Quinnipiac University Honors Professors with Faculty Awards

HAMDEN – Quinnipiac University recently honored Jaime Ullinger, professor and co-director of the Bioanthropology Research Institute, with its James Marshall Award. Ullinger, of East Haven, joined Quinnipiac in 2011.

“I am honored and humbled to have been awarded the James Marshall Service Award by my peers,” Ullinger said. “I strive to create engaging research opportunities for students at Quinnipiac, regardless of their background or major, and with the support of my amazing colleagues, I hope that we all can create an exciting learning environment for all students.”
The James Marshall Award was created in 2002 to recognize faculty who exhibit qualities of unselfish service and dedication to the Quinnipiac community. The award was named after the late James Marshall, assistant professor of health management in the School of Business, who died in April 2002. Marshall was known for his community work, including serving as chairman of Quinnipiac’s Black History Month Committee.

In addition to Ullinger, part-time faculty members Andrea Obston and Barry Sacks (posthumously) were honored with Outstanding Adjunct awards, while Kevin Barry, Lisa Burns, Jennifer Dauphinais and Tracy Van Oss received Faculty Scholars awards.

Obston, of Avon, teaches public relations and strategic communications courses.

“I came to the profession late in my career to give back to a profession that’s been very good to me and to grow principled PR people,” she said. “This award means the world to me because it says that choice was a good one. I thank my students for teaching me how to teach and my colleagues in the School of Communications for believing in me.”

Sacks, a former producer at ESPN in Bristol and an adjunct professor of journalism at Quinnipiac, passed away in February. He was 63.

The popular Sacks taught sports production and broadcasting courses to graduate and undergraduate students beginning in 2015.

The Faculty Scholar Awards are administered by the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs and honorees are selected by a process determined by each school’s dean. The criteria for the award is a high level of commitment to producing outstanding scholarship or creative works.
Barry, professor of Law, also serves as associate dean for academic affairs. He has taught at QU since 2008.

His research focuses on civil and human rights issues, including transgender rights, disability rights and death penalty abolition. As the co-director of Quinnipiac University School of Law’s civil justice clinic, Barry and his students have represented low-income clients through a combination of direct legal services and policy advocacy, including work on numerous cases asserting ADA claims in support of transgender litigants.

“The Quinnipiac University community has been so supportive of my civil rights work over the years,” he said. “It’s an honor to be recognized in this way.”

Burns, of East Haven, is a professor of media studies. The internationally recognized U.S. first ladies scholar started at Quinnipiac in 2003.

“I'm very honored to be recognized for my research, which not only keeps me current in the classroom, but also allows me to explore my interests in political communication, media and celebrity,” she said. “I think it is important to tell these women’s stories and acknowledge the important role they’ve played in U.S. history.”

Dauphinais, of New Haven, assistant teaching professor of education and coordinator of the Social Emotional Learning and School Climate Program, has been with QU since 2016.

“As a clinical instructor and researcher, I work directly with preservice and in-service educators to grapple with our changing national landscape, and how these changes impact teacher and student needs for self-care, and self-awareness,” she said. “Being recognized for this award shows that the kind of work I do, which centers interdisciplinary examinations of education through critical frameworks, is essential to a larger conversation of equity, inclusion, and justice that informs curriculum and educational policy today.”

Van Oss, of North Haven, is a clinical professor of occupational therapy. She started at Quinnipiac as an adjunct professor in 1998.

“I have had so many mentors and supporters that have guided me to pursue scholarship,” she said. “It is my goal to guide our students to be future occupational therapy scholar/practitioners by offering multiple opportunities while a student at Quinnipiac."