
FACULTY & STAFF MILESTONES & AWARDS
DEAN'S EARLY CAREER AWARD
2023 Recipient
Thaddeus Johnson
Assistant Professor
Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology
During his short academic career Johnson, a former Memphis police officer, has published eight peer-reviewed journal articles, four book chapters, three research reports and an essay in an edited volume. He has three papers under review and two more that are nearing submission. He has adopted a multifaceted approach to maximizing the impact of his work by focusing on public and professional outlets as well as traditional academic outlets, and he has made numerous media appearances in local and national outlets. He presents at academic conferences and to government and community agencies as well as educational institutions.

EXCELLENCE IN TEACHING AWARD
2023 Recipient
Esra Tanyildiz
Clinical Assistant Professor
Public Management and Policy
Tanyildiz holds a joint Ph.D. in Public Policy from Georgia State and the Georgia Institute of Technology. A clinical assistant professor of public management and policy, her primary goal is to excel in all components of teaching and contribute to the scholarship of teaching at Georgia State. During the last four years, she has developed new courses, led teaching initiatives, developed a college-to-career project, mentored doctoral students in teaching, and acted as a part-time instructor liaison. Before teaching in the AYSPS, she held research and teaching positions in Brussels and Istanbul. She has taught graduate and undergraduate courses in research methodology, policy and program evaluation, and urban policy. She has also developed a teaching methodology course for graduating doctoral students.

2023 Recipient
Andrew Heiss
Assistant Professor
Public Management and Policy
Heiss joined the faculty at AYSPS in 2019, shortly before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. When everything closed in March 2020, including the Georgia State campus, he converted all his classes to an asynchronous online format, built a recording studio in his home, and recorded all his classes in 245 professional videos, totaling 73 hours of content. He publicly posted them on YouTube under a Creative Commons license and incorporated them into standalone course websites that students (and anyone with an internet connection) can access. He structured his classes to be student-centric, empathetic, and as accommodating as possible and provided students with policies that allowed for greater flexibility while removing barriers to getting help.
2020
Clinical Assistant Professor, Department of Economics
Lorenzo Almada
2019
School of Social Work
Fred Books
2018
School of Public Management and Policy
Joseph Hacker
2017
Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology
Dean Dabney
2016
School of Social Work
Nicholas Forge
2015
Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology
Michael Shapiro
2014
Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology
Leah Daigle
2013
Department of Economics
Grace Eau
2013
School of Social Work
Jan Ligon
2012
Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology
Brenda Blackwell
2011
School of Public Management and Policy
Janelle Kerlin
2011
Department of Economics
Andrew Hanson
STAFF EXCELLENCE AWARD
2023 Recipient
Kristy Hill
Administrative Specialist
Department of Economics
Kristy has done an exceptional job in providing academic support to faculty, staff, part-time instructors, and students, not just in Economics but also in the departments of Public Management & Policy and Criminal Justice,” Elsa Gebremedhin, business manager for the Department of Public Management & Policy (PMAP), wrote in her support for Hill’s nomination. “Due to staff turnover, we asked Kristy to assist with academic tasks in our department this year and last. Kristy graciously agreed to assist our department even though her workload was full, and she had just finished assisting the Department of Criminal Justice. She understands that excellent student support is imperative to student success. She also understands that department academic support requires highly developed skills, knowledge, and experience. So, she agreed to take on the additional duties, put in the work, and tirelessly provided outstanding support to our students, faculty, staff, PTIs, and GRAs in addition to those in her department.”

2021
Urban Studies Institute
Laura Viilo
2021
Dean’s Office
Mya Eveland
2020
Public Management and Policy
Amber Slyter
2019
Mary Mason
2018
Dean’s Office
Avani Raval
2017
International Center of Public Policy
Paul Benson
2017
School of Public Management and Policy
Elsa Gebremedhin
2016
International Center of Public Policy
Shereen Bhan
2015
Department of Economics
Bess Byler
2014
Office of Academic Assistance
Matt Arp
2013
Department of Economics
Caroline Griffin
2012
Office of Academic Assistance
Shelly-Ann Williams
2011
Georgia Health Policy Center
Mei Zhou
MILESTONES
30 Years of Service
Robert Elijah Moore
25 Years of Service
Deborah Marie Whitley
20 Years of Service
Krawee “Kevin” Ackaramongkolrotn
John O’Kane
Shelby Front
Volkan Topalli
Jaiwan Harris
15 Years of Service
Deidre Carmichael
J. Todd Swarthout
James C. Cox
Laura Wheeler
Janaia Lester
10 Years of Service
Robert Buschman
Rachel Campos
Mildred Gallaspy
5 Years of Service
Alfreda Asbury
Susan Snyder
Lori Solomon
Lisa Musto
Sharon Hill
Jana Covington
Alberto Chong Lam
Laura Viilo
Amber Slyter
Ross Rubenstein
Brian Mitchell
Rex Crawford
Colleen Smith
Eric Sevigny
Giselle Moses
Ursula Covington
Juliette Collins