Contact: Todd Cohen, University Relations, (785) 864-8858.
LAWRENCE--A 'Surprise Patrol' handed out a total of $45,000 and nine Kemper Awards today to nine University of Kansas professors to reward them for outstanding teaching and advising.
The patrol will continue handing out the individual $5,000 Kemper Awards tomorrow. In all, 20 KU faculty members will receive this year's Kemper Awards. Chancellor Robert Hemenway and Provost David Shulenburger led the patrol, bursting unannounced into classrooms to surprise the professor.
The W.T. Kemper Fellowships for Teaching Excellence recognize outstanding teachers and advisers at KU as determined by a seven-member selection committee.
Today's winners are:
James S. Ashe, senior curator and professor of ecology and evolutionary biology
James S. Ashe holds dual responsibilities at KU; he has a half-time faculty appointment in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and a half-time appointment in the Natural History Museum and Biodiversity Research Center, where he is a faculty-curator. Colleagues comment on his commitment to helping students see the critical connections between the classroom and broader biological concepts that encompass all life, and praise his dedication to the development of the next generation of biologists.
Ann E. Cudd, professsor of philosophy
A colleague describes the range of Ann Cudd's teaching in philosophy as stunning. She teaches introductory service courses, honors courses, auditorium-size principal courses, graduate and research tutorials, guest lectures and serves as the director of graduate studies. In all these areas, her evaluations are impressive. She has been particularly focused on increasing the diversity of the graduate program in the department -- and in helping to ensure that students from different backgrounds have the tools they need to succeed.
Thomas W. Heilke, associate professor of political science, government
Since 1990, Thomas Heilke has been a member of the faculty in political science; for the past three years, he also has held a humanities and Western Civilization distinguished lectureship. In spring 2000, he directed the semester abroad program in Florence and Paris. A colleague describes Heilke's teaching mission as acquainting students with the deeper and more baffling questions of human existence, and asking them to search for meaning and the requirements of justice as members of communities.
Patricia A. Howard,
clinical professor of pharmacy practice, cardiovascular medicine
Patricia Howard currently holds appointments as a professor on the Lawrence campus in pharmacy practice and in the School of Medicine's Division of Cardiovascular Medicine. Her range of coursework responsibilities varies from 95 students in a large class setting to one or two students for eight hours a day on her cardiology clerkship. She has been instrumental in changing the teaching methodology in the School of Pharmacy by developing a problem-based learning methodology, which provides for an interactive format between professor and students.
Jeffrey Lang, professor of mathematics
Jeffrey Lang may be unusual in his love of teaching freshman- and sophomore-level courses in large classes. Colleagues say he can communicate mathematics as no one else can, and students are uniformly appreciative of the way he can use humor to illuminate and affix the concepts he is teaching. "He has a talent for making the difficult seem easy and the abstract seem concrete."
Barry Newton, professor of architecture
Barry Newton's specialization is architectural design, which he teaches to students in both the professional and nonprofessional degree programs, but he is not confined to the studio. Among his most notable recent projects was the historic preservation of the Barber School at Clinton Lake. The work stretched over five summers; when completed, the school won the Kansas Preservation Alliance Award for Excellence.
Cornel Pewewardy, assistant professor of teaching and leadership
Cornel Pewewardy is a multicultural education instructor whose goals include enabling students to become culturally conscious of their operating worldview and to critically examine different ways of understanding the world and social relations. In addition to his position in the KU School of Education, Cornel also serves as an adjunct instructor in American Indian studies at Haskell Indian Nations University in Lawrence.
Sue Popkess-Vawter, professor of nursing
Sue Popkess-Vawter has been a professor in the School of Nursing since 1976. In addition to her teaching, she has conducted funded research on weight management, and is developing a theory-based biobehavioral approach that she plans to test in occupational health settings. Her students routinely comment on her ability to bring theory and research into actual patient situations, thus integrating learning into practice. Colleagues praise her outstanding performance in juggling the roles of teacher, researcher and service provider.
Sandra Zimdars-Swartz, professor of religious studies
During the time that Sandra Zimdars-Swartz has been teaching "The Search for Meaning," enrollment in the class has increased by about 100 students, necessitating a bigger classroom! Among her fields of teaching and research in the Department of Religious Studies are Marian Doctrine and devotion, religious perspectives on illness, and women in christianity. Her most recent book, "Encountering Mary: From La Salette to Medjugororje," received the Byron Caldwell Smith Award.
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