Faculty are stars at awards dinner

The University celebrated the achievements of some of its most distinguished faculty and staff at the Faculty Recognition Dinner Nov. 2, and honored those with 15 or more years at BGSU, as well as those who have recently retired. (See related story.)

Presented were two President’s Awards—for Academic Advising of Undergraduate Students by Faculty and Staff and for Collaborative Research and Creative Work.

Also given was and the Elliott L. Blinn Award for Faculty-Undergraduate Student Innovative Basic Research/Creative Work.

Faculty Senate presented the Faculty Distinguished Service Award, and students honored their choice for the Master Teacher Award. (See related story.)

New this year were the Distinguished Adviser Awards.

See the November issue of Monitor Monthly for more coverage of the honorees.

President’s Awards for Academic Advising of Undergraduate Students
Kristie Foell, director of International Studies and a faculty member in German, Russian and East Asian languages, and Linda Swaisgood, director of undergraduate programs in the College of Technology, on behalf of the college, were joint recipients of the President’s Awards for Academic Advising of Undergraduate Students. As part of the award, International Studies and the Student Program Services area of the College of Technology each received $1,500.

The awards recognize individuals, both faculty and staff, and units, including offices, programs, departments or colleges, in the BGSU learning community who contribute to undergraduate students' educational development through effective academic advising.

Foell began advising responsibilities for international studies less than three years ago, when the program was officially formed but already the number of majors in international studies has increased by nearly 50 percent (from 30 to 44). Moreover, those she has advised report good success both in school and once they graduate—finding high-quality jobs in national organizations, being accepted into highly regarded graduate programs and, at BGSU, being named to the Dean’s List and inducted into Phi Beta Kappa.

Swaisgood has helped develop the College of Technology’s new approach to advising, centering on meeting the needs of the college’s many “special populations,” which include adult and transfer students, distance learners and students engaged in the college’s three required learning co-ops. Many new services for both students and faculty advisers have been developed to ensure that every student receives the academic support he or she needs as well as assistance in becoming involved on campus and integrating their academic curriculum with a life plan. The advising office has also undertaken a number of assessment initiatives to gauge the effectiveness of the new process.

President’s Award for Collaborative Research and Creative Work
Sheri Wells-Jensen, English, and Lakshmi Pulakat, biological sciences, each received a President’s Award for Collaborative Research and Creative Work, and with it, $2,500 in cash. The award recognizes innovative research and creative work by faculty members in collaboration with graduate students.

In the case of Wells-Jensen, a faculty member in the Teaching English as a Second Language program, the work was aimed at saving a dying language.

Mingo, a Native American language, was once widely spoken in this area, but by the time Wells-Jensen and her collaborators launched the Language Keeper project last year, only one fluent speaker of the Ohio dialect remained. Using a series of classes and a summer language camp, the project is attempting to revive the language by entrusting small parts of it to individual members of the Mingo tribe to preserve and teach.

Pulakat’s nominators included several current and former graduate students, some of whom have moved on to postdoctoral work at other universities.

Among them was Man Hee Suh, now a research associate in molecular biology and genetics at Cornell University. “In many ways beyond the lab bench, much of my (doctoral) degree I owe to Dr. Pulakat, who not only provided valuable scientific insights for our research, but also taught me how to be a good scientist,” wrote Suh, who worked with the BGSU biologist on cell and molecular biology research.

Elliot L. Blinn Award
While the President’s Award honors collaboration with graduate students, the Elliot L. Blinn Award recognizes innovative research and creative work involving faculty and undergraduate students.

Named for the late Elliot Blinn, a professor of chemistry, the award went to Mary Ellen Benedict, economics. She received $1,000, and an additional $4,000 was transferred to an economics department account for her use in continued support of undergraduate research.

That money will fund the continuation of the BGSU Undergraduate Student Paper Contest in Economics, according to Benedict. Each spring, the contest brings 12-14 students from Ohio, Michigan and Indiana to campus to present papers that have already been through one round of judging. Awards are given for papers on both microeconomics and macroeconomics.

Faculty Distinguished Service Award
Arjun Gupta, Distinguished University Professor of mathematics and statistics, was named the winner of the Faculty Distinguished Service Award, and with it, $1,000 and a reserved parking spot on campus for one year.

Presented by Faculty Senate, the award recognizes continuing quality contributions to the University, whether in the faculty governance process or to the learning environment, University relations and/or other areas that advance BGSU’s mission.

Gupta, who has taught at BGSU since 1976, was nominated for the award by Neal Carothers, chair of the department, “in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the learning environment in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, his years of outstanding service as an ambassador for BGSU during his many trips abroad, and his years of outstanding service to the profession.”

Distinguished Adviser Awards
The Distinguished Adviser Awards were created in response to the Advising Plan created by the Collaborative Advising Task Force, which recommended in its report on strengthening advising at the University that more incentives and recognition be given to quality faculty advising.

University deans nominated people whom they deemed best exemplified the values for excellence in advising identified by the task force. The award winners will receive a plaque and $300 deposited into their office’s account to be used for professional development around advising or scholarly activities. They will also be invited to a forum on advising next semester.

Winners of the inaugural Distinguished Adviser Awards were Steven Chang, geography; Diane Frey, family and consumer sciences; Jeffrey Holcomb, human services; Martha Terrie Mazzarella, sociology; Brent Nicholson, legal studies and director of the Center for Entrepreneurship; Dale Schnetzer, humanities, BGSU Firelands, and Charles Spontelli, visual communication and technology education.