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Helen Boylan Named Westminster College’s 2018 Distinguished Faculty Award Winner

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Posted on Friday, May 18, 2018

Dr. Helen Boylan, professor of chemistry and program coordinator of Environmental Science, is the recipient of Westminster College’s 2018 Distinguished Faculty Award. The award was announced at the College’s Commencement ceremony, held on Saturday, May 12.

Westminster’s Distinguished Faculty Award is presented to a tenured faculty member who has demonstrated characteristics of the most outstanding faculty: intellectual vitality, effective communication skills, the ability to motivate or inspire compassion and concern for student success, collegiality, and leadership. Faculty are nominated for the award by students, alumni and colleagues.

A tireless mentor and supporter, Boylan is known for her visionary and transformative teaching and leadership. She and her students have collaborated with the Slippery Rock Watershed Coalition on water quality testing of passive treatment sites for abandoned mine drainage and with the Lawrence County Conservation District through the Lawrence and Mercer ALLARM program on local stream water quality. She also led Westminster’s Tiny House Project Team and worked with the New Castle School of Trades on the building of the College’s first tiny house.

Boylan has earned the respect of colleagues, students, and community members across western Pennsylvania and the United States, modeling high-impact teaching and leadership. Her research interests include environmental and forensic science applications of analytical chemistry and chemometrics. She is also an organizing committee member of the Pittsburgh Conference on Analytical Chemistry and Applied Spectroscopy (Pittcon).

She has been with Westminster College since 2001 and currently serves as Westminster's Gibson-Drinko Distinguished Faculty Member. Boylan earned her undergraduate degree from Westminster College and her Ph.D. from Duquesne University.

For more information, contact Tom Fields @fieldste@westminster.edu or 724-946-7190.