PULLMAN, Wash. — Three Washington State University faculty members will
be honored for excellence in instruction; public service; and research,
scholarship and arts during WSU’s May 6 commencement ceremonies in the
Beasley Performing Arts Coliseum.
The 1999-2000 Sahlin Faculty Excellence Award winners are Shelli Fowler,
associate professor, English and comparative American cultures, for
instruction; Christine Sodorff, director, college of education’s Teacher
Education Student Services, for public service; and Philip Marston, professor,
department of physics, for research, scholarship and arts.
Fowler is one of WSU’s outstanding educators, having a long-standing record
of exceptional instruction in the two departments in which she holds joint
appointments. Nationally, she is known for her work in curricular and
pedagogy issues. Also director of undergraduate studies in comparative
American cultures, Fowler has been recognized with numerous awards,
including the Lewis O. Buchanan Distinguished Professorship in English, the
college of liberal arts’ William Mullen Excellence in Teaching Award, and the
Best Graduate Seminar Award from the English Graduate Student Organization.
Fowler also was asked to be director of composition in the English department.
Sodorff’s work as liaison between Washington state’s K-12 educational
system and WSU’s college of education is service-oriented by definition. But
she has gone far beyond the minimum required of her to be an outstanding
advocate for excellence in education and an effective ambassador for WSU.
She is active in many national professional organizations and has repeatedly
demonstrated her dedication to service by also serving in such offices as
president of the Pullman Memorial Hospital Foundation Board of Directors and
member of the WSU Alumni Association’s Executive Board.
Marston is internationally recognized for his many innovative contributions to
acoustics, optics, fluid dynamics and wave propagation. He is a leading
authority in physical acoustics and has made important breakthroughs in the
study of scattering of sound waves by elastic objects in water, microgravity
fluid physics and novel aspects of light scattering by bubbles.
Marston has built a world-class research program at WSU with support from
the U.S. Navy and NASA. He has mentored many graduate students who have
gone on to prestigious careers in universities and government laboratories.
Former students and his peers emphasize his strong contributions to the
education and learning of his students.
Sahlin Award recipients receive a plaque and a $2,500 cash award. The award
is named in honor of WSU graduates Lee and Jody Sahlin of Spokane, who
endowed the program.
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