Story: Lisa Sollie | Photo: Betsy Compton
The University of West Alabama presented four prestigious awards to members of its faculty and staff during the Dec. 2 Board of Trustees quarterly meeting at Bell Conference Center. The Loraine McIlwain Bell Trustee Awards and the Nellie Rose McCrory Service Excellence Award were presented to distinguished employees.
Candidates for the awards are nominated by the University community, and the winner in each category is selected by a committee of peers.
The McIlwain Bell Trustee Awards are presented annually in three categories: support staff, professional staff, and faculty. Each comes with a plaque and a check for $1,000. The awards were presented by Dr. Tina Jones, UWA provost, who introduced each honoree through the remarks of their nominating colleagues.
Loraine McIlwain Bell Support Staff Excellence Award
Brenda Killough, payroll supervisor in the Office of Administration and Human Resources, received the 2025 Support Staff Excellence Award. She has worked at the University for more than 18 years, regarded by her colleagues for working tirelessly each day to achieve the best results for UWA, no matter the task at hand.
Jones said that Killough’s nomination letter highlighted her commitment, loyalty, and dedication to the University are nearly unparalleled and oftentimes underappreciated.
“She spends countless hours answering employee benefit questions, ensuring payroll is accurate, and double-checking benefit invoices down to the penny. While it is clear that her love for her family takes priority, Mrs. Killough oftentimes is working and responding to emails even while riding to watch her daughter play volleyball or cheer at football games,” her nomination letter reads. “Brenda’s work-ethic and performance are certainly remarkable,” the letter continues, “but her most impressive attributes are her compassion and commitment to seeing that every University employee is treated with kindness and dignity.”
Loraine McIlwain Bell Professional Staff Excellence Award
Bliss Adkison, director of Institutional Effectiveness, received the 2025 McIlwain Bell Professional Staff Excellence Award. Employed at the University since March 2022, Adkison truly embodies the qualities this award represents: hard work, dedication, loyalty, and exceptional effort.
From Adkison’s letter of nomination, Jones noted that Bliss was instrumental in establishing the Campbell House on campus as a retreat within campus for strategic planning and collaboration.
“She has positively impacted many departments across campus by helping them enhance their organizational skills, which ultimately benefits the entire University. Additionally, her natural leadership and fantastic personality make her a pleasure to work with, contributing to a stress-free atmosphere in the office.”
Loraine McIlwain Bell Trustee Professor Award
Dr. Jan G. Miller,dean of the College of Education,received the 2025 McIlwain Bell Trustee Professor Award. Her nominating colleague wrote that since joining the faculty at UWA in 2008, “she has been an ambassador to show case the excellent education programs the University has to offer while speaking to state and national associations.”
Jones noted that the nomination recognizes Miller as “a natural leader well-respected by her peers at the University, innovative, held in high esteem by students, faculty, and staff at UWA and aggressive in pursuit of excellence for the success of her UWA family.”
Nellie Rose McCrory Service Excellence Award
Dr. Jeff Gentsch, professor of history and social sciences, received the 2025 Nellie Rose McCrory Service Excellence Award. Now in his final year of teaching at the University with plans to retire at the end of the school year in 2025, his tenure at began in 2000.
At UWA, Gentsch’s colleague wrote, he “has used his expertise in the field, and his collaboration with Shiloh National Military Park, to host field trips to Shiloh almost every spring until COVID.”
Along with planning and hosting the Shiloh trip, “Dr. Gentsch has served as the Interpretive Historian for Shiloh since 1993, appearing on Battlefield Detectives for the History Channel to bring Shiloh to a broader audience.” Part of his continuous work at the park includes instrumental battlefield staff rides for the U.S. Army training courses.
To keep the study of history viable and relevant to the general public, Gentsch “has given dozens of talks and presentations at conferences and to community groups on military history, battlefield tactics, the impact of geography on battles, artillery, politics and warfare, and WWII in Italy and Germany,” Jones shared from the nomination letter.
Gentsch has also written articles for journals and books on military history and tactics. “These presentations, and a list of his publications found on his VITA, are a testament to his continuous research and his desire to keep people, both at UWA and the public, engaged with history.” His peers say it is a privilege to work with Gentsch and see his love for history. “He has excelled in his commitment to his teaching, the field of Military History, the University of West Alabama, the preservation and study of Shiloh, and passing on his knowledge to the public at large.”
About the Awards
The Loraine McIlwain Bell Trustee Awards were established in 1996 through an endowment by the late Mrs. Bell’s daughter and son-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. L.G. Cunningham. UWA’s Bell Conference Center is also named in honor of Mrs. Bell and her husband. The McCrory service award is made possible by an endowment by the late Miss McCrory, who earned the B.S. in English and M.Ed. in Secondary Education from UWA and the doctorate from the University of Alabama.