The
awards will be presented at the University Honors Banquet on May
11.
Cox Awards for scholarship and teaching
An innovator in
organizational leadership, one of the country's premier
researchers in lymphocyte immunology, and a mathematician known
world-wide for his work in dynamical systems are recipients of
the 2001 Cox Family Awards for Creative Scholarship and Teaching.
Each will receive a $2,000 honorarium from the MSU Foundation as
well as a $600 stipend to be used for purchase of books dedicated
in their honor at MSU's Renne Library.
F. William "Bill" Brown, a popular professor of management
courses in MSU's College of Business, is an innovator in the
field of management and leadership. A retired lieutenant colonel
in the U.S. Army and a corporate consultant, Brown brings
practical experience to his current scholarship. He is a
co-author of the textbook, "Interpersonal Skills for Leadership,"
published by Prentice Hall and editor of the book "Management
Perspectives." An example of Brown's innovations is a "teaching
circle" he initiated with his colleagues to help improve teaching
effectiveness in the university's management classes. Brown is
said to braid his experience, his research, and his mentoring
into his classes, earning him high student ratings as well as
frequent awards. This is the second major faculty award for Brown
in two years. Last year Brown received the Presidential Teaching
Award for his work in the classroom.
Mark Jutila, a professor in the Department of Veterinary
Molecular Biology (VMB), has made significant contributions to
the understanding of the mechanisms of lymphocyte trafficking in
health and disease. His studies center on the molecular events
that control leukocyte entry into sites of acute and chronic
inflammation. He is a highly-sought-out speaker at research
conferences and symposiums throughout the world and he has
brought more than $4.5 million in research funds to the
university. Although he is employed primarily as a researcher,
his commitment to teaching is also significant. He teaches a
number of upper-level courses that train students in recent
advances in techniques that give MSU's VMB students the
experience they need to compete for jobs in biotechnology
markets.
Marcy Barge is a nationally-prominent scholar in dynamical
systems, a major field of mathematics, and is also recognized as
an exceptional teacher. His colleagues believe he is among the
greatest mathematicians in his field living today. He has made
recent contributions to the emerging field of substitution
dynamics that arise in Penrose crystals and cryptography.
Recently, he solved a coding problem that had been "open" for a
decade. According to a former graduate student, Barge is also a
dedicated teacher, "weaving math into the rest of life in a
seamless continuum that gave the happy delusion that mathematics
was neither distant nor sterile, but a natural part of life."
Wiley Awards
Three researchers -- one an expert in
medieval ballads and two whose work deals with serious health
problems -- have won this year's prestigious Charles and Nora L.
Wiley Faculty Award for Meritorious Research and Creativity at
Montana State University-Bozeman.
Gwendolyn Morgan, an English professor; Michele Hardy, assistant
professor of virology; and Richard Morrison, associate professor
of microbiology, will each receive $2,000 and a plaque.
Morgan is known as a vigorous scholar, teacher and leader in the
field of medieval ballads and Old English poetry. During her 12
years at MSU, she has published three books and presented her
work at 15 international conferences. In 1999, she was elected to
the Directorship of Conference Activities for Studies in
Medievalism which placed her in charge of overseeing panel
selections for annual meetings of the International Studies in
Medievalism, the Modern Language Association, the Leeds Medieval
Institute and the Kalamazoo Conference on Medieval Studies. Since
1999, she has served as the series editor for "The Year's Work in
Medievalism."
Besides ballads and Old English poetry, Morgan has researched
fantasy in popular culture and written book chapters about her
findings. She is a respected translator of Old English poetry.
Hardy is in her fourth year at MSU and has made significant
contributions to the understanding of RNA viruses. A
nationally-recognized molecular virologist, she has established a
research program on the human Norwalk virus and bovine rotavirus.
Her research has been published in such top tier journals as
"Science" and "Journal of Virology." She has attracted more than
$1.16 million in outside funding. Besides excelling in research,
she also contributes to MSU through teaching and service. Her
teaching appointment is only 0.1 FTE, but she teaches several
courses, gives lectures and works with students on all levels
undergraduate through doctoral.
Hardy's laboratory is investigating the molecular biology of two
viruses that cause acute gastrointestinal disease. One of those
viruses, rotavirus, is the leading cause of acute gastroenteritis
in young mammals. In the U.S. alone, rotavirus is thought to be
responsible for more than one million cases of severe diarrhea
and up to 150 deaths of children every year. The goal of Hardy's
research is to better understand the function of nonstructural
proteins in the viral cycle. Knowing that should help researchers
discover alternative targets for vaccinations and drugs.
Morrison is an MSU alumnus with a national and international
reputation, especially in the area of chlamydial-host
interactions. His work could lead toward the development of an
effective vaccine against chlamydial sexually-transmitted
diseases. He has also received research support for preliminary
investigations into the association between chlamydial infections
and heart disease.
Over the years, Morrison has published his findings in
prestigious scientific journals such as "Science," "Nature" and
"Trends in Microbiology." He has been appointed to the editorial
board of the biomedical research journal, "Infection and
Immunity." Among his numerous accomplishments, he has obtained
more than $1 million from the most competitive and rigorous
funding arena of the National Institutes of Health. He also
received multiple-year support from the American Heart
Association.
Provost's Ross Award for Excellence
John Carlsten,
physics, is the recipient of the James and Mary Ross Provost's
Award for Excellence. He will receive a $2,500 honorarium for the
award. In its third year, the Provost's Award recognizes
excellence in teaching and scholarship.
Carlsten is a Regents' Professor and director of the Optical
Technology Center at MSU. Despite his standing, students and
peers alike say Carlsten expresses real joy in teaching freshman
introductory courses in physics.
Carlsten has taught at MSU since 1984, coming from a post as an
associate group leader at Los Alamos National Laboratory. A Ph.D.
from Harvard, Carlsten has also taught at the University of
Colorado. He is a nationally-recognized researcher in non-linear
optics, stimulated raman scattering, quantum fluctuations, diode
lasers and fiber optics. However, Carlsten's current interest is
"promoting inquiry and synthesis of information at the
introductory level."
President's Excellence in Teaching Award
Greg Francis,
an enthusiastic physics professor who will lie on a bed of nails
to make a point, and John Brittingham, who has exceptional talent
as both a teacher and an architect, are recipients of the 2001
President's Distinguished Teacher Award. Each will receive a
$2,000 honorarium.
Greg Francis uses humor, compassion and tools that range from
Power Point presentations to bowling balls to make physics come
alive. Francis' philosophy may have come from his own experience
of falling asleep in an introductory college physics class. His
goal as a professor is to not allow that to happen with his
students, and "to change each student through his or her
participation during the course of each lecture." He does so with
wide-ranging demonstrations that may seem like he is risking his
life to teach a concept of physics in an interesting way, but the
magic is that his tricks are rooted in scientific concepts.
Students reward his innovation, and his courage, with a 91
percent attendance at his lectures, even those scheduled at 4
p.m. Fridays. A Ph.D. from Massachusetts Institute of Technology
who left a post doctoral research position at the famed Lawrence
Livermore Lab to teach physics, Francis says he sees each new
experiment as a new adventure, and successfully conveys that
enthusiasm for physics to his students.
John Brittingham is a prize-winning project architect who is able
to find his students' strengths and build upon them.
Brittingham's professional awards include first prize in the
prestigious Boston Society of Architects Unbuilt Architecture
Design Awards competition. However, he has the rare talent of not
being satisfied with students emulating his work. Rather, he
inspires them to find their own style. To do so, he often
initiates cross-disciplinary reading and writing.
In 1999, Brittingham received an MSU Awards Scholarship and
Creativity Grant to develop the project, "Neutra in Montana: the
blurring of architecture and landscape." Brittingham, who has an
undergraduate degree in art history from Bowdoin College and a
master's degree in architecture from Harvard University,
confesses to an "open, unabashed passion for the teaching and
making of architecture," and his peers and students say that
Brittingham has the gift to transmit his passion for architecture
to his students.
Betty Coffey Award
Sharon Hapner, who has used the
patience and diligence of a good scienctist to widen
opportunities on this campus for women in the fields of math and
science, has received the Betty Coffey Award. The award is given
to a member of the MSU community who demonstrates achievement in
developing programs that contribute to the elimination of
persistent barriers to the success of women and who incorporate
women's perspectives into his or her curriculum.
Hapner, a research associate in the Department of Cell Biology
and Neuroscience, has worked for 25 years, often silently and
without recognition, to open the minds of educators and
administrators to provide an atmosphere that encourages girls to
pursue math and science and to open the minds of girls themselves
so they see that they can succeed in math and science. Hapner was
a member of an MSU team that landed a $1.4 million National
Science Foundation Experimental Project Grant in 1997 that made
possible the launching of the "Science and Engineering for All:
Opening the Door for Rural Women ( SEA)" project.
The Betty Coffey Award, a $500 award, given in memory of the late
Betty Coffey, engineering faculty member from 1977-1984, is
administered by the Women's Studies Minor Committee.
This award roundup was compiled by Evelyn Boswell and Carol
Schmidt.
