The Mario & Alma Pastega Awards represent Western Oregon University’s highest recognition for faculty and staff excellence. Two awards are given each year to faculty: The Pastega Award for Excellence in Scholarship recognizes significant and enduring scholarly or creative achievement; the Pastega Award for Excellence in Teaching honors teaching that engages, inspires and educates students in the greatest possible learning. The Pastega Staff Excellence Award recognizes classified or administrative staff members who demonstrate exceptional service to the university. Each award provides a $1,000 honorarium.
Beginning in 1985, three awards for scholarship, teaching and staff excellence were created through generous annual gifts from Mario Pastega (1916-2012), an Oregon soft drink bottler and one the state’s leading philanthropists and benefactors of education, serving as a trustee on the foundation boards of both Oregon State University and Western Oregon University. In 1986, the first paired Pastega-funded awards in scholarship and teaching went to philosophy professor, Dale Cannon, for his work in philosophy for children, and Pat Gallagher, professor of education for her work in early childhood literature. The first recipient of the staff excellence award in 1985 was Forrest Hiner, lead painter with the Physical Plant. In 1997, Mario Pastega and his wife, Alma, donated an additional $40,000, matched by the Oregon State System of Higher Education, to permanently endow the three annual awards in their name: the Pastega Award for Excellence in Scholarship, the Pastega Award for Excellence in Teaching, and the Pastega Staff Excellence Award.
Faculty award recipients are honored at a ceremony in May, during which each recipient makes a presentation about his or her work. Staff award recipients are traditionally recognized at the commencement breakfast in June. Candidates for all Pastega Awards are considered through nominations by colleagues, students and coworkers. The faculty award recipients are selected by a committee comprised of past Pastega recipients and one student appointed by student government. Final selections are subject to approval by the university president. The Pastega Staff Excellence Award is coordinated through Human Resources and a committee of past staff award recipients who recommend three candidates to the university president for final selection.
Info for current nominees
Western Oregon University’s annual Pastega Awards of Excellence ceremony will be on Wednesday, May 24th. Join us in congratulating this year’s recipient and recognizing the faculty who received awards in 2020, 2021, and 2022.
Excellence in Scholarship Award: Isidore Lobnibe, Ph. D.
Excellence in Service Award: Leigh Graziano, Ph. D.
Excellence in Teaching Award: Misty Weitzel, Ph. D.
Staff Excellence Award: Rosario Peralta-Cortez
Scholarship |
Service |
Staff |
Teaching |
|
2022 | Gareth R. Hopkins | Breeann Flesch | Allen Risen | Erin Baumgartner |
2021 | Cornelia Paraskevas | Melanie Landon-Hays | Debbie Braun | Jaime Cloud |
2020 | Kenneth Carano | Cindy Ryan | Susan Griffin | Kristin Latham-Scott |
2019 | Rachel Harrington | Anna Hernandez-Hunter | Scott Beaver | |
2018 | Marie LeJeune | Jeanie Stüntzner | Peter Callero | |
2017 | Eliot Dickinson | Bruce Tuma | Vivian Djokotoe | |
2016 | Darryl Thomas | Sharyne Ryals | Cheryl Beaver | |
2015 | Kevin Walczyk | Kellen Hendrickson | Maureen Dolan | |
2014 | David Doellinger | Sue Thompson | Katherine Schmidt | |
2013 | Tom Bergeron | Linda Kunze Jake Whisenhunt |
Julia Smith | |
2012 | Henry Hughes | Kathy Hill | Maria Dantas-Whitney | |
2011 | Kim Jensen | Nathan Sauer | Chloe Hughes | |
2010 | Mark Girod | Ann Barton-Brown | Karie Mize | |
2009 | Henry Bersani | Jon Tucker | Jessica Henderson | |
2008 | Marita Cardinal | Teresa Hutchinson | Kit Andrews | |
2007 | Gavin Keulks | Alice Sprague | Dean Braa | |
2006 | Eduardo Gonzalez-Viana | Lori Pagel | Sharon Oberst | |
2005 | Rob Winningham | John Henslee | Diane Baxter | |
2004 | Lonnie Guralnick | Twila Domine | Martha Sargent | |
2003 | Sarah Boomer | Patrick Moser | Lowell Spring | |
2002 | Richard Davis | Jeanne Deane | Kimberly Jensen | |
2001 | Victor Savicki | Gary Jensen | Jerry Braza | |
2000 | H. Del Schalock Ed Dover |
Rudolfo Rodriguez | Curtis Yehnert | |
1999 | Marion Schrock | Tina Fuchs | Kevin Walzyk | |
1998 | Dennis Eddings | Rick DeMars | Denis Moran | |
1997 | Kim Hoffman | Don Boderman | Ray Brodersen | |
1996 | Peter Callero | Martha Smith | George Cabrera | |
1995 | Thomas Ferte | Darin Silbernagel | Sandra Gish | |
1994 | Richard Meyer | Randy McCauley | Joe Soldati | |
1993 | Diane Baxter | Ligoy Gamaney | Gary Huxford | |
1992 | Narasingha Sil | Barbara Lass | Ajmer Singh Ray Broderson |
|
1991 | Robert R. Ayres Eric J. Cooley |
Larry Spani | Cornelia Paraskevas | |
1990 | Ross R. Cotroneco | Mona K-Hinds | Erhard Dormund | |
1989 | Kenneth Holmes | Jill Summers Margaret Manoogian-O’Dell |
Lewis Pennock | |
1988 | David McCorkle | Dori Beeks | Roshani Shay | |
1987 | Donald H. White | Betty Hoyt | Bonnie Staebler | |
1986 | Dale W Cannon | Neal Werner | Pat Gallagher | |
1985 | James T Mattingly | Forrest Hiner | ||
1984 | Neal R Bandick | |||
1983 | A. Laurence Lyon Lloyd T. Hansen |
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1982 | C. David Jennings | |||
1981 | Ruth Million | |||
1980 | Erhard Dormund | |||
1979 | J. J. Morris Johnson |