Lafayette Faculty and Staff Saluted for Distinguished Teaching, Scholarship, and Service

Outstanding professors and other members of the Lafayette community were honored tonight for distinguished teaching, scholarly research, and service to the College at Lafayette’s annual pre-Commencement awards dinner.

President Daniel Weiss, Anthony M. Cummings, provost and dean of the faculty, and Alan R. Griffith ’64, chair of the Board of Trustees, presented awards and citations.

Weiss recognized Ann L. Gold, who is retiring as instructor of athletics and head coach of field hockey after 25 years at the College and has been elected to emerita status, and Frederick J. Quivey, who is retiring as vice president for business affairs and treasurer after 16 years of service.

Griffith recognized three retiring trustees who have been elected to emeritus status, Robert L. Yohe ’58, vice chair of the board; Nancy Brennan Lund ’74, and William P. Rutledge ’63, and expressed appreciation to Barbara J. Lombardo ’83, who is concluding a five-year term as alumni trustee. Riley K. Temple ’71, secretary of the board, will succeed Yohe as vice-chair, and Edward W. Ahart ’69 will succeed Temple as secretary.

Griffith announced that Samuel R. Chapin ’79 and Martha A. Heinze ’86 were elected to the board. Each will begin a five-year term July 1.

Cummings announced that Wayne S. Leibel, professor and head of biology, has been appointed to an endowed chair effective with the 2007-08 academic year. Leibel will be the Gideon R. Kreider Jr. and Alice L. Kreider Professor of Biology.

The evening featured the awarding of prizes in recognition of exceptional teaching, scholarship, and service to Lafayette. The awards are funded through designated gifts to the endowment.

Marquis Distinguished Teaching Awards for distinctive and extraordinary teaching went to W. Mark Crain, William E. Simon Professor of Political Economy; Susan A. Niles, professor of anthropology and sociology; Joshua A. Sanborn, associate professor of history; and Andrew M. Smith, assistant professor of English. An endowed fund established by Walter A. Scott ’59 and his wife, Kate, provides for four annual awards.

John E. Meier, professor of mathematics, received the Mary Louise Van Artsdalen Prize for outstanding scholarly achievement. The award was established by Dr. Ervin R. Van Artsdalen ’35 in memory of his wife.

Wendy L. Hill, William C. ’67 and Pamela H. Rappolt Professor of Neuroscience, is the recipient of the Delta Upsilon Distinguished Mentoring and Teaching Award. Established in 2000 by alumni of the Lafayette chapter of Delta Upsilon fraternity on the 115th anniversary of the fraternity’s founding, the award recognizes members of the faculty for distinctive and extraordinary teaching through mentoring, which may include advising, undergraduate research, independent study, or any of the many one-on-one mentoring activities that take place in a student-centered learning environment.

Ida Sinkevic, associate professor of art, received the Carl R. and Ingeborg Beidleman Research Award recognizing excellence in applied research or scholarship. The prize was established by Carl R. Beidleman ’54, professor emeritus of finance at Lehigh University, and his wife, Ingeborg.

Thomas H. Bruggink, professor of economics and business, is the recipient of the James E. Lennertz Prize for Exceptional Teaching and Mentoring. Established by Leslie F. Muhlfelder ’81, the College’s vice president for human resources and general counsel, the award honors Lafayette faculty member James E. Lennertz, associate professor of government and law, for his exceptional teaching, devotion to students, and extraordinary ability to challenge students to realize their full intellectual potential.

John S. Shaw III, associate professor of psychology, received the James P. Crawford Award. Established by Jonathan Bernon ’84, the prize rewards a faculty member who has demonstrated a high standard of classroom instruction. The award honors the late James P. Crawford, who taught in the Department of Mathematics from 1957 to 2003.

James P. Schaffer, director of engineering and professor of chemical engineering, received the Christian R. and Mary F. Lindback Foundation Award for excellence in teaching and outstanding contributions to campus life.

Helena Silverstein, professor of government and law, received the Thomas Roy and Lura Forrest Jones Award for superior teaching and scholarly contribution to her discipline.

Chip Nataro, associate professor of chemistry, and Andrea L. Smith, assistant professor of anthropology and sociology, received Thomas Roy and Lura Forrest Jones Faculty Lecture Awards in recognition of excellence in teaching and scholarship. Each will deliver a featured lecture during the 2007-08 academic year.

Also recognized were this year’s Jones Faculty Lecturers, Paul D. Barclay, associate professor of history, and Chawne M. Kimber, associate professor of mathematics.

Shaw and Andrea Smith are the recipients of Student Government Superior Teaching Awards.

Carol A. Rowlands ’81, director of admissions, is the inaugural recipient of the Gary A. Evans Administrative Prize, presented to an administrator or staff member who has provided a high level of service to the College, its alumni, or students over a substantial period of time. The award was established by an alumnus in tribute to the extraordinary service of Gary A. Evans ’57 to Lafayette over more than three decades, including service as director of admissions, vice president for college relations and development, and executive assistant to the president.

Ann R. Carter, director of development communications, and Diane Windham Shaw, special collections librarian and College archivist, received the Cyrus S. Fleck Jr. ’52 Administrator of the Year Award in recognition of outstanding contributions to the campus community. Cy Fleck, for whom the award, instituted in 2002, is named, served Lafayette as an administrator for more than four decades, including 32 years as registrar.

Five faculty members and one administrator were honored for 25 years of service to Lafayette. They are Rexford A. Ahene, professor of economics and business; Arthur D. Gorman, associate professor of mathematics; Charles W. Holliday, professor of biology; Roxanne Lalande, professor of foreign languages and literatures, Gold, and Carter.

Lawrence L. Malinconico, associate professor of geology and environmental geosciences, received the Daniel L. Golden ’34 Faculty Service Award in recognition of distinguished service to Lafayette through the Alumni Association and alumni activities.

Five faculty members received Joseph Johnson Hardy Memorial Fund Awards. The award was established in 1923 by Harry S. Gay 1882 in memory of Professor Hardy, who taught mathematics and astronomy at Lafayette from 1870 to 1915. The income from this fund is divided annually among the five members of the faculty who have achieved the longest continuous service to Lafayette without regard to rank.

Honored were Edward R. McDonald, professor of German in the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures, who joined the faculty in 1964; Stephen E. Lammers (1969), Helen H.P. Manson Professor of the English Bible in the Department of Religious Studies; Robert I. Weiner, Thomas Roy and Lura Forrest Jones Professor of History (1969); Rado Pribic, Oliver Edwin Williams Professor of Languages (1971), and Dan F. Bauer, professor of anthropology and sociology (1972).