West Liberty, W.Va., Feb. 1, 2023 — West Liberty University’s faculty can once again claim a finalist for West Virginia’s 2022 Professor of the Year award, presented annually by the Faculty Merit Foundation.
Associate Professor of Biology Dr. Deanna Schmitt was among the five finalists named in a letter dated Jan. 23, 2022.
“This is wonderful news for Deanna, the College of Sciences, and the entire university. I congratulate Deanna on her nomination and her excellence in teaching and I am proud to say that this is not the first time we’ve had a finalist,” said Dr. Cathy Monteroso, WLU’s interim president. “We all wish her well as the final selection process continues.”
Over the past eight years, WLU faculty members have been selected seven times as a finalist in the statewide competition and three times as the state’s Professor of the Year.
Dean of the College of Sciences Dr. Karen Kettler nominated Schmitt for the honor.
“Dr. Schmitt is an exceptional faculty member, researcher and student mentor,” Kettler said.
The next step in the process of selecting a Professor of the Year is personal interviews which are scheduled to take place on Tuesday, Feb. 21 in Charleston, W.Va.
Schmitt has been a member of the West Liberty University faculty since 2017 and serves both as a biology professor and an adjunct professor in the Physician Assistant Studies program.
Prior to that she spent four years doing postdoctoral work at WLU from 2012 – 2016, in the laboratory of Dr. Joseph Horzempa, who was named the 2017 West Virginia Professor of the Year.
Schmitt earned a doctoral degree in immunology at the University of Pittsburgh in 2012 and a bachelor’s of microbiology at Pennsylvania State University in 2005.
Student researchers in Schmitt’s lab are working to uncover the mechanism of action of a new family of antibiotics called resazomycins. These antibiotics are effective against a select group of bacteria including Francisella tularensis and the causative agent of gonorrhea, Neisseria gonorrhoeae.
A resident of Canonsburg, Pa., Schmitt and her husband, Matthew, have two daughters, Ally, 10, and Hadley, 7.
The Faculty Merit Foundation was created in 1984 to provide a means to recognize and reward innovation and creativity among the faculties of West Virginia’s public and private colleges and universities.
Through the Professor of the Year program, the outstanding achievements of those individuals are brought to the attention of the general public.
A $10,000 cash award is given to the candidate selected as Professor of the Year, with smaller awards to the other finalists. Traditionally, finalists are honored at a springtime banquet in Charleston, where the Professor of the Year is announced.
The other candidates for Professor of the Year include: Joseph L. Allen, Ph.D., Professor of Physical and Environmental Sciences, Concord University; Cheryl Fleming McKinney, CPA, CGMA, Professor of Business, Glenville State University; Stephanie A. Slocum-Schaffer, Ph.D., Professor of Political Science, Global Studies and Geography, Shepherd University; Peter J. Ward, Ph.D., Professor of Biomedical Sciences, West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine.
The Professor of the Year award is sponsored by individual donors and: United Bank; Bowles Rice LLP; Greene, Ketchum, Farrell, Bailey & Tweel LLP; Maier Foundation; Graystone Consulting; and The Daywood Foundation, Inc.
West Liberty University is West Virginia’s first public university and offers more than 70 undergraduate majors, plus a growing number of graduate programs, both online and on campus.
For more information, please call 1.866.937.8542 (WESTLIB), visit westliberty.edu or follow WLU on social media. To view more about WLU, please visit westliberty.edu/youtube. For additional information on the Professor of the Year process, please contact Bowles Rice at 304.347.2131.