Professors Judith Puncochar and Michael Strahan are the 2014 Distinguished Faculty Award recipients at Northern Michigan University. 

Puncochar teaches in the School of Education, Leadership and Public Service. She joined the faculty about 10 years ago and teaches both undergraduate and graduate education students. Puncochar has been a leader at NMU in merging academic learning with community service. In 2012, she was honored with the prestigious Michigan Campus Compact Faculty/Staff Community Service Learning Award. She also led efforts to begin the Uniting Neighbors in the Experience of Diversity (UNITED) Conference, which has attracted more than 2,000 participants each year since its 2006 inception. Puncochar's vision of providing leadership opportunities for young women resulted in the “Elect Her” Conference, an annual event that mentors young women and supports them as they pursue leadership roles.

Strahan has served NMU as a faculty member in the Lydia M. Olson Library since 1990. He works with faculty colleagues to ensure that students have the information literacy and research abilities they need to be successful. Strahan designed and regularly teaches a course titled “Research Using Digital Information Resources,” which lays the groundwork for advanced writing projects and graduate theses. He developed an APA style guide that has been accessed online nearly 2 million times since 2008.

The Embedded Librarian Instruction Services program that Strahan pioneered helps many online students succeed. He also co-founded and serves as an editorial board member for the Journal of Library and Information Services in Distance Learning. Strahan has served on several NMU committees and has been appointed to two national committees through the American Library Association’s Association of College and Research Libraries.