June 2005 -
League of Their Own

James D. Clowes Award for the Advancement of Learning Communities
Recognizes a Faculty or Staff Member Who Creates Learning Communities Among Students

Stanley ChernicoffStanley Chernicoff

Department: Earth and Space Sciences, 24 years at UW

Courses Taught: Introduction to Geological Sciences, The Earth: Its Processes and Hazards, Geology of the Northwest

Achievements: A senior lecturer in the Department of Earth and Space Sciences and the assistant dean for academic support in the Office of Undergraduate Education, Chernicoff's classes are popular with both majors and non-majors, and he aims to make the UW feel like a small college. To this end, he conducts a discussion group every day after class, and in 2002 created the innovative Center for Learning and Undergraduate Enrichment, a campus-wide after-hours study center where students can study in groups or attend extended class sessions. The program was inspired by study programs he helped guide while director of student-athlete academic services. He also created "Dawg Daze," a campus welcoming event that opens every school year. For the past seven years, he has also organized and taught the University's Bridge program, an academic offering for specially admitted students from the EOP program and the Department of Intercollegiate Athletics.

Quote: "Stan's ability to get to know all of his students on a first-name basis is legendary. This familiarity has allowed many students, who might have remained anonymous in a large class, the ability to participate more fully in the learning community that Stan has created. I have never met a student who did not fondly remember Stan's classes or the basics of geology that they learned there." -Robert J. Viens, '95, '01

Degrees: B.A., Brooklyn College, City University of New York, 1970; J.D., University of Minnesota, 1977; Ph.D., University of Minnesota, 1980