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UW-Stevens Point faculty, staff, honored for excellence

April 15, 2024
Professor Rebecca Stephens, chair of UW-Stevens Point’s English Department, won the 2024 University of Wisconsin Board of Regents’ Teaching Excellence Award. Pictured is UWSP Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs and Provost La Vonne Cornell-Swanson, Chancellor Thomas Gibson, Regent Jill Underly, Stephens, Regent Karen Walsh and Universities of Wisconsin President Jay Rothman.
Professor Rebecca Stephens, chair of UW-Stevens Point’s English Department, won the 2024 University of Wisconsin Board of Regents’ Teaching Excellence Award. Pictured is UWSP Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs and Provost La Vonne Cornell-Swanson, Chancellor Thomas Gibson, Regent Jill Underly, Stephens, Regent Karen Walsh and Universities of Wisconsin President Jay Rothman.


Several faculty and staff members at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point have been recognized for excellence within their professional fields.

  • Professor Rebecca Stephens, chair of the English Department, won the 2024 University of Wisconsin Board of Regents’ Teaching Excellence Award. She has taught at UWSP since 1998 and has been chair since 2018. She also helms an English education program that has a 100 percent placement rate and five alums that were named Outstanding Teacher of the Year by the Wisconsin Council of Teachers of English. She teaches a Technologies for English Education course and will soon serve history and world languages teaching majors. Stephens also led an effort to create the Women’s and Gender Studies program and in 2015, she presented teaching methods at the National Women’s Studies Association Conference.

  • Associate Professor Rebecca Franzen, environmental education, was named director of the Wisconsin Center for Environmental Education (WCEE) at UWSP. She succeeds Anna Haines, set to retire. In this role, Franzen will continue the WCEE’s mission of promoting environmental literacy and stewardship through hands-on education and outreach initiatives for both students and educators across the state.

  • Professor Holly Schmies, athletic training, earned the Great Lakes Athletic Trainers Association Outstanding Educator Award. She was recognized for significant contributions while serving various roles during her more than 20 years at UWSP, including clinical preceptor, clinical education coordinator, program director for both bachelor and master’s programs and acting as associate dean. She is also active in several professional organizations and won the Wisconsin Athletic Trainers’ Association Outstanding Educator Award in 2014.
  • Associate Professor James Berry, English, and Associate Professor Saemyi Park, political science, recently presented at an international conference for the Scholarship and Teaching and Learning Commons Conference in the country of Georgia. Berry presented on his study for an introductory linguistics course that emphasized awareness of indigenous languages and the significance of preserving them. Park presented her work on methods for effective retention strategies in online courses, particularly building rapport through video interaction in the Introduction to American Government course she teaches. Both are alumni of the 2022-23 Wisconsin Teaching Fellows and Scholars.
  • Associate Lecturer Marcus Lewis, educational sustainability, was named among Wisconsin’s 32 Most Influential Native American Leaders by Madison 365. Lewis, a member of the Ho-Chunk Nation, has worked in diversity and equity for more than 10 years. He is the founder and owner of Key Change Consulting and a nationally trained Seeking Educational Equity and Diversity (SEED) facilitator. He has presented at national, state and local levels about educational equity, social justice and Native American education. He is an alum of UW-Stevens Point.

  • Greg Diekroeger, retired assistant director of Campus Activities and Student Engagement at UWSP, was honored with the Lifetime Membership Award from the National Association for Campus Activities, which also honored him with its highest honor, the Founders Award. A longtime volunteer with NACA, he served on the board of directors and was chair in 2006. He worked at UWSP for 34 years.
Associate Professor Sinan Kanbir, mathematics
  • Susan LeBow, recently retired as the associate director of the University Centers, received the Association of College Unions International’s Emeritus Award. One of the association’s distinguished honors, the award is presented for leadership and dedication to serving students and advancing the campus community through the college union. LeBow worked at UWSP for 28 years, was recognized for her attitude and work ethic.

  • Associate Professor Sinan Kanbir, mathematics, attended the prestigious Romanian Master of Mathematics competition where the U.S. math team secured first place. He is a long-time math coach of Andrew Carratu, who earned a silver medal.

  • Associate Professor Thomas Leek, German, was selected for a System Fellowship for the 2024-25 academic year by the Institute for Research in the Humanities at UW-Madison. His winning proposal applies Natural Language Processing techniques to ancient languages to identify common sources of texts. The IRH awards fewer than 45 fellowships to internal and external applicants each year.
  • Emeritus Professor Bob Rosenfield, biology, received the Wisconsin Society for Ornithology’s Golden Passenger Pigeon Award for outstanding contributions to ornithology. Rosenfield, an expert on Cooper’s hawks, has researched them for decades, including the effects of climate change on their breeding.