Najor and Young receive President's Award for Excellence in Teaching

Department of Communication Senior Lecturer, Director of the Undergraduate Public Relations program Shelly Najor, Associate Professor, and Director of Forensics Kelly Young recently received the President's Award for Excellence in Teaching.

Najor was instrumental in the program's certification by the Public Relations Society of America two years ago, making the Wayne State program one of only two in the state to have this official, national designation of excellence. She teaches all of the core undergraduate classes in public relations. Najor was noted for her humor, empathy, drive for excellence and her devotion to students.

Young, who leads the nationally competitive debate and forensics program, was praised for his life-long impact on his students and for his impact as a teacher at the undergraduate and graduate levels. His work to keep the forensics program rooted in students recruited from Detroit has been one of the keys to the program's success and the success of those students who become debate alumni. His citation noted that his teaching is "visionary" and that Young epitomizes excellence in teaching both in and outside of the traditional classroom. Young also received an award for his outstanding mentorship of doctoral students from the Central States Communication Association in April 2018.