By Lucas Hill, contributor

Decatur, GA — On June 15, Agnes Scott College publicly announced its Faculty Award winners for the 2021-2022 school year. The individuals were announced during the school’s commencement a month earlier.

Erin Bradley, a Linda Lentz Hubert Assistant Professor of Public Health, was named Agnes Scott’s 2022 Vulcan Teaching Excellence Award honoree. The Vulcan Teaching Excellence Award recognizes an outstanding faculty member who has demonstrated strong academic skills in the classroom and provides leadership and support in other areas of campus life, according to a press release.

Recipients are faculty members who assist their institutions in nurturing a scholarly climate that fosters teaching and provides leadership to enhance the campus community. Bradley was nominated for the award by her peers and students.

As a behavioral scientist, Bradley’s teachings and public health research examine social determinants of both health and equity. Much of her work is focused on women and African Americans, primarily in regard to HIV/STI prevention and care.

Described by students as an exceptional teacher, Bradley has been known to blur the boundaries between teaching, service and scholarship by including students in all her research projects, incorporating service to a local non-profit into the public health capstone course and providing COVID-19 education to members of her church.

“Dr. Bradley is one of the most dedicated professors I have come across during my time at Agnes Scott,” a student who nominated her said. “She truly goes above and beyond in providing the best instructional support possible and made me further value learning public health material. She continuously supports students through their external academic endeavors and provides excellent mentorship.”

Public Health Professor Amy E. Patterson was awarded the Sandra T. Bowden Faculty Service Award. This honor was first established to recognize a tenure track faculty member whose service – like that of its namesake – is exemplary, sustained and transformative, who works collaboratively and is collegial with others, and who has contributed substantially to the betterment of Agnes Scott. The award is named after former Agnes Scott Professor Emerita of Biology Sandra T. Bowden.

Patterson, Agnes Scott’s associate professor of public health, is a global health practitioner with experience in the development, implementation and evaluation of community and health facility-based infectious diseases and child health programs in Africa, with a particular focus on multi-level determinants of health behaviors.

Her service and contributions to the school have included serving as chair of the department of public health, as faculty SUMMIT Coordinator for professional success and advising and as chair of Agnes Scott’s yearly spring annual research conference.

“Amy Patterson is one of the most generous members of our community, giving incredible amounts of time to students in Public Health as an instructor, advisor, and mentor – one of the most robust and burgeoning majors on campus – as well as to students across the college through her unflagging work as the SUMMIT Coordinator,” one of her peers said. “Her creative course design works to provide public health students with a complex, innovative, and grounded education in the field, and her devotion to working in the service of our general education program, SUMMIT, is inspiring and thoughtful.”

Agnes Scott Professor of Economics Li Qi was awarded the Joseph R. Gladden Jr. Public Lecture Award for this school year. The award is annually given by Agnes Scott’s president, its president of the faculty and the dean of the college. A fabulous teacher as named by many students, Qi will deliver the annual Gladden Lecture during the 2022-2023 academic year on a topic related to her scholarly work.

Qi’s interests cover a wide range of subjects, including financial innovations, reforms and links to development in China and other transitional economies, behavioral and experimental economics and finance and emerging capital markets and their implications as to financial theories.

Qi is also a past president of the Chinese Economists Society and the current chair of the Chinese Economists Society Regents. 

“Li is always well prepared for and attuned to the needs and problems that our students face,” Hal and Julia T. Smith Chair of Free Enterprise Rosemary Cunningham said.

Additionally, Jennifer Hughes was named 2022’s Charles A. Dana Professor of Psychology and Chair. The position honors American journalist, author and philanthropist Charles Dana, whose name can also be found on Agnes Scott’s fine arts building.

Hughes has been a member of the Agnes Scott faculty since joining the community in 1998. She served as class lecturer for the past school year’s Senior Investiture, and is consistently recognized as a mentor by many Agnes Scott graduates.

“I can’t think of a single educator in my life more dedicated to her work than Jenny Hughes,” said Paige Sullivan of the class of 2013. “She has impacted the lives of literally hundreds of students and alums, stays in touch with an ever-growing network of Scotties long after they graduate, and balances incredible calm and kindness with rigor and precision.”

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