April 8, 2004
University-wide awards announced
More than 20 individuals and units are being honored this year as part of the annual University-wide awards program. The awards honor outstanding performance in teaching, mentoring, public service and staff support.
Seven faculty will receive the Distinguished Teaching Award, given to faculty who show “a mastery of their subject matter, intellectual rigor and a passion for teaching.” This year’s winners include David Allen, psychosocial and community health; Ann Baker, philosophy; Elizabeth Cooper, dance; Tessa Evans-Campbell, social work; Stephen Hanson, political science; and Alan T. Wood, Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences, (Bothell). The UW Tacoma will announce its teaching award winner later.
Two graduate teaching assistants — Lance Rhoades, comparative literature; and Britt Yamamoto, geography — will receive the Excellence in Teaching Award for demonstrating outstanding skills in the classroom.
Raimonda Modiano, English and comparative literature, will receive the Marsha L. Landolt Distinguished Graduate Mentor Award, recognizing faculty members who have made outstanding contributions to the education and guidance of graduate students. The award was renamed this year to honor the late dean of the graduate school, who died in an avalanche in January.
Five staff members will receive Distinguished Staff Awards. The winners include Se Suk Aprille, facilities services; Jackie Matthews, disability services office; Stacey McCandlish, UWMC social work; Michael Verchot, business and economic development program; and Alan Weldin, drama. These awards are given to staff who “contribute to the mission of their unit or the University, respond creatively to challenges, maintain the highest standards in their work, establish productive working relationships and promote a respectful and supportive workplace.”
Millie Russell, minority affairs, is the winner of the Outstanding Public Service Award, which is presented to a faculty or staff member to honor extensive local and/or national and international service. Also being honored for service is the late Jim Clowes, comparative history of ideas, who will receive the S. Sterling Munro Public Service Teaching Award posthumously. The award is given to a faculty member demonstrating exemplary leadership in community-based instruction, including service learning, public service internships and community partnership projects. Clowes died of cancer recently.
A newly created award has been named for Clowes, the James D. Clowes Award for Advancing Learning Communities. The award, which will be given this year to Eugene Edgar, education, recognizes a faculty or staff member who transforms undergraduate learning by creating or sustaining learning communities among students.
Brotman Awards for Instructional Excellence will be given this year to the Center for International Studies in Business, part of the Business School; and Environmental Sciences at the UW Tacoma. The award recognizes collaboration within and among departments, programs and groups that improves the quality of undergraduate education.
Astronaut Bonnie Dunbar is the winner of this year’s Alumna Summa Laude Dignata, an award given not for recent work but for a lifetime record of achievement. It is the highest honor that the UW can bestow on a graduate. Dunbar, who earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in ceramic engineering at the UW in 1971 and 1975 respectively, is a veteran space traveler and currently the assistant director of the NASA Johnson Space Center, focusing on interactions with university research teams.
Steven Kerr, education, is the winner of the Distinguished Contributions to Lifelong Learning Award, which is given to faculty who have taught for at least two years in non-degree programs sponsored by the UW and aimed at adults for professional development, personal interest or career redirection.
Larry Matsuda, who received three degrees from the University — in 1967, 1973 and 1978 — is being honored with the Alumni Association Distinguished Service Award. The award is given to individuals who make outstanding efforts on behalf of the Alumni Association.
The award winners will be honored at a special university-wide Recognition Ceremony, scheduled for 3 p.m. Wednesday, June 9, in Meany Hall. University Week will publish a special awards supplement profiling all the winners on June 3.
