Media Contact
Shana Bagley
Director of Communications
Office of the Provost
[email protected]
ATLANTA—Georgia State University has recognized excellence among its faculty through the appointment and reappointment of faculty to Distinguished University Professorships and Regents’ Professorships, in addition to its 2025-26 university-wide faculty awards.
“At Georgia State, our faculty bring our mission to life through teaching, discovery, and meaningful engagement with the world around us,” said Nicolle Parsons-Pollard, Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs. “Faculty awards and professorship appointments and reappointments recognize that a great university requires a great faculty, and I am delighted to acknowledge and celebrate their achievements.”
Regents’ Professors, Distinguished University Professors and faculty awardees will be recognized at the university’s annual Celebrating Faculty Excellence festivities during the fall semester.
Regents' Professors
Initial Appointment
- Lynee Gaillet, English, College of Arts & Sciences
- Javier Stern, Neuroscience Institute, College of Arts & Sciences
Reappointment
- Stephen Dobranski, English, College of Arts & Sciences
- Timothy Lytton, College of Law
- Lars Mathiassen, Computer Information Systems, J. Mack Robinson College of Business
- Jennifer McCoy, Political Science, College of Arts & Sciences
- Richard Plemper, Institute for Biomedical Sciences
Permanent Reappointment
- Geert de Vries, Neuroscience Institute, College of Arts & Sciences
About Regents' Professorships
Regents’ Professorships are bestowed on the most distinguished faculty of Georgia State, whose scholarly achievements are recognized both nationally and internationally as innovative and renowned. The appointment is made by the University System of Georgia’s Board of Regents on recommendation of the university president.
To be eligible for consideration, nominees for the Regents’ Professorship must hold the rank of full Professor, normally for at least 10 years.
Nominees must show sustained, and recent, significant achievement in scholarship with high national (and international, where appropriate) citation and recognition, exceeding what is expected for full Professors.
Find a list of previous GSU Regents’ Professor appointees here.
Distinguished University Professors
New Appointments
- Dawn Aycock, School of Nursing, Byrdine F. Lewis College of Nursing and Health Professions
- Debra Bangasser, Neuroscience Institute, College of Arts & Sciences
- Zhipeng Cai, Computer Science, College of Arts & Sciences
- Brendan Calandra, Learning Sciences, College of Education & Human Development
- Patrick Freer, School of Music, College of the Arts
- Candace Kemp, Gerontology Institute, College of Arts & Sciences
- Hang Shi, Biology, College of Arts & Sciences
- Ivo Talkov, School of Accountancy, J. Mack Robinson College of Business
- Yusen Xia, Institute for Insight, J. Mack Robinson College of Business
Reappointments
- Deron Boyles, Educational Policy Studies, College of Education & Human Development
- Glenn Eskew, History, College of Arts & Sciences
- Glenn Harrison, Maurice R. Greenberg School of Risk Science, J. Mack Robinson College of Business
- William Sabol, Criminal Justice and Criminology, Andrew Young School of Policy Studies
The appointment of Distinguished University Professor at Georgia State is intended to recognize a sustained and outstanding record in scholarship and instruction, and to provide the impetus for continuing high achievement. Distinguished University Professors are expected to serve the university as exemplary faculty members by contributing to its research, instructional, and service missions. The term of the Distinguished University Professor is five years and may be renewed once upon successful re-application and re-evaluation. No more than 5 percent of the university’s tenured faculty members may hold this title at any time.
A list of previous Distinguished University Professor appointments is available here.
University Awards
Alumni Distinguished Professorship Award
- YouJin Kim, Applied Linguistics and ESL, College of Arts & Sciences
Georgia State views the “teacher-scholar” as an ideal for university faculty. This award recognizes outstanding faculty members who balance and integrate their teaching and scholarship activities.
Previous winners are listed here.
Exceptional Service Award
- Nadia Behizadeh, Middle and Secondary Education, College of Education & Human Development
This award recognizes faculty members for exceptional, sustained and impactful accomplishments in service. This award competition is open to all Georgia State full-time faculty members who have at least four years of faculty employment at the university.
A list of previous winners is available here.
Kavita K. Pandit Mentoring Excellence Award
- María Elena Bermúdez, World Languages and Cultures, College of Arts & Sciences
This award, named in honor of Dr. Kavita K. Pandit, Professor Emerita and former Associate Provost for Faculty Affairs, recognizes a faculty member who has shown an outstanding dedication to the mentoring of other faculty members. As identified by the Collaborative on Careers in Higher Education (COACHE) faculty satisfaction survey and action plan, the award helps to fulfill the need to increase mentorship at Georgia State and to recognize excellence in this pursuit.
A list of previous winners is available here.
Outstanding Non-Tenure Track Faculty Achievement Award
- Stacey French-Lee, Early Childhood and Elementary Education, College of Education & Human Development
This award recognizes a non-tenure track (NTT) faculty member for outstanding achievements in their assigned areas of specialty (scholarship/creative works, teaching, and/or service). It is open to Georgia State faculty members who have been at the institution for at least four years at an NTT faculty rank.
A list of previous winners is available here.
Outstanding Tenure Track Faculty Achievement Award
- Can Chen, Public Management and Policy, Andrew Young School of Policy Studies
This award recognizes a tenure-track faculty member for outstanding achievements across all three areas of scholarship, teaching and service. It is open to Georgia State graduate faculty members at the Assistant or Associate Professor rank who have been at Georgia State University for at least four years.
A list of previous winners is available here.
Story by Jeremy Craig, Communications Manager for the Office of the Provost