Katherine Makarec, professor of psychology, Emmanuel Onaivi, professor of biology, and Brenda Marshall, professor of nursing, were recognized during the University’s 2021 Virtual Commencement Ceremony on May 14 as the recipients of the 2021 Faculty Excellence Awards.
The three honorees were recognized by Provost Joshua Powers, who read their citations. Makarec received the 2021 Faculty Award for Excellence in Service; Onaivi received the 2021 Faculty Award for Excellence in Research, Scholarship, and Creative Expression; and Marshall received the 2021 Faculty Award for Excellence in Teaching.
“Congratulations to these extraordinary faculty leaders for their accomplishments, and for their commitment to these three important roles of faculty in higher education. You make us proud,” said Provost Powers in announcing the recipients. The awards were instituted in 2004 to recognize faculty achievement and contributions as the University celebrates the success of students at their graduation.
Katherine Makarec
Makarec was honored for her exemplary work in teaching, advising, program development, and policy-making. She served as chair of the Department of Psychology for 15 of her 24 years at the University, during which she secured eight hires, developed a New Faculty and Adjunct Handbook, improved the internship program, worked on accreditation of the Applied Counseling Program, and strengthened advising. She also helped develop the cognitive science honors track, liberal studies major, and clinical psychology graduate program, including the PsyD. She has worked across the colleges, with nursing to revise the nursing honors track and with the College of Education to create clear degree sheets for double majors in education. One colleague said of her, “She genuinely cares about our students and their success.” In her college, Makarec has served on the Curriculum Committee, Retention Committee, and First Generation Committee, and on the College Council for 16 years. Her work at the University level includes years of service as Faculty Senate Executive Committee member; chair of the Faculty Senate; and membership on the Research, Scholarship and Creative Expression Working Group, Blue Ribbon Task Force on Advisement, and recently on Middle States reaccreditation. She serves the community as well, involving Psi Chi students in local food, clothing, and toy drives. In her field, she reviews for such journals as Neuroscience Letters, Life Sciences, and Brain Research Bulletin, and is a member of the Scientific Committee for International Psychological Applications Conference and Trends.
Emmanuel Onaivi
Since joining the faculty in 2000, Onaivi has produced a body of scholarship creating breakthroughs in medicine and science. His work on cannabis is, as one peer puts it, garnering “national and international attention with the growing global interest in cannabis legalization for recreational and medical use.” One area of innovation is his discovery around the functional neuronal expression of cannabinoid receptors. Onaivi recently received a $400,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health to study effects of cannabinoid products. He will involve his students in this research. He is also working on a patent involving a floxed mouse line of cannabinoid receptor 2 as an animal model for medical marijuana development. Onaivi is a guest scientist at the National Institute on Drug Abuse intramural program, has been a Fulbright Scholar, and participates in Princeton University’s W.E.B. DuBois Institute preparing students for science careers. At WP, he directs the Animal Research Laboratory and chairs the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee. He works with numerous University students in this lab as well as international scholars and visiting professors. His scholarship is prodigious, with three edited books on cannabis and in the last five years 18 peer-reviewed manuscripts. Onaivi has served on various editorial boards for publications such as Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research, Journal of Drug and Alcohol Research and Pharmaceutical Special Issues: Medical Marijuana –MDPI. He is editor-in-chief for Advances in Drug and Alcohol Research and has reviewed for the Journal of Neuroscience Research and Behavioral Brain Research to name a few.
Brenda Marshall
Over her 11 years at the University, Marshall has shown exceptional skill, intellect, and passion for teaching, demonstrated in the relationships she has built with students and peers. One colleague noted, “Her passion for psychiatric nursing and developing empathy in student nurses is palpable, and the response by the students is incredible. Students come back to our class to speak about the impact of this learning experience on their nursing practice.” Marshall puts her scholarship to work in her teaching, writing numerous grants that help teach students practical lessons in nursing. She mentors new faculty and adjuncts, helping with grants and assisting her colleagues in teaching with technology, particularly during the recent pivot to online during the COVID-19 pandemic. Professor Marshall has taught more than 20 different courses, face-to-face and online, from undergraduate to doctoral. She helped develop online courses for the new online nursing degree programs. Marshall has published nursing textbooks and book chapters and has articles in Issues in Mental Health Nursing, Clinical Journal of Oncology Nursing, and Journal of the American Psychiatric Nurses Association, to name a few. She also presents at scholarly conferences with her students, many of whom have gone on to careers in research and medicine. Marshall is a Fulbright Scholar, having worked in Malta as a specialist in mental health, teaching students about reducing the stigma of mental illness. A peer says of her, “She has a keen ability to translate the complex material of psychiatric nursing, research, and educational pedagogies into easily understood concepts.”
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