Congratulations to all of our 2021 Honors Day award recipients. We’re thankful for the incredible faculty and staff we have at Birmingham-Southern and for the chance to (virtually) honor them.

Hear video messages from Provost Brad Caskey and President Daniel B. Coleman. These videos will also be shared on BSC’s social media accounts.

Here are our faculty and staff awards for the 2020-2021 academic year.

The Henry C. Randall Advisor of the Year Award is presented to a faculty or staff member who advises a student organization:

Jennifer Jones, assistant athletic director for external relations
Faculty/Staff Sponsor for Identity

Jones joined the Birmingham-Southern athletics administration in June 2016 and currently serves as co-chair of the BSC Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee, which is comprised of faculty and staff members and charged with fostering the creation of a fully diverse, inclusive, and thriving college community. She is a graduate of Hood College, where she competed in volleyball, basketball, and softball and earned all-conference honors in multiple sports. Prior to her role at BSC, she spent time working as a game day specialist in the greater Birmingham area covering events at the high school and college level and also served as the director of communications for the Southwestern Athletic Conference, one of the premier Historically Black College and University conferences in the country.

The Omicron Delta Kappa Excellence in Teaching Award recognizes a faculty member who has attained excellence in all aspects of teaching:

Dr. Mary P. Harrison, associate professor of marketing

Harrison’s research interests are in services and retailing, and her work can be found in the Journal of Service Research, the Journal of Business Research, and the Journal of Marketing Theory. She received her Ph.D. in marketing from the University of Alabama, where she was a doctoral consortium fellow for the American Marketing Association-Sheth Foundation, the Academy of Marketing Science World Marketing Congress, and the Society for Marketing Advances. Prior to her academic career, Harrison was a public relations specialist for an industrial distribution firm and worked as a small business consultant and family business forum coordinator at the University of Alabama Small Business Development Center.

The Provost’s Award for Diversity in the Classroom honors a faculty member who excels in incorporating diversity into their instruction and interaction with students:

Dr. Victoria Ott, James A. Wood Professor of History

Ott teaches courses in the American Revolution, Civil War/Reconstruction Era, Old South, and U.S. women’s history and also serve as the coordinator for the gender and women’s studies minor. She received her Ph.D. with an emphasis on American history from the University of Tennessee, and she is the author of “Confederate Daughters: Coming of Age during the Civil War” (Southern Illinois Press 2008). Other publications include “‘There’s No Place Like Home:’ Gender, Family, and the Confederate Household in Alabama” (“War Matters: Material Culture in the Civil War Era,” University of North Carolina Press 2018) and “Voices from the Margins: Non-Elites in Confederate Alabama” (“The Yellowhammer War: the Civil War and Reconstruction in Alabama,” University of Alabama Press 2013). Outside of BSC, Ott also serves on the Board of Directors for the Alabama Historical Association.

The Richebourg Gaillard McWilliams Faculty Scholarship Award is given to an outstanding faculty member who has excelled in scholarship:

Dr. Mark Schantz, professor of history

Trained as a historian of nineteenth century U.S. social, cultural, and labor history, Schantz has also developed a particular interest in African-American history and Africana studies, how films (particularly mainstream dramas) shape public perceptions of history, and the history of American medicine and attitudes toward death and dying. He is also interested in American music history and the music of Bob Dylan in particular. Schantz is known for his “Like a Rolling Stone” E-Term course, which focuses on the life and work of Bob Dylan and often results in the formation of a class band.

View the full Honors Day 2021 Program to see other awards.