UW-Stevens Point students, faculty and staff recognized for excellence, achievement

The following University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point students, faculty and staff have been honored for excellence and achievement:

• The Universities of Wisconsin Board of Regents recently honored a faculty member and academic staff member at UW-Stevens Point:
  • The Teaching Excellence Award was presented to Jeana Council, professor and psychology Human Services Internship Program director. She was recognized for demonstrating exceptional commitment to teaching and learning, using effective teaching strategies to enhance student learning and making a significant impact on students' intellectual development.
    
    Council returned to her alma mater as a member of the Department of Psychology faculty in 2003. During her tenure, Council has won every faculty category award offered at UWSP. She was previously selected as a Wisconsin Teaching Fellow in 2006 and was named a Wisconsin Teaching Scholar in 2010. She has developed and enhanced novel teaching and learning approaches in her classes through the fellow program.
    
    
  • The Academic Staff Excellence Awards was presented to Brittany Kaminski, director of Marketing and Creative Services. She was recognized for superior performance resulting in significant contributions to her unit, University Communications and Marketing (UCM), and UW-Stevens Point, as well as use of positive personal interaction to manage work changes and a consistently creative approach that improves productivity and work quality.
    
    Kaminski has worked in UCM since 2009, first as an event coordinator then as a marketing specialist before taking the director position. She also won the 2024 Academic Staff Excellence Award at UW-Stevens Point, recognizing her numerous efforts in branding and recruiting for the university, in addition to several professional marketing organization awards.

• The Freshwater Collaborative of Wisconsin has committed to investing more than $4.2 million in funding for the current biennium to support water education and water research programs that will bolster Wisconsin's water workforce for years to come. In collaboration with institutions across the Universities of Wisconsin, four UW-Stevens Point professors received a total of $155,048.69 this biennium for the following projects:
  • Seyed Javad Amirfakhri - Development of Stable Carbon-Based Adsorbents with Metal Nanoparticles for PFAS Adsorption and Decomposition: Research, Education, and Community Engagement
  • Kevin Masarik - Leveraging the Strength of the Wisconsin Agriculture-Water Nexus Network for Transformative Student Experiences
  • Jessica Orlofske and Jeffrey Dimick - BenthicNet: Aquatic Invertebrate Reference Specimen Collaborative for Regulatory and Community Science

• Cornerstone Press, the university's student-staffed publishing house, had "Signs of the Imminent Apocalypse and Other Stories" by Heidi Bell chosen as a 2024-2025 Great Group Read by the Women's National Book Association. Launched in 2009 Great Group Reads recommends a diverse list of titles each year that are especially engaging for book clubs and group discussions. The program highlights works of fiction, memoir and narrative nonfiction that spark conversation, expand perspectives and celebrate the written word. This book and another from Cornerstone Press, "Keeping What's Best Left Kept Secret," by David Ricchiute, were named finalists in the 2025 Chicago Writers Association Awards.

• Sentry School of Business and Economics students Rick (RJ) Kluck and Brooke Peterson earned the RMA Wisconsin Chapter Scholarship. This scholarship recognizes students for their outstanding academic achievement, leadership and commitment to the future of the financial services industry. These individuals represent the next generation of risk management professionals.