Two Faculty Members Honored with Governance Award
The Arts & Sciences Award for Faculty Governance honors faculty members who devote special efforts to helping their colleagues through committee memberships and other services to departments, programs, Arts & Sciences, and William & Mary.
Typically, one award is made to a tenured faculty member with no more than ten years' service and one to a tenured faculty member with more than ten years' service.
David Armstrong
David’s service to the College has been exemplary for decades. He has served on the Faculty Assembly three time, and on the RPT Committee, chairing RPT for two years. He has exceptional teaching evaluations and is a leader in the experimental physics program at Jefferson Lab. His service to the university in teaching, research and governance was recognized by his being named a Chancellor Professor in 2010. His commitment to excellence in research and teaching did not diminish in the intervening years and he was recognized with a Plumeri Award for Faculty Excellence in 2020.
Within the Physics Department, David has never avoided a responsibility or a challenge when he felt that he could have a positive impact on the well-being of the Department as a whole. This motivated his service as Chair of the Physics Department from and his leadership of the Graduate Studies Committee.
However, David was truly outstanding, when in March 2020, the College went through its most serious crisis in decades as the COVID pandemic began. David’s experience and steady, calm leadership during this period was invaluable and played a major role in helping the College weather this storm.
Thus, for his long record of extensive service to the College, culminating in his recent role as President of the Faculty Assembly during the pandemic, David Armstrong is awarded the Faculty Governance Award.
Dana Lashley
In her 7 years on the faculty, Professor Lashley has proven herself to be a dedicated teacher, an inspiring mentor and advisor, and a leader in areas of service and governance.Professor Lashley has been a passionate leader on issues of diversity and inclusion in the Department of Chemistry and at the College-wide level. In 2017, Professor Lashley established the W&M Chapter of the National Organization for the Advancement of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers (NOBCChE). Her leadership and continuing dedication to this chapter at W&M has created a strong network of support for students in chemistry and closely allied fields. She has also been an indispensable mentor for women in STEM, has garnered several awards, and has served on panels toward this end.
Prof. Lashley has served as an elected representative on the Committee on Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity (CDEI) since 2020. In this capacity, she led a DEI workshop for Chairs and Program Directors and has served on the hiring committees for the A&S Dean of DEI. She was the only returning faculty member on the CDEI this AY (2021-22) and was elected to Chair CDEI and was named the A&S Faculty Fellow for Diversity.
As a STLI fellow since 2020, Professor Lashley continues to play an important role in advancing technology and education. Her leadership at STLI during the highest of pandemic times was invaluable and her efforts proved instrumental to the adoption of innovative technology platforms for instruction (such as Gradescope).
Prof. Lashley has also excelled in outreach to the community beyond W&M. Whether leading outreach activities at elementary schools, teaching in the Osher Program for the broader Williamsburg citizenry, visiting Campus Kitchens with students, or serving as a interpreter for Afghan refugees at the W&M Immigration Clinic, Lashley is highly involved and consistently offers her time in service to the community.
Her efforts and leadership in service to the students, the faculty, and the institution provides a model of citizenship. In recognition of many contributions to the improvement of W&M, it is a pleasure to see her recognized with the 2022 Early Career Faculty Governance Award.
