Academic staff awards

For their outstanding work in leadership, public service, research and teaching, seven campus professionals have been honored with 1999 Academic Staff Excellence Awards. The seven recipients will be recognized by the Academic Staff Assembly Monday, May 10.

Sandra Austin-Phillips
Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Research (principal investigator)

When it comes to researchers, Sandra Austin-Phillips is one of the best. A member of the UW Biotechnology Center since 1987, Austin-Phillips was granted permanent status as a principal investigator in December, based on her expertise in securing grants, conducting research, and managing projects and staff.

She manages the Plant Biotechnology Service Facility, which specializes in all aspects of plant tissue culture. She has four active grants that support her research and scientific staff. Her laboratory excels at the transformation of potato and alfalfa, and analysis of transgenic plants.

Her alfalfa research has attracted the collaboration of numerous faculty and staff at the United States Department of Agriculture’s Forest Products Lab. Nominators say Austin-Phillips’s research rivals that of any first-rate faculty member.

“In all her activities, she has demonstrated the highest level of scientific expertise, initiative, creativity and professionalism,” says Richard Burgess, oncology professor. “It is clear that she has earned the highest level of respect from all her colleagues.”

Jean Buehlman
Wisconsin Alumni Association Award for Excellence in Leadership (support level)

Jean Buehlman is a proven leader in her department, and for the entire university.

An instructional program manager in the Physics Department, Buehlman recruits and trains teaching assistants and produces a graduate student guidebook that is a model for the campus. She also created and edits The Wisconsin Physicist, an alumni newsletter.

Her leadership doesn’t stop there. Buehlman coordinated the fundraising effort in the College of Letters and Science for last year’s State and University Employees Combined Campaign. Her work garnered her a 1998 State of Wisconsin Secretary’s Award and SECC awards for the largest increase in dollars raised in the public sector and second place in total giving for public employees.

She also helped create the Academic Staff Mentoring Program, an effort that has matched about 100 pairs of academic staff since its inception three years ago. The program has attracted the interest of a number of other major universities.

“Without doubt, she has exhibited in abundance all of the qualities expected of the recipient of the academic staff excellence award for leadership,” says Phillip R. Certain, Letters and Science dean.

Marilyn “Mimi” Orner
Chancellor’s Hilldale Award for Excellence in Teaching

Year after year, the student evaluations say the same thing: Mimi Orner is one of the best teachers, if not the best, they have ever experienced.

That’s because Orner blends her knowledge of gender studies, media issues and education into challenging and enlightening classes in the women’s studies program, educational policy studies, and curriculum and instruction.

Her pedagogy doesn’t stop there, as Orner is the women’s studies undergraduate adviser as well. On her busiest days, she might advise up to 35 students – all with the grace and wisdom that have marked her employment at the university.

Her scholarly and community activities embody the Wisconsin Idea. She works with middle school, high school and college students on health and self-image issues.

“The teaching award represents the university’s commitment to distinguishing a teacher-scholar such as Mimi Orner, who has made a particularly striking combination of teaching, research and community service the very heart of her professional life,” writes Nancy Kaiser, professor of women’s studies.

Paula Panczenko
Robert Heideman Award for Excellence in Public Service

Tandem Press is one of the premier art presses in the world – thanks in large part to the hard work and expertise of its executive director, Paula McCarthy Panczenko.

A self-supporting printmaking studio affiliated with the Art Department in the School of Education, Tandem produces high-quality prints by nationally known artists. For 10 years, Panczenko has coordinated and managed the entire operation.

She attracts to Tandem the nation’s top artists, who interact with students and the public during their stays. Nominators say Panczenko possesses that fine art of making people – especially artists -feel at ease in whatever setting they are in.

But the Tandem Press does more than just produce some of the world’s finest prints. It fosters research, collaboration, experimentation and innovation in the field of printmaking, bringing visibility to the art department and UW–Madison. “Paula has made Tandem Press what it is today: an integral component of the Art Department, a key feature in the contributions to the cultural life of the university, and one of the most important art institutions in the Madison area,” writes Laurie Beth Clark, professor of art.

Richard Pierce
Wisconsin Alumni Association Award for Excellence in Leadership (director level)

Running facilities that host about 3,000 scheduled programs each month and 20,000 daily visitors is no small task. Richard Pierce handles that task exceptionally well as director of facilities for the Wisconsin Union.

Pierce provides the leadership necessary to keep Memorial Union and Union South functioning at an optimum level. The unions require consistent event management, ongoing maintenance and security – all of which Pierce has improved in his 20-year stint in operations.

From 1978 to 1996, Richard was operations manager for the Memorial Union, directing activities, supervising special events, administering the budget and working with other campus departments. In 1996, he was promoted to his current position. He deftly administers space needs, plays a central role in construction projects, and collaborates with other campus departments and personnel, especially through his service on several campus committees.

Pierce is also active in the 16,000-member International Facilities Management Association, where among his many activities he has served on the association’s board of directors. In addition, Pierce lends his leadership skills to the Yahara House, a Madison-based psychiatric rehabilitation program.

Christine Preston
Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Research (supporting staff)

In the field of fruit fly research, Christine Preston is an all-star. Preston, a researcher in the Department of Medical Genetics, specializes in research related to Drosophila fruit flies and their mutations. Researchers worldwide use many of the scientific techniques she has worked on and helped develop.

Her work in the Laboratory of Genetics is praised by researchers locally, nationally and internationally and will likely continue to have a significant impact on Drosophila genetic analysis. But researchers say it could also enhance understanding of fundamental biological processes, such as mutation and the repair of damaged DNA.

On staff since 1976, Preston lists 17 publications – a substantial number – to which she has contributed. And she is considered one of the key personnel for the NIH grant that funds her position.

Preston’s colleagues also praise her communication skills, organizational ability, and the way she treats everyone – faculty, staff and students – with grace and respect.

“She is a gifted researcher who has always wanted to use her skills to be productive and creative, and has succeeded spectacularly,” writes William Engels, professor of genetics and supervisor of Preston’s lab.

Charlene Tortorice
Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Service to the University

Inspiring. Cheerful. Tireless. Thoughtful. Caring. These are just some of the many adjectives friends and colleagues use to describe Charlene Tortorice.

Associate director of the Office of Testing and Evaluation Services, Tortorice has served the university with distinction since 1977. Her testing and evaluation expertise has benefited numerous faculty and thousands of students across Wisconsin, and her service to the university has made UW–Madison a better place to work.

Tortorice helped found the Academic Staff Assembly, giving academic staff a role in running the university. She has served on countless committees, including the Academic Staff Executive Committee, which she chaired in 1994-95. Last year, she collaborated on publication of a key strategic planning vision document for academic staff governance. She also helped found the Academic Staff Mentoring Program.

Yet Tortorice’s lasting legacy could be her ability to prompt others to give of themselves, writes ASEC chair Barry Robinson in nominating Tortorice. “Even though Char has certainly served the university, her colleagues and her department well, I think her most important contribution has been her uncanny ability to coax others into the important role of service,” he writes.