Nine faculty and staff received special awards at the Sept. 14 LS&A faculty meeting for their teaching or student advising.
Teaching award winners:
Chi-Keung Cheung, assistant professor of mathematics. Cheung received the Matthews Underclass Teaching Award for his “creative and innovative application of computer technology in the classroom, in particular for his long labors in adapting a powerful computer graphics software package for use in the Mathematics Department’s standard third-term calculus course…”
Michael D. Kennedy, assistant professor of sociology. Kennedy received the Class of 1923 Memorial Teaching Award for “his dedication to teaching and his willingness to integrate new materials. He is a master of organization; at the same time, he has a genius for theoretical synthesis and reformulation of students’ formulations; always available and always helpful, he brings out the best in his students…”
Honored for advising:
David D. Reed-Maxfield, student adviser in counseling, received the Ruth M. Sinclair Excellence in Underclass Advising Award “in recognition of his outstanding ability to relate to and guide students from diverse backgrounds and with many different interests, of his encouragement of academic creativity, of his energetic involvement with the residence hall advising program and of his passionate engagement with the issues facing undergraduate education…”
Astrid B. Beck, program associate and adjunct lecturer in studies in religion, received the Excellence in Concentration Advising Award “in recognition of her unflagging efforts on behalf of students and her ready availability for all of them, of her understanding and kindness, of the mentoring relationships she develops with students, and of the key role she plays in the program and of her thorough professionalism…”
Jean P. Krisch,the Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of Physics, associate professor and associate chair of physics, received the Excellence in Concentration Advising Award “in recognition of the highest respect she has from her students and colleagues, of her instrumental work in evaluating and restructuring the undergraduate curriculum in her department, of her being an encouraging mentor, an enthusiastic educator, and a steadfast role model, and especially of her sensitivity shown to students and her ability to challenge them to achieve at their individual best…”
Dean Edie N. Goldenberg announced the establishment of a new award, the Julia Lockwood Award, funded by a bequest from Julia Lockwood Certain, who graduated from LS&A in 1921. She asked that the funds be used to support research and publication in the liberal arts. Each award brings with it a research account of $3,000 per year for five years.
The Lockwood Award winners:
Frederick B. Amrine, associate professor of German, is one of the country’s authorities on the Age of Goethe and a leading figure in the study of the relationships between science and literature. Amrine has been active in developing new courses and approaches to material within his department and throughout the College.
Hazel J. Markus, professor of psychology and research scientist, Research Center for Group Dynamics, Institute for Social Research, is currently a major figure in bringing culture back into psychological work on both cognition and emotion and she plays a vital role in the culture and cognition program at the U-M. A recent study noted that she ranked first in the world in the rate at which her published work in the late 1980s was cited by other psychologists.
Martha J. Vicinus, professor of English, of history and of women’s studies. During the past two decades Vicinus has been at the forefront of Victorian studies and one of the most important scholars shaping the development of women’s studies.
Michael B. Woodroofe, professor of statistics and of mathematics, is an authority on theoretical statistics. His primary research interest is the study of sequentially designed experiments in which early data are used to determine later design parameters. In the 1980s he served as associate editor of four major journals in the field and recently assumed the editorship of the Annals of Statistics.
