Four Idaho State University faculty to receive 2017 Outstanding Service Awards

They will be honored at a reception held on April 11 and one will be chosen for the 2017 Distinguished Service Award and will be recognized at Pocatello commencement on May 6.

The faculty members receiving these awards are Shauna Smith, a speech-language pathologist, clinical associate professor and clinic director in the graduate speech-language pathology (SLP) program of the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders; Dawn Konicek, assistant clinical professor of accounting, College of Business; Thomas Kloss, assistant professor, music education coordinator and associate director of bands, Department of Music; and Donna Lybecker, professor, Department of Political Science.

“We are proud of the many public service activities that Idaho State University faculty perform for the University and the communities they live in on top of their other duties as teachers, researchers and creators of new knowledge,” said Laura Woodworth-Ney, executive vice president and provost for academic affairs. “The recipients of the 2017 Outstanding Service Awards represent the best in public service at ISU and it is an honor to help recognize them.”

Biographies of the honorees appear below.

• Shauna Smith – Smith is a speech-language pathologist, clinical associate professor and clinic director in the graduate speech-language pathology (SLP) program of the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders. Smith graduated from ISU with her Bachelor of Science degree in speech pathology and audiology in 2003 and earned her Master of Science degree in speech-language pathology from ISU in 2005.

Prior to becoming a faculty member at ISU in 2010, Smith practiced as a speech-language pathologist on an outpatient brain injury team specializing in the treatment of cognitive and communication disorders related to traumatic brain injury, and the treatment of swallowing disorders in individuals with head and neck cancer. She has also worked in inpatient and home health settings working with adults.

She continues to treat patients in the ISU Dysphagia Clinic, which she began in 2012, training students in appropriate treatment methods with specialty populations. She also teaches the graduate level Disorders of Swallowing Course, as well as the Medical-Based Issues elective course. Her areas of interest include interdisciplinary collaboration and treatment, participation focused treatment of swallowing disorders, and treatment of cognitive-linguistic deficits associated with traumatic brain injury. She has presented nationally and regionally on these topics.

Since starting at ISU, Smith has sought out numerous opportunities to serve the community, profession, and university. She has been an active member on many committees within the university, Division of Health Sciences and CSD department, and is of the strong belief that it is through active service that positive change is made.

Dawn Konicek – Konicek has had a passion for accounting since her junior year of high school.

She graduated cum laude from the University of Whitewater Wisconsin and immediately accepted a job at Ernst & Young, at that time, a big eight accounting firm in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Realizing her passion for education and dream to teach in the future, she earned a Master of Business Administration degree while working as a senior manager in Madison, Wisconsin.

Konicek started teaching at a small community college in Janesville, Wisconsin. She came to ISU in August 2012.

Konicek enjoys helping students pursue a career that not only can support a family but has professional stability as well.

She loves being involved with her students' college careers, but also being their mentor, their friend, and eventually their colleague.

• Thomas Kloss – Kloss is an assistant professor of music education and the associate director of Athletic Bands at ISU. He received his Bachelor of Music degrees in music education and saxophone performance at the University of Arizona in Tucson. He received his Master of Music and Ph. D. in music education from Arizona State University. Currently, he teaches instrumental and general music pedagogy, and supervises field experience and student teaching students.

His research interests include the effects of band teacher turnover, oral histories of retired music educators, and student centered learning in large ensemble classes. Kloss has presented research at several venues, including the Society for Music Teacher Education Symposium, MENC Biennial Conference, and the Arizona Music Educators Conference, and has been published in Update: Applications of Research in Music Education, Arizona Music News, Research and Issues in Music Education, and Idaho Music Notes.

In 2015, Kloss became the associate director of Athletic Bands. His duties include the Bengal Marching Band and Basketball Pep Band. He is also the co-director of the ISU Summer Marching Band Camp, which is held in July at ISU. Kloss is the faculty sponsor of the Collegiate National Association for the Music Education Club, and the Kappa Kappa Psi Band Fraternity.

Donna Lybecker – Lybecker is a professor of political science and chair of the political science department at ISU College of Arts and Letters. She joined the faculty at ISU in 2007.

Lybecker’s research and teaching cover the areas of environmental politics and international relations, with emphasis on water policy, political narrative, and border studies.

Using her background in environmental politics, Lybecker serves on the Board of Directors for the Sagebrush Steppe Land Trust, is a member of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s National Advisory Committee, and was a member of the City of Pocatello’s Portneuf River Vision Study Working Group.

In addition, Lybecker regularly teaches courses for New Knowledge Adventures, helps with Blackfoot High School’s “We The People” competitive government team, chairs the Selection Committee for The Bert & Phyllis Lamb Prize in Political Science, and serves as an associate editor for the Social Science Journal and the International Journal for Sustainable Society.

With her work, Lybecker aims to improve decision-maker and public understanding of human-environmental connections and contribute to better-informed political conversations.