A&S Faculty Honored for Distinguished Teaching: Robyn Hunt, Ronald Irving, Mary Pat Wenderoth
Teaching Assistants Honored for Teaching Excellence
Dedicated Staff Recognized
Howard Honored for Mentoring Efforts
Levi Recognized for Dedication to Service Learning
Interdisciplinary Writing Center's Brotman Award
Listing of Additional A&S Awards and Honors

A&S Faculty Honored for Distinguished Teaching

UW Distinguished Teaching Award recipients (from left) Mary Pat Wenderoth, Ron Irving, and Robyn Hunt.

Each year, the University of Washington Alumni Association selects a handful of faculty to receive its Distinguished Teaching Award. The award honors faculty who show a mastery of their subject matter, intellectual rigor, lively curiosity, a commitment to research, and a passion for teaching.

Three Arts and Sciences faculty -- Robyn Hunt, Ronald Irving, and Mary Pat Wenderoth -- are among the recipients for 2001.

Robyn Hunt, Associate Professor of Drama
When Robyn Hunt earned her MFA in acting, she immediately took a teaching job. Her colleagues shook their heads and told her she’d never perform again. But Hunt knew better.

“I always wanted to do both,” she says. “I didn’t really know how I would work that out, but I was sure I would somehow.”

She’s worked it out in a variety of ways. By cramming extra sessions with students into her dinner break while still going to rehearsals for her own work in the evening; by founding— with others—off-campus theaters to do the kind of work she wants to do; and by spending summers training with a master theater artist in Japan, Hunt has managed to make a life for herself in the theater and to help hundreds of her students do the same.

“She teaches students how to think for themselves, how to create from themselves, how to learn by themselves, and ultimately, how to teach themselves and others,” says Krista Hoeppner, a Professional Actor Training Program (PATP) graduate.

She does it with an eclectic combination of learned techniques and her own intuition. “The Japanese have a saying—‘Case by case,’” Hunt says. “And that’s how you teach acting—case by case. Each actor’s needs are different.”

That was perhaps never so true as when Hunt met Maria Cason, now a UW graduate student. Cason, who has cerebral palsy, found the physical exercises of the Suzuki-based training Hunt employs daunting. Hunt scheduled one-hour, one-on-one sessions with her before class, then adapted the training so that Cason could participate fully.

“One day I remarked that I felt bad because she was putting in so much extra teaching time for me,” Cason says. “She looked at me, shocked, and replied, ‘Maria, this isn’t extra. This is what you need to get the same education as the rest of them. If this is what it takes, this is what we’ll do.’”

Other students also comment on the extra hours Hunt puts in. But to Hunt, none of her activities is “extra.” And teaching, she says, is not a detriment at all to her first love, performing.

“To be of some use either artistically or practically, to help someone get better at some-thing—that’s very satisfying,” she says.

Ronald S. Irving, Professor of Mathematics
Ron Irving has taught it all—introductory, advanced, and graduate courses in mathematics—for more than 20 years. But it wasn’t until five years ago, when he began teaching future middle and high school math teachers, that he discovered the true joys of educating others.

“I’ve always loved teaching, but I’ve also thought of myself as a mathematician first,” Irving says. “When I began teaching math education majors five years ago, the experience completely changed my point of view on teaching. It’s been the best thing I’ve ever done as a teacher.”

Irving restructured the modern algebra course for secondary education. His approach encourages future teachers to learn how to make mathematical arguments, not necessarily just how to do calculations.

“A secondary teacher needs to learn how to read, write, speak, and listen in mathematics,” Irving says. “Math has its own language, and it’s important for these students to learn how to communicate in the language of mathematics because they will need to be able to do so with their students.”

Irving has his students communicate mathematical ideas orally and in writing. He gives unconventional exams in which students work in groups on a preliminary test in class and in an extra study session. This, Irving says, encourages future teachers to recognize each other’s mistakes and teach and help each other.

“It’s so crucial for them to learn how to recognize when a solution, proof, or mathematical argument is wrong and then be able to help the student make it right,” Irving says.

Following in the footsteps of former UW math professor E.T. Bell, Irving hopes his work with future teachers inspires tomorrow’s mathematicians. His own interest in a mathematics career emerged by age 8, and he credits Bell’s book, Men of Mathematics, with reinforcing his decision.

Mary Pat Wenderoth, Lecturer in Zoology and Biology
Ever thought about the miraculous abilities of muscle tissue? Sit in on Mary Pat Wenderoth’s class, and you may never see muscles quite the same way again.

“She has tremendous energy, and as she was lecturing about muscle contraction, I found myself once again amazed by the beauty and utility of the tissue,” says Billie Swalla, assistant professor of zoology. “I have done team-teaching with many others in other universities, yet never have I learned so much from a co-instructor.”

Swalla is not alone in her praise of Wenderoth. Her courses receive outstanding recommendations. She is in great demand from faculty who co-teach some of these courses. No wonder the department asks her to train beginning faculty, especially in large introductory courses where early mentoring is critical.

Wenderoth almost missed out on teaching, as graduate work and her postdoctoral appointment at the UW in biochemistry didn’t leave much time for classroom teaching. Then in 1994, John Palka, then director of the Biology Program, asked her to fill in for a faculty member on sabbatical. Palka says Wenderoth turned out to be one of those “. . . true scholars whose real passion lies in teaching rather than research.”

Central to Wenderoth’s teaching is what she describes as an “ask-don’t-tell” model of learning. The idea is that students who are told what they need to know actually end up retaining less than students who are helped to figure out answers—results confirmed by the Physiology Education Research Consortium in their testing of students. Wenderoth has been a member of the consortium for several years.

Wenderoth is also a champion for departmental innovation on a larger scale, as she plays a key role in the Community College-UW Partnership and other department initiatives.

“Biology is preparing to overhaul our biology majors’ introductory series,” says Biology lecturer Linda Martin-Morris. “As we prepare for this transformation, we realize how much our plans rely on the versatility, energy, and professionalism displayed by Mary Pat to allow this transformation to proceed smoothly.”

A&S Teaching Assistants Honored
Excellence in Teaching Awards are given to graduate teaching assistants who show outstanding promise as university-level teachers. This year, both recipients hail from Arts and Sciences.

Excellence in Teaching Award recipients Kathy Cook and John Armstrong.

John Armstrong, Teaching Assistant in Astronomy
“I think astronomy lends itself to teaching because I have yet to meet somebody who isn’t interested in the night sky,” says John Armstrong. “It’s just a very accessible science.”

Armstrong’s own interest in astronomy emerged during a stint in Antarctica—as a dishwasher — where he “spent a year staring at the southern sky.” Now he is a third-year student in the UW’s unique doctoral program in astrobiology.

A big reason Armstrong chose the UW for his doctoral work is because he would get the chance to teach. And he has. He was only required to teach his first year, but after serving as TA in three classes that year and two the second year, he went on to teach his own class last year. Along the way, he has gotten rave reviews from his students.

“I really appreciated the energy and enthusiasm that you brought as a teacher,” wrote one graduating senior. “… This class has truly impacted the way that I think about this planet and its place in the universe (and mine, too).”

Kathleen Cook, Teaching Assistant in Psychology
For Kathy Cook, the desire to be a teacher started early. She recalls collecting leftover worksheets from her second grade teacher and from her mother, who also taught school. Her father, a professor, hung a small blackboard in their basement and added a couple of antique desks. “I rounded up the kids in the neighborhood and started holding class,” Cook says.

That teaching passion has apparently stayed put, according to colleagues and students. “In her time here, Kathy has played a more central role in teaching than any other graduate student,” says Michael Beecher, professor and chair of the psychology department. “I have the impression that Kathy could teach anything.”

Cook says the payoff for her hard work in teaching comes when students catch some of her enthusiasm for the material, when they are motivated to go the extra mile in pursuing their own academic interests.

She recalled one undergraduate who decided to do research with her. The initial reason the student gave was “that my work sounded very interesting,” Cook recalls. “She now tells me that the real reason was because she knew that I would care—that I would care what happened to her and about her experience. That’s probably the highest compliment a student can pay me.”

Dedicated Staff Recognized
Distinguished Staff Awards are given to staff who have made outstanding contributions to the mission of their unit or the University. Two A&S staff are among the recipients of this award.

Roxana Augusztiny, Acting Director, Burke Museum
When Roxana Augusztiny first walked into the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture as a work-study student, she never imagined she’d still be working there 33 years later.

	Roxana Augusztiny

Over the years she has worked in virtually every area of the museum, including a 15-year stint as the institution’s assistant director. She has been serving as the museum’s acting director for the past year and a half and plans to retire on Oct. 1.

Augusztiny never intended to spend her entire professional career at the Burke. She and the museum just seemed destined to go together. It was one of three places on campus where she interviewed for a work-study position and the first to call back with a job offer. So the day after she graduated from high school, Augusztiny went to work at the Burke.

In 1971 Augusztiny accepted a half-time job in the museum’s education division. Soon she took over programs for members and began a formal volunteer program. She created a member newsletter and launched a calendar of public programs to keep volunteers and mem-bers engaged. In the early 1980s, she hired the Burke’s first, part-time development director.

In Augusztiny’s own mind, three achievements stand out: attracting federal grants to the Burke, developing a relationship with the state legislature, and professionalizing the museum. But colleagues say her impact goes beyond all of those.

“Taking on the directorship at a stressful time, Roxana has managed to raise morale, restore team spirit, resolve long-simmering controversies, improve working relationships with other units of the University, and move the institution forward,” says Ruth Pelz, education planner for the Burke Museum. “Even more important than what she has done is how she has done it. She inspires high standards in others. Her knowledge is immense, freely shared, and—we worry, as she nears retirement—irreplaceable.”

Susanna Westen, Program Coordinator, Slavic Languages and Literatures
It is not in Susanna “Shosh” Westen’s job description, but advice is what the caller urgently needed. The woman’s daughter was about to marry a Russian, and she asked Westen to supply a Russian congratulatory phrase to grace the wedding cake.

Shosh Westen

Westen, program coordinator for the department of Slavic Languages and Literatures, obliged the mother-in-law-to-be — just as she frequently comes to the aid of journalists, immigrants, police detectives, hotel concierges, and even zoo guides.

But it is UW students who benefit most from her generosity and attention. “I have never met anyone like her in all the years I have taught in academia,” said Galya Diment, professor of Slavic languages and literatures, who additionally offered to nominate Westen “for sainthood if we could.”

In her six years on the job, Westen has helped transform the Slavic department into an intellectual and cultural haven where students can find academic advice, fresh gossip, and a homemade snack as readily as a course-change form. She spearheads an endless stream of extracurricular events including the Russian Language Olympiada, a biannual language camp, the end-of-winter Maslenitsa celebration, and Saints Cyril and Methodius Day festivities.

A speaker of Russian and Polish (not to mention German, Hebrew, Spanish, French, Italian, Latin, and Arabic), Westen also shares her “free” time with students at language-conversation lunch tables, sing-along evenings, poetry nights, and field trips.

“Shosh does so much for us that we often feel like we may be exploiting her kindness, energy, and generosity,” says Diment, “but every time we make our feelings known, she assures us it is a labor of love and she would not have it any other way."

Howard Honored for Mentoring Efforts
“I didn’t plan to specialize in working with graduate students,” says Judy Howard, professor of sociology. “That evolved over time. But I do love it. . . .There’s an enthusiasm that I love being a part of.”

Howard’s own enthusiasm has earned her the Distinguished Graduate Mentor Award, which recognizes faculty who have made outstanding contributions to the education and guidance of graduate students.

	Judith Howard

Many faculty have the opportunity to work with graduate students, but Howard has done so formally—twice serving as her department’s Graduate Program Coordinator. And testimony from her present and former students indicates she has gone well beyond fulfilling the basics of the job, sending frequent emails and offering “countless” workshops to keep students informed and prepared.

It’s all part of Howard’s philosophy of mentoring, which she says “incorporates teaching but is a lot more than that. It’s making sure that grad students, while they’re in the program, develop skills that they need, many of which are not just about academic content.”

Often, Howard does that through collaboration. Jocelyn Hollander, now an assistant professor of sociology at the University of Oregon, tells of how Howard gave her a series of assignments, from easy to difficult, culminating in becoming a second author on a paper. Later the two co-authored a book.

“By the end of the project, our relationship was not one of teacher and student but of collaborators,” Hollander says. “She both accepted my critiques of her writing and inspired me to live up to her very high standards.”

“These are very important relationships that you develop through mentoring,” Howard says. “When I learned about the award I was higher than a kite. This is what I value most in my career, and to get an award for it is a very special thing.”

Levi Recognized for Dedication to Service Learning
In the early 1960s, Margaret Levi and a few of her more socially conscious Baltimore high school classmates tutored inner-city elementary pupils on Saturdays—an early example of service learning. “It was something we just did to support the civil rights movement,” recalls Levi, Jere L. Bacharach Professor of International Studies and professor of political science. “The idea was to help prepare the next generation to fight for their rights.”

Margaret Levi

Jump to 2001, when Levi’s continued dedication to service learning has earned her the UW’s S. Sterling Munro Public Service Teaching Award. The award is for a UW faculty member demonstrating exemplary leadership in community-based instruction, including service learning, public service internships, and community partnership projects.

Levi earned the honor for guiding hundreds of social science students through learning experiences outside the campus gates. When she became Harry Bridges Chair and director of the Center for Labor Studies in 1996, she built on her contacts with unions and activists and turned the center into a bastion of service learning. Dozens of organizations took in students. She extended the program to all three campuses.

Yet Levi also finds the time to pursue prolific scholarship in comparative political economy. She is author of four books, editor of four more, and has held visiting appointments around the globe. In May, she was elected to the prestigious American Academy of Arts & Sciences.

Levi sees no conflict between her scholarship and service. “For some there is a split between activism on behalf of democratic goals and being a scientist,” Levi said. “I do not feel that split. I think the commitment to improving the quality of people’s lives encouraged my commitment to social science and its potential to make the world better.”

Interdisciplinary Writing Program Earns Brotman Award
The UW’s Interdisciplinary Writing Program (IWP) is far from your basic composition 101.

Director Joan Graham and her colleagues know the fundamentals of the writing process, but they also have to understand material in linked courses from disciplines as varied as philosophy, geography and art history. Their secret? Lots of hard work. Their reward: a Brotman Award for Instructional Excellence.

The Brotman Award recognizes collaboration within and among departments, programs, and groups to improve the quality of undergraduate education. The award is made possible by a donation from Jeffrey and Susan Brotman, with awardees receiving $17,500.

For 24 years now, faculty and teaching assistants in the IWP have been helping undergraduates improve writing skills within a specific discipline. It’s a pragmatic approach that forces students to think in depth about a particularly relevant subject—whether it’s sociology, history, or another lecture course— while honing their writing skills.

Graham says most students find that pairing a writing course with a lecture course enhances learning in both subjects.

“My critical thinking has sharpened through reading material that matters to me, and then writing about it in a manner that forced me to think,” writes one student. “And I think that is what this course is all about.”

To develop a good understanding of the varied material that unfolds in their writing classes, Graham and her colleagues attend the linked lecture courses. They regularly meet with the faculty and TAs who teach the linked courses and meet weekly amongst themselves.

“You can see how one can become indefinitely interested in this,” Graham said. “A writing teacher is focusing on language use, but language is always used for something and the spin and the opportunity that come from the context make it really quite inexhaustible.”

Additional Awards, Honors, and Professorships

Jack Clay, professor emeritus of drama, was inducted into the College of Fellows of The American Theatre for distinguished contributions to American theatre.

David Domke, assistant professor of communications, has received the Goldsmith Research Award from Harvard’s Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy.

Patricia Ebrey, professor of history, has been awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship, which she will use to complete a book on Emperor Huizong of China, who reigned in the 12th century.

Heinz Floss, professor emeritus of chemistry, has been named an honorary member of the Kitasato Institute in recognition of his contributions to medical science. He also was named Honorary Doctor of Natural Sciences by the University of Bonn, Germany.

Aubrey Gorbman, professor emeritus of zoology, has been presented an Honorary Doctor of Science Degree from Toho University, Japan.

John Gottman, professor of psychology, will continue to hold the James D. Mifflin University Professorship thanks to a renewal effective July 1, 2001.

Michelle Habell-Pallan, assistant professor of American ethnic studies, has been awarded a career enhancement fellowship by the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation.

John Keeler, chair of French and Italian studies and professor of political science, has been named a “Chevalier de l’Ordre du Merite Agricole” by the French Minister of Agriculture, in recognition of his publications on French and European agricultural politics.

Sandor Kovacs, assistant professor of mathematics, has received a National Science Foundation Early Career Award. The award supports exceptionally promising college and university junior faculty who are committed to the integration of research and education.

Margaret Levi, Jere L. Bacharach Professor of International Studies and professor of political science, has been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She also has received the S. Sterling Munro Public Service Teaching Award.

Elizabeth Loftus, professor of psychology, has been named the 2001 recipient of the American Psychological Society’s presitigious William James Award for psychological research, given to researchers whose research has produced major advances.

Nathan Kutz, assistant professor of applied mathematics, has been awarded a 2001 Career Enhancement Fellowship for Junior Faculty from Underrepresented Groups from the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation.

William Reinhardt, professor of chemistry, has been named Phi Beta Kappa Visitnig Scholar, a national appointment,. He also has recieved the Davidson Prize Lecture in Chemistry from the University of Kansas.

Steve Sumida, chair and professor of American ethnic studies, is the new president-elect of the American Studies Association.

Gunther Uhlmann, professor of mathematics, has been awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship to continue his work on the mathematic theory of inverse boundary problems.

Gary Witherspoon, professor of American Indian studies, has been selected by the American Anthropological Association to be included in a published volume of papers from the years 1971-95, which “are intended to represent the best and most characteristic thinking of the discipline during this quarter century.”

Kathleen Woodward, director of the Walter Chapin Simpson Center for the Humanities, received the First Annual Distinguished Alumni Award from the Department of Literature, University of California, San Diego.

The Department of Zoology has received the Gold Star Department Award from the UW’s Graduate and Professional Student Senate for excellence in student services.

[Summer 2001 - Table of Contents]