Adam Prus of Northern Michigan University’s Psychological Science Department is the 2018 NMU Distinguished Faculty Award recipient. He is praised as an outstanding teacher, scholar and mentor. 

Prus has demonstrated an ability to connect with students at all levels. He regularly teaches courses that cover the breadth of the psychology curriculum, from the general introductory course to graduate courses in neuroscience. Prus has supervised 14 master’s degree student thesis projects and mentored many undergraduate students who assist him with research projects.

As head of the department since 2016, Prus helped to establish NMU’s Behavioral Education, Assessment and Research Center. The BEAR Center has provided more than 15,000 hours of free behavioral servicesfor children with Autism Spectrum Disorder or other disabilities from across the Upper Peninsula. 

Prus is a nationally recognized scholar in the field of neuropsychopharmacology. He provides insight into how drugs act in the brain to produce psychological effects, with a focus on developing better treatments for depression, anxiety and schizophrenia. He has written two textbooks on psychopharmacology and published and presented his work widely. Many of his publications include NMU students as co-authors, and dozens of students have presented research from his laboratory at national scientific conferences. Prus also has been awarded more than $200,000 in grants to support his research.

Prus was honored at a recent award reception and will join the commencement platform party to be recognized at the May 5 ceremony. He joined the NMU faculty in 2006. He holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Western Michigan University and a doctorate from Virginia Commonwealth University.