Dr. Irina Ivliyeva, chair of the Center for Advancing Faculty Excellence (CAFE) at Missouri S&T since June 2019, has announced that she will return to full-time teaching and scholarship when her term concludes June 30. Ivliyeva is a professor of Russian in the department of arts, languages and philosophy and serves as the department’s coordinator for the Russian minor.

“It has been a great honor to serve our university and my faculty colleagues in this capacity for the past three years,” Ivliyeva says. “It has been a tremendous opportunity for me, personally and professionally, as well as a wonderful opportunity to work with the highly professional CAFE staff.”

“Even during normal times, Irina’s dedication to faculty development would be hard to surpass,” says Dr. Colin Potts, provost and executive vice chancellor of academic affairs. “During the pandemic she has led CAFE in helping hundreds of faculty transition to an unfamiliar mode of teaching, supported the move to a new version of Canvas, and stepped in as externally provided professional development resources became unavailable. I know that many colleagues will continue to benefit from her warmth and compassion as a mentor.”

Ivliyeva joined the Missouri S&T faculty in 1997 as a lecturer of Russian and later became instructor, assistant professor and associate professor of Russian before being named professor of Russian in 2018. She has received numerous awards for outstanding teaching during her tenure. Among her many other accomplishments, she was named S&T’s Woman of the Year in 2012.

Potts will work with CAFE’s steering committee to determine next steps for the organization.