SUNY Plattsburgh Faculty, Staff Recognized for Excellence with Chancellor’s Awards

Six SUNY Plattsburgh faculty and staff are recent recipients of the 2026 Chancellor’s Award for Excellence.

The awards provide SUNY-wide recognition in five categories: Faculty service, librarianship, professional service, scholarship and creative activities and teaching. The Chancellor's Awards for Excellence in the Classified Service are system-level awards established by SUNY to give recognition for superior performance and extraordinary achievement by employees in the classified service.

This year’s honorees are:

• Mary Alldred: Excellence in scholarship and creative activities
• Michelle Bonati: Excellence in faculty service
• Zakir Gul: Excellence in teaching
• Sarah Reyell: Excellence in professional service
• Kristie Stanton: Excellence in classified service
• Liou Xie: Excellence in teaching

Dr. Mary Alldred

Dr. Mary Alldred joined the faculty of the Center for Earth and Environmental Science fall 2017 as an assistant professor. Rising through the ranks, she will assume full professorship in September 2026. She earned her bachelor’s degree in biology from the University of Notre Dame in 2008 and her doctorate in ecology and evolution from sister SUNY university Stony Brook in 2015.

Alldred’s research has addressed the impacts of wetland management, including invasive-plant removal and wetland restoration, on ecosystem services. Her students have worked on a wide variety of projects in biogeochemistry, wetland ecology and management, data analysis and visualization, and science communication.

She has authored or co-authored numerous papers and has presented research at workshops, conferences and symposia across New York state and New England. Fellowships and awards include those from the National Science Foundation, New England Estuarine Research Society, New York SeaGrant, and the City University of New York.

“I’m deeply grateful to hear that my scholarship was acknowledged with a Chancellor’s Award,” Alldred said. “I’m thankful to work in a center and in a university that is so encouraging of interdisciplinary collaboration and student research.

“I’ve also been very fortunate to have excellent colleagues and students who make coming to work everyday — even long summer field days — an absolute pleasure,” she said.

Dr. Michelle Bonati

Dr. Michelle Bonati, an associate professor of teacher education and co-chair of the education department, joined the faculty in 2018 as an assistant professor and was promoted to associate in 2023. She earned her bachelor’s degree in speech and hearing sciences and her master’s in special education and rehabilitation from the University of Arizona, and her doctorate in special education from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Her grants, fellowships, publications and presentations are numerous and include awards from the Adirondack Foundation, New York State United Teachers National Education Association, The American Institute for Indonesian Studies and the Council for American Overseas Research Centers, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Australian government, and the University of Sydney, Australia, among many others.

Bonati’s research interests include teaching education majors the methods and practices of service-learning and inclusive teaching practices that support students and young adults with disabilities in K-12 and higher education. Her areas of teaching include special education, intellectual disability, autism spectrum disorder, emotional disability and instructional practices.

Bonati has conducted research on inclusive education around the world, including Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, and the United States. She was recently selected to be a Fulbright Roving Scholar in Norway for the 2026-2027 academic year.

“I was genuinely surprised by the phone call letting me know that I had been selected to receive the award for excellence in faculty service,” Bonati said. “As a former inclusive-education teacher and now a teacher educator, I have always been deeply committed to issues of equity and access for students with disabilities and individuals from historically marginalized communities. These commitments are central to both my teaching philosophy and my research in inclusive education.”

Bonati said she feels fortunate to work alongside “many dedicated colleagues, students and community partners whose efforts have continually expanded my understanding of diversity, equity and inclusion, and social justice.”

“In particular, my service with the Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation Center and the North Country Hate and Bias Prevention Council through the New York State Division of Human Rights has deepened my awareness of how systemic bias affects faculty, staff, students and the broader community,” she said.

Dr. Zakir Gul

Dr. Zakir Gul is professor and chair of the Department of Criminal Justice. He joined the faculty as an associate professor in 2016 and was promoted to professor in 2024. Prior to that, he taught in the Department of Political Science in Samsun, Turkey, and the Turkish National Police Academy, Department of Security Sciences in Ankara, Turkey.

Gul has more than 16 years of policing experience in Turkey, including a stint as a sergeant and lieutenant with the training department of the Turkish National Police in Ankara, and as chief of police with the rank of captain in the Aydinlar City Police Department, Siirt, Turkey.

In New York, Gul is a certified instructor in domestic terrorism, hate crimes, cultural awareness, bias, discrimination and harassment and teaches at the New York State Zone 9 Police Training Academy in Plattsburgh.

Gul founded the International Security Graduate Program (in English) at the Security Sciences Institute in Turkey and served as founding director and professor. He worked in several research centers, such as the Intelligence Studies Research Center and the Center for International Terrorism and Transnational Crime. He was the graduate coordinator of the Erasmus Program and the deputy editor-in-chief of a peer-reviewed journal on policing. He also served on several selection and recruitment committees.

He has taught both undergraduate- and graduate-level courses such as terrorism/counterterrorism, security intelligence, strategic intelligence, intelligence-led policing, international security policy and strategic intelligence, introduction to policing, policing and society and white-collar crime since 2010.

He holds a bachelor’s degree from Turkish National Police Academy, and both his master’s and doctorate from Kent State University.

Gul said he was humbled to have received the Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching.

“As someone who has dedicated much of my career to teaching, mentoring, advising, curriculum development and student support, this recognition feels especially rewarding,” Gul said. “To me, the award reflects not only on classroom teaching but also the broader commitment to creating an engaging, inclusive and supportive educational environment for students.

“Throughout my time at SUNY Plattsburgh, I have tried to contribute in ways that extend beyond instruction through program development, mentorship, outreach, experiential learning opportunities and supporting students’ academic and professional growth,” he said.

Sarah Reyell

As assistant vice president for Human Resource and Payroll Services, Sarah Reyell leads operations for 900-plus employee organization across SUNY Plattsburgh’s main campus as well as the campus at Queenbury, overseeing a team of four professionals and five support staff.

Prior to being named assistant vice president in February 2025, Reyell served as director of Human Resource Services. In both rolls, she manages all human resource functions, including campus hiring initiatives, employee relations, benefits administration, compliance and more.

Other duties in human resources have included coordinator of employee benefits programs, managing recruitment processes, processing appointment and employment documentation for new hires, transfers and separations, among many other duties.

Reyell is a SUNY Plattsburgh graduate, earning her bachelor’s degree in environmental science. She has served as a member of the university’s strategic planning committees, a member of the SUNY Plattsburgh Child Care Center board, and a member of the SUNY Human Resources Association.

“It was a tremendous honor to be selected as the recipient of the Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Professional Service. I was truly surprised when I received the call from the president,” Reyell said. “For more than 27 years, I have been deeply committed to SUNY Plattsburgh and to supporting employees as they navigate institutional policies and procedures.

“Throughout my career, I have valued the opportunity to build meaningful relationships across campus and to help employees succeed in their roles,” she said. “Human Resources often works behind the scenes, and the guidance and support we provide may not always be visible. This award is especially meaningful because it recognizes the important role our work plays in fostering a supportive and successful campus community.”

Kristie Stanton

Kristie Stanton has served as a keyboard specialist and administrative assistant for several departments and centers on campus, most recently serving as administrative assistant 2 with Feinberg Library and before that with the School of Business and Economics.

The Saranac Central School graduate is responsible for numerous budgetary, human resource and office functions, attends committee meetings where she records and documents minutes, is staff supervisor for administrative assistant 1 and student worker positions, plans and executes library events, and maintains Feinberg’s building needs such as furniture, structure and equipment.

Her role as administrative assistant 1 included procurement, online learning duties, office work, forms and systems processing and much more. As keyboard specialist 1, Stanton served the Center for Diversity, Pluralism and Inclusion, the Department of Journalism, and academic advising where she handled general office coordination, scheduled appointments, meetings and other arrangements, coordinated event needs, and more.

Prior to joining SUNY Plattsburgh, Stanton served as residential counselor for Clinton County Advocacy and Resource Center for seven years.

Campus service includes being an equity advocate, serving on the Student Conduct Board, coordinator for the SEFA appeal, serving as president and vice president for CSEA and on its statewide negotiations team, has assisted on various search committees and more.

“I am extremely grateful and honored to receive the Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Classified Service. This recognition is deeply meaningful, particularly because it reflects the vital relationships I share with out students and colleagues, whose letters of support moved me beyond words,” Stanton said. “I am proud to contribute to our campus community and deeply appreciate SUNY’s dedication to recognizing the vital work of classified service members.”

Stanton said that timing is everything. She was notified of the award at the time of her 25^th anniversary with SUNY Plattsburgh.

Dr. Liou Xie

Dr. Liou Xie is professor of geography and environmental science in the Center for Earth and Environmental Science. She joined the faculty as an assistant professor in 2012, was promoted to associate professor in 2018 and then to professor in 2025.

Prior to joining SUNY Plattsburgh, Xie served as co-director for the School of the Environment at Middlebury College in Vermont, as visiting scholar at the Institute of Geographic Sciences and National Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China, and part-time project-based consultant at Shui On Land in Shanghai, China.

Xie received her bachelor’s degree at Beijing Normal University, her master’s degree from the University of Hong Kong, and her doctorate from Arizona State University.

With areas of research including urban and economic geography, public transportation and human travel behavior, urban planning, re-development strategies and Asian and American cities, she has numerous research activities and publications as well as service to the department, school and university, much of which was performed in China.

Independent studies and internships have included regional economic research, sustainable communities, European refugee crisis, transportation connectivity and the integration and redesign of the streets of Plattsburgh, economic opportunities and employment challenges in the North Country, and global planning principles, among others.

Xie has served on dozens of university committees and boards, including peer review groups, search committees, curricular committees, and more. She received a Girl Scouts of Northeastern New York’s Women of Distinction award, the Charles E. Scheidt Faculty Fellows in Atrocity Prevention program, Institute for Genocide and Mass Atrocity Prevention, Binghamton University, and was a fellow in the Institute for Ethics in Public Life.

“I feel honored to have received the award along with other wonderful colleagues,” Xie said. “It means a lot for my work here for the past 14 years.”

— By Associate Director of Communications Gerianne Downs