Franklin College Honors Employees with Excellence Awards

Release date: December 19, 2012

Franklin College honored two employees with awards of excellence at the 19th Annual Employee Appreciation and Holiday Celebration on Friday, Dec. 14.

Diane Black of Franklin, professor and assistant to the leadership department, was recognized with the 2012 Margaret Hommell Staff Service Excellence Award.

After teaching for four years at South Wayne Junior High School in Indianapolis, Black joined the Franklin College staff in 1995 as the leadership department secretary and a field adviser for the education department. She has also served as the program coordinator for Leadership Johnson County.

Black graduated from Franklin Community High School in 1967. She went on to receive her bachelor's degree in education from the University of Indianapolis in 1971. She did post-graduate work in recreation at Indiana State University and in 2007 graduated from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School with a master's degree in religion.

Black has been on several committees at Franklin College and has assisted several organizations in the Franklin community. In 1998 she was selected as Woman of the Year by the Franklin Chamber of Commerce and in 1999 she was awarded the Indiana School Board Member of the Year award by the Indiana General Assembly for her work on the Franklin Community School Board.

The award is named in memory of the late Margaret Hommell, a Franklin College staff member who served on the award selection committee for several years and passed away in October 2006.

Franklin College offered a new award to an adjunct faculty member at the annual event.

The Adjunct Faculty Excellence Award is designed to honor a commendable faculty member who is not in a tenure-track position, has completed two or more semesters and has taught a minimum of 12 credit hours at Franklin College. The recipient will receive a $250 cash award and an engraved plaque.

Angelina Walls of Franklin, mathematics professor, is the 2012 recipient of the award. Walls graduated from Center Grove High School in 1984. She earned her bachelor's degree in pure mathematics and secondary education from Franklin College in 1988. In 2011 Walls received her master's degree in mathematics from Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis.

Walls taught at Center Grove High School before coming to work at Franklin College from 1990 to 1992 teaching computer applications to education majors. She has been a lecturer at Franklin College since 2007. In 2009 she took on the role of director for the Math Study Center at Franklin College.

For more information, contact the Franklin College Office of Marketing and Communications at (317) 738-8185.

Founded in 1834, Franklin College is a residential four-year undergraduate liberal arts institution with a scenic, wooded campus located 20 minutes south of downtown Indianapolis. The college prepares men and women for challenging careers and fulfilling lives through the liberal arts, offering its approximately 1,000 students 28 majors, 36 minors and eight pre-professional programs. In 1842, the college began admitting women, becoming the first coeducational institution in Indiana and the seventh in the nation. Franklin College maintains a voluntary association with the American Baptist Churches USA.