November

Receiving their just rewards

Kudos go to faculty, staff, students and community partners who were recognized by The Applied Learning Center for their contributions to the community.

By Rachel Bruner

November 14, 2016

The Applied Learning Center hosted an awards luncheon Nov. 10 to recognize faculty, staff, students and community partners who have made outstanding contributions to Metropolitan State University of Denver’s community engagement programs.

Associate Professor of Human Services Brian Bagwell received the Faculty and Staff Award for Exceptional Achievement in Community Engagement for his role in creating the new Fire and Emergency Response Administration program. He collaborated with fire chiefs and the national Fire Academy to bring the new program to MSU Denver students. Community service in fire prevention is a component of many courses in the program.

Brewista, nominated by Assistant Professor of Industrial Design Michael Caston and the Industrial Design Department, received the Community Partner Award. Each semester since spring 2014, Brewista has sponsored a project with the senior studio course Design for Marketability and Manufacturing. Brewista’s staff work diligently with students – in the past, they have flown in some of their engineers from China to work directly with students. The collaboration with Brewista has led to numerous other benefits and partnerships for MSU Denver.

Professor of Psychology Lesley Hathorn was posthumously awarded the Exceptional Achievement in Undergraduate Research Leadership Award. Hathorn is described as having been an inspiring and dedicated research mentor, who modeled intellectual curiosity and disciplined thinking and worked tirelessly for her students. She was known to meet with students late into the evening to help them tackle a difficult problem, to analyze their data, or to prepare their presentations.

The Intern of the Year Award went to two students: Health Care Management and Biology student Claudia Delgado and Journalism student Jeanelle Sandoval Thompson.

Delgado was nominated by Centura Health for her work on the Vendor Service Team in Centura’s Supply Chain Management Department. She independently took on complex projects and managed them from start to finish with little instruction, such as growing an ePayables program by 20 percent. Delgado became an asset to the department through both her expertise and attitude.

Thompson was nominated by the Vail Daily for her persistence in pursuing and covering stories. Thompson has gone so far as to lose her shoes to cover a large Vail lacrosse tournament. She was also recognized for doggedly pursuing heinous crimes, and cowboys who had to be interviewed and photographed from a commandeered ATV.

Melissa Muszala from Medtronic received the Internship Supervisor of the Year Award. Muszala, psychology student Amanda Gonzales’ supervisor, was nominated by Gonzales for making “a personal investment in the success of those around her,” Gonzales said. Muszala is credited for giving Gonzales the responsibility to manage a significant international project and travel to various parts of the country to participate in strategy sessions. Muszala highlighted the value of interns to the company’s upper management and coached Gonzales on networking and interviewing, which helped Gonzales land a position with the company after graduation.