Alumna Malaphone Phommasa of UC Santa Barbara’s Gevirtz School has won a 2021 Margaret T. Getman Service to Students Award. This award recognizes university staff, faculty, and administrators who have demonstrated an extraordinary commitment to the overall growth and development of students; who consistently strive for excellence in their support of students; and who have a commitment to the improvement of the quality of student life. Phommasa is Director of Academic Success Initiatives in the Office of Undergraduate Education. She oversees the ONDAS (Opening New Doors to Academic Success) Student Center and Transfer Student Center.
Malaphone Phommasa earned her Ph.D. from the Department of Education in 2016 in the research area of cultural perspectives and comparative education. Since then she has been an Assistant Professor, Minority Faculty Fellow at Marshall University, the founding director of UC Santa Barbara’s Transfer Student Center, and the Director of Academic Success Initiatives since 2017.