The UALR College of Professional Studies will host its annual spring brunch to recognize excellence in its faculty, staff, and volunteers.

The Spring Brunch Awards will be held from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesday, April 15, in the Donaghey Student Center, Ledbetter Rooms A and B, and will feature barbeque and Italian cuisine.

The recipients of faculty excellence awards at the college level will be recognized in the categories of public service, research, and teaching. These faculty are under consideration for the same awards at the university level.

Dr. David Montague of the criminal justice department is the recipient of the Public Service Award; Dr. Sam Atcherson of audiology and speech pathology is the recipient of the Research Award; Dr. Lillian Wichinsky in the School of Social Work is the recipient of the Teaching Award.

Greg Adams will be recognized as Community Faculty Member of the Year. An adjunct professor in the School of Social Work, he teaches Loss, Grief and Social Work Intervention in the graduate program. He is director of the Center for Good Mourning, a grief support and outreach program at Arkansas Children’s Hospital.

Cassandra Steele will receive the Alumna of the Year Award. She serves on the UALR Audiology and Speech Pathology Development Council and has worked to secure some $40,000 in support of the program. She has spent the last 14 years in special education administration as coordinator of the Little Rock District’s Speech and Hearing Services.

Vikki Dahmen-Jones will receive the Professional of the Year Award. She supervises seven master’s level social workers at the Veteran’s Administration Hospital and manages its Social Work Internship Program. She has been a field instructor for several M.S.W. interns from UALR’s School of Social Work.

In addition, there will be two awards given for Organizations of the Year.

This year, the college will recognize the Arkansas chapter of Hands & Voices, which works to provide families with resources for improving communication and educational outcomes for their deaf and hard-of-hearing children.

The Veterans Administration Department of Social Work, which has an academic affiliation with UALR’s School of Social Work graduate program and provides 14 stipends to help train professional social workers, will also be recognized.

The names of the awardees in three categories – Professional Staff Member of the Year, Professional Faculty Member of the Year, and Administrative Professional of the Year – are withheld until the event.