HOLD FOR RELEASE
Thursday, October 8, 1998
CONTACT: Steven Weiss, CASE (202) 328-5900 10:00 a.m. EST Mary Huber, CFAT (650) 566-5100
TOP U.S. PROFESSORS HONORED
HONOREES CHOSEN FROM AMONG MORE THAN 500 NOMINEES NATIONWIDE
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching has named its 1998-1999 U.S. Professors of the Year, in recognition of their extraordinary dedication to teaching, commitment to students, and innovative teaching methods. They were selected from among more than 500 faculty members nominated by colleges and universities across the country.
The Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) created the U.S. Professors of the Year program in 1981 and continues to direct its implementation. It is the only national award program that recognizes college professors for their teaching, and is supported by the entire higher education community, including more than 25 higher education associations.
This year's winners are:
o Outstanding Baccalaureate College Professor: Hong Gang Jin, professor of Chinese, Hamilton College (NY);
o Outstanding Community College Professor: Cathleen Kennedy, professor of computer and information science, College of San Mateo (CA);
o Outstanding Master's University and College Professor: Gayle Seymour, professor of art, University of Central Arkansas;
o Outstanding Research and Doctoral University Professor: Sujeet Shenoi, professor of computer science, University of Tulsa (OK).
The Carnegie Foundation awards a $5,000 cash prize to each of the winners, who exemplify the extraordinary undergraduate teaching taking place in diverse academic settings at colleges and universities across the country. This year, the Foundation also recognizes winners in 48 states, the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.
"The lives of tomorrow's leaders and scholars are being shaped every day in our undergraduate classrooms and laboratories," said Carnegie Foundation President Lee S. Shulman. "In honoring these distinguished professors who have exhibited extraordinary dedication to their students, we are supporting the centrality of teaching on campus and recognizing its importance to the future of our country."
"The four professors we honor this year embody the spirit of education in their passionate pursuit of knowledge and in their talent to encourage those around them to explore, inquire, and imagine," said CASE President Eustace D. Theodore. "Their impact on the future of this nation is profound and enduring, as is that of the many dedicated and talented professors who teach on our nation's campuses."
The Carnegie Foundation convened a special panel, chaired by Senior Scholar Mary Taylor Huber, that selected this year's U.S. Professors of the Year. Earlier, CASE assembled two preliminary panels of judges, which selected the national finalists and state winners. Judges evaluated nominees on four areas: impact on and involvement with undergraduate students; scholarly approach to teaching; service to undergraduate students, institution, community, and profession; and support from colleagues and students.
The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, a policy and research center located in Menlo Park, California, is devoted to strengthening America's schools and colleges through effective teaching.
The Council for Advancement and Support of Education is the largest international association of education institutions, with more than 2,800 colleges, universities, and independent elementary and secondary schools as members. Representing these institutions are more than 25,000 professionals in the disciplines of alumni relations, communications, and fund raising.
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1998-1999 U.S. Professors of the Year
OUTSTANDING BACCALAUREATE COLLEGE PROFESSOR
Hong Gang Jin, Professor of Chinese, Hamilton College (NY)
BEYOND SPEAKING A LANGUAGE: LEARNING A LANGUAGE
As a young girl growing up in China, Hong Gang Jin watched as the communist Red Guard prohibited her parents, both of whom were academics, from practicing their profession. Later, Jin herself was pulled out of school and forced to work as a train conductor for the Taiyuwan Railway Company. Today, as a professor of Chinese at Hamilton College, Jin recognizes the importance of her responsibility to her students. As such, her goal is to teach her students not only how to speak a language, but to learn a language.
"Professor Jin has given me and many others the desire, tools, and confidence to conquer a difficult subject that encompasses not just language acquisition, but thousands of years of history, religion, culture, and tradition," said Alyssa Gillmeister, a former student.
Jin has accomplished her goal in several ways. First, she honed her teaching abilities by studying the efficiency of various teaching methods on students with different levels of proficiency in Chinese. Second, she helped to establish Associated Colleges in China, a study abroad consortium that accepts 35-40 students from 20 colleges and universities in the United States to study in Beijing for six months. She designed the program's curriculum and has served as general director of the program for the past three years. Third, she won a grant to design multimedia materials for the teaching and testing of Chinese. Fourth, she designed two Chinese courses that redefine the traditional method of teaching language.
Jin has published four books and several articles on teaching Chinese. In 1994 she was awarded the Hamilton College's Class of 1963 Award for Excellence in Teaching. She also won the Outstanding Teacher Award three straight years at the University of Illinois.
Campus Contact:
Michael Debraggio Director of Communications (315) 859-4654 [email protected]
OUTSTANDING COMMUNITY COLLEGE PROFESSOR
Cathleen Kennedy, professor of computer and information science,
College of San Mateo (CA)
HELPING FUTURE PROGRAMMERS VISUALIZE THEIR CAREERS
As a professional computer systems consultant, Cathleen Kennedy enjoyed learning about new technologies, finding creative ways to solve problems, and helping colleagues stay up-to-date in today's high-tech world. Why, then, did she leave consulting in 1988 in order to teach? For Kennedy, the answer was simple. "As a teacher, I can be a role model and a partner in helping people achieve their dreams." Toward that end, Kennedy goes beyond analyzing computer codes and helps her students visualize themselves as programmers or engineers, encouraging them to actively imagine their future.
Kennedy has enriched the education of her students in several ways. She succeeded in convincing the Network Professional Association and several large corporations to help develop an on-campus Networking Technologies Lab, which gives students access to the latest computer hardware and software, and allows them to work with experienced professionals on the newest technologies. She adapted an introductory computer science course for distance learning, providing multimedia materials and support for students through voicemail, e-mail, and the World Wide Web. She also developed an online, interactive advising program that students use to prepare for sessions with their academic counselor.
Kennedy serves on the campus Information Technology Forum, the president's Technology Advisory Group, and the campus Governing Council. She has served as chair of the Department of Computer and Information Science since 1990, and as an academic advisor since 1993.
"Professor Kennedy is unselfish in her service and support to students, the college, the community, and her profession," said former student Carol Zimmerman. "She makes a positive impact on every Computer and Information Science student at the College of San Mateo."
Campus Contact:
Erin Cutler Director of Marketing and Public Relations (650) 574-6231 [email protected]
OUTSTANDING MASTER'S UNIVERSITY AND COLLEGE PROFESSOR
Gayle Seymour, professor of art, University of Central Arkansas
BRINGING ART FROM THE CLASSROOM TO THE COMMUNITY
Since most of her students were raised in geographically and culturally isolated communities, Gayle Seymour figures that many of them have never seen an original work of great art. So in 1996, she guided her students in writing a successful grant proposal that took them to Washington, D.C. for research on outdoor sculpture. During their trip, Seymour and her students participated in a four-day International Town Meeting sponsored by the Smithsonian Institution's Save Outdoor Sculpture (SOS) project.
Seymour also has involved her students in exposing the local community of Conway, Ark. to art.
As part of her senior seminar last semester on the history of the mural, Seymour instructed her students to make one somewhere in the community. They collaborated with 400 local ninth grade students on the project, and created a 15-foot by 45-foot mural for Conway High School's new science building.
"Dr. Seymour actively involves herself in the scholastic lives of her students, encouraging us to read, research, think, and write," said former student Traci Weatherford-Brown. "More importantly, she shows each of her students the importance of taking education past the walls of the classroom."
As the product of an influential teacher, Seymour conveys to her students the same excitement about art history that she felt when she was a student. She sees the relationship linking her old teacher, herself, and her students as a gold chain, "with links that connect my students to their discipline, to their communities, and to their place in the world."
Seymour won the University of Central Arkansas' Teaching Excellence Award in 1993 and has developed several new art courses at the University of Central Arkansas.
Campus Contact:
James W. Schneider Director of Public Information (501) 450-5285 [email protected]
OUTSTANDING RESEARCH AND DOCTORAL UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR
Sujeet Shenoi, professor of computer science, University of Tulsa (OK)
EMPHASIZING PERSONAL ATTENTION OVER INSTITUTIONAL REPUTATION
In the last two years, Stanford University has had more recipients than any other institution of the Goldwater Scholarship, the most prestigious undergraduate award in science, math, and engineering. Tied for second behind Stanford are Cornell, Columbia, Harvard, Princeton, Yale -- and the University of Tulsa.
The reason for Tulsa's phenomenal success is Sujeet Shenoi. Tired of seeing Oklahoma's best and brightest high school students choose to attend prominent out-of-state institutions, Shenoi promised applicants to the University of Tulsa's computer science program that if they chose Tulsa over other more competitive institutions, such as Carnegie Mellon University and Rice University, he would design a curriculum involving them in research as undergraduates, teach special courses, and give them as much one-on-one attention as necessary.
Thus, the Tulsa Undergraduate Research Challenge (TURC) was born. In only seven years, the project has grown from two students to 30 undergraduates. An additional 15 high school and middle school students are involved in TURC. In five years, TURC has produced 12 winners of the prestigious Goldwater Scholarship. At the same time, Tulsa is now mentioned among the best institutions for computer science in the nation.
Shenoi won the 1997 Tau Beta Pi Teacher of the Year Award from the University of Tulsa's College of Engineering and Applied Sciences. He is a member of the Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation and of the International Federation for Information Processing.
"Dr. Shenoi cares about his students more than any teacher I have ever known," said former student Steven Bauer. "He has almost a parent's love for his students. He wants them to succeed. He mentors, encourages, corrects, and instructs. He subtly passes along his wisdom and experience through stories and advice. In short, he never stops teaching."
Campus Contact:
Rolf L. Olsen News and Marketing Manager, University Relations (918) 631-2653 [email protected]
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