Business professor establishes three endowed awards for fellow employees

Marylou L. Shockley, professor and department chair in the College of Business, has become the first CSUMB employee to establish endowed fellowship awards for fellow employees.

In March, Provost Katherine A. Kantardjieff announced that three endowment awards had been created by Shockley and members of her family through the Foundation of CSUMB.

On May 7, the first recipients were notified of their wins.

“I feel that the CSUMB team that serves students is dedicated, hardworking, and caring,” Shockley said. “We couldn't fulfill the Otter Promise to students without all of us as a team.”

The inaugural awards and their respective recipients are:

• 2021 Callie Chastain Distinguished Staff Award: Sathyan Sundaram, research analyst in Institutional Assessment & Research.
• 2021 Marylou L. Shockley Faculty Fellowship: Megan Sulsberger, assistant professor in the Department of Education and Leadership, College of Education
• 2021 Davis, Froshman, and Shockley Lecture Faculty Fellowship: Jennifer Lucido, lecturer in the School of Social, Behavioral and Global Studies of the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences.

Formal presentations of the award are expected to follow in the coming months, and comes with $1,000 each.

Endowments usually take a couple of years before they begin to generate the income to fund their cash obligations, but thanks to additional contributions from members of the Shockley family, the cash awards will be distributed immediately.

Some stipulations of the two faculty awards include that it be used within 12 months of receipt to further research, to work with students, or to attend conferences and professional development opportunities.

Megan Sulsberger, elementary education program coordinator and assistant professor, said she sincerely appreciated the award and plans to “seek additional training and professional development opportunities to further support my growth as an educator in science and STEM education.”

“For the lecturer award,” Shockley said, “I wanted to honor two lecturers who have given so much to the College of Business — Carol Davis and Jeff Froshman.”

The first recipient of that award, Jennifer Lucido, graduated in 2012 from CSUMB and now teaches archaeology here. Covid has limited her ability to go to archival libraries throughout the region, but she intends to use the money to “coordinate one or more research visits to access the historical records related to my current projects when they reopen to scholars.”

 

Callie was a wonderful staff person in the College of Business who passed away in 2019. This award is in honor of her memory

The Callie Chastain Distinguished Staff Award honors a departed employee of the College of Business.

“Callie was a wonderful staff person in the College of Business who passed away in 2019,” Shockely said. “We were cheering her on in her battle with cancer, and were devastated when we lost her. This award is in honor of her memory.”

The first recipient of that award, Sathyan Sundaram, said that gives it extra meaning for him.

“I hope that I, like Callie, exhibit an openness to collaboration and contribute to solving CSUMB issues with creativity and initiative,” Sundarama said.

Each year the three awards will cycle through to a different college and division.

For 2022, the faculty fellowship will be awarded to tenured and tenure-track faculty from the College of Health Sciences and Human Services, the lecture faculty fellowship award will draw from the College of Business, and the staff award will have a recipient from Administration and Finance.

“I wish I could find a way to honor all of my colleagues, but unfortunately, I don't have the financial resources to do so,” Shockley said. “At the end of the day, this is my way of personally saying to my colleagues, ‘I think you are special.’ ”