23 faculty mentors nominated and celebrated with Inspiration Awards

Special Lecturer Janell Hallauer teaches her BIO 111 course the morning before the 2014 Inspiration Awards. A former student nominated Hallauer because her freshman biology class inspired her to strive for OU's nursing program.

Every day, mentors inspire Oakland University students.

Celebrating the dedication of these Oakland University faculty and mentors, The Honors College recognized the 23 nominees from around the University at the 2014 Inspiration Awards on Thursday, Nov. 20.

Of those nominations, two of the 200-word essays stood out as the “most inspiring.”

Jason Torrente, Special Lecturer, Writing and Rhetoric
Nominated by: Elizabeth Hendra
Sophomore, Social Work with a minor in Russian/East European Studies

“Each lesson presented and student project tasked was dually intended to create better writers out of us and form us into more perceptive eyes and astute ears, which can, thus, better comprehend the world,” wrote Hendra.

She poetically describes Torrente’s commitment to getting to know his students and helping them grow.

“He encouraged us to improve ourselves by pursuing growing experiences external to the classroom. To our development, he was wholeheartedly and genuinely devoted, and I reciprocate with gratitude and with further commitment to my own development, which will eventually contribute to my development of more, as the wind sits now in the shoulder of my sail.”

Janell Hallauer, Special Lecturer, Biological Sciences
Nominated by: Jaden Fowler 
Sophomore, Nursing 

“She taught me how to evolve from a good high school student to a successful college student that is now in the honors college, honors society, and a new member to the Oakland University School of Nursing,” wrote Fowler.

She credits much of her success in college to the tough love of she received in her freshman year.

“She doesn’t give us study guides because she wants us to make our own. She gives us tests that require recall not recognition because she doesn't want us to memorize she wants us to learn.”

The following are all of the nominees and nominators:

• Cececlia Saenz-Roby, Associate Professor, Spanish
• Lacey Story, Special Lecturer, Sociology and Anthropology
• Amy Banes-Berceli, Associate Professor, Biological Sciences
• Janell Hallauer, Special Lecturer, Biological Sciences
• Fabia Battistuzzi, Assistant Professor, Biological Sciences
• Jason Torrente, Special Lecturer, Writing and Rhetoric
• Annie Gilson, Associate Professor, English
• Greg Allar, Special Lecturer International Prog., Center for International Programs
• Charlene Hayden, Visiting Assistant Professor Chemistry
• Randall Engle, Special Lecturer, Center for International Programs
• Sara Machiniak, Student Success Program/ S.O.P.E. Program
• Melissa Curtis-Hendley, Department of Organizational Leadership
• William Solomonson, Assistant Professor, Human Resource Development
• Barry Winkler, Professor Emeritus, OU Eye Research Institute and was interim director of The Honors College (1999-2002)
• Christina Tasco, Special Lecturer, Music Theatre and Dance
• Amy Banes-Berceli, Assistant Professor, Biological Sciences
• George Sanders, Associate Professor, Sociology
• Thomas Raffel, Assistant Professor, Biological Sciences
• Kanako Taku, Associate Professor, Psychology
• Holly Walker, Fall Special Lecturer, Modern Languages and Literature
• Akiko Kashiwagi-Wood, Assistant Professor, Japanese
• Sebnem Onsay, Special Instructor, Computer Science and Engineering
• Diane Noack, Instructor, School of Nursing