Annual Report 2000
Awards and accolades
faculty & staff | students | alumni
The Truman Foundation named the University of Minnesota a Year 2000 Honor Institution, thanks to 13 College of Liberal Arts (CLA) students who have received the Truman Scholarship since 1977. Louis Blair, of the Truman Foundation, lauded CLA's commitment to "promote and encourage people to go forth and change the world."
Governor Jesse Ventura and the Minnesota Office of Citizenship and Volunteer Service honored CLA with a Minnesota Student Service Award. The award pays tribute to dozens of community service opportunities offered through CLA's Career and Community Learning Center.
Professors Bernard Bachrach (history), Eugene Borgida (psychology), Andrew Elfenbein (English), and Kathryn Sikkink (political science) have been selected as Scholars of the College for 2000-2003.
McKnight Research Fellows for the 2001-2003 academic years include German, Scandinavian, and Dutch professor Jack Zipes; American Indian Studies associate professor David Wilkins; English associate professor Julie Schumacher; and history professor Allen Isaacman.
The city of Minneapolis awarded its 2000 Minneapolis award to Dennis Jones, an instructor in American Indian studies, for his efforts to make Minneapolis a better place to live. Jones vowed as a boy--when he was forbidden to speak Ojibwe in school--that he would not allow the language to die. Today, he teaches Ojibwe language and tradition at the University and in the community. His award coincides with the department's 30th anniversary. CLA's American Indian studies department is the oldest in the country.
English associate professor Ray Gonzalez's poem "For the Other World" has been selected by poet Rita Dove for The Best American Poetry 2000. Another of his poems was published in the 1999 edition.
Theatre professor Michael Kobialka received the 2000 Research Award for the Outstanding Book in Theatre Practice and Pedagogy from the Association for Theatre in Higher Education.
Professor Anatoly Liberman (German, Scandinavian, & Dutch) has been appointed to the first three-year Fesler-Lampert Professorship in the Humanities.
Sociology assistant professor Chris Uggen received the 2000 American Society of Criminology Ruth Shonle Cavan Young Scholar Award for outstanding scholarly contributions. Uggen was featured recently in a New York Times article about his research on disenfranchisement of felons--which disproportionately affects African American men.
The American Academy for Jewish Research gave the Salo W. Baron Award for best first book in literature and thought to Bernard Levinson, associate professor of classical and Near Eastern studies.
The Comparative Study of Electoral Systems, which political science professor Phil Shively chairs, received the first annual award for best comparative politics dataset from the Comparative Politics section of the American Political Science Association.
Afro-American and African studies associate professor Angelita Reyes received an Obermann Center for Advanced Studies (U of Iowa) Interdisciplinary Research Grant for the program "History-Telling at the Kitchen Table."
Professor Rose Brewer (Afro-American and African studies) received a grant from the Minnesota Higher Education Services Office and Minnesota Campus Compact for her research, "Each one teach one: Community service, community-based learning, and Afro-American and African studies."
Brenda Child and Cathy Choy, both of American Studies, received Ford Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowships for Minority Scholars. Child's project is entitled "Singing our history: The Red Lake nation since 1989." Choy's project is "Caring across cultures: Filipino nurses, American imperialism, and international migration."
The Interdisciplinary Center for the Study of Global Change/ MacArthur Program was awarded a five-year grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation to support interdisciplinary graduate research.
The National Academy of Science has appointed psychology professor Paul Sackett to chair the Committee on Youth Population and Military Recruitment.
Elaine Tyler May, professor of American studies, received a sabbatical fellowship from the American Philosophical Society for the project "Family Values: Politics and Private Life in 20th Century America."
Sarah Holtman (philosophy) and Douglas Olson (classical and Near Eastern studies) each won a National Endowment for the Humanities Research Fellowship.
The Social Science Research Council International Migration Program awarded Erika Lee, assistant professor of history, a fellowship for her project on Chinese immigration and American exclusion.
Afro-American and African studies assistant professor Victoria Coifman will travel to Guinea-Conakry in West Africa for ten months on a 2000-2001 Fulbright Award.
students
Journalism students received two Emmy awards this year. In the news and information category, the SJMC won an Emmy with the documentary "Our Bodies/Ourselves?" by Tessa Bodey, Robert Browne, Elvira Carrizal, Freundl, Jean Jacobson, Christine Jelacic, Michael Komperud, Chanomi Maxwell-Parish, Chris Moccia, Suzanne Scholten, Chris Sharp, and Mike Woodworth. Jamason Chen also won an Emmy for "Life Is &" in the non-news category.
Religious Studies senior Molly Zahn has been named a Rhodes Scholar for 2001. Thirty-two Rhodes Scholars are named in the United States each year, making it one of the most prestigious undergraduate awards in the nation. The scholarship will support two years of study at Oxford University in England, where Molly will pursue her studies in the Hebrew Bible and the ancient Near East.
Revolution, the youth theater troupe cofounded by CLA student O'Calla Joslyn (individually designed major) won a 2000 Minnesota Peace Prize.
Ten CLA students presented papers at the 2000 National Conference on Undergraduate Research at the University of Montana in Missoula. They include Chad Balstar (senior, art), Piyali Dalal (junior, English and international relations), Cedar Imboden (senior, Finnish), Susan Lee (senior, anthropology), Kieran Murphy (senior, art), Hannele Nicholson (senior, linguistics), Samantha Pace (junior, philosophy), Sarah Sass (senior, psychology), Ayesha Siddiq (sophomore, biology), and Emiko Yoshida (senior, psychology).
Michael Seward will be the first to receive a Graduate Humanities Fellowship, sponsored by the University's Humanities Institute. Seward is working on his M.F.A. in creative writing.
English Ph.D. candidate Sarah Wadsworth was named a Houghton Mifflin Fellow in Publishing History at Harvard University's Houghton Library for 2000-01.
Audrey Johnson (junior, art history) will represent the University of Minnesota as a 2000-2001 National Museum Fellow at the Minnesota Historical Society.
Art history graduate student Alisa Eimen won a fellowship from the Council of American Overseas Research Centers for the 2000-01 academic year.
Despali Dewan, an art history Ph.D. student, was awarded a two-year fellowship by the national art history professional organization, the College Art Association. She is the first Minnesota art history graduate student to receive the prestigious award.
alumni
President Clinton appointed Nina Archabal (Ph.D. '79 music), director of the Minnesota Historical Society, to serve on the National Council on the Humanities.
Photo courtesy of University of California, Berkeley
Daniel McFadden (Ph.D. '62, economics), was awarded the Nobel Prize this year for his work in economics. McFadden and economist James Heckman will share the award for their work on how people make important life decisions (econometrics).
Soprano Esther Heideman (M.M. '95) was one of five final prizewinners from among 2,200 singers who competed in the Metropolitan Opera national auditions in New York in March 2000.
Connie Baker (B.A. '77, studio art) used her knowledge of graphic design to create a CD that teaches early concepts to her seven-year-old daughter Kay, who has autism.
Caroline Lazo (BA '78, art history) celebrated the publication of Alice Walker: Freedom Writer, her 15th book for young adult readers.
Stacie Bigelow (BA '91, psychology), a health behavior change specialist and research coordinator for HealthPartners, recently published Fibromaylgia, Simple Relief Through Movement--the first book to address the special exercise needs of people with fibromaylgia.
Sandra McLeod Humphrey (BA, M.A. '63, psychology) received a national Character Education Award from the Character Education Center. Humphrey was recognized for her children's values books and her many visits to schools.
An art historian turned author, Catherine Thimmesh (BA art history) champions creativity with her new book Girls Think of Everything: Stories of Ingenious Inventions By Women.