PULLMAN, Wash. — Five faculty members were named recipients this week of awards given out each spring by Washington State University in recognition of excellence in academic achievement.
All five will be honored publicly April 1 as part of the annual WSU Academic Showcase, a day-long celebration of the achievements of WSU faculty and staff.
Phillip L. Senger, a professor with the Department of Animal Sciences, was selected as recipient of the 2004-05 Marian E. Smith Faculty Achievement Award. The $5,000 award recognizes unusually significant and meritorious achievement in teaching during the academic year, including successful and innovative performance in instruction.
Senger, who joined the WSU faculty in 1974, received the award for his career-long dedication to excellence in instruction and his innovation and extraordinary efforts in the teaching of reproduction. He is the author of an internationally famous text, “Pathways to Pregnancy and Parturition,” which is used in more than 100 universities, and has developed highly sophisticated graphics and other visuals for use in his classroom that have contributed to the extraordinarily high evaluations he routinely receives from his students at WSU.
Three faculty members were named recipients of 2004-05 Sahlin Faculty Excellence Awards, a trio of individual honors given out annually in recognition of excellence in areas of instruction, public service, and in research, scholarship and the arts. Each will receive a $3,000 award.
Lisa J. McIntyre, an associate professor with the Department of Sociology received the Sahlin Faculty Excellence Award for Instruction for her outstanding accomplishments and national recognition in instruction and her contributions to excellence in the instructional programs of WSU.
A member of the WSU faculty since 1987, McIntyre was selected for the award on the basis of her continuing efforts to enrich the lives of her students and find new and innovative ways to expose students to ideas that are challenging and intellectually enriching. She has designed her courses to facilitate dialogue through carefully crafted writing assignments, the use of a finely tuned lecture guide and workbook, and face-to-face interactions she calls “Lattes with Lisa,” which are weekly informal discussions with students related to dialogues initiated in the classroom.
Scott C. Matulich, a professor with the
Matulich was honored for professional research and public outreach efforts that have changed conventional economic wisdom and resulted in two national fishery policies, each providing a substantial impact on marine ecosystems, fishery conservation, and the economies of
Victor Villanueva,a professor with the Department of English, received the Sahlin Faculty Excellence Award for Research, Scholarship and Arts. The honor recognizes outstanding accomplishment in research, scholarship or arts, and is awarded for major research or a creative contribution or series of contributions completed at WSU. The contribution can be empirical, theoretical or artistic, but must be widely recognized as highly meritorious and must have had a significant impact.
One of the nation’s most distinguished and respected scholars in the discipline of rhetoric and composition, Villanueva’s book, “Bootstraps: From and American Academic of Color,” incorporates interpretive anthropology and the sociolinguistics of ideology and has proven a classic in its field. His creative work has been extensively anthologized and has significantly influenced an entire generation of rhetoricians and compositionists. Villanueva has been with the faculty of WSU since 1995.
The university also announced that Mark G. Kuzyk, professor and associate chair of the Department of Physics, has been selected to deliver the 2005 Distinguished Faculty Address. The honor recognizes the work of a faculty member whose achievements in research, scholarship and teaching place that person in the front ranks of his or her discipline. Kuzyk will deliver the address at the upcoming Academic Showcase Luncheon. The honor carries with it a $2,500 award.
Kuzyk is a consummate researcher and teacher, who is widely considered to have given selflessly of himself in collaborations with both students and colleagues. He was the pioneer of a process to fabricate single mode plastic optical fibers and he initiated and continues to organize the International Conference on Organic Nonlinear Optics, which is considered the most important conference in the field. Kuzyk’s enthusiasm for teaching is contagious and he is considered an embodiment of WSU’s motto, “World Class – Face to Face.”
Honors yet to be announced this year include the President’s Employee Excellence and Eminent Faculty awards, as well as Regents Professors and newly tenured/promoted faculty. More information on Academic Showcase events can be found at http://www.showcase.wsu.edu.
