Dr. Lee Meserve, biological sciences (left), received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the annual faculty awards` luncheon April 19. Presenting the award was Provost John Folkins.

Faculty feted for achievements, contributions

Four outstanding BGSU faculty members were honored by their peers at a luncheon April 19. Faculty Senate Chair Radhika Gajjala presented the awards with the help of Provost John Folkins.

Dr. Lee Meserve, biological sciences, was the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award. Dr. Joseph Frizado, geology, received the Recognition for Chair/School/Director Leadership award. Dr. Wendy Manning, sociology, won the Faculty Mentor Award. And Dr. Geoffrey Meek, School of Human Movement, Sport and Leisure Studies, received the Faculty Recognition for Community Involvement.

For Meserve, the Lifetime Achievement Award caps a 32-year BGSU career—a career that has seen his intense involvement in not only the life of his department but the life of the University as well. “His record of service to the department and the University is so great that I know of no other person with a record equaling even half of what Dr. Meserve has accomplished,” wrote biology department Chair Dr. Scott Rogers in nominating Meserve. “He has consistently performed his duties (and more) with energy, enthusiasm, character and quality.”

An energetic and positive faculty member and student mentor, Meserve is also a productive scholar, maintaining an active research laboratory specializing in studies of the endocrine system. His record of publications is outstanding, according to Dr. Stan Smith, graduate coordinator for the biology department. He and his students have also presented scores of papers at regional, national and international meetings, Smith noted. “The graduate students he has trained have all gone forward to become successful biologists and teachers,” Rogers added.

Meserve has served as president of the Ohio Academy of Science and is currently co-editor of the Ohio Journal of Science and associate editor of a number of other professional journals.

He is the adviser to the Pre-Veterinary Medical Association and the pre-professional adviser for medicine, dentistry, veterinary medicine, optometry and podiatry. In addition, he has been the Faculty Athletics Representative to the NCAA for the past seven years and attends numerous games and events. “Lee’s commitment to our athletic program and this University is unparalleled,” wrote Sid Sink, assistant athletic director for compliance and certification. “He is the biggest fan of all our sports teams.”

The list of awards Meserve has won speaks to his dedication. In 1993, he was named a Distinguished Teaching Professor. In 2001, he received the President’s Advising Award. Other service awards include the Hollis A. Moore University Service Award, the Provost/Faculty Senate Community Service Award and the BGSU Honorary Alumnus Award.

“He has dedicated his career to seeing that the University is a better place,” summed up Dr. George Bullerjahn, biological sciences.

Recognition for Chair/School/Director Leadership

Faculty Senate Chair Dr. Radhika Gajjala (left) reads from the letters of nomination for Dr. Joe Frizado (right) for the Recognition for Chair/School/Director Leadership. Frizado, geology, served as interim director of the School of Communication Studies this year.

While at first it might seem odd that an interim director of a school completely outside his own discipline should receive the award for leadership, Frizado more than earned the credit during the year he oversaw the School of Communication Studies, his nominators concurred.

Asked by Dr. Donald Nieman, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, to step in following the re-merging of the telecommunications department with the school and the resignation of the previous director, Frizado managed to bring order, fairness and harmony to the process of reintegration, they wrote.

“Many of Joe’s personal qualities were essential to success in this circumstance,” wrote Dr. Julie Burke, chair of the interpersonal communication department. “He is calm. He is fair. He is a good listener. He creates a context that enables diverse points of view to be expressed and thoughtfully considered. He fosters collegiality. He is unselfish. He is also a tireless worker.”

Not only did the school work its way through the attendant philosophical, logistical and administrative aspects of the reunification, it actually moved forward, Burke added. For instance, wrote Dr.Catherine Cassara, journalism, Frizado helped the journalism department regain its national accreditation and aided in obtaining a U.S. State Department grant. He shepherded the successful search for a new, permanent school director. And he was an excellent mentor to faculty, added several nominators, including Dr. John Warren, the school's graduate coordinator, and Dr. Thomas Mascaro, telecommunications.

“Finally,” wrote Cassara, “Joe is wonderful with a hammer, a screwdriver or a hard drive. He can answer software questions or help redesign a school office, all of which he has been required to do.”

Faculty Mentor Award

Dr. Wendy Manning, sociology (left), is congratulated by Provost John Folkins upon receiving the Faculty Mentor award.

A productive scholar with a demanding research agenda, Manning has nonetheless given generous amounts of her time to help other faculty, both as the founder of the Center for Family and Demographic Research (CFDR) and as a member of the sociology department, wrote Dr. Susan Brown, sociology.

“Her willingness to sacrifice time from her research to create opportunities for other scholars is amazing and admirable,” according to Brown, who received a K01 Mentored Research Scientist Development Grant from the National Institutes of Health. “Without her support, I would not have been competitive for this award,” she wrote.

Manning’s most significant mentoring contribution may have been founding the CFDR, Brown added. “Through the CFDR, she offers faculty development awards to provide faculty with extensive mentoring as they generate their first grant proposal,” Brown said. She spends countless hours as director facilitating BGSU research, and has reached faculty not only in arts and sciences but in health and human services and family and consumer sciences as well.

One of those family and consumer sciences faculty members, Dr. Jean Gerard, wrote that Manning’s expertise in writing grant proposals has been invaluable to faculty seeking to obtain research grants. In her case, Manning helped mobilize CFDR resources and offered guidance and support in the grant-writing process, Gerard wrote, adding that Manning “proved to be very accessible, extremely helpful and genuinely interested in the success of her peers.”

Although Manning is still relatively junior herself, “she has mentored others in countless ways,” wrote sociology Chair Dr. Gary Lee. ”Professor Manning’s importance to our department and the University stems only in part from her outstanding individual contributions to research and teaching. She also makes others around her better. I cannot imagine anyone more deserving of this award.”

Faculty Recognition for Community Involvement

Dr. Geoffrey Meek, human movement, sport and leisure studies (left), receives the Faculty Recognition for Community Involvement from Provost John Folkins for his many outreach efforts.

Senior citizens in the area have reaped health and wellness benefits thanks to Meek. A kinesiologist and director since 2000 of the Senior Swim Program offered by the School of Human Movement, Sport and Leisure Studies, Meek has imbued the program with renewed excitement, professional dedication and active membership, according to Dr. Bonnie Berger, HMSLS director.

Meek renamed the water aerobics program the Water Exercise Training (WET) Program. “This name change captures the program’s new directions and also the high energy and enthusiasm that Geoff elicits from more than 40 community participants,” Berger added.

Meek and his undergraduate and graduate students meet with community members ages 60-87. In response to requests from participants, Meek has extended the program through the summer months, “although he receives no credit during the summer for his teaching,” Berger said.

Student interns in the WET program as well as in the Physical Education Teacher Education Program and Adapted Physical Education minor learn cutting-edge teaching techniques from Meek, according to Berger, and come to understand the crucial need for physical activity at all ages. “In addition, he teaches the undergraduate and graduate student interns the importance of both interpersonal relationships and social elements to enhance exercise adherence and the seniors’ overall quality of life,” she said.

Swimming is not the only community-outreach activity in which Meek is involved, noted nominator Dr. Lynn Darby, kinesiology. He also leads Action After Stroke in conjunction with the Wood County Hospital Rehabilitation Center, and PEXtra, a weekly program for physically challenged children who need extra physical education instruction. Meek, who has extended PEXtra through the summer as well, received funding for both programs through Partnerships for Community Action.