At the Mewbourne College of Earth and Energy, faculty and staff play a crucial role in helping us achieve our mission. In an effort to recognize those individuals who go above and beyond, Mewbourne College has established the Faculty & Staff Performance Bonus Program.
This program, funded by generous donors, awards one-time bonuses to faculty and staff members who demonstrate exceptional achievement in research, teaching or service, as determined by the dean of the Mewbourne College of Earth and Energy, the directors of the Schools within the College, and the Oklahoma Geological Survey.
FACULTY CHAMPION This award is for eligible faculty who demonstrate above-and-beyond performance, such as a receiving a major grant award in research, significant publication or peer recognition, major teaching recognition or service contribution leading to increased visibility or notoriety for the university or the College.
FACULTY PIONEER. This award is eligible faculty for a significant accomplishment in research, teaching or service where the accomplishment leads to peer recognition by functional peers and makes a meaningful contribution to the conversation in their specific area of expertise.
FACULTY OR STAFF ADVOCATE. This award is for faculty or staff members for significant accomplishment in support of College-wide initiatives or community service, as recommended by their peers or supervisors. This award is open to Mewbourne College and Oklahoma Geological Survey faculty and staff.
Spring 2020 Awardees
Faculty Champion –Megan Elwood Madden, Ph.D.
Megan Elwood Madden’s extraordinary service to the OU community consistently brings visibility to the Mewbourne College, the School of Geosciences, and University as a whole. Her dedication to the cause of shared governance, and to diversity, equity, and inclusion resulted in lasting improvements that will positively impact the quality of our University culture forevermore. Dr. Elwood Madden exemplifies leadership and initiative in service roles, notably as Chair of the OU Faculty Senate and as a member of the Provost’s Advisory Committee on Women’s Issues (PACWI).
Serving on the Executive Committee of PACWI, Dr. Elwood Madden took on the issue of bias in faculty awards. She initiated and spearheaded this work, which resulted in changes to the award criteria and nominations process, which was approved by the OU Board of Regents in 2019. Within PACWI, she was one of the leading senior faculty who initiated the faculty mentoring program and served as a mentor. Dr. Elwood Madden is an advocate and ally to many OU faculty from underrepresented groups, and many seek her advice and opinion. She is always available to help and support, and presents intriguing points of view that stem from her wide experience and knowledge. This selfless service takes an enormous amount of time and effort, and she does it for the betterment of OU.
As Chair of the faculty senate, Dr. Elwood Madden negotiated for pay increases, spearheaded the creation of PAPBAC, championed the principles of shared governance and advocated the interests of the disempowered on campus. Her many labors and steadfast concern for the welfare of the entire faculty are exemplary and cast the Mewbourne College and the University in the very best light.
Dr. Megan Elwood Madden is greatly deserving to be recognized by the Mewbourne College of Earth and Energy as our first Faculty Champion. I can’t think of any other faculty member who has provided this college the level of positive visibility at the university level that Dr. Elwood Madden has through her dedicated and impactful service.
Faculty Pioneer – Brett Carpenter, Ph.D.
Dr. Carpenter’s research performance in 2019 was particularly noteworthy. He co-published six papers in high-profile, peer-reviewed outlets (including, e.g. Scientific Reports, Nature Geoscience, etc), and garnered multiple grants. He gave several media interviews associated with some of these publications, which related to topics of high importance and societal relevance, such as induced seismicity.
Faculty/Staff Advocate – Shannon Dulin, Ph.D.
Dr. Dulin initiated the popular “Don’t Panic Geocast” podcast and continues to drop weekly episodes. This requires enormous time and thought, as she conceives of topics for each episode, secures interviewees, writes the script, and records the podcast. She has subscribers from all over the world. It is a huge public outreach effort that she continues voluntarily because of her passion for science education.
Faculty/Staff Advocate – Reid Hamberlin
Reid is always patient and helpful, and responds immediately to requests for IT support. He offers a level of customer service that is often difficult to provide, especially given that most services involve correcting user error! He answers emails promptly and with appropriate details that even the least-computer-literate individual can understand and follow. Reid goes above and beyond to help faculty and staff successfully telecommute. During the transition to online instruction and telecommuting, the demand for Reid’s services expanded dramatically, yet he seems to meet everyone’s needs simultaneously, and with characteristic grace.
Faculty/Staff Advocate – Isaac Woelfel
Isaac is a foundational staff member at the Oklahoma Geological Survey. His initiative, accountability, and work ethic provide a foundational example of what everyone should strive for in the workplace. When Isaac services or repairs stations, he is in contact with landowners and as a result is in a de-facto position of being ambassador for the Survey and the College. The rapport and trusting relationships he builds with landowners allow us to operate in areas of the state we would otherwise not be operating in if another staff member were in Isaac’s shoes. His personal traits aside, Isaac’s drive to make himself accountable for the healthy operation of the network sends him on long trips all over the state, which he completes with a smile. Finally, and perhaps the most direct reason for this award, is that during the shutdown of campus activities, Isaac continues to go out every day and service stations, with some additional operating precautions to limit contact with people. His continued efforts during this time have been motivating for the rest of the team working from home and the seismic network has not faltered even once, largely due to his efforts.
Faculty/Staff Advocate – Danika Hines-Barnett
Danika routinely goes above and beyond when helping students and faculty achieve success. She helps others meet reporting deadlines, navigate the details and realities of graduate school and does a fantastic job of building rapport with the international students. Danika is constantly cheerful and helpful with any tasks, even those outside of her job description, she is a true team player.