A Quartet of Women Scholars Who Have Been Honored With Notable Awards

Marilee Bresciani Ludvik, professor of postsecondary educational leadership at San Diego State University, will receive the 2019 Robert H. Shaffer Award for Academic Experience as a Graduate Faculty Member from NASPA-Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education at their national conference in Los Angeles in March. The award is presented to a tenured, full-time faculty member in a graduate preparation program in student affairs. Dr. Bresciani Ludvik’s research relies on translational neuroscience and mindful compassion practices to inform the design and evaluation of workshops, curriculums and coaching practices to decrease stress and anxiety among students, faculty, and administrators on campus.

Dr. Bresciani Ludvik holds a bachelor’s degree in music education with an emphasis in vocal performance and a master’s degree in teaching with an emphasis in music education both from Hastings College in Nebraska. She also holds a Ph.D. in administration, curriculum, and instruction with an emphasis in higher education from the University of Nebraska.

Mary Catherine Harper, professor of English at Defiance College in Ohio, has received the 2018 Gwendolyn Brooks Poetry Prize from the Society for the Study of Midwestern Literature. Her poem, “Imagining Life as a Graffiti Artist,” was chosen in a blind review. This is the second time she has won the award.

Dr. Harper holds a bachelor’s degree from Montana State University and a Ph.D. in literary theory and creative writing from Bowling Green State University in Ohio.

Laurel Willingham-McLain, director of the Center for Teaching Excellence at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, has received the Bob Pierleoni Spirit of POD Award from the Professional and Organizational (POD) Network in Higher Education. The award recognizes long-standing members who have made selfless contributions through their services to not only the organization as a whole, but to the field of educational development as well.

Dr. Willingham-McLain holds a bachelor’s degree in French from Asbury University in Wilmore, Kentucky, and a master’s degree and doctorate both in French linguistics from Indiana University.

Elizabeth Payne, the recently retired professor of history and director of the McDonnell-Barkdale Honors College at the University of Mississippi, has received the Red Rose Award from the Beta Beta Chapter of the Delta Kappa Gamma Society International. The award is given to an outstanding woman who has had a significant impact on education and in community. Dr. Payne is the author or editor of numerous published articles and books including Reform, Labor, and Feminism (University of Illinois Press, 1988), and Mississippi Women: Their Histories, Their Lives (University of Georgia Press, 2003).

Dr. Payne holds a bachelor’s degree from the Mississippi University for Women, a master of theology degree from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, and a master’s degree and Ph.D. both in history from the University of Illinois at Chicago.