2023 St. Ignatius Award for Excellence in Teaching Winner

Elizabeth Wakefield, PhD​

Associate Professor​

College of Arts & Sciences​

Psychology

Elizabeth Wakefield is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology, affiliated with the undergraduate Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience Program and the Developmental Psychology PhD Program. She joined the Loyola faculty in 2016 after completing her B.A. at Kalamazoo College in Psychology and Music, her Ph.D. at Indiana University with a focus in developmental cognitive neuroscience, and additional postdoctoral training at University of Chicago. At Loyola, Dr. Wakefield has dedicated herself to education both in the classroom and in her research lab. As director of the Movement & Learning Lab, Dr. Wakefield maintains an active research program focused on how co-speech gestures support communication and learning with an emphasis on understanding the mechanisms underlying our ability to learn from gesture and individual differences that predict how well we learn from gesture. She regularly mentors undergraduates and has supported 12 honors thesis students while at Loyola, including 8 who were funded by LUROP fellowships. Dr. Wakefield’s dedication to her teaching and mentoring has previously earned her the Sujack Teaching Excellence Award (2021) and the Langerbeck Faculty Research Mentor Award (2020). Outside of her role as a professor and mentor, Dr. Wakefield enjoys singing in the Chicago Chorale and spending time with her husband Justin and their two young children, Aria and Andrew.

A nominating student stated, "Dr. Wakefield also always welcomes questions and often entertains deep dive questions prompted from more curious students. She goes as far as coming back the next class with more information/a response if she is unable to sufficiently answer it when the question was initially asked. Dr. Wakefield teaches through a lovely mixture of visuals, in-class activities, and additional reading materials to engage her students in a variety of ways. Dr. Wakefield plainly shows care for the entire person through the way she teaches. She is clearly passionate about the subject(s) she teaches and cares about conveying her knowledge to her students in the most effective way possible. Her approachable demeanor produces a comfortable environment to encourage learning. The authority and humility she speaks with inspires her students to grow in professional and academic abilities like her."

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2023 Alice B. Hayes Award for Advising and Mentoring Winner

Susan McCarthy, MBA​

Clinical Assistant Professor​

Arrupe College​

Business

Susan McCarthy has been at Loyola University Chicago since 2015, most recently as a Clinical Associate Professor at Arrupe College. Susan previously taught at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, California. Prior to academia, she was a Tax Manager with Deloitte in New York City and is a Certified Public Accountant.

A nominating colleague stated, "An exceptionally thorough and responsive advisor, Ms. McCarthy ensures that each of her advisees is aware of academic requirements, and opportunities. In 2021-2022, Ms. McCarthy met a new group of first year advisees and sought to create a sense of trust and belonging by attending their 101 course meetings. Furthermore, in spring 2022 she organized group advising sessions for other faculty advisors to help students connect with one-another and with resources for major and career discernment and mental health. She created and serves as the advisor for the Arrupe Business Fellows, a program which provides peer tutoring for business and economics courses at Arrupe College. In the Ignatian tradition of cura personalis, Susan spends time getting to know her students’ gifts, goals and challenges and seeks to foster their holistic growth--academic, personal and professional.”

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2023 Provost's Award for Teaching First Years Winner

Yuna Blajer de la Garza, PhD​

Assistant Professor​

College of Arts & Sciences​

Political Science

Yuna Blajer de la Garza is Assistant Professor in the Political Science department, which she joined in 2021. Prior to that, she was a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford. He received her PhD from the University of Chicago. Dr. Blajer studies inequalities in democracies by examining how formal institutions are translated and appropriated into everyday practices and norms. She is currently working on a book on citizenship and belonging. She teaches Introduction to Political Theory every year at Loyola.

A nominating student stated, "Her office hours are incredibly helpful not only in the academic sense but in the 'human' sense. She asks us things like how we feel, if we liked our weekends, if we have any doubts, issues, concerns, or complaints. She shows her human side, not just her professional side and I appreciate that because she makes me feel welcomed and appreciated. I admire her very very much for how much she knows about her field (political theory), how passionate and cunning she is while teaching, and how warm she is with her students. She deserves this award. Without a doubt, Professor Blajer has been one of the best professors I've had in my life."

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2023 Magis Teaching Award for Part-Time Instructors

Rebecca Zapatochny Rufo, PhD​

Instructor​

Niehoff School of Nursing

Rebecca Zapatochny Rufo is an experienced leader with over 35 years in clinical, educational, technology integration, service line development and Telemedicine. She is also an accomplished Nursing educator with over 20 years' experience teaching Undergraduate, Graduate and Doctoral level classes. In addition to her work at Loyola, Becky has been an Associate Professor at Olivet Nazarene for the past 13 years.

Becky has authored 27+ publications including textbook chapters and featured articles and presented in over 25 conferences, webinars and poster sessions. She received her Doctorate in Nursing from Rush University, Master of Science in Nursing as a Trauma Clinical Nurse Specialist and Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the University of Pittsburgh. Becky is married for 28 years to Anthony and lives in Naperville. She has two daughters Tori and Nicole and can't forget her fur baby Bella.

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2023 Peter Hans Kolvenbach Award for Engaged Teaching Winner

Sarah J. Diaz, JD, LLM​

Lecturer & Associate Director​

School of Law​

Center for the Human Rights of Children (CHRC)

Sarah J. Diaz is the Associate Director of the Center for the Human Rights of Children and Lecturer in the School of Law. Professor Diaz has worked at the intersection of child migration and human rights for fifteen years, working with NGOs on complex human rights, migration, and international criminal law issues.  Prior to joining Loyola, Professor Diaz served as the National Case Director for the Young Center for Immigrant Children's Rights at the University of Chicago Law School, and as a Clinical Instructor with the Asylum and Immigration Law Clinic at DePaul University College of Law. Throughout her career, Professor Diaz has participated in several initiatives designed to create access to human rights for children and migrants on the local, state, and international levels.

A nominating student stated, "In every class, we were given a real-life prompt and 20 minutes in small groups to discuss the prompt with our classmates. These prompts often involved gang violence, state violence, and trying to navigate an asylum system that seeks to send people back into that violence. It really encouraged us all to engage deeply with the material. Sarah also brought many guest speakers into our classroom. She brought in nuns who worked on policy advocacy and who worked to restore humanity to refugees. She brought in a speaker who had come from Uganda and suffered greatly in our nation's immigration system, so that we could see the real-world impact of the work we're doing."