Dr. Deanna Schmidt has been named a finalist for West Virginia Professor of the Year

WEST LIBERTY, WV, February 1, 2023 — West Liberty University faculty can once again claim to be a finalist for the 2022 West Virginia Professor of the Year Award, presented annually by the Faculty Merit Foundation.

Associate Professor of Biology Dr. Deanna Schmidt was among five finalists named in a letter dated January 23, 2022.

“This is wonderful news for Deanna, the College of Science and the entire university. I congratulate Deanna on her nomination and her teaching excellence, and I am proud to say that this is not the first time we have had a finalist,” said Dr. Cathy Monterosso, WLU Interim President. “We all wish her well as the final selection process continues.”

Over the past eight years, WLU faculty members have been selected seven times as finalists in the statewide competition and three times as state Professor of the Year.

College of Science Dean Dr. Karen Kettler nominated Schmidt for the honor.

“Dr. Schmitt is an outstanding faculty member, researcher and student mentor,” Kettler said.

The next step in the Professor of the Year selection process is the in-person interviews, which are scheduled to take place on Tuesday, February 21 in Charleston, West Virginia.

Schmidt has been a member of the West Liberty University faculty since 2017 and serves as both a professor of biology and an assistant professor in the Physician Assistant Studies program.

Prior to that, she spent four years as a postdoctoral fellow at WLU from 2012 to 2016 in the lab of Dr. Joseph Horzempa, who was named the 2017 West Virginia Professor of the Year.

Schmidt received his PhD in immunology from the University of Pittsburgh in 2012 and his BS in microbiology from Pennsylvania State University in 2005.

Student researchers in Schmidt’s lab are working to unravel the mechanism of action of a new family of antibiotics called rezasomycins. These antibiotics are effective against a select group of bacteria including Francisella tularensis and causative agent of gonorrhea, Neisseria gonorrhoeae.

A resident of Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, Schmidt and her husband Matthew have two daughters, Allie, 10, and Hadley, 7.

The Faculty Merit Foundation was established in 1984 to provide funds to recognize and reward innovation and creativity among the faculty of West Virginia’s public and private colleges and universities.

Through the Professor of the Year program, the outstanding achievements of these individuals are brought to the attention of the general public.

A cash award of $10,000 is given to the candidate selected as Professor of the Year, with smaller awards for other finalists. Traditionally, the finalists are honored at a spring banquet in Charleston, where the Professor of the Year is announced.

West Liberty University is the first public university in West Virginia and offers more than 70 undergraduate majors, plus a growing number of graduate programs, both online and on campus.

For more information, please call 1.866.937.8542 (WESTLIB), visit westliberty.edu or follow WLU on social media. To see more about WLU, please visit westliberty.edu/youtube.