2023 Recipients of the Champion for Teaching Excellence Award

Lisa Angermeier, PhD, MCHES, FASHA is a Clinical Associate Professor in the Department of Kinesiology in the School of Health and Human Sciences (SHHS). She has been at IU Indianapolis for 22 years. In addition to her faculty role, she is the Coordinator of First-Year Learning Experiences in the School of Health and Human Sciences and a Senior Faculty Fellow focusing on First-Year Experience Programs (Bridge Week, First-Year Seminars) and the Interim Director of the Gateway to Graduation Program at the Institute for Engaged Learning. Lisa is currently serving her second term as chair of LEAP Indiana. LEAP (Liberal Education and America’s Promise) Indiana seeks to create and support connections among diverse faculty from all Indiana colleges and universities who are passionate about teaching and the exploration of innovative pedagogies aligned with AAC&U (The Association of American Colleges and Universities).

Jerry Daday is a Professor of Sociology and the Executive Associate Dean in the Institute for Engaged Learning (IEL) at Indiana University - Purdue University Indianapolis (IU Indianapolis).  He works closely with faculty and staff in IEL and from across campus to promote the equitable progression of IU Indianapolis’s undergraduate students through pathways of scaffolded engaged learning experiences beginning in the first-year experience (FYE) through their capstone experience.  He has served as a member of the HIPs in the States national working group and conference planning committee for the past six years.  He is the co-editor (with Jillian Kinzie, Ken O’Donnell, John Zilvinskis, and Carleen Vande Zande) of the new book, Delivering on the Promise of High Impact Practices: Research and Models for Achieving Equity, Fidelity, Impact and Scale, published by Routledge (2022).  He received his BA in Sociology from Bridgewater State University in Massachusetts and his MA and Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of New Mexico. Before joining IU Indianapolis in 2018, he was a Professor of Sociology and the Executive Director of the Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning at Western Kentucky University.

Kevin McCracken is a Clinical Assistant Professor of Psychology and Mental Health Counseling at Indiana University Columbus and the Director of Clinical Training in the Master of Arts in Mental Health Counseling program. From 2018 through 2023, he served as the Director of IU Indianapolis’s Accessible Educational Services (AES) (nee Adaptive Educational Services). Prior to his arrival on the Indianapolis campus, he served as the Associate Director, Graduate Admissions, Alumni Affairs, and Community Engagement at IU Columbus. In addition, he first served as an adjunct lecturer in 1997 and has taught courses in business, computer science, computer technology, psychology, and counseling. He holds a B.S. with honors in psychology, an M.S. Ed. in counseling/counselor education, an MBA in general management, and an Ed. D. in Instructional Systems Technology, all from IU. He had a 16-year career in community mental health services where he worked as a staff therapist, program director, and assistant vice-president. During his career in mental health services, he founded and grew a social enterprise that employed people with psychiatric disabilities. Additionally, he established a grant-funded regional training center for people with disabilities. McCracken and his wife Laura, a 7th-grade writing teacher, live near Nashville, IN. They enjoy hiking, kayaking, camping, running, swimming, and gardening.

Shamima Mithun obtained her Ph.D. in Computer Science in 2012 from Concordia University, Montreal, Canada. She joined the Department of Computing and Information Technology (CIT) at IU Indianapolis as a lecturer in 2015, subsequently attaining the rank of Senior Lecturer in 2021. Throughout her nine years at IU Indianapolis, Dr. Mithun has demonstrated and embodied the university's mission to foster student success through engagement in pedagogical innovation and curricular development. She received the prestigious IU Indianapolis Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Teaching 2023 and is a Faculty Academy on Excellence in Teaching (FACET) member.

Aimee Zoeller serves as the Director of Sociology and Coordinator of Women, Gender, & Sexuality at IU Columbus. She served as an IU Indianapolis inaugural Forum Fellow from 2018-2022. She is a three-time IU Trustees' Teaching Award recipient and relishes teaching across the discipline from Gender & Society, to Protest Music in the U.S., to Sociology of Happiness. She was born and resides on the east side of Indianapolis.