CONGRATULATIONS TO THE 2025 DUX ACADEMICUS AWARD RECIPIENT MITCHELL CRUSTO

The recipient of the 2025 Dux Academicus award has been a celebrated teacher, prolific author, and moral pillar of both the Loyola and New Orleans communities for over three decades.  Their extensive resume of teaching, scholarship, and service includes the development of over 20 courses, multiple books, and scores of articles and commentaries for both national and local audiences.  They have served faithfully on almost every college and university committee at Loyola. They are also very active in many local and national civic organizations.  If you have an extra day or two to review their impressive CV, you can read in detail about these accomplishments.

However, let me share some thoughts from students and colleagues that you won’t see on this CV that wonderfully capture the recipient’s worthiness of the Dux Academicus honor:

“What distinguishes him as a professor is not only the excellence of his teaching, but the depth of formation he provides.  Law school can be disorienting.  After first-semester grades, when many students questioned their belonging in the profession, he stayed after class or stopped us in the hallway just to ask how we were holding up.  He reminded us, with empathy and unmistakable resolve, that grades are not a measure of potential.  He restores belief.  He provides cura personalis with consistency and integrity.”

“Furthermore, the Jesuit tradition is not abstract in his classroom.  It is lived.  He teaches the law as a tool for both justice and professional excellence.  He models magis, a relentless pursuit of the greater good.  He meets students not only where they are, but also where they aspire to be.  His character is equal to his intellect.  He leads with moral authority.”    

His colleagues write, “Through his personal experience and teaching style, he creates a safe space for students to learn without fear from their lack of familiarity with the law, its language, its history and culture, and its methodology.  It is difficult to be a standout at the Loyola College of Law due to its numerous strong teachers and scholars, but he has clearly risen to the challenge.”

It is my honor to join with President Cole and the entire Loyola community to present the 2025 Dux Academicus award to the Henry F. Bonura, Jr. Professor of Law, Mitchell Crusto.

 

 

 

2025-26 University Senate Faculty Excellence Awards

 

Excellence in Teaching

The recipient of the University Senate Award for Teaching is Dr. Phil Bucolo, Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences. Dr. Bucolo’s research focuses on algal ecophysiology and the biochemical and ecological drivers of lower trophic level communities in aquatic systems. This translates into a “classroom” that is much larger than our campus. Dr. Buccolo’s upper-level Ecology lecture and lab course includes field trips to quantify changes in  seagrass densities correlated to threats with water quality throughout a Florida lagoon; calculating biodiversity indices along salinity and tidal gradients throughout the Lake Pontchartrain Basin; and assessing the effect of an invasive plant on feeding behaviors of local mud crabs. The modules are designed for students to learn new technologies to be included on their curriculum vitae as they move forward in their scientific journey, whether it take them to medical school or to work in conservation. Congratulations to Dr. Buccolo.

 

Excellence in Research

The recipient of the University Senate Award for Research is Dr. Kimberlee Mix, Provost Distinguished Professor of Biological Sciences. Dr. Kim Mix is an internationally recognized molecular biologist whose work focuses on the cellular and molecular triggers of inflammation and cartilage degradation in chronic joint diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis. Understanding how joint cells respond to inflammation, injury and aging will lead to new ways to diagnose and treat arthritis. Last year, she was awarded a two-year full project grant by the Louisiana Biomedical Research Network (LBRN), funded by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, part of the NIH. Her research community includes students: In addition to conducting molecular biology research in collaboration with students in her laboratory, she serves as the faculty advisor for Loyola’s chapter of Beta Beta Beta (Tri Beta) Biological Honors Society, in which she mentors students in applying for funding.

Broad support for scientific research at Loyola is a feature of many of Dr. Mix’s efforts. She started a “Science in Progress” faculty community and lecture series, through which Loyola faculty can share their research progress and workshop ideas. This year, she also directed the formation of a new partnership between Loyola and the Louisiana Biomedical Research Network that will connect our faculty and students to funding opportunities and research infrastructure throughout the state. A colleague in Chemistry wrote in a letter in support of this award that Dr. Mix “has demonstrated a selfless commitment to nurturing a community of excellence in the Natural Sciences at Loyola by supporting her colleagues and creating an environment in which they can strive to excel as she has.” Congratulations to Dr. Mix.

 

Excellence in Service

The recipient of the University Senate Award for Service is Dr. Karen Rosenbecker, the Rev. Emmet. M. Bienvenu S.J. Distinguished Professor in Classical Studies. Dr. Rosenbecker also serves as Chairperson of the Department of Languages and Cultures.  As director of the Classics program, Karen is the architect of the current major and minor. She has hosted the Louisiana Classical Association’s annual meeting twice under the auspices of the Bienvenu Foundation, whose mission is to promote Classical Studies. Those meetings were open to the public and brought local Latin teachers, college professors, and Classics enthusiasts to Loyola’s campus. She brought back Eta Sigma Phi--the national honors society for Greek/Latin/Classics--back to Loyola’s campus so that the students have a social outlet in which they can express their enthusiasm and love for Classics. As Chairperson of the Department of Languages and Cultures, Dr. Rosenbecker leads a department that consists of three separate degree granting  programs, each with their own goals for their students and each with their own standards for best practices in the field. In some ways this is triple the work of most chairs (for example: she has to write no less than three annual reports). When she became chair of the Department of Languages and Cultures, she presented to her colleagues the idea of Languages and Cultures as a federation of equals, each program free to shape itself but also working cooperatively with the other two. In rewriting the Departmental Protocol this past year, she was able to formalize this by adjusting the duties of the program directors and the duties of the chairperson to make the department less top-down in terms of decisions regarding program growth and change, and to formalize how it spends its common pot of money. This mindset about how the department defines itself and the changes based on it have resulted in a department that is more cooperative and in which exciting things are afoot (i.e. Spanish Heritage Speakers Initiative, the development of new Francophone Studies Program, approved by the Board of Trustees this year). She is parliamentarian to the College of Arts and Sciences’ Assembly and Chair of the Standing Committee for the Loyola Core, a committee that works to make sure Loyola Core courses are not a set of “requirements” for students to knock out but a set of disciplinary perspectives for students to master and be transformed by, the heart of a Loyola undergraduate education. Congratulations to Dr. Rosenbecker.

 

Excellence in Community Engagement

The recipient of the Jon T. Altschul Award for Excellence in Community Engagement is Dr. Amrita Datta, Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences. Dr. Datta has developed and implemented an impactful and sustainable community-engaged service-learning program aimed at improving cancer literacy and promoting healthy behaviors in New Orleans school children and the broader community. Project Know Cancer is a youth-centered cancer literacy initiative that integrates teaching, research, and community service to improve public health outcomes in the Greater New Orleans community. Dr. Datta used her research background in cancer signaling, drug discovery and biomarker development to create a program that addresses key social determinants of health: knowledge, behavior, and communication by making cancer education accessible, accurate, and fear-free. Through her cancer education project, Loyola students engaged middle and high school students in conversations about healthy lifestyle practices known to reduce cancer risks.  One Loyola student who took the Service Learning course wrote that Dr. Datta’s “dedication to serving the community—through Project Know Cancer—demonstrates her belief in the power of education to create lasting change. She inspires a culture rich in compassion, inclusivity, and purpose, evident in her character and in every aspect of her work” another highlights Dr. Datta’s commitment “to student growth, community well-being, and Loyola’s mission.” This work will extend its reach in partnership with the Louisiana Undergraduate Research Association, students will share their findings with state legislators at “Posters at the Capitol.”

 

 

2025

Excellence in Teaching:	Dr. Christopher Torres, Criminology and Justice.
Excellence in Research:	Ms. Nicole Tuchinda, College of Law
Excellence in Service:	Dr. Craig Hood, Biological Sciences
Jon T. Altschul Excellence in Community Engagement:	Dr. Cody Melcher, Sociology

Excellence in Advising:

Dr. Nathan Henne, Languages and Cultures

2024

Excellence in Teaching:	Dr. Young Soo Kim, Political Science.
Excellence in Research:	Dr. Mark D. Gossiaux,  Philosophy Mr. Robert R.M. Verchick, College of Law
Excellence in Service:	Mr. Michael Guisti, School of Communication and Design
Jon T. Altschul Excellence in Community Engagement:	Dr. Rae Taylor, Criminology and Justice Dr. Naomi Yavneh-Klos, Languages and Cultures

 

2023
Excellence in Teaching:	Dr. Jamileh Beik Mohammadi, Physics.
Excellence in Research:	Dr. Madison Silverstein, Psychology Mr. Mitchell Crusto, College of Law
Excellence in Service:	Dr. Tracey Lamont, Institute for Ministry
Jon T. Altschul Excellence in Community Engagement:	Dr. Paul Barnes, Biological Sciences Dr. Mehmet Dicle, College of Business

2022
Research:	Kelly Frailing Young Su Kim
Service:	Susan Weishar
Teaching:	Naomi Yavnet

2021
Research:	Christian Bolden Elizabeth Kelly
Service:	Susan Brower Jason Ezell
Teaching:	Sandi Varnado Cathy Rogers
Dr. Jon Altschul Award for Community Engagement:	John Dewell Eileen Doll

2020
Advising:	Kelly Frailing Constance Mui
Research:	Elin Grissom
Service:	Donald Hauber
Teaching:	Everett Fulmer

2019
Advising:	C.J. Stephenson
Research:	Sarah Allison
Service:	Leonard Kahn
Teaching:	Ashley Howard
Dr. Jon Altschul Award for Community Engagement:	Andrea Armstrong

2018
Advising:	Christine Ebrahim
Research:	Lynn Koplitz Imre Szalai
Service:	Carol Ann MacGregor
Teaching:	Johanna Kalb Armin Kargol
Dr. Jon Altschul Award for Community Engagement:	Angel Parham

2017
Research:	Nicholas Capaldi
Teaching:	Todd Bacile
Dr. Jon Altschul Award for Community Engagement:	Laurie Anne Ferguson

2016
Research:	Kimberlee Mix Rian Thum
Service:	Joe Berendzen
Teaching:	Aimee Thomas and Andrea Armstrong
Community Engagement:	Felipe Massa

2015
Advising:	Kim Ernst, Chuck Nichols Sandi Varnado
Research:	Patricia Dorn
Service:	Cathy Rogers
Teaching:	Terri Bednarz
Community Engagement:	Jon Altschul Hiroko Kusuda Lisbeth Philip

2014
Advising:	Lawrence Lewis
Research:	Sara Butler
Service:	Don Hauber

2013
Advising:	Naomi Yavneh
Research:	Kendall Eskine
Service:	John Sebastian
Teaching:	Lawrence Lewis

2012
Advising:	Alice Clark
Research:	Patricia Dorn
Service:	Erin Dupuis
Teaching:	John Sebastian Valerie Goertzen

2011
Advising:	Isabel Medina Rosalie Anderson
Research:	Rae Taylor Markus G. Puder
Service:	Christopher Screen
Teaching:	Kim Ernst

2010
Service:	Davida Finger

2009
Advising:	John Sebastian
Research:	Frank Jordan
Service:	Frank Jordan
Teaching:	Marcus Kondkar Bob Thomas

2005
Service:	Lynn Koplitz
Teaching:	Alice Clark

2004
Teaching:	Maria Calzada

2003
Advising:	Jerry Dauterive
Research:	Patrick Bourgeois
Service:	Deborah Poole
Teaching:	Peter Burns Maureen Shuh

2002
Advising:	Kim Ernst
Research:	Frank Jordan
Service:	William Quigley
Teaching:	Jasjit Walia