Some Adjunct Top Guns
As the academic year draws to a close, colleges and universities around the U.S. are giving out teaching awards. Awards given to adjunct and part-time faculty strike a particularly poignant note at schools where part-timers hold work-for-hire appointments. One year, a part-timer can be Teacher of the Year, and the next she can be sacked. Setting that reality aside for a moment, I thought a sampling of the adjunct faculty who have won teaching awards this year would be of interest to all who take pride in their work in the classroom, but who teach at schools which don’t recognize part-time faculty with any kind of teaching award.
Mike Looper, University of Arkansas at Fort Smith
from the UA-Fort Smith News:
Dr. Looper, a research scientist with the Agricultural Research Service of the United States Department of Agriculture, has been teaching anatomy and physiology courses as a member of the adjunct faculty at UA Fort Smith since 2004. He also serves as an adjunct professor and is on the graduate faculty of the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville.
Dr. Looper has authored or coauthored more than 150 scientific publications on various topics ranging from animal physiology to food safety, including “E. coli O157:H7.” He reviews scientific manuscripts for several peer-reviewed research journals and serves as associate editor of the “Journal of Animal Science.”
Dr. Looper has been invited to serve as a panel reviewer for the 1890 Institution Teaching and Research Capacity Building Grants Program in Washington, D.C., for the past four years.
He earned a master’s degree in animal science at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville and a Ph.D. in reproductive physiology from Oklahoma State University. Prior to being employed with the USDA, Dr. Looper was on the faculty at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces.
The Krehbiel Award recognizes contributions of UA Fort Smith’s part-time faculty. The award is named for Luella M. Krehbiel, who taught English and literature at the university from 1929 through 1958. The recipient receives a cash award of $1,000.
Sandy Jackson, Colorado Mountain College
from the
Colorado Post Independent.
Had chemical biology captured Sandy Jackson’s interest a bit more, her life would have turned out a little differently than it has.
Instead of recently being selected as Colorado Mountain College’s adjunct faculty of the year, for both the Roaring Fork Campus and the entire CMC system, Jackson might have been living elsewhere making a living as a physical therapist, if she could have just made it though one semester.
“It only took one semester of biology to know that it was not for me,” Jackson said.
Her time at Boston’s Simmons College was short-lived before returning to more familiar ground at Fort Lewis College in Durango. At Fort Lewis she turned her attention to one thing that held her interest well: playing in the dirt….
To read more about Sandy Jackson, follow the link above to the article.
Tom Deitz, Gainsville State College
from the
Access North Georgia web site.
….Additionally, the GSC students voted and chose the full-time and adjunct Ann Matthews Purdy Outstanding Faculty Members of the Year.
Tom Deitz was named as the Ann Matthews Purdy Outstanding Adjunct Faculty Member of the Year. Deitz grew up in Young Harris and earned both his Bachelor and Master of Arts degrees from the University of Georgia. Students describe him as, brilliant, amusing, and extremely likable. His talents abound outside the classroom as well; he recently received the prestigious Phoenix Award, which is given to a professional who has greatly influenced Southern Fandom. He is the published author of 19 books, and was named Georgia Author of the Year for Young Adult Fantasy and Young Adult Literature.
Joel Weiss, Penn State at Altoona
from the Penn State Altoona Now web site:
The Altoona College Outstanding Lecturer Award was created to recognize excellence in teaching by members of Penn State Altoona’s part-time faculty. The award is based on evidence of superior teaching effectiveness, including student ratings and letters of support from students and colleagues. The 2008 recipient is Joel Weiss (part-time lecturer in communication arts and science).
Edith Carron, College of Southern Maryland
from the Southern Maryland Online web site:
Edith Carron doesn’t see the world like most people do. The recent winner of the College of Southern Maryland’s first Part-time Faculty Excellence Award, Carron teaches her students to appreciate the complexity of the truly small things in the world like microbes, bacteria, protists and parasites.
Carron, who has been on the faculty at CSM’s Leonardtown Campus since 2003, teaches microbiology and zoology, but her discussions regarding microbiology are the ones that really engage her students. Carron holds a master of science in microbiology and a doctorate in molecular biology, all from the University of Latvia….
To read more about Edith Carron, please follow the link above.
Janis Lorman, University of Akron
from the Stow Sentry:
The University of Akron honored six outstanding faculty and students April 7 during its seventh annual Celebration of Excellence in Learning and Teaching.
Janis Lorman of Stow, a speech pathologist with more than 35 years of experience, received the Outstanding Part-Time Faculty Award. Lorman received bachelor’s and master’s degrees in speech pathology and a master’s degree with emphasis in audiology from Kent State University.
She has received the Elwood Chaney Outstanding Clinician Award from the Ohio Speech and Hearing Association and the Distinguished Service Award from the Akron Regional Speech and Hearing Association. She is a fellow of the American Academy of Audiology.
Dr. Mona M. Choucair, Baylor University
from the
Baylor University web site:
Dr. Mona M. Choucair, a lecturer in English at Baylor University, has been selected by this year’s senior class as the 2008 Collins Outstanding Professor, an annual award provided by the Carr P. Collins Foundation that recognizes and honors extraordinary teachers at Baylor.
“I am both humbled and honored by this recognition from the senior class,” Choucair said. “I have loved working with so many of these young people both in the classroom and through extracurricular events. I love what I do here at Baylor, and I pray daily that it shows through my words and my actions. Thank you to the Collins family for their generosity and support.”
The Collins Professor receives a cash award of $10,000, recognition in university publications, citation on a plaque and recognition at spring commencement. As the 2008 Collins Outstanding Professor, Choucair will give deliver a special lecture later this semester on a subject of her choice. The lecture will be published and made available to the university community. Choucair’s lecture and topic will be announced at a later date….
To read more about Dr. Choucair, please follow the link above.
