UW News

March 30, 2006

Annual Universitywide awards announced; recognition ceremony is June 8

The University will honor 22 individuals, one team and one unit this year as part of the annual Universitywide 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 are Sarah Keller, chemistry; Shanga Parker, drama; Jennifer Salk, dance; Robin Stacey, history; William Wells, business; Ron Krabill, Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences (Bothell); and Cheryl Greengrove, Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences, (Tacoma).


Two graduate teaching assistants — Deborah Paulsen, psychology, and Georgia Roberts, English — will receive the Excellence in Teaching Award for demonstrating outstanding skills in the classroom.


Joel Migdal, international studies, 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.


Four individual staff members and one team of two will receive Distinguished Staff Awards. The winners are MaryEllen Anderson, art history; Alysun Deckert, food and nutrition services; Kathryn Leonard, UW libraries; Gary Pedersen, chemistry; and the English in the Workplace team of Karen Long, financial management; and Alison Stevens, educational outreach. 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.”


Sinclair Yee, electrical engineering, 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 Daniel Winterbottom, landscape architecture, who will receive the S. Sterling Munro Public Service Teaching Award. 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.


The James D. Clowes Award for the Advancement of Learning Communities will be given this year to Angelina Godoy, law, society and justice. The award recognizes a faculty or staff member who transforms undergraduate learning by creating or sustaining learning communities among students.


A Brotman Award for Instructional Excellence will be given this year to the Intergroup Dialogue, Education and Action (IDEA) Training and Resource Institute in the School of Social Work. The award recognizes collaboration within and among departments, programs and groups that improves the quality of undergraduate education.


Mike Wallace, atmospheric sciences; and John Coulter, health sciences administration are the winners of the David B. Thorud Leadership Award. New this year, the award honors those who lead, serve, inspire and collaborate with broad-ranging impact that is beyond their regular responsibilities. Wallace is the faculty winner and Coulter the staff winner.

Thomas Linder, physiology and biophysics, 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.


Linda Buck, a researcher who shared the 2004 Nobel Prize in Medicine/Physiology for the discovery of odorant receptors and the organization of the olfactory system, 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.


Marie Olmstead, a volunteer for the UW Alumni Association for 30 years, 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 universitywide Recognition Ceremony, scheduled for 3:30-4:30 p.m. Thursday, June 8, in Meany Hall, with a reception to follow. University Week will publish a special awards supplement profiling all the winners on June 1.