Awards
Each year, the University of Washington honors faculty, staff, teaching assistants, students, alumni, and programs for exceptional dedication
and innovation. Recipients from the College of Arts & Sciences are
highlighted below. These stories are excerpted from
University Week’s June award supplement, Best and Brightest 2007.
Distinguished Teaching Award for A&S Top Teachers
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Four Arts and Sciences faculty received the 2007 UW Distinguished Teaching Award: (from left) Terry Swanson, Lauro Flores, Matthew Sparke, and Crispin Thurlow. Photo by Karen Orders.
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The UW Distinguished Teaching Award honors faculty who show a mastery of their subject matter, intellectual rigor, lively curiosity, a commitment to research, and a passion for teaching. Four Arts and Sciences faculty are among the recipients for 2007.
Terry Swanson
Senior Lecturer, Earth and Space Sciences
Terry Swanson firmly believes a key to his teaching success is making classes intimate. The trick is to create intimacy—a sense of personal connection—in a freshman class with as many as 600 students packed into a cavernous lecture hall. There are several techniques to make it happen, says Swanson.
It begins with students taking a few minutes at the start of the quarter to fill out index cards with their names, a bit of personal information and what they’d like Swanson to teach, giving them a role “within reason” in determining their curriculum. He also has students develop two-minute mini-lectures to deliver to the entire class. And numerous field trips allow him to rub elbows with students.
Swanson has taught the basic geology course for more than 15 years but also teaches upper-level and graduate courses. Regardless of class size, Swanson says, respect is a key component. He often encounters students whose religious beliefs regarding creation run counter to the scientific principles he teaches. But that’s okay, he says, as long as they respect that he is teaching science as it exists and he respects their deeply held beliefs.
“He is able to show students from a variety of majors where geology is important in their area of study,” says one former student, who describes his field trips as “legendary: full of excitement and adventure.”
Some students also participate in research with Swanson, who secured funding from the National Science Foundation to include undergraduate and graduate students in his research.
Swanson’s teaching, plus the research opportunities, persuaded Justin Nelson, a political science and anthropology major, to add a minor in earth and space sciences. “Terry’s enthusiasm captivates his classes and drives them to succeed,” Nelson writes. “I have not found an instructor who is as enthralling and enthusiastic as Terry.”
Lauro Flores
Professor and Chair, American Ethnic Studies
Now well into his third decade of service at the UW, Lauro Flores is a consummate teacher and a passionate advocate of diversity and inclusion. He has served as a professor of romance languages and literature, director of the Center for Chicano Studies, special assistant to the provost, and professor and chair of the Department of American Ethnic Studies.
“[Lauro] has taught more than 25 different courses at the UW, ranging from language instruction to graduate seminars,” writes Judith Howard, divisional dean of social sciences, in her letter nominating Flores for the teaching award. “His sense
of curricular service is astonishing. ...He is quiet, unassuming, and as one student put it, you would never know he is one of the most distinguished scholars in the field.”
That scholarship includes the book The Floating Borderlands: Twenty-Five Years of U.S. Hispanic Literature, which won an American Book Award, and numerous other publications, all of which enhance Flores’s teaching.
Keane Sweet, who had Flores as his senior thesis advisor, writes, “One gets the sense that he has read every angle, every critique, heard every possible contention. Even so, in my experience, Lauro is unflinchingly open to student input.”
Flores came of age during the civil rights movement and continues to hold true to the ideals of those times. He is concerned about the UW’s ability to recruit and retain minority faculty and students, and worries that real changes should long ago have taken place. “The notion that in 35 or 40 years the playing field has been leveled is far from the truth,” he says, adding that while the UW’s intentions are good, it still has a long way to go toward achieving true diversity.
Flores’s next goal? He hopes his legacy will include the creation of a graduate program in American Ethnic Studies.
Matthew Sparke
Professor, Geography and International Studies
When Matt Sparke was growing up in England, he was pegged as a candidate for vocational school and a working-class job due to a poor performance on a national exam at age 11. With luck and the help of teachers, he advanced academically anyway. He studied at the University of Oxford, won a nearly $250,000 CAREER award from the National Science Foundation, and last year achieved full professor status.
Out of that early experience—being branded as someone who wouldn’t amount to much academically—Sparke has decided, “I never want to give up on anybody.”
In addition to working with graduate students and upper-division undergraduates, Sparke reaches out to first-year students through an introductory course on globalization. For the roughly 500 students who register, he offers a weekly “open house coffee meeting” at the Suzzallo Library coffee shop. That’s on top of maintaining office hours, he says, because some first-year students “find the idea of making an appointment with a professor quite daunting.”
Sparke has also offered students the chance to volunteer to work with various community service groups instead of writing a major research paper. One, who interned with Save Darfur Washington State, wrote in a teaching-award nominating letter that he was grateful for the “chance to develop passion for service through actual hands-on experience.”
While students and colleagues have singled him out for a teaching award, Sparke feels that his success is due, in large part, to their support. He mentions mentor David Harvey at Oxford and UW colleagues Vicky Lawson, Resat Kasaba, Joel Migdal. They and many others “have inspired me with their teaching along the way,” he says, adding, “I have...come to feel very warmly supported at UW.”
Crispin Thurlow
Assistant Professor, Communication
You could say teaching is in Crispin Thurlow’s blood. “I come from a long line of teachers and preachers,” he says, adding that effective practitioners in both fields have something in common—what he refers to as “the passion thing.”
Nominating letters recognize that quality in Thurlow, even in large introductory courses. One former student writes that Thurlow used innovative teaching techniques that had “the entire 400-person auditorium enthralled in every lecture and presentation.”
“One of the things I enjoy about teaching is the theatrics of teaching,” says Thurlow. “There’s something very special about what I’d call ‘embodied teaching.’ Nothing replaces that face-to-face embodied experience which has all the magic and energy of live theater.”
Asked who has inspired him, Thurlow cites African American feminist scholar bell hooks. Though he’s never met hooks, he’s read her work and has adopted some of her views regarding “communities of learning.” These include the philosophy that “it’s not just that I have knowledge and I’m going to drop it on you. It’s not that I’m the all-powerful knowledge machine.” Instead Thurlow believes that he and his students are on a journey, learning together, asking questions.
“I just happened to have asked some of them maybe sooner,” Thurlow says, “and have done a bit of research to find out some of the answers. But I’m still traveling.”
Kudos for Distinguished Staff
The Distinguished Staff Award recognizes
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.
Elaine Franks, Psychology
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Elaine Franks. Photo by Mary Levin. |
It’s nearly impossible to draft a job description that adequately portrays what Elaine Franks does at the Behavioral Research and Therapy Clinics (BRTC). The clinics are involved in research and help patients with borderline personality disorder. Franks is the administrative coordinator, but that title doesn’t come close to doing her justice.
“She’s the glue that holds together this research lab that is responsible for hundreds of lives,” writes Marsha Linehan, psychology professor and BRTC director, in her nomination letter.
Franks is an event planner, gatekeeper, mother figure to undergraduate and graduate students, travel agent, and lifeline. Often she finds herself in the role of a therapist, even though she is not a trained mental health professional.
Routinely when the phone rings in the BRTC it is Franks who “soothes and reassures callers, generates hope, and coordinates evaluations and treatment referrals,” writes Linehan. “The distress, helplessness, and hopelessness of these calls could lead someone to become jaded. Not Elaine!
...It is not uncommon to receive word
from clients about the ‘excellent therapy’ they received on the phone from Elaine. Her innate skill and compassion allow her to serve as a lifeline to my patients and their families.”
“I feel compassion for the families crying out and people asking for help,” says Franks. “I think I was meant to be in this particular lab.”
Franks believes that she’s won the award for her clinic. “I’m thrilled for the lab. I don’t know if everyone in the UW community knows what we do here, but I hope my winning lets people know about our work. This award should be for everyone here.”
Cynthia St. Clair, Music
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Cynthia St. Clair. Photo by Mary Levin. |
Cynthia St. Clair, director of marketing and public information at the School of Music, has worked in several UW departments, but every job has been about information. “I have a passion for information,” she says. “Google is my idea of the most wonderful thing in the world.”
Music has always been a part of St. Clair’s life—she played the flute in school and has continued to sing in choirs as an adult—but she didn’t know much about the School of Music before working there.
“I wasn’t even aware that the school did concerts,” she says. “I’d been working at the University all this time and I thought, this is a little gem and I didn’t even know about it. It was like finding a treasure and then wanting to tell everybody about it.”
And so she has. “Cynthia’s genuine love of music is reflected in how she captures the energy, talent, and inspired commitment of our students and faculty and guests artists,” writes School of Music Director Robin McCabe in her nomination letter. “Whether she is writing about Bach, Brubeck, or the music of Bali, Cynthia is able to present our message to a growing and appreciative public who comprise our audiences.”
St. Clair also takes many of the photographs that appear in the school’s publications and elsewhere. But writer and photographer are only two of the many hats she wears; others include long- and short-term planner, media liaison, crisis communicator, graphic design reviewer, data collector, and much more.
“The best thing about working at the University,” she says, “is that I always learn something—daily, really, with every job I’ve had here. It’s just endlessly rich with opportunities to learn.”
Additional UW Recognition Awards
The College congratulates all recipients of UW recognition awards. For more information about the honorees listed below—all representing the College of Arts and Sciences—visit http://uwnews.org/uweek/Awards2007.
James D. Clowes Award for the
Advancement of Learning Communities
Recognizes a faculty/staff member who creates or sustains learning communities among students.
James N. Gregory, Professor of History
Outstanding Public Service Award
Recognizes a faculty/staff member’s exceptional achievement in public service.
Erasmo Gamboa, Professor of American Ethnic Studies
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Exccellence in Teaching Award recipients Jerusha Achterberg (left) and Alex Coverdill. Photo by Nancy Joseph.
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Excellence in Teaching Award
Recognizes graduate student teaching assistants who demonstrate outstanding skills in the classroom.
Jerusha T. Achterberg, Anthropology
Alex Coverdill, Biology
President’s Medal
Recognizes two top seniors in the graduating class, one of whom completed at least three-fourths of their degree requirements at the UW and the other who entered the University with at least 60 transfer credits from a Washington community college.
Minh-An Nguyen, Biochemistry, Chemistry
Elise Saba, English
Other Awards, Honors, and Professorships
Chris Adolph, assistant professor of political science and core faculty member of the Center for Statistics and the Social Sciences, has been awarded a Robert Wood Johnson Fellowship.
Eric Agol, assistant professor of astronomy, and Emily Bender, assistant professor of linguistics, have received NSF CAREER awards, which support early career development activities of teacher-scholars who effectively integrate research and education.
Sang-gyeun Ahn, asstistant professor of industrial design, won a red dot design concept award.
Brian Atwater, U.S. Geological Survey and affiliate professor of earth and space sciences, has been elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences.
Jere Bacharach, profesor emeritus of history, was co-winner of the Royal Numismatic Society of Great Britain’s award for the best book in Islamic numismatics for 2005 and 2006.
Rick Bonus, associate professor of American ethnic studies, has been elected President of the Association for Asian American Studies.
Donald Brownlee, professor of astronomy, has received: NASA Medal for Out-standing Scientific Achievement; election to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences; Aviation Week Laureate Award (Space); Popular Mechanics Breakthrough Award; Rotary Award for Space Achievement; Aviation Week Program Excellence Award; and the National Space Club’s Nelson P. Jackson Award.
Charles Campbell, Lloyd E. and Florence M. West Endowed Professor of Chemistry, won the American Chemical Society Arthur W. Adamson Award for Distinguished Service in the Advancement of Surface Chemistry, 2007.
Zhenqing Chen, professor of mathematics, has been elected to fellowship in the Institute of Mathematical Statistics.
Patrick Christie, assistant professor of international studies and marine affairs, has received a Pew Fellowship in Marine Conservation from the Pew Institute for Ocean Sciences.
Larry Dalton, George B. Kauffman Term Professor of Chemistry & Electrical Engineering, has received the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE)/LEOS William Streifer Scientific Achievement Award, and has been named a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and a Senior Member, IEEE.
Ann Gale, associate professor of art, received a Guggenheim Fellowship
for 2007-08.
Sarah Nash Gates , professor and director of the School of Drama, has been named President of the University/Resident Theatre Association.
David Ginger, assistant professor of chemistry, has received an Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship and a Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award.
Anthony Greenwald, professor of psychology, was named a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Raymond Huey, professor of biology, was named a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Michael McCann, Gordon Hirabayashi Professor for the Advancement of Citizenship in the Department of Political Science and director of the Law, Societies, and Justice Program has received a Guggenheim Fellowship.
R. Tracy McKenzie, associate professor of history, has won the Fletcher Pratt Award from the Civil War Round Table of New York, for his book, Lincolnites and Rebels: A Divided Town in the American Civil War.
David Olson, professor emeritus of political science, received the 2007 Outstanding Civic Educator Award from the Washington State Senate at the Washington State Civic Education Day in Olympia.
Oleg Prezhdo, professor of chemistry, has been selected for a Max-Planck Fellowship and Fellowship in the Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science, Kyoto University.
Charles F. Raymond, emeritus professor of earth and space sciences, received the Louis Agassiz Medal from the European Geosciences Union.
David Shields, professor of English, was chosen to chair the nonfiction panel for the 2007 National Book Award.
Akio Takamori, professor of ceramics, was elected to the American Craft Council College of Fellows and received its 2006 Aileen Osborn Webb Award.
John Toews, Alumni Distinguished Professor in the Department of History and director of the Comparative History of Ideas Program, won the Hans Rosenberg Book Prize from the Conference Group for Central European History, for his book, Becoming Historical: Cultural Reformation and Public Memory in Early Nineteenth-Century Berlin.
David Wagoner, professor emeritus of English, received a Lifetime Achievement in the Arts award from the ArtsFund.
Return to Table of Contents, Summer 2007