West Liberty University’s Dr. Deanna Schmitt named finalist for West Virginia’s Professor of the Year Award
Dr. Deanna Schmitt has been named one of the finalists for the Professor of the Year Award. West Liberty University’s professors have a long track record of being nominated for, and winning the award.
West Liberty University has yet another faculty member named as a finalist for West Virginia’s 2022 Professor of the Year award. The Faculty Merit Foundation is the organization behind the award.
Dr. Deanna Schmitt, who is an Associate Professor of Biology at West Liberty University, was named one of the finalists in a recent letter.
In a press release from the school, Dr. Cathay Monteroso, who is the school’s interim president, congratulated Dr. Schmitt and said, “This is wonderful news for Deanna, the College of Sciences, and the entire university. I congratulate Deanna on her nomination and her excellence in teaching and I am proud to say that this is not the first time we’ve had a finalist. We all wish her well as the final selection process continues.”
In the past eight years, West Liberty University faculty members have been named finalists for the Professor of the Year Award in West Virginia seven times, with a professor winning three times out of those seven.
The person who nominated Dr. Schmitt for the honor was WLU’s Dean of the College of Sciences, Dr. Karen Kettler. “Dr. Schmitt is an exceptional faculty member, researcher and student mentor,” she said.
All of the selected finalists will now be interviewed by members of the Faculty Merit Foundation. Those interviews are set to be conducted in Charleston, West Virginia in late February.
Dr. Schmitt became a member of the faculty at West Liberty University back in 2017. She works as both an adjunct professor in the Physician Assistant Studies program and as a biology professor.
Before joining West Liberty University as a member of the faculty, Dr. Schmitt did four years of postdoctoral work at WLU from 2012 until 2016. She worked under Dr. Joseph Horzempa, who himself was named West Virginia’s Professor of the Year in 2017.
Dr. Schmitt’s doctoral degree is in immunology, which she earned in 2012 from the University of Pittsburgh. Before that, she earned her bachelor’s of microbiology in 2005 from Pennsylvania State University.
Currently, Dr. Schmitt and her students in her lab are doing research to try to uncover the mechanism of action of a newly discovered family of antibiotics called resayomycins. The antibiotics work well against a group of bacteria which includes Francisella tularensis and Neisseria gonorrhoeae, which is the bacteria that causes gonorrhea.
Dr. Schmitt and her husband Matthew live in Canonsburg Pennsylvania with their two daughters, Ally and Hadley, who are 10 and 7, respectively.
The Faculty Merit Foundation came into being back in 1984 with the goal of providing a way to reward and recognize creativity and innovation across the faculties of West Virginia’s public and private universities and colleges.
The Faculty Merit Foundation uses the Professor of the Year program to bring the attention of the general public to the good work and outstanding achievements of professors in the region.
All the finalists of the Professor of the Year program will receive a cash award, with a $10,000 cash award given to whoever is named as Professor of the Year. In the past, finalists have been honored in the spring at a banquet in Charleston, at which the grand prize winner would be announced.
West Liberty University is the first public university in West Virginia, and has more than 70 undergraduate majors available, plus an ever-increasing pool of graduate programs. Classes are offered both in person and online.
More information about West Liberty University can be found at the school’s website.