculty can bring more teaching and learning to our students.”
The Distinguished Faculty Service Award recognizes the significant, positive contributions UHV faculty make to UHV and to local and regional communities.
“I am honored to be recognized by my colleagues and receive this award,” Akins said. “As a member of the faculty, my main function is teaching, but service is also an important component that helps us keep things running smoothly and serve our students and our colleagues.”
Akins came to UHV 17 years ago. Before then, he had never lived in one place for more than four years at a time, he said. He fell in love with the culture and work of UHV, and that led him to get involved and support the university in multiple areas of need.
Currently, Akins is serving as Faculty Senate president, the third time he’s held that position. Throughout his time at UHV, he also has served on and chaired multiple committees, including the Budget Oversight Committee, the Graduate Studies Committee and the Grievance Committee. He’s also been part of the effort to create master’s programs and mentors faculty whenever he can.
In addition to his own service, Akins has seen many leadership changes at the university throughout the years, including new presidents, provosts and deans. Through it all, he has worked with the other faculty members to make sure the university functions smoothly no matter what leadership changes may come.
“My outlook on service is, I have a commitment to contribute to the place that I fell in love with,” Akins said. “This is the part of my job that I feel like I do the best.”
The University of Houston-Victoria, located in the heart of the Coastal Bend region since 1973 in Victoria, Texas, offers courses leading to more than 50 academic programs in the schools of Arts & Sciences; Business Administration; and Education, Health Professions & Human Development. UHV provides face-to-face classes at its Victoria campus, as well as an instructional site in Katy, Texas, and online classes that students can take from anywhere. UHV supports the American Association of State Colleges and Universities Opportunities for All initiative to increase awareness about state colleges and universities and the important role they have in providing a high-quality and accessible education to an increasingly diverse student population, as well as contributing to regional and state economic development.