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MSU honors top faculty
May 08, 2008
Dedicated teachers, dynamic researchers and faculty devoted to the betterment of Montana are among the winners of the top Montana State University 2008 faculty awards announced this week. The annual awards honor achievement in faculty research, teaching, outreach and creative projects. The awards will be presented at the Honors Night Banquet.
The Cox Family Faculty Excellence Award
Valerié Copié, professor of chemistry and biochemistry, William Inskeep, a land resources and environmental sciences professor, and Joseph Seymour, a professor of chemical and biological engineering, are the recipients of the 2008 Cox Family Awards for Creative Scholarship and Teaching. Each will receive a $2,000 honorarium from the Winston and Helen Cox Family Endowment as well as an $800 stipend to be used to purchase books dedicated in their honor at MSU's Renne Library.
Copié is recognized for her leadership and craftsmanship in the field of biological Nuclear Magnetic Resonance spectroscopy. An excellent teacher as well, Copié has taught a variety of upper division and graduate courses in biochemistry and the WWAMI medical program over the past five years. As a teacher, she is most noted for her command of scientific knowledge and her dedication to students.
Since the late 1990s, Inskeep has become increasingly interested in geomicrobiology in extreme environments, especially in Yellowstone National Park. He manages the Yellowstone Research Coordination Network, proposed a park-wide project to analyze the microbial communities in Yellowstone and has been active in the management of MSU's Thermal Biology Institute. He led the way toward, and now directs, the Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship Program at MSU.
Seymour is recognized internationally for his work in magnetic resonance microscopy, an extension of magnetic resonance imaging into smaller imaging areas. He has been published numerous times in the Physical Review Letters, the gold standard in his field. He has been instrumental in building computational fluid dynamic models into his courses so his students can visually relate the complex mathematics involved to the resulting flows.
James and Mary Ross Provost's Award for Excellence
Gordon Brittan, professor of history and philosophy, and Walter Metz, a film professor, are the recipients of the James and Mary Ross Provost's Award for Excellence. Each will receive a $2,500 honorarium for the award. The Provost's Award recognizes excellence in teaching and scholarship.
Brittan has taught at MSU for 35 years. In 1985, he was named the first Regents Professor, which honors those recognized nationally and internationally in their field. The award has been bestowed on only three other MSU professors. He has been the executive director of the Burton K. Wheeler Center for Public Policy since 1991 and spearheaded the establishment of the Wallace Stegner Professorship in Western American Studies that same year. He has taught an estimated 20,000 students during his career at MSU.
Metz, chair of the media and theater arts department, also devotes time to bringing teaching excellence to several introductory courses. A noted film theorist, he is working to develop one of MSU's new American Studies introductory courses, weaving film, English and history into the curriculum. A Fulbright Scholar to Germany, Metz has amassed an international reputation in film scholarship, including the publishing of two books and a large number of published articles.
President's Excellence in Teaching Award
Susan Cohen, religious studies, Steve Holmgren, chemistry and biochemistry and Bill Rea, architecture, won the 2008 Excellence in Teaching Award. Each will receive a $2,500 honorarium.
Cohen is recognized as an excellent instructor who displays a deep commitment to her students. Since arriving at MSU, she has managed two major archaeological sites in Israel and has taken students with her on excavations. Her courses examine deep theological issues and highly contentious subjects, but she teaches them with sensitivity and respect. She helped create a curriculum for religious studies that balances breadth of material with in-depth study.
Holmgren is an adjunct faculty member who plays a crucial role in the undergraduate education of MSU chemistry students. An outstanding, enthusiastic teacher, Holmgren is active in undergraduate recruitment and retention. The adviser to all undergraduate chemistry majors, he mentors students and introduces them to research. He teaches chemistry in a way that non-majors and majors alike can understand, and future instructors appreciate and helps develop curriculum, especially in organic chemistry labs.
Rea brings experience as both a practicing architect and a noted Hollywood set designer to enrich the education of students. A graduate of the MSU School of Architecture, Rea has been art director for dozens of films including "Titanic" and "Ali." When he returned to MSU, he volunteered to teach a technical and difficult class in architectural structures, completely revamping and revitalizing the curriculum. He also teaches a large class for non-majors, making his courses engaging and accessible to his students.
Provost's Award for Undergraduate Research/Creativity mentoring
Sandra Kuntz, of the College of Nursing's Missoula campus, and Tim McDermott, professor of soil microbiology, won this year's undergraduate research/creativity mentoring award. They will each receive a $2,000 honorarium.
Kuntz, an instructor in community health nursing, has involved her students in many projects including an ongoing plan to compare the body mass index (BMI) of Missoula school children with that of other children. In addition, Kuntz has involved her students in teams to use the compiled BMI data in support of the Coordinated Approach to Child Health program, a joint venture between St. Patrick Hospital, the Missoula City County Health Department, YMCA and senior nursing students, who work with school partners. So far, the "CATCH" program has worked with 1,300 school-age children.
McDermott is an accomplished and prolific scientist who finds time to involve undergraduate students in cutting-edge laboratory research, finding significant time to mentor each student. Under McDermott's direction, nearly a dozen undergraduate students have been named as authors of works that have been published or accepted for publication in prestigious journals.
Provost's Excellence in Outreach Award
Gerald Marks, chair of MSU's Missoula County Extension office, and Bridget Kevane, professor of modern languages and literature, have been selected as the 2008 recipients of MSU's Provost's Excellence in Outreach Award. Each will receive a $2,000 honorarium.
Marks has served in MSU's Missoula Extension office for more than 38 years. Active on issues ranging from invasive plant management and urban horticulture to managed growth, he has been elected to lead multiple noxious weed boards over the years. His applied research and education efforts relating to noxious weeds and vegetation management have resulted in an estimated $15 million secured for invasive plant control, demonstration plots and educational outreach.
Kevane is one of the leading forces addressing the needs of the growing Latino population in the Gallatin Valley. She and her students have provided translation services to organizations such as the Food Bank and set up free tutoring classes so native Spanish speakers can learn English. Kevane supervises MSU students who teach Spanish to students in local elementary schools. She designed a monthly bilingual story-time at the Bozeman Public Library, helped establish a Spanish course for the Bozeman Police Department and advises Latino students at Bozeman High School.
The Meritorious Technology/Science Award
W. Randall Babbitt, a physics professor and director of the Spectrum Lab at MSU, received MSU's Meritorious Technology/Science Award. It carries a $2,500 honorarium and recognizes an MSU faculty member who has made at least one significant technological or scientific contribution that could be transferred or already has been transferred to the private sector. Babbitt has involved a large number of students, both undergraduates and graduates, with a number of grant-funded projects. His leadership of the Spectrum Lab led to the associated creation of S2 Corporation and a spin-off of Bridger Photonics. Not only is Babbitt a force in technology development at MSU, he has helped establish MSU as a world leader in spatial-spectral holography.
Wiley Awards for meritorious research
Suzanne Christopher, a professor of health and human development, Mary Cloninger, a chemistry and biochemistry professor and Ilse-Mari Lee, professor of music, have won this year's Charles and Nora L. Wiley Faculty Awards for Meritorious Research and Creativity. Each will each receive $2,000. Sponsored by the MSU Foundation, the prizes are given in honor of the Wileys, who were pioneer ranchers in eastern Montana.
Christopher began working with women on the Crow Reservation shortly after coming to MSU in 1995. With patience and persistence, she and the tribe developed Messengers for Health, which has successfully educated Crow women about cervical cancer detection. The team-based program has transformed health services on the reservation and has become an American Cancer Society model for community-based research in underserved communities. The Messengers' approach has been expanded to a new MSU program that will work with tribes on Montana's seven reservations.
Cloninger is a highly visible and visionary scientist whose work in bio-organic chemistry provides important insights into cancer cell aggregation, tumor formation and cancer metastasis. The recipient of a prestigious National Science Foundation Career Award, Cloninger is said to be a part of a new wave of chemists that transcend traditional disciplinary boundaries to pursue exciting research opportunities. She also possesses the unusual combination of scientific excellence while inspiring the best from her students.
Lee is a classically trained cellist and music professor who has branched out into the 21st century with interdisciplinary work that includes computerized film scoring, multimedia, digital recording and digital composition. Lee's recent work includes "Yellowstone Suite," a collaboration with MSU's Thermal Biology Institute and scoring of the short film "Certain Green," a project with MSU film professor Theo Lipfert that won a gold medal at the Park City Film Music Festival. Lee is assistant director of the MSU Honors Program.
Betty Coffey Award
Heidi Sherick, assistant dean for undergraduate programs and diversity at MSU's College of Engineering, will receive the Betty Coffey Award. The award was established in memory of Betty Coffey, an engineering professor from 1977-1984 who was noted for her teaching excellence and her contributions to women's equity. The award comes with a $500 honorarium. Sherick has initiated a number of programs and changes at MSU in order to create an environment in which women engineering students can flourish. Among those cited are the EMPower Student Center, the Women in Engineering Student Advisory Board and the annual Women in Engineering dinner. One nomination letter noted that Sherick "has provided leadership that has elevated diversity from something we should do to something we do well."
Phi Kappa Phi Award
Robert Rydell, a history professor and national authority on world fairs, won the Anna K. Fridley Distinguished Teaching Award given by Phi Kappa Phi honorary. Rydell has authored or co-authored seven books, including "Buffalo Bill in Bologna," which was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. Recently named a distinguished lecturer by the Organization of American Historians, Rydell is known as a mentor of both students and colleagues. Rydell has won and managed three major grants from the U.S. Department of Education to improve the teaching of American history in Montana schools. He has worked to create a museum studies minor, a Ph.D. program in history, a new American studies major, as well as the MSU Humanities Institute.
Pat Chansley (406) 994-4373, chansley@montana.edu
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