Joan Mutanyatta-Comar is a Principal Senior Lecturer and Co-Director of Undergraduate Studies in the Department of Chemistry (Downtown). She earned her PhD in Organic Chemistry (Medicinal Chemistry) from University of Botswana (Southern Africa) and University of Wuerzburg (Germany; joint program). As a Georg Forster Research Fellow of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, she was a Post-Doctoral Associate at the Institute of Organic Chemistry, University of Wuerzburg for three years specializing in organic synthesis.

Dr. Mutanyatta-Comar uses High Impact Practices (HIPs) in her organic chemistry courses. Her instructional innovations have been supported by a variety of grants such as the NSF-WIDER grant, GSU Digital Champions Fellowship, GSU Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) grant, and the GSU Signature Experience Course Development mini-grant. She received the Chair’s Award for Outstanding Performance by a Chemistry Faculty Member and was awarded a Certificate for Outstanding Faculty by GSU’s National Residence Hall Honorary and University Housing for her contributions to student success.

Dr. Bermúdez, a Senior Principal Lecturer in the World Languages and Cultures Department is the founding faculty advisor for Sigma Lambda Upsilon/Senoritas Latinas Unidas, and was selected as Advisor of the Year in the university’s 2017 and 2018 Greek Awards. She serves as a faculty mentor through the Multicultural Center and is a longstanding faculty advisor for Goizueta Scholars candidates. She was the recipient of the Faculty Diversity Award in 2018 because of her mentoring work of underrepresented students. Recently her work is directed towards the mentoring of non-tenure track (NTT) faculty.