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Awards wrap-up

May 16, 2000

New award recognizes academic collaboration
The Department of Chemistry and the Integrated Liberal Studies Program have been chosen to inaugurate the new Chancellor’s Award for Departmental Teaching Excellence for the year 2000.

These awards are the first pairs of prizes, given annually to one large academic unit and one smaller program that have formed partnerships to further teaching and learning.

Chancellor David Ward says academic collaboration will be critical to the future of higher education.

“The boundaries of knowledge are expanding so rapidly and radically that all academic disciplines must explore ways they can work cooperatively to meet coming challenges successfully,” Ward says.

The Department of Chemistry has spent the last few years transforming its educational environment from passive to active, involving chemistry students as equal academic partners. Some examples:

  • The Institute for Chemical Education provides a center for science educators to share their expertise and ideas.
  • The New Traditions Project brings together departmental faculty, staff and students to change curriculum to increase student involvement.
  • Project Seraphim focuses on the development of instructional technology.
  • The Learning Center enhances mentoring of minority students.
  • Interdisciplinary programs have been created with materials science and biology.

As the direct descendant of UW’s Experimental College, founded in 1927, Integrated Liberal Studies more recently has distinguished itself by integrating the humanities, sciences and social sciences, pursuing multidisciplinary education not only within the program but with other units on campus and off.

ILS Chair Booth Fowler says the program successfully fosters a community ethic between teachers and learners through student programming, joint learning opportunities, small courses when possible and more.

The Chancellor’s Award for Departmental Excellence in Teaching carries a $50,000 check for each winner. The funds were raised privately.

Faculty collaborations to yield new courses
A proposed class dealing with implications of human population growth and another on aspects of material culture have received grants as part of a new teaching initiative.

The Chancellor’s Grants for Collaboration in Teaching aim to expand the curriculum by drawing upon the insights and expertise of senior faculty.

“Human Population Growth: Its Causes and Effects” will bring together faculty in areas such as economics, botany, history of science, zoology and more. Organized by James Pawley, professor of zoology, the course will consider the impact of current population figures and trends, and factors influencing past and present reproductive behavior. Pawley says insights from anthropologists, economists, philosophers and others will be sought for the course, which might be offered as early as spring 2001.

Students enrolled in “Dimensions of Material Culture” will study the creation, meanings, uses and interpretations of the tangible world around us. The class will involve faculty and staff from environment, textiles and design, history, art history, art and more. Organizers Virginia T. Boyd, professor of ETD and Jean B. Lee, associate professor of history, say changing themes in the course will include rituals of pilgrimage, domestic space and artifacts, concepts of style, the body and dress, and more.

Returning-student awards recognize struggle, triumph
When Ya-Ling Tsai started taking technical college courses five years ago, she had to look up in a dictionary about 40 percent of the words in her textbooks.

Alexandra Fayen
Fayen

Ya-Ling Tsai
Tsai

Now, Tsai, who enrolled in 1997, has been named one of two recipients of this year’s Outstanding Undergraduate Returning Adult Student Awards. Alexandra Fayen, a graduating senior, is the other honoree this spring.

Established in 1981, the Outstanding Undergraduate Returning Adult Student Awards honor exceptional perseverance in pursuing academic studies and serving the community.

Tsai’s struggle to pursue her education began in Taiwan, where she was born and grew up. Her stepfather wanted her to help support the family by quitting school and working as a hairdresser, but she fought to finish high school, working evenings at a fast-food store.

After graduating, Tsai worked for an English-language school in Taipei. She married and the couple moved to Madison, where she studied at MATC and the university. Now, she plans to attend graduate school in cultural anthropology, with an emphasis on visual anthropology; to that end, she is currently studying photography and video production in addition to her anthropology courses.

Fayen also started her college career at the community-college level, first in her hometown of New Haven, Conn. and then at MATC after she moved to Madison in 1991. She enrolled full time at UW–Madison in fall 1996, pursuing a double major in social welfare and women’s studies.

Fayen’s community service included four active years in various capacities with the Madison-based newspaper Feminist Voices; coaching students in reading and writing at Marquette Elementary, her son Bailey’s school; counseling teenage female survivors of incest at Oasis, a program of the Parental Stress Center; and taking part in the Twin Cities-to-Chicago AIDS bicycle ride, for which she raised almost $3,000.

Fayen, who will seek an M.S. in social work at UW–Madison starting this fall, hopes to devote her professional energy to helping single-parent families.

“Having been a single parent for many years myself, I think I’ll be able to connect with people who have been alienated from potential resources due to negative experiences,” Fayen says.

The Outstanding Undergraduate Returning Adult Student Awards, as well as the Denney scholarship and the single-parent scholarships, are sponsored by the Dean of Students Office, the Adult Career and Educational Counseling Center, the American Association of University Women-Madison Branch, the Evjue Foundation, the University League and private donors.

Scholarships awarded to students by peers
The National Residence Hall Honorary has awarded scholarships to students living in residence halls. The recipients were recognized by their peers for their contributions to the residence hall community. NRHH students held fund-raising activities to help fund these scholarships.

The NRHH Scholarship recipients for 1999-2000 include the following students:
First-Year Experience Award ($500): Jessica Brammer and Sara Murphy

Sophomore Excellence Award ($500): Eve Pogoriler and Nic Prothero

Junior Excellence Award ($500): Lisa Campfield and Mary Ann Feutz

Senior Excellence Award ($500): Jennifer Buchholz and Katie Pyzyk

CRC/Barnard Hall Service Award ($250): Katie Feilen and Stefanie Olson

Cole/Bradley/Sullivan Hall Service Award ($250): Jessica Brammer and Elizabeth Johnson

Elizabeth Waters Hall Service Award ($250): Anne Hoffman and Eve Pogoriler

Kronshage Hall Service Award ($250): Allison Auda and Christian Stilp

Ogg Hall Service Award ($250): Gina Clausen and Kimberly Max

Sellery Hall Service Award ($250): Natalie Miller and Sara Murphy

Tripp/Adams/Slichter Hall Service Award ($250): Bryan Laundre and Katie Pyzyk

Witte Hall Service Award ($250): Allison Arlt and Matthew Vanden Boogart

Undergrads get research fellowships
Two undergraduates, Hoda Ahmadi and Lauren Shapiro, have been awarded prestigious Pfizer summer research fellowships in molecular biology.

The two students were among only 15 undergraduates nationwide who received the $5,000 awards at selected universities. Both are Madison natives.

Ahmadi, a third-year undergraduate who is also a member of UW–Madison’s women’s lightweight crew, will continue working in the laboratory of Arthur S. Polans, professor of ophthalmology. Her research focuses on understanding the role of several genes that govern the development of blood vessels in eye tumors.

Shapiro, also a third-year undergraduate, will spend the summer in the laboratory of B. Lynn Allen-Hoffmann, professor of pathology. Using a model of human skin, Shapiro will look at how tumor cells grow and proliferate within a model that closely mimics the skin environment.

Both Ahmadi and Shapiro hope to attend medical school.

Robert M. Goodman, professor of plant pathology and chair of the undergraduate program in molecular biology, said having two Pfizer research fellowship recipients is a coup for the university and illustrates the important role research can play in undergraduate education.

UW wins at NSAC
A team of 19 undergraduates from the School of Journalism and Mass Communication recently took first place for their campaign on behalf of the New York Times at the regional American Ad Federation’s National Student Advertising Competition.

The team will travel to Las Vegas in June to compete nationally against the 12 other district winners. The adviser was Chris Schell from the Hiebing Group.

The group’s objective was to create an all-encompassing integrated marketing campaign that would attract 30,000 new readers over the course of three years. The resulting “What Moves You” campaign, detailed in a 40-page campaign book and 20-minute presentation, was keyed to the idea that the New York Times is as dynamic and individualistic as the people who read it.

L&S advisers recognized
Two advisers for students studying microbiology and women’s studies have won advising awards from the university’s largest academic unit. Gerald Byrne and Mimi Orner were honored by the College of Letters and Science at a ceremony May 4.

L&S Dean Phillip Certain says students, faculty and staff nominated the winners for offering consistently excellent advice, sustained contributions and the ability to cut across structural boundaries to meet student needs.

Gerald Byrne, professor of medical microbiology and immunology, is a veteran participant in the Biocore, Medical Scholars Undergraduate Research and Ways of Knowing undergraduate seminar programs. Byrne advises about 60 medical microbiology and immunology majors every year. Known worldwide for his research on the possible relationship between heart disease and bacterial infection, Byrne has managed to establish a reputation for accessibility, despite his demanding schedule. He joined the faculty in 1982.

Mimi Orner, women’s studies undergraduate academic adviser, advises 100 majors and 70 certificate students. In addition, she often serves as a lecturer for such courses as Women and Popular Culture, Gender and Education, Gender in the Media and more. Described by women’s studies Chair Nancy Kaiser as the very heart of the program, Orner has overseen the development and implementation of the new women’s studies internship, now concluding its debut semester. In her eight years with women’s studies, she has become invaluable to her students by virtue of her encyclopedic knowledge of gender-related courses everywhere on campus, and as resource for volunteer and service opportunities.

Each award recipient receives $3,500.

Two faculty receive teaching recognition
Two faculty have been chosen winners of the Alliant Energy Underkofler Excellence in Teaching Award from UW System. Charles W. Byers, professor of geology and geophysics, and Jonathan E. Martin, associate professor of atmospheric and oceanic sciences, each will receive $5,000 for their dedication to and mastery of the craft of teaching.

Described by his students as having the ability to make sand interesting, Byers uses many avenues to learning. His teaching ranges from a popular 100-level course in evolution to a graduate seminar in paleontology.

Whether the course is a basic Introduction to Weather and Climate or an upper-level cyclone dynamics course, Martin uses a “wow” then “how” instructional technique to make students want to learn. Starting in 1995, Martin has organized three Winter Weather Workshops for the northern plains region.

Herfuth-Kubly winners lauded for initiative
Four students have been named 2000 winners of the Herfuth-Kubly Awards in honor of their outstanding initiative and efficiency: Emily Crawford, Janesville, psychology; Lisette Jehn, Marathon, animal sciences; Steven Smriga, Thorpe, bacteriology and molecular biology; and Jonathon Welch, Racine, health and social justice.

Recipients of the award are selected on the basis of academic achievements, extracurricular activities, community contributions, degree of self-support and ability to communicate.

Awards support international study
Five students have received major student awards for international study, the International Institute announced.

The grants are from the Social Science Research Council 2000 International Predissertation Fellowship and the Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Abroad Program. The IPFP provides support for predissertation training and research abroad. Each of the award recipients receives stipends of varying amounts depending on their projects.

The IPFP winners are Eric Haanstad, Neenah, anthropology; Jaymie Heilman, Sherwood Park, Alberta, Canada, history; and Tatiana Rizova, Blageovgrad, Bulgaria, political science.

The Fulbright-Hays awards, administered by the U.S. Department of Education through institutions of higher education, are intended to support full-time dissertation research abroad in foreign languages and area studies. The grants are designed to contribute to the development and improvement of the study of modern foreign languages and area studies in the United States by providing opportunities for research abroad.

The winners are Mark Dennis, Madison, Buddhist Studies, $35,101; and Sean Hanretta, Denver, Colo., history, $20,478.

ILS award launched
Katie Rolnick, a junior majoring in theater and drama, has been awarded the first Ruth Knatz Gross Wisnewski Memorial Prize by the Integrated Liberal Studies Program.

After Ruth Wisnewski’s death last year, her husband and children established a memorial fund to be administered by the UW Foundation. The $100,000 fund provides a $5,000 cash award each year to an undergraduate student who demonstrates ability and promise of further progress in the application of critical thinking in the humanities.

Bradley Campbell, a junior majoring in history/history of science, Portuguese and philosophy, received the Pooley Prize, a $1,300 prize for ILS students completing the ILS certificate this year

Summer Shepstone, a senior majoring in English, received the Meiklejohn Travel Award for an independent program of summer travel by an ILS student.

Other recent honors
Katherine Putnam, a research associate in psychology, has received a Young Investigator grant of $60,000 from the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression. She will investigate the role of cortisol, a stress hormone, in patients suffering from depression.

Charles G. Salmon, professor emeritus of civil and environmental engineering, received honorary membership in the American Concrete Institute in March to honor his achievements in “teaching concrete structures to students and to practicing engineers.”

William F. Tate, associate professor of curriculum and instruction, received the Early Career Contribution Award from the American Educational Research Association.

Jan Vansina, professor emeritus of history, was elected to the social sciences section of the American Philosophical Society.

Richard Weindruch, professor of medicine, has received two awards: The Harman Research Award given by the American Aging Association and the Eleventh Annual Nathan W. Shock Award given by the National Institute on Aging, both for his work in gerontology.

Greg Zalesak, administrator of the neurology and neurological surgery departments in the Medical School, received a Public Service Recognition Award from the Wisconsin Capital Chapter of the American Society for Public Administration for his decade of service as chair of the State, UW and UWHC Combined Campaign of Dane County.

Gerhard Richter, assistant professor of German, has just published “Walter Benjamin and the Corpus of Autobiography” (Wayne State University Press).