A U B U R N U N I V E R S I T Y COLLEGE OF LIBERAL ARTS
Award ( w么rd), n. a prize or other mark of recognition given in honor of an achievement: Outstanding faculty members received awards for their service to the college. e
2011 College of
Liberal Arts
Awards Ceremony
March 31, 2011 Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art
Message from the Dean Dear Faculty and Staff, Please join me in congratulating the 2011 College of Liberal Arts Faculty Award winners. Their excellence in teaching, assessment, community and civic engagement, and research strengthens the backbone of our mission and allows us to continue to excel in furthering the educational value of this University. Their dedication to both their students and the pursuit of knowledge brings honor to our profession and pride to our college. Thank you.
Anna Gramberg, Dean College of Liberal Arts
Our Mission We are committed to the ideals of a liberal education and to the highest level of intellectual excellence. Our distinguished faculty are dedicated to teaching, scholarship, and outreach.We teach our students to think creatively, critically, and independently; to communicate effectively; and to adapt to change. Furthermore, we foster a community in which students, faculty, and administration have an understanding of the human condition, a respect for individual and cultural differences, and a desire for the free exchange of ideas. We emphasize integrity, inquiry, and civility for the sake of educated, thoughtful citizenship.
Order of Events Master of Ceremony
Dan Larocque, Department of Theatre
Welcome
Anna Gramberg, Dean
Promotion of Excellence in Teaching and Learning Awards Presented by Elizabeth Brestan-Knight, PETL chair
Academy of Teaching and Outstanding Teachers Teaching Award in Humanities Teaching Award in Communication Sciences and Social Sciences Early Career Teaching Award Instructional Excellence Teaching Excellence Award in Fine Arts Excellence in Advising
Competitive Research Grants Presented by Paula Bobrowski, Associate Dean
Competitive Professional Improvement Leave Awards Competitive Summer Research and Humanities Grants Competitive Collaborative and Interdisciplinary Grants
Assessment Awards Presented by Constance C. Relihan, Associate Dean
Community and Civic Engagement Awards Presented by Giovanna Summerfield, Director of the Arts and Faculty Initiatives
Closing and Remarks Anna Gramberg, Dean
Please join us after the ceremony for a reception honoring the award recipients in the museum lobby. *Music Theatre Majors will perform “Children Will Listen” from Stephen Sondheim’s Into the Woods
Promotion of Excellence in Teaching and Learning Awards The PETL Committee reviews nominations for outstanding teachers in the college. Faculty submit nominations to the committee, with supporting documents from colleagues and students, and then the committee reviews the submissions and votes on the winners.
Academy of Teaching and Outstanding Teachers
Judith Blumsack Communication Disorders
Lewis “bud” Barker Psychology
Judith Blumsack is an associate communication disorders professor. She received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan and her doctorate from Florida State University. Blumsack’s interests include rehabilitative audiology and educational audiology. She is a member of the American Academy of Audiology Foundation Board of Trustees and is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Alabama Academy of Audiology. Blumsack and her husband, Steve, have two daughters, Lisa and Michelle.
Lewis Barker currently serves as a professor of psychology. He received his bachelor’s from Occidental College, and his master’s and doctorate from Florida State University. He retired after 28 years of teaching at Baylor University as professor of psychology and neuroscience. His research program in animal learning, comparative psychology, and neuroscience during that time resulted in numerous publications, book chapters, edited books, and textbooks. He came to Auburn University in 2000 and served as departmental chair of psychology. He coordinated the Human Odyssey program for three years and has taught courses in learning, behavioral neuroscience, sports psychology, Human Odyssey, and numerous sections of Introduction to Psychology.While at Auburn, he has directed five doctoral students while conducting research and writing in the area of Experimental Psychology.
Teaching Excellence Award in Humanities
Early Career Teaching Excellence Award
Craig Bertolet English
Anna Bertolet English
Craig Bertolet is an associate professor of English. He received his bachelor’s from Millersville State University and his master’s and doctorate from Penn State. His research interests are in medieval English Literature and the intersection between literature and culture. His essays have appeared in Chaucer Review, Studies in Philology, and Philological Quarterly. Bertolet is coordinator of Undergraduate Studies in the English Department and serves as co-director of the AU Summer in London Program.
Anna Riehl Bertolet is an assistant professor of English. She received her bachelor’s from Moscow State Pedagogical University and her doctorate from the University of Illinois at Chicago. She specializes in early modern literature and culture, particularly Shakespeare and Elizabeth I. Bertolet’s book The Face of Queenship: Early Modern Representations of Elizabeth I was recently published. Bertolet is a co-director of the AU Summer in London Program. She has two children and is married to Craig Bertolet.
Pamela Paine Foreign Languages Pamela Paine serves as a professor of French. She received her bachelor’s from Florida State University, her master’s from Auburn University and her doctorate from the University of Florida. Her research interests include 20th century and contemporary French literature, narrative voice, questions of identity and rhetorics of power, persuasion and seduction. She has published Christiane Rochefort and the Dialogic:Tension and Intention, as well as many articles and book reviews in national and international journals. She served as director of undergraduate French. She and her husband have two children and six grandchildren.
Teaching Excellence Award in Communication and Social Sciences David Sutton Communication and Journalism David Sutton is an associate professor in the Department of Communication & Journalism. While stationed with the Navy in Norfolk,Va., he met his wife, Charlotte, and they were married in 1976. He attended Baylor University, receiving his bachelor’s in philosophy in 1983 and moved to Auburn in 1986. Finding the university life attractive, he earned his master’s in speech communication from Auburn University in 1989, and then went on to earn his doctorate from the University of Georgia in 1994. He and his wife have two children.
Chantel Acevedo English Chantel Acevedo is an assistant professor of English. Acevedo’s first novel, Love and Ghost Letters, won the Latino International Book Award and was a finalist for the Connecticut Book of the Year. Her fiction and poetry have appeared or are forthcoming in Prairie Schooner, American Poetry Review, North American Review, and Chattahoochee Review, among others. She teaches creative writing in the Department of English, co-edits the Southern Humanities Review and organizes the annual Auburn Writers Conference.
Instructional Excellence Award James Buford Political Science James Buford is an adjunct faculty member in the Department of Political Science where he teaches human resource management courses in the public administration program. He taught in the local government human resource accreditation program for the Center for Governmental Services for a number of years. He received the Auburn Alumni Association Award of Excellence for his public service and research contributions and is the author or coauthor of three management texts. He was selected in 2003 and 2007 to write the compensation section of the Encyclopedia of Public Administration and Public Policy.
Teaching Excellence Award in Fine Arts
Competitive Professional Improvement Leave The College of Liberal Arts presents these awards in honor of its commitment to quality research and creative work. These award recipients receive one semester paid leave at full salary.
Doug Rosener Music Doug Rosener is an associate professor of percussion and associate director of bands. He received his bachelor’s degree in Music Education from Penn State, his master’s in Percussion Performance from the University of North Texas, and his doctorate in Percussion Performance from the University of Colorado in Boulder. He has performed with many professional orchestras including the Boulder Philharmonic, the Sinfonia of Colorado, the Colorado Ballet Company Orchestra, the Colorado Springs Symphony, the Colorado Music Festival Orchestra and the Columbus Symphony. Rosener has recorded several CDs and has been a regular drummer with several professional musical theater companies. He is the current percussion instructor for the Macy’s Great American Marching Band, which is featured every year in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.
Excellence in Advising Keren Gorodeisky Philosophy Keren Gorodeisky is an assistant professor in Philosophy. Her main research areas are philosophical aesthetics, the philosophy of Immanuel Kant and 18th - 19th century German philosophy, and she also has an interest in the philosophy and literature, existentialism and phenomenology. Currently, she is working on an interpretation of Kant’s aesthetic theory that elaborates the special form that characterizes judgments of beauty and distinguishes them from theoretical and moral judgments, as well as a reconstruction of the philosophy of the “Early German Romantics.” Since moving to Auburn in 2007, she has been the advisor of the Philosophy Club, a student organization on campus.
Jennifer Adams Communication and Journalism Jennifer Adams is an associate professor of journalism and the journalism program director. A former reporter, features editor and page designer, she worked for The News Guard in Lincoln City, Ore., The Martinsville Journal in Martinsville, W.Va., and The Republic in Columbus, Ind. She also served as the publications editor for the South Carolina Press Association in Columbia, S.C. She received a bachelor’s degree in print journalism and political science from Ball State University, a master’s degree in journalism and mass communications and a doctoral degree in journalism from the University of South Carolina. Her research interests focus on journalism education, print and online journalism and the marketing, management and convergence issues associated with the fields.
Competitive Summer Research and Humanities Grants The College of Liberal Arts recognizes the importance of opportunities for professional growth. Each of these awardees receive a $10,000 summer salary to support their research.
Allyson Comstock Art Allyson Comstock is a professor in the Department of Art. She received her bachelor’s degree in studio art from Occidental College and Master of Fine Arts from Arizona State University. She studied Japanese paper-making at Pyramid Atlantic in Washington DC with the proprietor of the Fuji Paper Mill in Tokoshima, Japan. Working primarily in handmade paper to create two-dimensional artworks and in mixed media to create sculptural installations, Comstock explores ideas related to the natural world. Her work has been exhibited in several galleries and museums and is in the permanent collection of the Mobile Museum of Art.
Jinyan Fan Psychology
Judith Sheppard Communication and Journalism Judith Sheppard is an associate professor in journalism. She is working on a book titled Prophets Without Honor:The Unexamined Lives of Four Editors in Civil Rights Alabama. The book will be the first to fully highlight the courageous work done by a few newspaper editors who dared stand up to overwhelming social and economic pressures and report the truth about what was then the Deep South’s most violent state. A long-time Southern newspaper journalist herself, she has written for newspapers across the country and for national and regional journals and magazines. She has a master’s degree in English Literature from Auburn University and teaches literary journalism and the advanced writing courses in the journalism program.
Jinyan Fan is an assistant professor of psychology. He received a bachelor’s in psychology and master’s in industrial psychology from East China Normal University in Shanghai. He then earned his doctorate in industrial/organizational psychology from Ohio State University. His research interests are in the domains of newcomer orientation and socialization, cross-cultural adjustment and training, personnel selection, and adult social self-efficacy. His work has appeared in several prestigious journals.
James Shelley Philosophy James Shelley is an associate professor of philosophy. He teaches courses in aesthetics, the philosophy of film, ethics and logic. He earned his doctorate from the University of Chicago and has authored papers on the history of philosophical aesthetics, the nature of aesthetic value and the value of tragedy. He was awarded the John Fisher Memorial Prize by the American Society for Aesthetics for his work on the aesthetic theory of David Hume. He is also a past recipient of the College of Liberal Arts PETL Teaching Award in Humanities.
Competitive Collaborative and Interdisciplinary Grants
Student Learning Outcomes Assessment Innovation Faculty Awards
The College of Liberal Arts has established the Competitive Collaborative and Interdisciplinary Grants to promote, encourage and support faculty involved in high quality collaborative and interdisciplinary research projects that advance the mission of the college and university.
The College of Liberal Arts has established the Student Outcomes Assessment Innovation Faculty Award to recognize those faculty members who have done the most to promote Student Learning Outcomes assessment within their program, the department or the college.
Barb Bondy Art
Elizabeth Brestan-Knight Psychology
Barb Bondy is an associate professor of art. She is a College of Liberal Arts Engaged Scholar and was recently appointed as a 2011 Public Centers and Institutes Collaboratory Research Fellow for Imagining America. Bondy recently served as the Daniel F. Breeden Scholar for the Caroline Marshall Draughon Center for the Arts and Humanities. Among her most recent exhibitions, is a solo exhibition, “UnMappable Mappable,” at University of Montevallo, Ala., and a group exhibition, “The Drawing Room,” at Pendulum Gallery in Vancouver, BC. Her artwork has recently been published in the International Drawing Annual 5, an exhibition-in-print published by Manifest Creative Research Gallery and Drawing Center.
Elizabeth Brestan-Knight is an associate professor of psychology and the Department of Psychology’s undergraduate program director. She received her bachelor’s from Emory University and her doctorate in Clinical & Health Psychology from the University of Florida. She completed a post-doctoral fellowship at the Center on Child Abuse and Neglect at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center. Her research interests include the behavioral observation of parent-child interactions, parent education, and group Parent Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT). Most recently, Brestan-Knight has conducted civic engagement projects focusing on the dissemination and implementation of PCIT to front-line mental health therapists in Alabama, Georgia, Maryland, Ohio and Singapore.
Jeffrey Katz Psychology Jeffrey Katz is an alumni professor of psychology. His research focuses on the comparative mechanism of learning and cognition. Ongoing projects involve behavioral and functional neuroimaging methods to investigate change detection, visual search, same/ different concept learning, and the mechanisms by which pigeons learn matching to sample. He has been honored with the APA’s Division 3 (Experimental Psychology) 2001 Young Investigator Award, Psi Chi Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching Award, College of Liberal Arts Early Career Teaching Award, Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers and an Auburn University Alumni Professorship. He has a history of teaching and research grants from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH).
Chase Bringardner Theatre Chase Bringardner is an assistant professor in the Department of Theatre. He specializes in the study of popular entertainments such as medicine shows and musical theatre, regional identity construction, and intersections of race, gender, and class in popular performance forms. He received his doctorate from the University of Texas at Austin. He has a chapter forthcoming in the new Oxford Companion to the Musical on region, politics, and identity in musical theatre. He also enjoys directing and acting and recently staged the fall 2010 production of Harold Pinter’s The Birthday Party. He is an active member of the Association of Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE) and the American Society of Theatre Research (ASTR).
Departmental Award for Outstanding Student Learning Outcomes Assessment The College of Liberal Arts has established the Departmental Award for Outstanding Student Learning Outcomes Assessment to recognize the department that has demonstrated during the previous year the most serious commitment to the Student Learning Outcomes assessment process.The award also promotes responsible assessment practices by encouraging an annual meeting in each department devoted to assessment.
University Awards These award recipients received recognition from Auburn University for their pursuit of excellence.
Creative Research and Scholarship Paula Backscheider Philpott/West Point Stevens Eminent Scholar – English College of Liberal Arts Paula R. Backscheider specializes in Restoration and eighteenth-century literature, feminist criticism and cultural studies. She is the author of several books, two of which have been selected for the Choice Outstanding Academic Book award, and has published articles in many prestigious journals. A former president of the American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies, she has held ACLS, NEH, and Guggenheim fellowships and is one of the few American members of the Institute for Advanced Studies, University of Edinburgh. An award-winning teacher, she is dedicated to discussion courses and creating an atmosphere in which students can be themselves and feel free to take risks.
The Department of Psychology
Community and Civic Engagement Award The CCE Teaching Award is given to a liberal arts faculty member who demonstrates civic commitment and excellent teaching skills in meaningful experiential courses that support the development, retention and graduation of civic-minded students.
Kathleen Hale Political Science Kathleen Hale is an assistant professor in the Department of Political Science and MPA Program. Her research focuses on the ways that nonprofit organizations and various forms of community governance create capacity to achieve public goals. She teaches courses on nonprofit management and nonprofit law in the community and civic engagement minor as well as other courses on public administration and public affairs. She currently serves on the executive council of the Nonprofit Section of the National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration.
The Gerald and Emily Leischuck Endowed Presidential Awards for Excellence in Teaching Donna Bohanan Joseph A. Kicklighter Endowed Professor - History College of Liberal Arts Donna Bohanan, who teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in early modern Europe and world history, says her favorite place on campus is her office, which she describes as “bursting at the seams” with books, research and students’ papers. In the classroom, Bohanan uses notary inventories of noble estates to reconstruct the contents and decorative schemes of homes. She has published two books and is currently working on another book-length project. Bohanan started at Auburn in 1982, and finds that being able to teach students ranging from freshmen to doctoral-level at Auburn is richly rewarding.
Alumni Professors Chris Correia Associate Professor – Psychology College of Liberal Arts After completing his doctorate in clinical psychology, Chris Correia completed an internship in clinical psychology at the Syracuse Veterans Administration Medical Center and a post-doctoral training fellowship at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine’s Behavioral Pharmacology Research Unit. Currently, his research activities focus on understanding the use and abuse of a variety of psychoactive substances. More specific current interests include behavioral and cognitivemotivational treatments and developing laboratory procedures to study the reinforcing value of alcohol and other drugs. Correia is also the clinical supervisor for the University’s Health Behavior Assessment Center, which provides brief assessments and interventions for students with concerns about their alcohol use. His favorite place on campus is Plainsman Park as he has always loved baseball and really enjoys supporting Auburn’s team.
Kenneth W. Noe Draughon Professor – History College of Liberal Arts A native of Virginia, Kenneth Noe taught at West Georgia College for 10 years before coming to Auburn in 2000. His major teaching and research areas are the American Civil War and Appalachian history. He is the author or editor of six books and has written many articles and essays. He is a Pulitzer Prize nominee and the winner of the 2003 Kentucky Governor’s Award, the 2002 Peter Seaborg Book Award for Civil War Non-fiction and the 1997 Tennessee History Book Award, as well as several teaching awards. Noe states that his proudest moment was watching his son, Jesse, walk across the stage to receive his Auburn diploma and then “fist-bump” Bo Jackson in 2005.
Distinguished Diversity Researcher Donald R. Wehrs Professor – English College of Liberal Arts Author of three books on twenteth-century African fiction and more than 25 refereed journal articles and book chapters, Wehrs specializes in comparative literature and post-colonial ethical and philosophical criticism and theory. The judges cited his international reputation, his commitment to globalization, his insightful analyses and the consistent high level of his publications. Nominated by the directors of Africana Studies and Women’s Studies, he was praised for innovative work that opened new fields of research. For Wehrs, Auburn has always had truly splendid students and colleagues, an Honors College that has fostered the shared pursuit of excellence, and library resources and staff who have always supported thorough and sophisticated research.
PETL Committee Members 2010 –2011 Chair – Elizabeth Brestan-Knight ........................................... Psychology Paula Bobrowski ................................................... Associate Dean (ex officio) Wiebke Kuhn ..................................................... CLA IT Manager (ex officio) Cate Giustino ..................................................................................... History Cal Clark ................................................................................Political Science Joyce de Vries............................................................................................. Art Richard Good.......................................................................................Music Allison Plumb......................................................... Communication Disorders James Shelley..................................................................................Philosophy Judy Sheppard ................................................. Communication and Journalism
Research Grants Committee Members Paula Bobrowski, Chair ....................................................... Associate Dean Susan Brinson ............................................... Communication and Journalism Karen Garrison .................................................................................... Music Nancy Haak ............................................................Communication Disorders Morris Bian .........................................................................................History Chris Correia ................................................................................ Psychology Committee members would like to give a special thanks to Chandler Doyle for filming and editing the video spots on the award winners for the ceremony.
Special Thanks Maggie Daley Adriene Simon Vicky Santos Kelly Walker Martina Janska Darrell Crutchley Student Eminent Society Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Arts Photographic Services
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