May 9, 2022
Ursuline College Assistant Professor Lynn Ulatowski, PhD, has been selected as the 2022 Great Midwest Faculty Mentor of the Year by the Great Midwest Athletic Conference (GMAC), a conference of the NCAA Division II. The honor is given annually to one faculty member from a member institution.
“I am speechless, humbled, and proud to be recognized for this award,” Ulatowski said. “It’s encouraging, especially at the end of the year, to know the students appreciate the efforts of the faculty. I am motivated by making a difference in students’ lives; thus, it’s extremely satisfying to know I’m making an impact.”
“This is a distinct honor and so well deserved,” said Ursuline College President Sister Christine De Vinne, OSU, PhD. “I know how much care and professionalism Dr. Ulatowski brings to her role as Faculty Athletic Rep, and I know her students and faculty colleagues know it too. We are proud to celebrate this recognition with Dr. Ulatowski.”
A faculty member in Ursuline’s Biology Department, Ulatowski was last in the news in 2020, when she was admitted to University Hospitals for a heart transplant and cared for by nurses who were her former students. Because of the transplant, she notes, she is still having an impact on students.
The process for selection includes nominations by the institution's student-athlete advisory committee and then a vote by the Great Midwest Student-Athlete Advisory Committee. Ulatowski will be recognized at the GMAC Spring Awards Banquet on May 24 in Cincinnati.
As the recipient of the Conference award, Ulatowski will now be the Great Midwest nominee for the NCAA Division II Dr. Dave Pariser Faculty Mentor Award. The award, named after a Bellarmine physical therapy professor who passed away in 2013, recognizes faculty members at Division II institutions for their dedication to supporting and mentoring student-athletes, as well as their commitment to Division II student-athletes' lifelong learning, competition, and well-being.
Ursuline was a founding member of GMAC in 2011. The conference now consists of 12 private, non-profit member institutions in Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee and sponsors 25 conference championship sport offerings.
Ulatowski earned her BS in Molecular Biology/Biotechnology from Westminster College, and her MS in Nutrition and PhD in Molecular Nutrition from Case Western Reserve University, where she received an Academic Excellence Award for her dissertation topic, Regulation of Vitamin E and Tocopherol Transfer Protein. She has published over 20 peer-reviewed papers, participated in a nationwide USDA-funded grant to assess dietary intake, physical activity and stress management on 90 campuses, and served as the American Society of Nutrition Science Policy Fellow (2015-16).
