Each academic college can select one faculty member for the honor. These recipients will be recognized during the 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock Faculty Excellence Awards on Thursday, April 2, when the university-level recipient will also be announced. The university-level award is sponsored by Scott Bowen

The 2026 recipients are Dr. Kent Kovacs of the College of Business, Health, and Human Services; Dr. Maureece Levin of the College of Humanities, Arts, Social Sciences, and Education; Dr. Shweta Dabetwar of the Donaghey College of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics; and Professor Laura Bates of the William H. Bowen School of Law.

Kent Kovacs

College of Business, Health, and Human Services

Dr. Kent Kovacs, associate professor in the Department of Accounting, Economics, and Finance, is recognized for his strong early impact in research, teaching, and service since joining 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock in 2024. His work focuses on environmental and resource economics, with particular emphasis on groundwater sustainability, agricultural resilience, and ecosystem services. 

Since arriving at 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock, Kovacs has maintained an active research agenda, publishing in journals. His recent work examines the economic incentives shaping producer and household decision-making, with issues directly relevant to Arkansas and the broader Mississippi Delta region. His research has also attracted external funding, including a National Science Foundation award as principal investigator and support from the Arkansas Soybean Promotion Board. 

Kovacs also teaches courses including Macroeconomic Principles, Quantitative Business Analysis, and Environmental Economics, where he connects theory to real-world policy problems through active learning, data-driven exercises, and applied case studies. He has also contributed to student research and helped revive Environmental Economics as an upper-level elective. 

鈥淓conomics offers powerful tools for understanding and addressing complex environmental and policy challenges,鈥� Kovacs said. 鈥淚鈥檓 grateful for the opportunity to bring that work into the classroom and to build research and teaching connections that strengthen 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock鈥檚 impact.鈥�

Maureece Levin

College of Humanities, Arts, Social Sciences, and Education

Dr. Maureece Levin, assistant professor of anthropology in the School of Human Inquiry, is recognized for her integration of teaching, scholarship, and community engagement in archaeology and anthropology. Since joining 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock in 2022, she has developed multiple projects that create meaningful educational opportunities for students while strengthening ties between the university and the broader community. 

One of Levin鈥檚 signature efforts is the Campus Garden Site Archaeological Project, which began as a hands-on learning opportunity for archaeology students and expanded through grant support from the Arkansas Humanities Council. The project funded paid student internships, engaged more than 30 community volunteers, and uncovered hundreds of historical artifacts, some of which are now displayed in Ottenheimer Library. 

Levin has also connected student learning to her fieldwork in Micronesia, where she developed an archaeological field school on the island of Pohnpei. In the classroom, she is known for discussion-based teaching, experiential learning, and mentoring students through independent studies, Donaghey Scholars projects, conference presentations, and Signature Experience Grants. Her scholarship since arriving at 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock includes publications in archaeobotany, archaeology pedagogy, and interdisciplinary plant science. 

鈥淢y goal is to create experiential, place-based learning opportunities that connect rigorous scholarship with community engagement,鈥� Levin said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 incredibly rewarding to help students develop practical skills while conducting meaningful research and public outreach.鈥�

Shweta Dabetwar

Donaghey College of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics

Dr. Shweta Dabetwar, assistant professor of mechanical engineering in the School of Engineering and Engineering Technology, is recognized for her rapid impact in teaching, research, and professional leadership since joining 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock in 2023. Her work reflects a student-centered approach to engineering education, a growing interdisciplinary research program, and strong service within the university and her profession. 

In teaching, Dabetwar has adopted active learning strategies and has become the first faculty member at her school to implement the 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock Learning Assistant Program. In research, she founded the Material Intelligence and Prognostics Lab, where she mentors undergraduate and graduate students working on AI-enabled diagnostics and prognostics of engineering and biomedical systems. Her students have presented at international conferences, including the American Society of Mechanical Engineers鈥� International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition, where her mentees earned best research poster awards in two consecutive years. 

Dabetwar鈥檚 research also includes competitive grant activity, journal publications, and interdisciplinary collaborations spanning engineering, energy systems, and biomedical imaging. She has served on various grant proposal review panels and as a reviewer for more than 10 high-impact journals. Her professional leadership includes service as an associate editor for the ASCE-ASME Journal of Risk and Uncertainty in Engineering Systems, Part B: Mechanical Engineering, and leadership roles within ASME. She was appointed as the 4th vice chair for the Safety Engineering and Risk Analysis Division of ASME in August 2025.

鈥淢entoring students as they grow in both technical skill and research confidence is one of the most meaningful parts of my work,鈥� Dabetwar said. 鈥淚鈥檓 proud to help create learning and research opportunities that reduce the gap between academia and the real/professional world to  prepare them for future success.鈥�

Laura Bates

William H. Bowen School of Law

Professor Laura Bates, assistant professor of law at the William H. Bowen School of Law, is recognized for her contributions to legal education, scholarship, and service during her early years on the faculty. Her work centers on teaching and mentoring students, contributing to legal scholarship, and serving both the law school and the broader community. 

Bates teaches Research, Writing, & Analysis and Law & Literature, with an emphasis on connecting classroom instruction to the work students will do as future attorneys. She prioritizes practical assignments, one-on-one mentoring, and helping students develop strong legal writing, critical thinking, and professional communication skills.

Bates鈥檚 scholarship focuses on parental leave laws. In addition, Bates has presented at conferences on legal writing, legal storytelling, and artificial intelligence, served on multiple law school committees, advised student law review notes, and served as faculty advisor to the 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock Law Review. She is also active in the community through her leadership with the American Red Cross serving Greater Arkansas. 

鈥淭eaching and mentoring students is the most rewarding part of my work,鈥� Bates said. 鈥淚鈥檓 grateful for the opportunity to help students build the skills, confidence, and judgment they need to successfully enter the legal profession, as well as to challenge them to think critically about the law and engage in thoughtful discussions of what the law should be.鈥�

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The university-level Faculty Excellence winners will be announced at the April 4 ceremony at 5:30 p.m. in the EIT Auditorium in the Engineering and Information Technology Building.

More information on the CHASSE winners and excerpts from their nomination letters are below:

Faculty Excellence Award for Public Service

Dr. Edma Delgado-Sol贸rzano is an assistant professor of Spanish who is deeply involved in service in her program, at the university, and in our larger community.

In highlighting her work at 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock, her nomination letter states 鈥渟he is the heart and soul鈥� of supporting Spanish heritage speakers through recruiting students to the program, supervising Spanish language testing requirements, writing memos to the registrar, and advising and mentoring these students.

鈥淗er years-long work with LULAC, El Z贸calo Immigrant Resource Center, Mamas Unidas in Little Rock, the Hispanic Women鈥檚 Organization of Arkansas in Springdale, and El Centro Hispano in Jonesboro are a testament to a hard-working individual who strongly believes in setting an example for her community,鈥� her nomination letter states. 鈥淎nd these organizations have awarded her efforts with the 2023 Mentor of the Year Prize from Mamas Unidas, as Arkansan of the Day (July 17, 2023) by THV Channel 11 News, and Recognition for Community Service (October 13, 2023) from Univision Arkansas.鈥�

Faculty Excellence Award for Research and Creative Endeavors

Dr. Heidi Skurat Harris is an associate professor and graduate coordinator in the Department of Rhetoric and Writing. With a decade of experience at 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock, Harris has made significant impacts in the research field.

鈥淗er three primary research areas involve online instruction鈥� online writing program development and administration, and archival research on the writing and publication process of the novella 鈥楢 River Runs Through It鈥� by Norman Maclean,鈥� states her letter of nomination.

鈥淚n the last five years alone, Dr. Harris has published in four edited collections and book chapters, a bibliography, twelve journal articles, and two co-edited books (Routledge 2024),鈥� her letter continues. 鈥淚n addition, she collaborated with faculty and students from across disciplines and across the country. Her work appears in seminal books, like 鈥淔oundational Practices in Online Writing Instruction鈥� and in some of the top journals in the field, including 鈥淭echnical Communication Quarterly,鈥� 鈥淐omputers & Composition,鈥� and 鈥淐ommunication Quarterly.鈥� She has maintained this research pace while simultaneously developing and coordinating the Graduate Certificate for Online Writing Instruction (the only of its kind in the nation and recipient of the CSSC 2017 Curricular Innovation Award) and serving as the graduate coordinator for [the] department.鈥�

Faculty Excellence Award for Teaching

Dr. Neveen Shafeek Amin is the coordinator of the sociology program and an associate professor of sociology who emphasizes mentoring and student-oriented service.

鈥淸Dr. Shafeek Amin] is well versed in scientific teaching and uses evidence-based methods to improve her students’ learning outcomes,鈥� her nomination letter continues. 鈥淪he uses several pedagogical strategies with her students to encourage active learning, which has been shown to improve students鈥� retention. For instance, in her Introduction to Sociology classes, she has her students engage in service-learning activities and write reflective papers about the experience (for this work, she was named a Service-Learning Advocate by the College of Social Science and Communications in 2020.)鈥�

Her work in teaching and learning continues outside the School of Human Inquiry as well. Her nomination letter states, 鈥淭his year she was selected to serve as one of the three co-directors for the Academy of Teaching and Learning (ATLE). [Dr. Shafeek Amin] is extraordinarily well suited to this role. She has regularly attended ATLE programming since she began working at 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock and has received numerous recognitions from the group, including a curriculum innovation award, numerous teaching fellow awards, and a Lifetime Participation award. Her leadership in this organization demonstrates her commitment to ongoing improvement in teaching, not just for herself, but also for her colleagues. Through this work she is working to improve the classroom experience for all students by providing continuing education for the educators.鈥�

糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock Social Justice Award

Dr. Daryl Tate, associate professor in the School of Education, coordinates the Learning System Technology Education Program. He is also 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock鈥檚 inaugural eLearning Fellow.

According to his nomination letter, 鈥淸Dr. Tate] has been a much sought-after person to address equity for all in the online environment; he has done so via his publications, scholarly presentations, media interviews, grants, and direct action with students to facilitate programming. On his grants, two of them focused on how to provide open educational resources (OER) to his students as a student retention effort鈥� In essence, his programming has a lasting impact that promotes and defends social justice in the form of access to education.鈥�

Regarding Tate鈥檚 entire body of work, his nomination letter goes on to state: 鈥淒r. Tate鈥檚 pivotal work to provide educational access using technology and pedagogy innovatively approaches student success. It also exemplifies his commitment to ensuring 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock remains relevant in producing student scholars who will function with this same focus on inclusionary access for all to learn.鈥�

糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock Rising Faculty Award for Excellence

Professor Kiel Thorlton, assistant professor in the School of Mass Communication, joined the university in 2020. Since that time, he has taught 11 different classes in the area of video production.

His nomination letter states: 鈥淚n addition to his considerable teaching load, Prof. Thorlton also serves as the coordinating producer for ESPN+ in conjunction with 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock athletics. In this capacity, he is responsible for all student crews for roughly 100+ broadcasts in an academic year.鈥�

In addition to his service to the university and in the larger community, he also continues to thrive in scholarship/creative activity. 鈥淪ince 2010, Kiel has been the director, cinematographer, and owner of Falling Leaf Productions, a company that specializes in video production ranging from narrative film to commercial work,鈥� his nomination letter continues. 鈥淧erhaps the most notable of the work his company has produced is the feature film 鈥楢 Place Called Home,鈥欌�� which was released worldwide on Dec. 20, 2022. Thorlton served as the writer, director, and co-producer of the movie.

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