Nov. 18, 2003

Contact: Genevieve Gordon, Senior Class President, (785) 843-3910.

KU seniors select H.O.P.E. Award finalists; winner to be announced Nov. 22

UPDATE: Rick Snyder was announced as the winner of the 2003 award.

LAWRENCE -- The University of Kansas senior class has selected seven faculty members as finalists for the annual H.O.P.E. Award -- Honor for an Outstanding Progressive Educator. The senior class officers will announce the winner at the KU-Iowa State football game, Nov. 22 at KU's Memorial Stadium.

The H.O.P.E. Award is the only KU honor bestowed exclusively by students for teaching excellence.

The finalists are Cynthia G. Akagi, assistant professor of health, sport and exercise sciences; Robert G. Carlson, professor of chemistry; Chico Herbison, instructor in African and African-American studies; Stephen Ilardi, associate professor of psychology; Jeffrey Lang, professor of mathematics; Rick Snyder, M. Erik Wright distinguished professor of clinical psychology; and Tom Volek, associate professor of journalism.

Snyder won the H.O.P.E. Award in 1991.

The KU class of 1959 established the award to recognize the recipient's outstanding teaching and concern for students. To date, KU senior classes have given 46 H.O.P.E. Awards.

Each year, KU seniors select the winner by ballot and interviews. The winner receives a monetary award and recognition on a permanent plaque displayed in the Kansas Union.

Biographical information on KU's 2003 H.O.P.E. Award finalists follows:

Cynthia G. Akagi
Akagi teaches health and human sexuality, principles of nutrition and health, and methods and materials in health education. She began teaching at KU in summer 2001. Akagi has published two books on adolescent sexuality education and numerous relationship education resources. Her research interests include K-12 health education, and adolescent and young adult sexuality and relationship education. She earned a bachelor's degree in communications from Fort Hays State University and a master's degree in family life education and consultation and a doctorate in human ecology from Kansas State University.

Robert G. Carlson
Carlson teaches courses in organic chemistry and serves as associate chair in chemistry for undergraduates. Since joining KU's faculty in 1963, he has received several teaching awards including recognition as an outstanding professor by Mortar Board, a national honor society at KU. His chief research interest is in synthetic organic chemistry and the development of new synthetic methods. He earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Illinois and a doctorate from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and was an Alfred P. Sloan fellow in 1970.

Chico Herbison
Herbison teaches courses in African and African-American studies and serves as a faculty adviser for the Freshman-Sophomore Advising Center. Since joining the KU faculty in 1998, he has received a Center for Teaching Excellence Award and a Black Faculty and Staff Council Teaching Award. He has a bachelor's degree in American studies, East Asian studies and English, and a graduate degree in American studies from KU. Herbison's research interests include African-American history and culture, Asian-American history and culture, and American popular culture.

Stephen Ilardi
Ilardi teaches courses in abnormal psychology, personality and psychotherapy, and he conducts research on the cognitive neuroscience of depression. Before joining the KU faculty in 1997, he taught at the University of Colorado. At KU, Ilardi has won a W.T. Kemper Fellowship for Teaching Excellence, Mortar Board's Outstanding Educator Award, the Dean's Scholar Mentor Award and the American Psychological Association's Theodore Blau Award for Early Career Contributions to Clinical Psychology. Ilardi earned a bachelor's degree from Emory University and master's and doctoral degrees in psychology from Duke University.

Jeffrey Lang
Lang teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in mathematics. Before joining KU's faculty in 1987, Lang taught mathematics at the University of San Francisco, where he received four faculty development research awards. At KU, his teaching awards include a 2001 W.T. Kemper Fellowship for Teaching Excellence and the 1997 Ned Fleming Distinguished Teaching Award. Lang earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Connecticut. He earned master's and doctoral degrees from Purdue University.

C.R. "Rick" Snyder
Snyder teaches courses on individual psychological differences and clinical psychology. His research focuses on his theory of hope. Since coming to KU in 1972, he has received several teaching honors, including the 1991 H.O.P.E. Award, the 1992 Byrd Outstanding Graduate Educator Award, a 1997 Kemper Award, the 2000 Outstanding Graduate Educator from the American Psychological Association, the 2001 Council for Advancement and Support of Educators Professor of the Year, the 2001 Byron T. Shutz Award for Distinguished Teaching and the 2002 Outstanding Psychology Teacher in Kansas from the Kansas Psychological Association. He earned a bachelor's degree from Southern Methodist University and master's and doctoral degrees from Vanderbilt University. From 1974 to 2001, Snyder directed KU's clinical psychology program.

Tom Volek
Volek teaches courses on media ethics, the First Amendment and society, research and writing, message development and international mass media. In addition, he holds an appointment in Russian and East European studies to help shape the emerging media of Eastern Europe through regular teaching in Russia and Kyrgystan. Since joining the KU faculty in 1990, Volek has won several awards, including a 2000 W.T. Kemper Fellowship for Teaching Excellence and Excellence in Teaching awards from the Center for Teaching Excellence in 1999 and 2001. He earned a bachelor's degree in broadcasting from the University of Missouri, a master's degree from the University of Wisconsin-Superior and a doctorate in mass communication from the University of Minnesota.