Office of Human Resources

Annual Recognition Awards for 2022-2023

• Board of Regents Faculty Achievement Awards
• Board of Regents Staff Achievement Awards
• Retirees
• Years of Service
• Staff Senate High 5 Recipients
• Academic Advising Awards
• Degrees/Certificates Earned

Minot State University honored its 2022-23 Board of Regents Faculty and Staff Achievement Awards award winners at the conclusion of the academic year.

Faculty Achievement Awards
This program was established in 1985 by the Burlington Northern Foundation. In 1990 the Board of Regents established a second award and now solely supports the awards to recognize outstanding university teaching. The intent of the award is to recognize, reward, and motivate excellence in teaching, scholarship, and service.

Dannah Schaffer - Excellence in Teaching - Division of Science
Dr. Schaffer has been a faculty member in the Division of Science since 2015 and during that time has consistently demonstrated excellent teaching. She has continued to critically evaluate her courses each semester to find ways to further improve her teaching.

In her role as the science education teacher in the elementary education methods block, Dr. Schaffer has expanded the science methods course to include multiple opportunities for our elementary education students. She coordinates workshops for them from NASA and the ND Wildlife agency. With this collaboration, students gain a wealth of practical knowledge about science education in these areas.

Dr. Schaffer exemplifies ALL of Minot State University's beliefs about teaching. In addition to her content and pedagogy knowledge, and her outstanding commitment to student learning and curiosity, she provides a great deal of mentoring and advising to all of the students in the elementary blocks and to all of the secondary science education students as she is a co-advisor with a content advisor for all of those students.

Dr. Schaffer's excellence in teaching, dedication to Minot State University and its students, and her persistence for continual improvement make her a model of a great teacher at the university level. She is certainly a worthy recipient of the Faculty Achievement Award in Teaching.

Bryan Schmidt - Excellence in Scholarship - Division of Science
Dr. Schmidt has demonstrated a consistently high degree of dedication to scholarly activity for the betterment of his own teaching, the Division of Science, Minot State University and the greater North Dakota scientific community.

Dr. Schmidt's dedication to scholarly research is best highlighted by his grant funding record while at Minot State University. He has received funding for his scholarly activities in 13 of his 15 years at Minot State and external grant funding for 11 of the last 12 years. He has been awarded over $455,000 in grants during his tenure at Minot State. This funding has been used to improve the quality of scientific instrumentation in the Chemistry Department, as well as support student participation and training in research.

His activity has resulted in 23 presentations, including four invited presentations of his research at UND and NDSU, and one peer-reviewed journal article. In this current academic year alone, he has had students present three posters at regional meetings, four posters at a national meeting and one accepted to present a poster at an international conference at the end of April. He has also sent several students to participate in summer research programs at large universities such as Michigan State University, Johns Hopkins University and the University of Tokyo.

Dr. Schmidt has consistently demonstrated a dedication of the pursuit of scholarship and training of students in scientific research during his career at Minot State University.

Wenjing Zheng - Excellence in Teaching - Special Education
Dr. Wenjing (as she is known by her students) joined the Department of Special Education in 2017 and had an immediate positive impact in the department in terms of her teaching and ability to connect positively with a diverse group of students.

In her first year of teaching at Minot State, she sought suggestions to improve SPED 110, Introduction to Exceptional Children class. Dr. Wenjing designed a new module on Autism and added learning materials and resources to reflect the most current information and changes in the field. Later, to address weak areas identified for national accreditation, Dr. Wenjing added topics on gifted education and English language learners to ensure teacher candidates receive adequate training to serve children with diverse abilities, backgrounds, and needs.

Dr. Wenjing believes in more than just lecture and in-class discussion to make learning come to life. She played a critical leadership role in initiating and developing the Instructional and Communication Technology lab. she thoughtfully arranged a vast array of assistive technology devices so students could get hands-on experience. Simulated learning experiences such as this could never be taught using a textbook or through course lecture.

Dr. Wenjing is a great asset to students pursuing their educational goals at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. Her effective instruction and efforts in course development are driven by her care for student learning. 

Staff Achievement Awards
The Board of Regents Staff Achievement Award was established in 1991. The Board of Regents established the award to recognize university staff members for outstanding service to the University and the community.

Melissa Cantone - Registrar's Office
Melissa has served the Registrar's Office for more than 16 years in three different roles and due to her excellent memory, maintains a knowledge treasure trove of our processes and history. She provides excellent customer service to students, faculty, staff, and other visitors to Minot State University, often taking additional steps and asking analytical follow-up questions to make certain all needs are met, and questions are answered. Melissa is professional and ensures the information she provides is clear, understandable, and accurate. She also takes the time to assist students and faculty in learning to advocate for themselves and to utilize the tools MSU provides for them to be able to find solutions on their own. She demonstrates the Academic Requirements Report and other processes in Campus Connection and maintains the Registrar's Office's YouTube page displaying the training videos created by the Registrar's Office for just-in-time student support.

Melissa is a lifetime learner, values knowledge, and is committed to education. She has demonstrated this Commitment by attaining three degrees while working at Minot State University.

She demonstrates all of MSU's core values and beliefs regarding excellence in service, engaging in high ethical and moral principles, and supporting our community.

Melissa is an asset to Minot State University, and we are lucky to have her working with us!

Annette Mennem - Native American Center
Annette has been the Director of the Native American Center since 2011. As the only person in her office, she is responsible for tutoring, counseling, mentoring, and advising students. She genuinely wants students to succeed and does everything possible to see that they meet this goal.

Additionally, she visits tribal colleges, attends powwows, and hosts tribal high school students to share what Minot State has to offer as part of her role in recruiting Native students to Minot State. She was instrumental in bringing the ND Native American State Science & Engineering fair to campus with over 80 students from grades 4-12 participating.

Her leadership and collaboration in working with various groups to have the city declare the second Monday of October as Indigenous People's Day, complete a successful land acknowledgement statement, and her work on the community garden using native planting methods, helps raise awareness and promotes inclusion community-wide. Annette is well-liked and more importantly, respected by tribal leaders across the state. Her work within the Minot community has been publicly recognized and appreciated. Annette is an active participant on many committees on campus. Her willingness to jump in and do what needs to be done has earned her much respect.

Renae Yale - Advancement Office
Renae has worked at Minot State for 30 years, serving the last 12 years in the Advancement Office. She has ensured every gift to the Foundation is tracked and recorded correctly all while honoring donor intent. Her attention to detail is immaculate and the pride she takes in ensuring the Foundation's alumni and friends database runs like a well-oiled machine is second to none.

Renae understands details of our giving process and the impact(s) to funds/accounts. She is essential to our financial balancing, managing our spending policy and funds and producing accurate reports and queries.

She assists with every function the Foundation hosts. She treats peers, administration, and donors/alumni with kindness and respect.

The Foundation is truly stronger and better because of her. She is a true champion for Minot State, and we are fortunate to have her as part of the Minot State family.

Years of Service

Retirees

Staff Senate High 5 Recipients
April 2022 - March 2023

Academic Advising Awards

Degrees/Certificates Earned

Ashley Blake, Registrar's Office - Bachelor of Arts in World Languages Certificates in French, German, and Latin

Paul Cerbone, Human Resources - Master of Arts in Human Resource Management

Chad Fenner, Business Informaton Technology - Doctorate in Information Systems

Michael Linnell, University Communications - Certificate in Leadership

Kate Murphy, ND Center for Persons with Disabilities - Certificate in Early Intervention Leadership

Aaron Wade, Mathematics and Computer Science - Ph.D. in Education Mathematics, Science, and Educational Technology