Eleven members of the John Jay faculty representing nine academic departments were honored recently for outstanding teaching, mentoring, student service and research.

Assistant Professor Yuliya Zabyelina of the Department of Political Science won the coveted Donal E. J. MacNamara Junior Faculty Award, which is presented to an instructor or assistant professor who has made a significant scholarly contribution in the preceding two years to the fields of criminal justice or criminology. Zabyelina, who also won the 2015 SAGE Junior Faculty Teaching Award from the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences, is a specialist in transnational organized crime, among other subjects.

The annual Distinguished Teaching Award was presented to Assistant Professor Crystal Endsley of the Department of Africana Studies and Christen Madrazo, a lecturer in the English department. The two have been praised by students as “an example of how all professors should teach” and “the best English teacher I’ve ever had.

Assistant Professor Belinda Rincón of the Department of Latin American and Latina/o Studies received the award for Outstanding Scholarly Mentoring, and Assistant Professor Aída Martinez-Gómez Gómez of the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures was honored for Distinguished Service to Students.

Scholarly Excellence Awards were presented to Associate Professors Amy Adamczyk and David Green (Sociology); Assistant Professors Benjamin Bierman and Claudia Calirman (Art and Music); Associate Professor Kevin Nadal (Psychology), and Assistant Professor Eric Piza (Law, Police Science and Criminal Justice Administration).