UW recognizes the top teachers of 1999
The University of Washington is honoring its best teachers, staff members and volunteers in an expanded awards program for 1999. Seven are UW professors chosen by a panel of faculty, students and alumni as this year’s top teachers. Two are teaching assistants named by the same panel. One is a professor honored with a new award recognizing outstanding mentorship of graduate or professional students. Three awards honor the best in public service to the University and the community; and five awards go to outstanding staff members.
Distinguished Teaching Award
Ana Mari Cauce
Department: Professor of Psychology and Chair, American Ethnic Studies; 13 years at UW.
Courses Taught: Psychology 205 (Introduction to Personality), Abnormal Psychology, Comparative Perspectives on Childhood Socialization, Introduction to Clinical Child Psychology, Community Psychology, Play Therapy, Clinical Research Design & Ethics.
Achievements: Works with Educational Opportunity Program and EIP students in her lab and mentors students of color. Was director of clinical training for seven years. She developed the minor in community psychology and is involved in a national effort to improve teaching psychology through syllabus exchanges, mentorship programs for graduate students of color and junior faculty of color.
Quote: “It’s clear to me that Ana Mari doesn’t view teaching as something she ‘does,’ but as something she is. … She long ago found a way to integrate her core personal beliefs and commitment to diversity with both her research and teaching missions.”—Psychology Professor Ilene Bernstein
Biography: B.A., psychology and English, University of Miami, 1977; M.S., psychology, Yale, 1979; M. Phil.; Yale, 1982; Ph.D., psychology, Yale, 1984.
David Collingwood
Department: Professor of Mathematics; 12 years at UW.
Courses Taught: Math 120 (Pre-Calculus), Introduction to Modern Algebra, Topics in Applied Analysis, Theory of Optimal Control, Special Topics in Algebra
Achievements: With some students having a difficult time with a required pre-calculus course, he wrote a textbook in a colloquial style, closer to language students actually use. He set up weekly meetings for all instructors, employed role playing for TAs, convinced the department of the need for more resources in the pre-calculus class to cut class size from 700 to 160, and consulted constantly with students, TAs and teachers to improve his textbook. The result: many more students now pass the pre-calculus course.
Quote: “Professor Collingwood’s unwavering commitment to his students has enriched my views of teaching. It is unusual for a professor to become personally invested in his students’ learning, but Professor Collingwood does so without reservation. His respect for students and his faith in their abilities is phenomenal.”—Linda Martin, former student
Biography: B.S., Wichita State University, 1978; Ph.D., University of Utah, 1983.
Anthony Gill
Department: Assistant Professor of Political Science; five years at UW.
Courses Taught: Political Science as Social Science; Introduction to Political Economy; Research Design and Data Analysis; Quantitative Data Analysis; Comparative Politics; Rational Choice in Comparative Politics; Latin American Politics; Religion & Politics; Religion & Politics in Latin America; International Political Economy of Latin America
Achievements: Introduced computer technology directly into his lectures with PowerPoint demonstrations and has held weekly “Kaffee Klatches” at By George. He also chaired the department’s undergraduate program committee, which resulted in an accelerated program for TA training, service learning, computer lab usage and classroom technology enhancement. He acts as a mentor to other junior faculty and is director of the department’s Honors Program.
Quote: “Tony Gill demonstrates that there are no boundaries between scholarship, classroom teaching and the many extracurricular contributions that provide students with the personal touch and the experiential learning opportunities that make a great research university a great place to learn.”—Political Science Professor W. Lance Bennett
Biography: B.A., political science, Marquette, 1987; M.A., political science, UCLA, 1989; Ph.D., political science, UCLA, 1994.
Resat Kasaba
Department: Associate Professor, Jackson School of International Studies; 13 years at UW.
Courses Taught: SIS 200 (his most famous class) States and Capitalism: The Origins of the Modern Global System; Introduction to International Political Economy, Middle East and the World Economy; Ethnicity and Nationalism; Contemporary Sociological Theory; Social Change in the Third World; Change in International Affairs; States & Capitalism in the Modern World; Political Economy of Development in the Middle East, Comparative Studies in Ethnicity and Nationalism; World Cities
Achievements: Despite teaching classes known among students for their difficulty and demanding workloads, he pulls in consistently superior scores on student evaluations. He is the chair of the International Studies Program and has revised and improved graduate and undergraduate curricula. His soft-spoken lecturing style and riveting lecture topics always draws a crowded auditorium of students.
Quote: “Resat Kasaba is one of the great teachers the University of Washington has had in the last generation. He is the best I have observed in a quarter century of teaching, and that statement ranks him above such well-known figures as Michael Walzer and Joseph Nye.”—International Studies Professor Joel Migdal
Biography: B.S., Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey, 1976; M.A., sociology, State University of New York at Binghamton, 1978; Ph.D., sociology, State University of New York at Binghamton, 1986.
Kevin Laverty
Department: Professor of Business Administration, UW Bothell; five years at UW.
Courses Taught: International Business, Business Policy and Strategy, Management of Technology, Environmental Management.
Achievements: Laverty creates an classroom atmosphere of active participation and discussion. He makes the classroom a supportive place, yet one in which we value and celebrate high standards. He encourages students to think clearly and critically about problems, not just memorize facts. In that process, he asks students to consider the various aspects of business problems that draw both from disciplinary perspectives—economics, human behavior, organizational dynamics—and from views of business’ role in the larger societies in which it operates.
Quote: “Professor Laverty’s teaching style produces students who are able to think for themselves and understand how to use concepts they learn in terms of real world application. This is, after all, what I came back to school for—not to learn how to parrot back information, but how to use business concepts so that I can make a significant contribution in my chosen career.”—former student Amy Krismer.
Biography: S.B., architecture, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1972; M.A., urban and regional planning, University of Iowa,1977; M.B.A. University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire,1984; Ph.D., strategic management, UCLA,1993.
Linda McElvey
Department: Senior Lecturer, Business Administration, UW Tacoma; three years at UW.
Courses Taught: Intermediate Accounting and Business Finance, a non-accounting course required for all business majors that surveys financial markets.
Achievements: McElvey’s students praise her commitment, responsiveness and sense of humor and credit her with being crucial in preparing them for the C.P.A. exam. Her teaching style is relaxed and confident, and she has been instrumental in recruiting high caliber students to the UWT business program.
Quote: “”What makes Linda such a wonderful teacher is her capacity to help each student as an individual and to be giving and demanding at the same time.”—Business Professor Bernard Booms
Biography: B.A., psychology, Emory University, 1968; B.S., accounting, Brenau University, 1985; M.B.A., Brenau University, 1985; D.B.A., philanthropy and small business, Nova Southeastern University, 1995.
June Morita
Department: Senior Lecturer, Statistics and Management Science, School of Business Administration; 14 years at UW.
Courses Taught: Basic Statistics, Introduction to Probability & Statistical Inference, Statistics for Social Scientists, Probability & Statistics for Engineers and Science, Introduction to Data Analysis, Introduction to Mathematical Statistics, Teaching Statistics to Kids, Introduction to Statistical Methods.
Achievements: Besides excelling as a teacher of undergraduate and graduate statistics courses, she has been routinely praised for her work teaching in the M.B.A. and Executive M.B.A. programs. She also spends a lot of time on outreach, volunteering to teach math lessons and advise teachers at Seattle elementary schools. She organized a statewide quantitative literacy training program for elementary school teachers, and was twice chosen the Business Professor of the Quarter. She was named “outstanding faculty” in the 1997 Businessweek Guide to Best Business Schools.
Quote: “June is one of those rare individuals who can be classified as a ‘teacher’s teacher.’ She has demonstrated a continuous dedication to improving her own teaching as well as the teaching of her colleagues and K-12 teachers.”—Management Sciences Chair Ted Klastorin
Biography: A.B., Mathematics and Anthropology, Cal-Berkeley, 1976; M.A., Statistics, Cal-Berkeley, 1978; Ph.D., Statistics, Cal-Berkeley, 1984.
Excellence in Teaching Awards
Pamela G. Ralston
Department: Comparative Literature and American Ethnic Studies; seven years at UW.
Courses Taught: Comparative American Ethnic Literature, Survey of African American Literature, Reading Literature, Computer-Integrated Expository Writing, Writing About Social Issues, Writing About Literature, Composition and Rhetoric.
Achievements: Her extremely detailed and organized syllabi give students a precise view of what they will learn and how they will go about it. Her student evaluation scores are so high, they are the kind typically earned by faculty teaching graduate courses, not by TAs teaching introductory classes.
Quote: “Students will always love Pamela … because she is warm yet demanding, insisting on their taking responsibility for learning, and willing to help in whatever way she can to assist them.”—American Ethnic Studies Professor Johnnella E. Butler
Biography: B.A., English, women’s studies and Scandinavian studies, University of Oregon, 1991; M.A., comparative literature, University of Washington, 1993; graduate women’s studies teaching certificate, University of Washington, 1993; Ph.D. student, comparative literature and critical theory, University of Washington.
David Shapiro
Department: Philosophy; three years at UW.
Courses Taught: Contemporary Moral Problems, Introduction to Philosophy, Environmental Ethics, Introduction to Philosophy Ethics, Business Ethics.
Achievements: Creates learning experiences for students, integrating real-world examples and service learning into his classes. In his Contemporary Moral Problems course, he not only created a respectful, safe, trusting environment for students to discuss such emotionally and politically charged topics as euthanasia, abortion, capital punishment and animal rights, but he had his students volunteer 20 hours for a social service agency in Seattle.
Quote: “He is by far one of the most innovative, engaging, thought-provoking teachers the University has to offer.”—UW student Julie Peterson
Biography: B.A., philosophy, University of Minnesota, 1994; M.A., philosophy, University of Washington, 1996; Ph.D. student, University of Washington.
Distinguished Graduate Mentor Award
Noel S. Weiss
Department: Professor of Epidemiology; 24 years at UW.
Courses Taught: Clinical Epidemiology, Epidemiology 512 and 513 (Epidemiologic Methods I & II) with Tom Koepsell.
Achievements: As a mentor, Weiss has a worldwide reputation among his students in the public health field. Legendary for his “open door policy” as a teacher and for his research projects with his graduate students, he continues to provide career advice and guidance on grant applications for his former students worldwide.
Quote: “Noel has maintained an ongoing relationship with many of his former students. For all of us, he remains an ongoing source of rigorous analysis and knowledge. He continues to inspire our best thinking.”—Mary Bassett, ’85, senior lecturer, Zimbabwe AIDS Prevention Project
Biography: A.B., Stanford, 1965; M.D., Stanford, 1967; M.P.H., Harvard, 1969; Ph.D., Harvard, 1971.
Outstanding Public Service Award
Albert W. Black
Department: Senior Lecturer, Department of Sociology; 27 years at the UW
Public Service: Black has made his time and expertise freely available to community organizations such as school districts, church groups and social service agencies. He has been a speaker and adviser for public schools in Seattle, Kent and Renton; Big Brothers of Seattle/King County; the Garfield Community Center, Mount Zion Baptist Church and other organizations. Since 1991 he has served on the State Advisory Board of the Division of Juvenile Rehabilitation. He created the Franklin High School Parents Group to participate in school events and reinforce the power of the family. For many years he has recruited UW students to go into schools and juvenile detention centers as tutors. Black has also been involved with gang prevention efforts in New York, Detroit, Los Angeles, Denver and Seattle.
Quote: “He has made a conscious choice to spend his life in the trenches: in the trenches of the academy here on campus and in the trenches of some of our toughest neighborhoods. In both places he has given of himself to serve and to enrich the lives of the weakest among us”—Sociology Chair Robert Crutchfield
Biography: Won a UW Distinguished Teaching Award in 1977. B.S., zoology, University of Michigan, 1963; M.A., sociology, Wayne State University, 1968; Ph.D., sociology, Cal-Berkeley, 1976.
UW Recognition Award
Ellsworth and Nancy Alvord
Occupation: Ellsworth (Buster) Alvord is a professor and head of neuropathology in the UW School of Medicine. Nancy Alvord was a founding member of the UW Foundation Board of Directors.
Public Service: Their volunteer work and their philanthropy includes a wide range of human service, educational and arts organizations. Nancy has served on numerous boards. She was a founding director of the UW Foundation and served on the UW Libraries Visiting Committee and the History Visiting Committee, as well as helped raise funds for the Solomon Katz Professorship in the Humanities. In addition to his community work, Buster has served on the Meany Hall Advisory Board, the 1994 Salute Harborview Committee, the Henry Art Gallery Board of Trustees and helped raise funds for the Arthur A. Ward Professorship in Neurological Surgery. Their contributions to the University have included many generous gifts, which now total more than $4 million. An endowed fellowship in the humanities bears their names, and they have supported campus programs, including Meany Hall, the Henry Art Gallery, the Department of History, the UW Libraries, the Educational Opportunity Program and KUOW. The Alvords were honored as Outstanding Philanthropic Family of 1995 by the Washington State Chapter of the National Society of Fund Raising Executives. They were recognized as Seattle King County’s First Citizens in 1991.
Quote: “This University, this community, and this state have been lucky to have two people as thoughtful and generous as the Alvords in our midst for the last 38 years. We are also fortunate that they have passed on their family values: the Alvord children and grandchildren are following Buster’s and Nancy’s wonderful example of concern for their community.”—Marilyn Batt Dunn, UW Vice President for Development
UWAA Distinguished Service Award
Multicultural Alumni Partnership
Organization and History: Founded in 1993, the Multicultural Alumni Partnership (MAP) supports recruitment and mentoring of students, faculty and staff of color, and promotes diversity within the UW and the UW Alumni Association. Its awards program honors distinguished UW alumni and its many events bind together a diverse University community.
Achievement: The Multicultural Alumni Partnership has helped make the University and its alumni association a place where people of diverse backgrounds feel welcome and feel they can make a difference. Its annual “Bridging the Gap” breakfast has become a sellout and has generated more than $12,500 in scholarship money in the last two years alone. MAP has also sponsored a Diversity Summit featuring President Richard L. McCormick in the Seattle area.
Quote: “It is important to find large and small opportunities to promote diversity in the University. Whether it be a 400 person breakfast, a community forum with 60 attendees, a committee meeting with 10 people or a one on one discussion encouraging students of color to attend the University of Washington, the MAP committee has been working it all. They have made a real difference in raising the level of the diversity conversation, and I suspect they will continue to keep the conversation front and center.”—UW Alumni Association President Cory Carlson
Distinguished Staff Awards
Tom H. Burritt
Department: Research Engineer, Department of Physics; four years at UW.
On the Job: Lead technician on the physics department’s Sudbury Neutrino Observatory project. Also serves as a mentor to six graduate students in the area of design and mechanical innovation.
Achievements: Solved a problem getting uniform coatings of metal on quartz tubing. The solution required the rotation of the quartz inside a vacuum vessel. Using a battery-operated rotisserie devised from a very small motor he found in a surplus parts catalog, Burritt figured out a way to insert the motor and battery in the vacuum vessel and achieve uniform coatings, getting a final product much faster than expected.
Quote: “Tom suggests and develops innovative solutions to difficult situations. His designs and constructions are highly innovative and elegant. He has earned the reputation as one to ask concerning mechanical design and assembly. Once he has worked out the solution to a problem, he is able to train our other employees to execute the job. This then makes him available to contribute to the next complicated problem.”—Physics Research Professor Steven Elliott
Lynn Catlett
Department: Administrative Assistant, College of Forest Resources; 11 years at UW.
On the Job: Supports the activities of the faculty, paying extraordinary attention to detail, managing a division office, helping out graduate students and acting as a union steward for classified staff.
Achievements: Shows uncommon dedication to her job, willing to come in at odd hours and weekends to ensure everything is done. Able to help out anyone in need, and do so with a sense of humor and empathy. In her work on behalf of her union, she will counsel and help solve complaints between union members and immediate employers.
Quote: “Lynn treats us like family. She cares deeply about people in the division, asking sincerely after our well-being, encouraging us to get flu shots in the fall. She attends many graduate student celebrations, from thesis defense parties to weddings, invited as ‘one of the gang,’ not just out of respect and gratitude for the countless services she provides.”—Lisa J. Carlson, forest resources graduate student
Mary L. Martin
Department: Custodian, Custodial Services; four years at UW.
On the Job: Custodian assigned to the Purchasing/Accounting/Parking Building for the past three years.
Achievements: She cleans areas that typically were not cleaned by previous custodians or aren’t her responsibility, and always has a warm smile for everyone.
Quote: “She holds herself to very high standards when it comes to taking care of our building and the equipment and people who are in it. Mary is meticulous every day, always paying attention to small details. She never skips duties, always performs them in accordance to her standards.” —Mary Jo Hershley, accountant, Grant & Contract Accounting
LeRoy O. Olson
Department: Principal Mechanical Engineer, Applied Physics Laboratory; 39 years at UW.
On the Job: Develops and directs deployment of numerous open-ocean and seafloor experiments, including surface buoys, deep-sea towers for stable acoustic platforms and unmanned submersibles. He is “the engineer to whom scientists come when faced with a challenging design or field deployment problems,” says a supervisor.
Achievements: He conceived and executed the means by which four sulfide chimneys (weighing at least 1,200 pounds each) would be recovered from the ocean bottom, 1.5 miles below the surface. This was a very risky operation, fraught with problems such as temperatures hot enough to melt recovery lines, high pressures, and little knowledge of the structures themselves.
Quote: “Olson’s work is characterized by innovation in combination with sound engineering practice, by foresight and attention to detail, by careful planning and superb execution. His consistent high standards have earned him the absolute trust of his co-workers and the scientists whom he supports.”—Applied Physics Laboratory Director Robert Spindel
Carol A. Robbins
Distinguished Staff Award
Department: Research Technologist, Department of Neurological Surgery; 25 years at UW.
On the Job: As the senior staff member in her department’s lab, she has helped develop new methods in epilepsy research. She also is instrumental in bringing new lab members on board, training them and providing computer expertise to others who use the lab.
Achievements: Her work in developing experimental animal models of epilepsy has not only led to numerous publications and benefited many labs but helped the department keep ahead of the pack. When anyone in the lab needs something—technical help, equipment repair, ordering information—they turn to Carol.
Quote: “Carol’s integrity, reliability, caring and dedication to quality have helped shape the tone of the laboratory. That she continues to play so many important roles, year after year, and is willing to take on new responsibilities reflect not only confidence in her own abilities, but also her genuine interest in making meaningful contributions.”—Neurological Surgery Professor Philip A. Schwartzkroin