Academic Staff Receive Excellence Awards

For their outstanding work in teaching, research, leadership and public service, seven university professionals have been honored with 1997 Academic Staff Excellence Awards in five categories.

Nominated by colleagues and chosen by a special selection committee, the seven award winners were honored at a chancellor’s reception May 1 and will be recognized at a ceremony during the Academic Staff Assembly meeting May 12.

This is the seventh year that academic staff have been honored with the awards. A new award for excellence in service was added this year to recognize sustained personal commitment to UW–Madison, according to Chancellor David Ward.

Six of the awards carry a $2,500 stipend; the Award for Excellence in Teaching carries a $5,000 stipend.

The 1997 recipients are:

Joe Corry
Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Service to the University

If one word had to be chosen to describe Joe Corry, it would be service.

An associate vice chancellor, Corry has served UW–Madison – and many faculty, staff and students in the process – with humility and distinction in several administrative positions dating to 1957. Along the way he earned his master’s and doctorate degrees at UW–Madison.

“When it comes to academic and student affairs and faculty-related matters as well, Joe is the institutional memory on this campus,” says Paul Barrows, associate vice chancellor for academic services and campus diversity. “He has made UW–Madison a better, more accessible and supportive place.”

Corry’s most recent work has focused on academic program assessment, but he is well known for many other efforts, including serving as deputy chair of the North Central decennial accreditation self-study of the university from 1987-89. That work led to Future Directions for the University of Wisconsin–Madison, a document that has shaped the university’s vision for the future.

He is highly regarded for building relationships within the university and outside it through outreach programs and continuing education. And he is respected as someone who always seeks to better those around him.

“Joe is an astute, dedicated and wise administrator; consummate academician; committed humanitarian; trusted confidant; and a deeply valued colleague and friend to many faculty, staff and students throughout the campus, System institutions and across the nation as well,” says Mercile J. Lee, assistant vice chancellor for academic affairs.

Murray Katcher
Robert Heideman Award for Excellence in Public Service

When new physicians recite the Declaration of Geneva upon graduating from medical school, they pledge to consecrate their lives to the service of humanity. Dr. Murray Katcher has steadfastly kept that promise; his career exemplifies dedication to public service.

“As Director of Community Health Programs for UW Medical School, Murray has kept the ‘Wisconsin Idea’ vibrantly alive, ensuring that the school’s resources extend to all corners of the state,” says Medical School Dean Dr. Philip Farrell.

Katcher is medical director of the Salvation Army Homeless Shelter Clinic and an advisor to MEDIC, a student volunteer organization that serves homeless and uninsured low-income people in Madison. He was pivotal in establishing and developing the Wisconsin Area Health Education System. He played a key role in the initial financing of the South Madison Health and Family Center.

Earning both M.D. and Ph.D. degrees from UW–Madison, Katcher has contributed to the prevention of childhood injury through his research, teaching and advocacy on state and national levels. He has served Wisconsin’s Native Americans by providing health care and education to their communities and he was director of the state’s Maternal and Child Health Program.

“Dr. Katcher is one of my role models because his concern for the well-being of others is genuine, he truly wants to make things better for people,” says Linda Grossheim, former MEDIC student leader. “He is constantly coming up with ideas to improve MEDIC and the homeless situation as well. It has been a privilege working with him.”

Robert Morse
Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Research

Robert Morse is in quest of a ghost particle. His quarry is the cosmic neutrino, a subatomic particle so tenuous that it can glide through the entire planet without skipping a beat. But if, by chance, it does skip a beat, collide with another neutrino and leave a fleeting trail of blue light, there’s a good chance Morse will be there to record it.

For more than 20 years, Morse has been what Physics Department Chair James Lawler describes as “a good citizen of the High Energy Physics Group … applying outstanding scientific talent and impressive technical skills” to a menu of particle physics projects.

But it is Morse’s dedicated efforts to help detect one of the most wanted particles in the realm of physics that inspired the unanimous decision of the Physics Department to nominate Morse for the Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Research.

Since 1990, Morse has busied himself – and others – with the construction of AMANDA, the Antarctic Muon and Neutrino Detector Array at the South Pole. AMANDA is, in essence, a telescope designed to detect in the deep, clear Antarctic ice the fleeting signature of the elusive neutrino. Once detected, the trail of the neutrino can be traced back to its cosmic origin, possibly a black hole, blazer or other violent source in the heart of distant galaxy.

Morse, according to Lawler, is more than a gifted and accomplished scientist. His ability to lead, collaborate effectively, and teach are all reflected in his efforts to bring AMANDA on line. It is a project, he says, that has brought distinction to the university and has helped attract a stream of young scientific talent to Wisconsin.

And, who knows: It’s just possible that we may get a cosmic neutrino in the bargain.

Russell Panczenko
Wisconsin Alumni Association Award for Excellence in Leadership

Under Russell Panczenko’s leadership since 1984, the Elvehjem Museum of Art has blossomed into a regional center for all kinds of artistic activity.

The Elvehjem provides a venue for the full scope of the visual art treasures, with major exhibitions drawn both from the Elvehjem’s own collections and renowned traveling displays. And the Elvehjem has extended a hospitable reception to other art forms, according to Phillip Certain, dean of the College of Letters and Science, which houses the museum.

A particular favorite is “Sunday Afternoon Live from the Elvehjem,” broadcast on Wisconsin Public Radio. The weekly series has been on the air for 20 years, and it exemplifies the Wisconsin Idea by taking the resources of the university into the state, and also by bringing audiences to the university.

As museum director, Russell has envisioned the museum as a distinguished teaching and outreach facility, notes Barbara Buenger, chair of the Department of Art History.

“Russell has brought in an unusual and intriguing succession of installation – some of the most compelling manifestations of contemporary art,” Buenger says. “In these and other globally ranging shows, Russell has become a full partner with scholars at UW–Madison and other institutions.”

Kendra Tutsch
Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Research

She’s an analytical chemist by training, but colleagues at the University of Wisconsin Comprehensive Cancer Center also see Kendra Tutsch as an alchemist who artfully blends technology and people to forge golden results in the lab and the clinic.

Words like “integral, vital, instrumental” and “pivotal” emerge when coworkers describe Tutsch, an instrumentation innovator who manages the center’s Core Analytical Instrumentation Laboratory. Her work – and the enthusiasm and excellence with which she performs it – puts her in regular contact with most of the 170 investigators involved in Center cancer research projects, particularly those involved in new drug development.

Tutsch’s analytic expertise and organizational savvy are key elements in the developmental therapeutics program consistently recognized as one of the best in the country. Her technical contributions and grant-writing assistance recently helped the center edge out some of the nation’s largest cancer research centers in National Cancer Institute drug development grant competitions not once but twice. No other center has two grants.

Tutsch’s nominators say since her arrival in 1979 as a project coordinator she has been the catalyst for continual improvements to the center’s scientific capabilities.

“She will, without prompting, initiate innovative changes to scientific techniques that lead either to better data, less time and money (spent), or, most importantly, less effort required of our patients,” one colleague says.

“Kendra has always played pivotal roles in directing technical development in many individual laboratories within the Cancer Center, as well as in proper conduct of numerous clinical trials,” says another.

Mareda Weiss
Wisconsin Alumni Association Award for Excellence in Leadership

If there is an omnipresence in the UW–Madison Graduate School, it is Mareda Weiss.

For 28 years, and through the tenures of four deans, Weiss has served as an associate dean of the Graduate School, effectively serving as its chief administrative and financial officer. Her knowledge of the UW–Madison research landscape is the stuff of legend, and her grasp of policy and research finance is an essential administrative force that helps keep UW–Madison’s $340-million-a-year research enterprise on its successful course.

A 1963 UW–Madison graduate with a degree in accounting and finance, Weiss joined the Graduate School in 1969 and became one of the first academic staff members – and one of the first women – to hold the title of associate dean beyond the student services area.

A veteran of more than a score of UW–Madison and UW System committees, Weiss is currently leading the effort to integrate the former Research Administration Financial Office with the Graduate School’s Office of Research Services.

It is in these types of cooperative venues, where Weiss – with humor, dedicated effort, a detailed knowledge of the institution and skill – has made an indelible mark as a leader. Her leadership, according to Graduate School Dean Virginia Hinshaw, has helped transform the UW–Madison research landscape, making it a national leader and model for other big research universities.

“Her national leadership gives our university an advantage in our relationships with the national agencies, as well as other universities – her credibility has become our credibility and that is a real plus for all of us,” says Hinshaw.

Laurel Yourke
Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching

Federal Express recently was called in to speed Laurel Yourke’s comments on a creative writing assignment to an especially eager correspondence student.

Others are equally enthusiastic about Yourke, a faculty associate in the Department of Liberal Studies. Kim Fowler, for example, has been a member of Yourke’s Wednesday morning Writing Workshop for two years. Fowler says Yourke combines the skills of a master teacher with those of a master in human dynamics.

“Dr. Yourke is flexible and adaptable and yet unrelenting in her pursuit of creating the best possible environment for each and every student,” Fowler says.

Those students might live in a remote Peruvian village. They could be practicing law, enrolled in elementary schools or serving time in prison. Yourke’s means of teaching is as varied as her students. They might take one of Yourke’s workshops, independent study courses, community lectures, outreach classes or some other kind of class.

Yourke, who earned her master’s and doctorate degrees from UW–Madison, has taught subjects ranging from creative writing and fantasy to science fiction, composition and immigrant literature. In addition, she has worked on interactive television projects such as “Emily Dickinson and Her Legacy” for the Randolph School District. She also was interviewed for the WISC-TV production, “Mothers in Literature” and has made many other media appearances.