Awards, Honors, and Professorships

Through FLAS Award, a Chance to Study Inuktitut
Lutz Named Teacher of the Year--By Teachers
Other Awards, Honors, and Professorships

Through FLAS Award, a Chance to Study Inuktitut

UW Department of Communication graduate student Tim Pasch speaks several languages, including French and Japanese. But for his research on the internet’s role in preserving indigenous cultures, he wanted to learn a less popular language: Inuktitut, spoken by the Inuit who live in Canada’s far north.

	Tim Pasch (right) with Inuktitut instructor Mick Mallon. Photo by Nancy Joseph.

Unfortunately Inuktitut is not offered at the UW. In fact, only a handful of Inuktitut teachers exist anywhere. But with the help of Nadine Fabbi, associate director of the Canadian Studies Center in the Jackson School of International Studies, Pasch was able to locate an Inuktitut teacher who was spending the summer in Victoria, B.C. He and Fabbi also secured a Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship (FLAS) to support his Inuktitut study. FLAS awards are funded through the Center’s U.S. Department of Education Title VI grant, which is intended to educate students about the world and prepare them as global citizens.

“The far north is emerging as the next critical arena in terms of environmental and security issues and aboriginal self- governance efforts,” says Fabbi. “It is vital that the Center promote graduate research that will serve the growing need for expertise in this area.”

Pasch’s Inuktitut instructor, Mick Mallon, taught at the Arctic College in Nunavut, an Inuit town, for many years and still lives there. “He’s designed all of the teacher training courses up there,” says Pasch. “We were incredibly lucky to find him.”

Pasch and Mallon spent the summer commuting between Seattle and Victoria for their sessions—a lot of effort to learn a language spoken by a relatively small population. But Pasch believes it’s been worth the trouble. “If I’m going to do solid research on issues of importance in the Native north, I need to look at original sources,” he says. “I think it’s important to know the language.”

Mallon, who is not Inuit but has spent most of his adult life in the Inuit community, agrees that speaking the language is a huge advantage for anyone working with the Inuit community. “If Tim were to go up there without knowing any of the language, he would just be a part of the ‘white blur,’” says Mallon. “If he can make even small conversational exchanges, he then comes into focus.”

How soon Pasch will be able to chat comfortably in Inuktitut is still unclear. Mallon insists that the language is “incredibly logical,” which is a plus. But it is also very different than English. “Mick tells me that it’s like building an igloo,” says Pasch. “You have these enormously long words and you’re building them with these chunks like ice blocks, with each fitting in a certain way.”

With Mallon now back in Nunavut, he and Pasch are continuing their sessions by teleconferencing (through a Macintosh video conferencing system)—a fitting solution given Pasch’s interest in the use of technology to preserve indigenous cultures.

“My research focus is the internet community in the Canadian arctic,” says Pasch. “So besides this being a great way to continue my Inuktitut studies, it’s a fantastic example for my dissertation.”

Lutz Named Teacher of the Year--by Teachers

Julie Lutz’s titles are a mouthful. Combined, they explain why she was named Higher Education Teacher of the Year by the Washington Science Teachers Association.

	Julie Lutz . Photo by Kathy Sauber.

Lutz is a research professor of astronomy who conducts research on planetary nebulae—old stars that have cast off the outer layers of their atmospheres. She also serves as director of NASA Space Science Network Northwest, a five-year grant for space science education and public outreach. And she is acting director of the Washington Space Grant Consortium, a program that supports science education through undergraduate scholarships and research opportunities and K-12 outreach.

Combining her three roles, Lutz is able to do exciting science herself and communicate that excitement to others.

“I feel so lucky to be involved in science, and I want to encourage others to become involved too,” says Lutz, whose fascination with astronomy dates back to her childhood in Hawaii, where “the beautiful dark skies” provided wonderful opportunities for stargazing.

To inspire future scientists, Lutz helps K-12 schools with curriculum reform and works with individual teachers to develop ideas for the classroom. She also offers professional development workshops for teachers.

“You get a whole leveraging effect if you get teachers excited and confident about teaching science content, and that’s going to translate to their students,” says Lutz.

The work is its own reward, but Lutz is nevertheless pleased to be honored by Washington’s teachers. “I’ve been pretty heavily involved in science education
for the last 20 years,” she says,” so it’s really nice to be recognized for the
work.”

Other Awards and Honors

Nancy Alarcon and Carol Stoel-Gammon, professors of speech and hearing sciences, have been named Fellows by the American-Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) in recognition of their significant contributions related to communication sciences and disorders.

Steve Buck, professor of psychology, has been elected general secretary of the International Color Vision Society. The general secretary is the group’s chief operating officer and chair of its Directors Board.

Paul Burstein, professor of sociology, will be the first holder of the Lucia S. and Herbert L. Pruzan Endowed Professorship in Jewish Studies.

David Ginger, assistant professor of chemistry, received a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) for his contributions to the development of a tool that allows chemical and biological “inks” to be deposited on surface resolutions as small as 15 nanometers, and for his record of mentoring undergraduate students.

Richard T. Gray, professor of Germanics, was awarded the GSA/DAAD prize for best article on a literary topic published in the German Studies Review during the preceding two years. The article was on “Red Herrings and Blue Smocks: Ecological Destruction, Commercialism, and Anti-Semitism in Annette von Droste-Hülshoff’s Die Judenbuche.”

Anthony Greenwald, professor of psychology, has been chosen to receive the Distinguished Scientist Award of the Society of Experimental Social Psychology.

Rebecca Handcock, affiliate assistant professor of Earth and space sciences and Research Scientist at CSIRO (Australia), received the 2005 Boeing Award for Best Paper in Image Analysis and Interpretation.

Jon Jory, professor of drama, received the 2005 Kentucky Star Award for outstanding contributions to the arts. He also received the Career Achievement Award from the Association for Theatre in Higher Education.

Ivan R. King, research professor of astronomy, received an honorary degree of Doctor of Science from Hamilton College.

Michael McCann, Gordon Hirabayashi Professor for the Advancement of Citizenship and director of the Law, Societies, and Justice program, won two awards as co-author (with William Haltom, ‘83) of Distorting the Law: Politics, Media, and the Litigation Crisis. He won the Herbert Jacob Prize for best book from the international Law & Society Association and the C. Herman Pritchett Award for best book from the Law and Courts section of the American Political Science Association.

James Morrow, professor of mathematics, was awarded a College of Arts and Sciences Alumni Distinguished Professorship for the 2005-06 academic year, for having a profound effect on students both inside and outside the classroom through exemplary teaching and mentoring.

Adrian Raftery, professor of sociology and statistics and director of the Center for Statistics and the Social Sciences, has been appointed the Blumstein-Jordan Professor of Sociology.

Nikhil Singh, professor of history, received a 2005 Washington State Book Award for Black is a Country: Race and The Unfinished Struggle for Democracy.

Sibel Sirakaya, assistant professor of economics, has been appointed as the first Arthur J. Gresh Faculty Career Development Fellow, for the 2005-06 academic year. The $10,000 award supports research and educational activities for faculty in the Department of Economics at the beginning of their academic career.

Katherine W. Stovel, associate professor of sociology, received the Roger Gould Prize from the American Journal of Sociology for her paper (with Peter Bearman and James Moody), “Chains of Affection: The Structure of Adolescent Romantic and Sexual Networks.” See A&S article about her research.

Minze Stuiver, professor emeritus of Earth and space sciences, received the Geological Society of America’s 2005 Penrose Medal for outstanding original contributions or achievements that mark a major advance in the science of geology.

Peter D. Ward, professor of biology and Earth and space sciences, received a 2005 Washington State Book Award for Gorgon: The Monsters that Ruled the Planet before Dinosaurs and How They Died in the Greatest Catastrophe in Earth’s History.

[Autumn 2005 - Table of Contents]