2020 CSUN Outstanding Faculty Award
Professor Elena Angelina Miranda, Geology
As the only underrepresented minority faculty member in the Department of Geological Sciences and one of the few in her field of research, her teaching methods and the experience she brings to our institution are instrumental in yielding outstanding results for our underrepresented students in these areas. Her efforts have resulted in an unusually large number of underrepresented minority or female undergraduate students co-authoring papers and presentations at national meetings.
With a deep concern for student welfare, she continually develops new methodologies and approaches to serving our minority students’ needs. She expends extra effort to identify unique issues and weaknesses of students to address through surveys and queries. Comments from students describe her as the best teacher they’ve had and note that her courses and assistance have changed their lives.
She has successfully obtained nearly one million dollars in grant funding for broader impact programs for outreach and recruitment of minority students. Where many others have failed, she has successfully introduced underrepresented minority students to rigorous scientific methods and in a most challenging field. In addition to her successful research she demonstrates her dedication to teaching by also maintaining a consistently high teaching load including GE courses, lower division, upper division and graduate level classes. In fourteen years at CSUN she has served on well over fifty committees.