Dr. Eliatamby-O’Brien’s has served in various capacities at the local, department, college, university, national, and international levels. While at CWU, they have participated as an integral member of many department committees, including search, handbook, graduate, and curriculum/assessment. At the college and university levels, Dr. Eliatamby-O’Brien has served on advisory, faculty retention, steering, general education, and equity committees. They were a Faculty Senator from 2019-2021 and a Faculty Advisor for the Queer Art Collective from 2019-2020. At the national and international levels, Dr. Eliatamby-O’Brien has served as a book review editor, article reviewer, and conference presenter. While Dr. Eliatamby-O’Brien has made an imprint in institutional service, it is their support of the LGBTQ+ community that is of note. Through the use of storytelling, Dr. Eliatamby-O’Brien has given the rural transgender community in the Pacific Northwest a place to share their experiences. With colleague Griff Tester, Dr. Eliatamby-O’Brien has digitally archived stories of this underrepresented population (https://www.transrurallives.org/), who have much to share about how their lives add to the fabric of the American Experience. Tangent to the safe story space, is the Trans Rural Elders Conference , sponsored by Trans Rural Lives and Helen House . Tylene Carnell, the Founder and Former Director of Helen House, the Kittitas County safe place for LGBTQ+ youth wrote: M. was a major partner and collaborator in creating and later facilitating…(the) capture (of) the lived experiences of trans elders with strong connections to rural Washington, capturing their stories of survival, transition, love and relationships, and everyday life shared through storytelling recorded vignettes passed on to LGBTQ+ youth in rural Washington State and beyond. Letters for support from representatives of the PRIDE Foundation and the Washington Commission on Hispanic Affairs support their work of this important endeavor. Dr. Eliatamby-O’Brien’s mission to give voice to the Rural Trans Elder community, in turn provides intergenerational support to LGBTQ+ youth. For LGBTQ+ youth who live in rural settings, life can be isolating. Now they have access to elders with similar lived experiences. Many CWU staff and faculty from across campus wrote of Dr. Eliatamby-O’Brien’s impact of their service. Letters commending how the troika of their teaching, research, and service intertwine and provide a broadening of thought and perspectives with students, colleagues, staff, and administration. Their impact of service is commendable. The Distinguished Faculty of Scholarship / Artistic Accomplishment Award recognizes scholarly or scientific investigation or inquiry, conducted to advance the state of knowledge of the discipline. Artistic accomplishment is defined as the composition, creation, production or other significant and/or innovative contribution to an artistic event. The following is this year’s recipient: Dr. Timothy Beng, Distinguished Faculty of Scholarship/Artistic Accomplishment Award, Department of Chemistry. The committee recommends Dr. Timothy Beng as this year’s recipient of Central Washington University’s Distinguished Faculty of Scholarship/Artistic Accomplishment Award. He is an Associate Professor in the Department of Chemistry, joining CWU in 2015. Simply put, Dr. Beng is a prolific scholar in his discipline.
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