Cundy has been nominated and selected as one of MSU's top faculty
members by Amanda Cundy -- crackerjack civil engineering student
and recipient of the prestigious Goldwater Scholarship -- who
just happens to be Vic's daughter. Mandy nominated her dad
secretly, Cundy said. When his secretary opened the notification
letter and brought it in to him, "we both had a tear in our eye."
It is the first time in 19 years of the annual event in which
each honored student selects a faculty mentor for a Faculty
Excellence Award that a student has selected a parent, according
to Jaynee Drange Groseth, director of the MSU Alumni Association.
Groseth said the festive Excellence Awards Banquet is a "town and
gown" event where the MSU Alumni Association and Bozeman Chamber
of Commerce work together to showcase the stars of both
communities.
The father-daughter combination is one of several interesting
winners this year. John Hanton, who has won more faculty
excellence awards than anyone, has won another, despite being
retired as a professor of electrical engineering for two years.
Kimberly Myers, an English professor, may one day catch up with
Hanton. She will receive three Excellence Awards this year as the
result of appreciative students and Charles Paden and Dwight
Phillips, professors of cell biology and neuroscience, will each
receive two.
Among the students receiving awards includes an engineering
student from Taiwan and one of the most outstanding American
Indian students in the history of the university.
Also on tap for the night is the awarding of the Torlief Aasheim
Community Service Award to the two students who have contributed
the most time and energy to community service. Two members from
the Bozeman business community will be honored for contributions
to the university as well as Bozeman Chamber of Commerce and the
community at-large.
A complete list of the Excellence winners may be found at: http://www.montana.edu/staffbulletin/#fn1
