Thiel celebrates the sciences with recognitions for mentors and professionals of the year

Posted April 21, 2023 Print

GREENVILLE, Pa.-- Alumnus Punit Upadhyaya ’09 and teachers from Ashtabula, Ohio and Farrell, Pa. were recognized Friday during Thiel College’s Science Mentor of the Year Awards.

Upadhyaha was presented with the Simon Chiu, M.D., Ph.D. ’73 Science Professional of the Year award. He is a director at Mariana Oncology.

Farrell Area High School chemistry and biology teacher Teresa Guth was awarded the Patrick Hecking, Ph.D. Science Mentor of the Year. She was nominated by Thiel College student Faith Zagotti ’24—a health systems and neuroscience double major from Farrell. Guth has been a teacher for more than 13 years.

Beth Jeppesen was recognized as the Woman in STEM mentor. She taught biology, AP biology and anatomy & physiology at Edgewood High School (Ohio). Jeppesen recently retired. She was nominated by Julianna Sloan ’24, a health systems major from Kingsville, Ohio.

Thiel students nominated science teachers from their high school who had a profound impact on their education and life for this award. The winner receives a trophy, a $250 Amazon gift card, and a $500 Amazon gift card to spend on their class or a school-related activity. The nominees for this year’s award included:

Anne Siembor, Pymatuning Valley H.S.
Robert Breedlove, Fort Cherry H.S.
M.D. Zinz, Western Reserve Local H.S.
Luke Rust, Mercer Area H.S.
Mary Beth Criniti, Wheeling Central Catholic H.S.

The Science Mentor of the Year Award is an expansion of Thiel’s Mentor of the Year Initiative, which was launched in 2019 to acknowledge outstanding local and regional educators and professionals. Earlier presentations were held for the Business Mentor and Communication Mentor of the Year Award.