Karen Kangas-Preston
College of Arts and Letters
Karen Kangas-Preston is an educator whose focus is always on the student experience. Specializing in costume design and construction and stage makeup, she mentors all costume and makeup design students in the department, spending many one-on-one hours with her students to ensure they have a quality education and learn all aspects of their responsibilities as designers.
To enhance student education, Kangas-Preston developed two advanced costume construction classes for BFA students and chaired the committee to redesign the graduate design curriculum. She has led the Theatre in London program since 2008, a responsibility that includes administrative, educational and interpersonal duties. A student noted, “Ms. Kangas-Preston is tough, unwavering and fair. She expects those around her to give and to achieve to their full potential, and she is willing to push and prod where she sees someone may benefit in preparing students for the real world.”
Although Kangas-Preston’s title is teaching, research is at the core of every costume design project. It is not just duplicating a style or period, but taking information about the play or musical and adapting it to create a production relevant to today’s audiences, but truthful to the characters represented. In 2018, Kangas-Preston received the inaugural Fixed-term Faculty and Academic Specialist Leadership Excellence Award in the College of Arts and Letters.
Kangas-Preston serves on numerous boards and councils. She serves on the department advisory council and co-chaired the Arts and Letters College Advisory Council in 2018. She acts as secretary for the board of directors of the Friends of Theatre at MSU, whose mission includes fundraising for department initiatives. She is an active member of the United States Institute for Theatre Technology, a professional organization for scholars and artists in the theater industry.
For her commitment to education, MSU’s mission, her students and the theater community, it is fitting for Karen Kangas-Preston to receive the Michigan State University Distinguished Academic Specialist Award.
Jo A. Latimore
College of Agriculture and Natural Resources and Greening Michigan Institute
Jo A. Latimore has served MSU as an aquatic ecologist and outreach specialist for more than 10 years. In that time, her work in fisheries and wildlife has been extensive, innovative and exemplary in protecting Michigan’s rivers, lakes and streams. The core of her work focuses on outreach and engagement to support lake and stream management. She has grounded these efforts in a deep understanding of the natural and social sciences, making her outreach scholarly and attuned to her audience’s needs. Through this approach, she has devised innovative and effective ways to help community members serve as leaders and effective stewards of their water resources.
Latimore’s passion for science communication and Michigan’s rivers, lakes and streams has enabled people to make a difference. Through programs such as the Michigan Inland Lake Partnership, Michigan Lake and Stream Leaders Institute and Reducing Invasive Species program, she has engaged thousands of people across Michigan to protect our aquatic resources.
One of Latimore’s major programs has been the statewide Michigan Clean Water Corps, or MiCorps, program, a crucial component for keeping valuable water quality records from many lakes across Michigan. Additionally, she has trained volunteers from approximately 250 lakes each year on proper sampling protocols and assessment techniques. She has played a key role in doubling the participation in the accompanying Exotic Plant Watch Program and has written, narrated and acted in several training videos on invasive species identification and management. Her efforts have become models for other states, and she has been honored with multiple state and national awards.
Latimore is an excellent teacher and mentor to students. Her willingness to share her passion and expertise with undergraduate and graduate students through courses, technician positions and advising has created a growing group of Spartans trained in science communication for the public. As one of her students noted, she “offers a unique understanding of what it’s like to be an ecologist interested in public engagement, and she has inspired many students to look at careers beyond typical technician or academic positions.”
For her passion and commitment to protecting Michigan’s valuable water resources and engaging the public and students in this effort, Jo A. Latimore is a most deserving recipient of the Michigan State University Distinguished Academic Staff Award.
Kendra Moyses
College of Agriculture and Natural Resources
Kendra Moyses began her career with MSU Extension in 2003 as an associate program leader in Family and Consumer Sciences and currently serves as acting co-director of MSU Extension’s Children and Youth Institute, or CYI, and as a senior Extension educator. Moyses successfully manages financial functions of the CYI, including overseeing the unit’s budget of more than $10 million.
Moyses is dedicated to connecting families to research and expertise of MSU and MSU Extension. She has encouraged and engaged families and community partners across the state to be lifelong learners. Her work is an example of what the Extension service is meant to do: transform lives with research-informed education and real-world applications. Her passion for creating programs that support families in making positive changes in their lives is evident in every project she is part of and every interaction she has with stakeholders, participants and partners. She involves community partners in her work, knowing that community support and engagement in all aspects of program development are critical to facilitating change. The educational sessions she has been a part of and the materials she has created or contributed to make differences in the lives of families across Michigan.
As noted by one of her colleagues, “Ms. Moyses’ expertise in early childhood education and family enrichment, along with her ability to think strategically, enables her to create valuable program outcomes that conveys the positive impact that early childhood programming has throughout communities across Michigan.”
MSU Extension director Jeff Dwyer has written that Kendra Moyses “works hard — not for recognition — but because it’s the right thing to do.”
Moyses is committed to developing and enhancing university and community partnerships. She has been awarded more than $1.75 million in grant funding and has been an invited speaker and presenter at state and national conferences. Her work with Michigan military families has helped children and family members cope effectively with the deployment and return of active duty military members.
For her commitment to the university mission of advancing knowledge and transforming lives, Kendra Moyses is a highly deserving recipient of the Michigan State University Distinguished Academic Staff Award.
Mary A. Wilson
College of Agriculture and Natural Resources
Mary A. Wilson has been educating people through various roles with MSU Extension for more than 30 years, beginning as an Extension educator in 1985. In this role, she worked with green industry members to found the Genesee Area Landscape and Nursery Association, developed the Horticulture Hotline Diagnostic Technician program and developed local Master Gardener programs. She then progressed to several county-level positions, developing strong partnerships within the commercial green industry, local county government and MSU Extension Master Gardener volunteers.
Emerging science has always been a priority for Wilson, so when the Michigan Department of Entomology discovered the invasive Emerald Ash Borer, or EAB, she quickly became the university’s EAB education coordinator. She then helped secure a Michigan Department of Agriculture grant for more than $400,000, coordinated educational efforts within quarantined counties and helped develop an EAB Resource Notebook for county Extension staff.
Equally committed to new technologies that weave together traditional and innovative delivery systems, Wilson played an integral role in developing high tech systems for soil tests performed through MSU plant diagnostics, increasing efficiency and consistency. Her coordination of the development of the Home Soil Test Self-Mailer now serves almost 3,500 homeowners statewide.
Wilson became the state coordinator of the MSU Extension Master Gardener Program in 2008, leading training and management of more than 3,500 Extension Master Gardener volunteers in 75 counties. She has ensured statewide program consistency, financial stability and growth over the past ten years, having restructured the program using a business model based on diverse funding sources. She also led the development of the Master Gardener Program Administrative Manual, which helps ensure that local programs follow a consistent structure across the state. To ensure a valuable and respected resource for master gardener programs, Wilson led a team of Extension educators and MSU faculty in a complete revision of the 1,000-page MSU Extension Master Gardener Core Manual, which has now extended its reach to other states as a critical resource for Master Gardener programs.
For embracing new technology to advance relevant Extension programming; putting the MSU Extension Master Gardener Volunteer program on a firmer educational, financial, structural and organizational base; and improving soil-testing capabilities across the state, Mary A. Wilson is a most deserving recipient of the Michigan State University Distinguished Academic Staff Award.
