Jennifer Fish
Ling Li
By Joe Garvey
Old Dominion University's Jennifer Fish, professor and chair of women's studies, and Ling Li, chair of the Department of Information Technology and Decision Sciences, were named 2021 Outstanding Faculty Award winners by the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV) on Thursday.
Fish and Li will receive their awards, which include a $7,500 gift from Dominion Energy, during a virtual ceremony on March 2. A total of 12 faculty members from around the state were named award recipients. Since the program was established in 1987, ODU faculty have now earned 35 Outstanding Faculty Awards.
Fish is a sociologist with expertise in migration, labor and human rights, with 25 years of direct experience in Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. Her research is widely used by leading international organizations and policy institutes, including the United Nations' International Labour Organization. She is the author of four books and a series of research articles on global policy protections for women in the informal economy. As an advocate for human rights and community education, Fish also produced four documentary films and an international photographic exhibition in partnership with the U.S. State Department, the U.S. Embassy of South Africa and the South African Embassy to the United States. She has conducted study-abroad teaching for her students in five countries for over 15 years. She also designed a refugee studies service-learning curriculum for universities and resettlement organizations.
"As faculty members, we are conduits for the larger values of higher education, where discoveries in classrooms, communities and our wider research contexts promote both deeper understandings and direct responses to real human and environmental conditions," Fish said. "This moment reminds me of the communities with whom I have worked throughout the world, and my core belief in the interconnection between our dedicated energies as faculty members and their wider impacts far beyond the University."
Li is a professor and Eminent Scholar who also is the director of the Master of Science program in maritime trade and supply chain management. She specializes in supply chain analytics, health-care management and the role of technology on company performance. Li has published more than 140 peer-refereed research articles in high-quality journals, three books, encyclopedia articles, business cases and conference proceedings papers. She serves as the first secretary of the International Federation for Information Processing and as area editor, associate editor and editorial board member of several journals. Li is a certified fellow of the Association of Supply Chain Management. She has been recognized with numerous awards for her teaching excellence, scholarly contributions and service commitment.
Institutions select nominees, then a panel of peers reviews the applications. A committee of leaders from the public and private sectors selected the final recipients. This year, the program received 72 nominations. This group was narrowed to a field of 20 finalists, then to the 12 recipients.
Other ODU faculty members nominated for the award were: Nikos Chrisochoides, computer science; Justin Haegele (Rising Star), human movement sciences; Katherine Hammond, communication and theatre arts; Sandeep Kumar, civil and environmental engineering; and Richard Zimmerman, ocean and earth sciences.
Below is a list of Old Dominion University's past SCHEV award winners:
2020
Kent Carpenter, Biological Sciences
2018
Helen Crompton, Teaching and Learning
2017
Jennifer Michaeli, Engineering Technology
Anatoly Radyushkin, Physics
2016
Charles Hyde, Physics
2015
Gail Dodge, Physics
2014
Carolyn Rutledge, Nursing
2012
Steve Yetiv, Political Science
2011
Mark Butler, Biological Sciences
2009
Lawrence Hatab, Philosophy
Lawrence Weinstein, Physics
2008
Bridget Anderson, English
Shaomin Li, Business Management
2007
John Adam, Mathematics & Statistics
2006
Donald Zeigler, Political Science & Geography
Sharon Raver-Lampman, Early Childhood, Speech-Language Pathology, & Special Education
2005
Katharine Kersey, Early Childhood, Speech-Language Pathology, & Special Education
Cynthia Jones, Ocean Earth & Atmospheric Sciences
2004
Charles Wilson, English
2003
Sheri Reynolds, English
2002
Janet Peery, English
2001
Sushil Chaturvedi, Mechanical Engineering
Dwight Allen, Educational Curriculum & Instruction
2000
John Toomey, Music
1999
Daniel Dauer, Biological Sciences
Chris Drake, Political Science & Geography
1997
Dana Heller, English
1996
William Stanley, Engineering Technology
1995
Helen Rountree, Sociology & Criminal Justice
1994
Nancy Bazin, English
1993
Michele Darby, Dental Hygiene & Dental Assisting
1992
Gregory Selby, Mechanical Engineering
1991
Karen Polonko, Sociology & Criminal Justice
