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Faculty Awards
Dr. Melanie Domenech Rodríguez, was selected as the 2022 D. Wynne Thorne Career Research Award recipient for her extensive, high-impact research that has positively influenced human lives. Dr. Domenech Rodríguez has published 87 peer-reviewed journal articles, 4 books, 21 book chapters, 27 non-peer reviewed articles, and 17 manuals or instruments; 13 of these papers have been cited more than 100 times. Since 2003, she has been continuously funded. Her national and international reputation derives from her knowledge, advocacy, and scholarship in family systems research, cultural adaption/competence, and international outreach. She has helped to bring evidence-based best practices in parenting research to Latina/o families in the US and in Latin America. This has not been simply a practice or service activity, but a scientific activity characterized by objective measurement and evaluations of efficacy. Her scholarship in cultural adaptation has put additional empirically supported techniques in the hands of psychological providers working with ethnically/culturally diverse families and clients. This work has landed her accolades such as Fellow of the American Psychological Association and recognition for Distinguished Contribution to Family Systems Research from the American Family Therapy Academy. Dr. Domenech Rodríguez has served as President of several important organizations in Psychology, including the National Latina/o Psychological Association. Beyond all of this, Dr. Domenech Rodríguez has spent her entire faculty career at USU (2000-present) serving as an award-winning mentor and advisor and in prominent service roles such as Chair of the Institutional Review Board for the Protection of Human Subjects. Dr. Domenech Rodríguez’ considerable career achievements are deserving of the D. Wynne Thorne Career Research Award.
E. G. PETERSON EXTENSION AWARD MARGIE MEMMOTT
Margie Memmott is an Extension associate professor, The Home and Community Department Director, and the Family and Consumer Sciences State Program Leader. She has worked for Utah State University Extension for more than 30 years and is a paragon of professional excellence, leadership, innovation, and commitment to the mission and goals of USU.
As a leader and respected mentor, Margie has empowered faculty to publish hundreds of fact sheets and journal articles, generate millions of dollars in external funds for research and other causes, and craft experiences that help children, youth, and adults reach their full potential. She has created lasting and productive partnerships while playing to the strengths of the faculty members she supervises. By working to make the Home and Community Department more expansive and inclusive, she has helped those in her department better meet the needs of Utah residents.
Margie served as a national board member for the National Extension Association of Family and Consumer Sciences (NEAFCS). She also served as Western Region Director for NEAFCS. She has received numerous awards and honors for her Extension programming, which show the value of her innovation and the impacts she has made.
Margie was raised primarily in Canada but moved with her family to Pakistan and graduated from high school at the American School in Lahore at the age of 16. At age 19 she earned her bachelor’s degree from Brigham Young University, majoring in home economics education, and at age 20 she received her master’s degree from USU. She later attended Iowa State University, completing course work in the home economics doctoral program.
Comments from faculty serving under Margie’s stewardship include, “I’ve felt genuinely supported both professionally and personally – Margie is the type of person who truly means it when she says ‘I have your back.’” “She has been a good example of creative thinking for delivering programs and continues to encourage innovation among faculty. She is supportive of professionalism and work/life balance, which continues to make our department stronger.”
As demanding as her Extension career has been, the center of Margie’s life is her family – husband Sam, sons Tyrell, Rex, Justin, and Jordan, three daughters-in-law, and seven grandchildren, including twins.
The E.G. Peterson Award is the highest recognition available to USU Extension faculty members who provide outstanding service to the state. Margie is exemplary of that as she has served Extension, her community, and Utah for over three decades.
FACULTY UNIVERSITY SERVICE AWARD VICKI ALLAN
A lifelong Aggie, Vicki Allan, associate professor in USU’s Department of Computer Science, began her academic career as a student at the Edith Bowen Laboratory School on campus. She remembers waiting in her father Rex LeRoy Hurst’s faculty office as he finished his duties of the day. She would follow in his footsteps as a computer science professor.
Since joining USU’s faculty in 1992, Allan has been active in teaching, research, advising and serving on dozens of committees to promote student, faculty and staff welfare. Her service includes serving as faculty senate president as well as helping to lay the ground work for USU’s Center for Women and Gender. Among her most notable efforts are initiatives to support, encourage, mentor and inspire young woman and other underrepresented groups in computer science. Allan initiated the NCWIT Aspire IT Alliance-supported “App Camp,” a summer program to encourage middle school children and their high school-aged mentors to pursue degrees in computer science. Enlisting collaborators from across campus, Allan has created an engaging learning atmosphere that introduces youngsters to coding and other computer science endeavors while reducing gender stereotypes. The innovative camp provides high schoolers with paid mentoring experience to grow their self-confidence and boost their leadership and technical skills.
ELDON J. GARDNER TEACHING AWARD JENIFER EVERS
College of Humanities and Social Sciences
Jenifer Evers earned Bachelor of Science degrees in Environmental Studies and Geography from the University of Utah in 2000 and graduated from the University of Montana with her Master of Social Work degree in 2008. She went on to practice as lead clinician for a Comprehensive School and Community Treatment program from 2008 – 2013, serving vulnerable children and families in Montana. Her career path took an abrupt and unexpected turn when she joined the Department of Social Work as a Clinical Assistant Professor at Utah State University’s Moab campus in 2014. She was promoted to Associate Clinical Professor of Social Work in 2019 and has taught more than 400 students in 18 distinct courses over the course of her career at USU.
As her career has evolved, Jen can’t imagine doing anything else. Her passion for supporting the professional development of burgeoning social workers grows each year. Jen regularly participates in Empowering Teaching Excellence (ETE) Learning Circles (and has facilitated one) and was among the first at USU to receive the Teaching Scholar and Teaching Master certificates offered through the ETE Badge Program. Notably, she was recently accepted into the Association of College and University Educators (ACUE) course where she continues to learn best practices for helping students engage meaningfully in her courses.
