2022 FACULTY EXCELLENCE AWARDS

Excellence In Service

Kimberly Cronen, M.A. Assistant Professor of Spanish

Kimberly Cronen joined Northwestern’s faculty in 2006, working to develop the Spanish language program, including refining the major curriculum, overseeing extracurricular programs such as a tutoring program for a local Spanishspeaking church, and providing outstanding creative instruction. She has helped hundreds of Northwestern students develop fluency in the Spanish language and skills in Christ-centered intercultural competency.

Cronen has lived, studied, traveled, worked, and served in Spanishspeaking areas all over the world. In 2014, she traveled to San José, Costa Rica, for a site visit to develop a new study abroad option, and in 2010 she traveled to Quito, Ecuador, to develop coursework and build relationships.

One student shared, “[She] did such a good job of helping me learn and open my eyes to Latin-American cultures. She is the most authentic professor I have had, and she cares for me beyond academics.”

Excellence In Teaching

Bruce Simat, Ph.D. Associate Professor

of Biology

Bruce Simat was commissioned by Northwestern in 1994 to initiate and develop a biology degree program. In 2011, Simat moved on to introducing a feasibility study for Northwestern’s nursing program. Simat was significantly responsible for the work that went into the program before its accreditation in 2015. Simat also established and grew Northwestern’s Premedical Program, initiated TriBeta Biological Honor Society, and began the student organization Health Care Professionals of Tomorrow.

Beyond his academic contributions, Simat has impacted the lives of many students through coresearch projects to prepare them for internships and careers in research, and written more than 350 letters of recommendation for graduate school or employment. In addition to teaching with excellence and supporting students, Bruce has been active in Christian apologetics in the community, providing lectures to churches and Christian organizations concerning the limitations of science and evolutionary theory.

Excellence In Scholarship

Boyd Seevers, Ph.D. Professor of Old Testiment Studies

Boyd Seevers has an extensive list of publications and presentations. Seevers focuses on excavations at ancient Shiloh in Israel as conducted through the work of the Associates for Biblical Research. The scholarly analysis and presentation of these archaeological finds helps to illuminate the Biblical world and sharpen our understanding of Biblical text.

In 2019 Seevers helped to bring an exhibit of archaeological artifacts from Khirbet el-Maqatir, the probable site of Ai (Joshua 7–8), to Northwestern. Seevers helped curate the exhibit and led may of the 90 tours to a large portion of the 1,460 people who viewed the exhibit.

Seevers was recently awarded the J. Edwin Hartill Endowed Professor award for 2022–2024 in which he will build on the research from his first receipt of the award in 2016. This work has been highly effective in engaging Northwestern students in archaeological work through actual digs in Israel, as well as the analysis and formal publication of the findings.