UF names recipients of International Educator of the Year Awards
November 5, 2013
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Two University of Florida faculty members and a staff member will receive the 2013 International Educator of the Year Awards from the University of Florida International Center.
Presented annually, the award recognizes outstanding international accomplishments of faculty or staff and the impact their efforts have on students, international partners and university stakeholders or the nominee’s discipline.
Staff Award
Allysa Peyton
Harn Museum curatorial associate for Asian art
Peyton serves UF as curatorial associate for Asian art at the Harn Museum of Art. Over her first three years with the Asian art department, Peyton has expanded international awareness by contributing to exhibitions and publications, teaching UF honors courses, assisting research scholars from Asia and providing tours of the art collections. She has improved awareness by mentoring and supervising Harn student interns, teaching honors classes, assisting visiting research scholars from Asia, and providing UF class tours of the Harn’s Asian collections.
Junior Faculty Award
Senthold Asseng
associate professor for the department of agricultural and biological engineering
Asseng is a recognized leader in crop modeling, climate change and variability and adaptation research focusing on policy support for global food security. He has worked with international research teams in Germany, Australia, the U.S. and The Netherlands. Since 2011, he has co-lead the Global Wheat Research Initiative of the Agricultural Model Intercomparison and Improvement Project, an international team of experimentalists and crop model developers and physiologists from 15 countries. In the same time period, Asseng has contributed to the Global Futures project funded by the Melinda and Bill Gates Foundation, working with the International Food Policy Research Institute in Washington, D.C., the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center in Mexico and Kenya, the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas in Syria and Jordan, and the International Potato Center in Peru. His accomplishments have had a worldwide impact and greatly contributed to the internationalization of the Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences.
Senior Faculty Award
Dr. David Wood
professor of pediatrics, College of Medicine (Jacksonville)
For more than 20 years, Wood’s research and advocacy efforts have focused on improving health systems for underserved children and adults. Since October 2011, Wood has been the director of the Global Health Education program at the University of Florida’s College of Medicine. Under his leadership, the quantity and quality of global health educational experiences for medical students and other health sciences students has significantly improved. Wood manages the six service learning trips that occur annually and are sponsored by the College of Medicine. They send more than 150 medical students and other health sciences students each year to the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Mexico, Haiti and Thailand.
The awards committee looked for excellence in international contributions in the context of at least two of the following factors: research, teaching and service.
“These individuals were selected from a highly competitive pool of nominations, and they represent UF’s commitment to elevate our profile as a globally engaged university…they are clear models for international engagement and make essential contributions to raising the global visibility of the University of Florida,” said David Sammons, dean of the university’s International Center.
Sammons and Angel Kwolek-Folland, associate provost for academic affairs, will present the International Educator of the Year awards at a reception at 3:30 p.m. Nov. 19 in the Keene Faculty Center on UF’s campus.
For additional information and complete nomination packets, contact Vanessa Fayo, 352-273-1536.