CANTON - St. Lawrence University Associate Professor of Performance and Communication Arts Traci Fordham Hernandez is the recipient of this year's Owen D. Young Outstanding Faculty Award, as voted by members of the senior class. The award is the only one given to faculty that is chosen by students.

It is the second time that Fordham Hernandez has received the award; she also was chosen in 2008. The winner of the award gives a "last lecture" during the week prior to Commencement.

Fordham Hernandez earned her undergraduate and master's degrees from the University of Wisconsin, and the Ph.D. in social sciences and intercultural communication, as well as a Graduate Certificate in women's studies, from Syracuse University. In 2007, she received the Louis and Frances Maslow Award, which goes to the faculty member who has shown "the most interest in and understanding of the education and welfare of the student body as a whole."

Before becoming part of the performance and communication arts faculty at the University, she was a visiting assistant professor in the sociology department, and has also taught gender studies courses and in the First-Year Program. Fordham Hernandez launched the Oral Communication Institute as part of the Center for Teaching and Learning on campus, raising awareness among faculty about the power of language and its effect on the classroom environment.

During the spring 2011 semester, Fordham Hernandez gave invited talks at SUNY Potsdam and Utica College.