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Special Announcements At the NCU Faculty Symposium held in July, faculty awards were announced. The four SSBS faculty below received awards. Congratulations and thanks to each for their contributions to NCU and all they do for our students! Curriculum Development Award: Emily Schmittel, PhD Adjunct Faculty, Department of Marriage and Family Sciences Emily excelled in all four areas of the curriculum development process: collaboration, creativeness, timeliness, and consistency. Extremely collaborative in her workstyle, Emily respectfully offered suggestions, gladly received and incorporated feedback from multiple stakeholders (e.g., curriculum director, instructional designer, program director) and brainstormed ideas with the curriculum director and teaching faculty. Emily not only followed and incorporated NCU's rigorous guidelines for course development, she also offered suggestions for improvement. For example, Emily created multiple multimedia additions in the form of topic specific video mini-lectures. She also enhanced the courses with narrated Prezi presentations, providing students an opportunity to engage with material in different formats. Emily creatively designed the courses incorporating multiple activity types in the course design. Additionally, Emily consistently met deadlines for the projects to which she was assigned. Emily consistently delivered outstanding projects enriching multiple areas of SSBS curriculum with her expertise in child family therapy, child and adolescent development, family dynamics, and applications of MFT framework in the context of working with older adults. Outstanding Adjunct Faculty Award: Michelle Ackerman, PhD Adjunct Faculty, Department of Psychology Michelle has been teaching at NCU for five years. During that time, she has portrayed teaching excellence by consistently providing her students with substantive and helpful feedback. She always thoroughly explains what was done well and in what areas the student could improve, and she offers guidance on how to improve. Michelle delivers her feedback with warmth and encouragement. She frequently meets with her students to discuss the course material or answer their questions. Often these meetings are initiated by Michelle because she is very proactive, and always looking for ways to engage her students. Not surprisingly, her students often sing her praises. Additionally, Michelle never hesitates to help the Psychology Department. Whether this is with curriculum development or participating in department webinars, Michelle is always eager to contribute.