Faculty Accolades
Read more about faculty achievements in the Fall 2006 issue of Reach.
2007 Regents Professors, Three of Five from CLA
Richard Leppert (Morse Alumni Distinguished Teacher and Professor, Cultural Studies and Comparative Literature), Elaine Tyler May (Professor, American Studies and History), and Matt McGue (Professor, Psychology) have been named Regents Professors by the university’s Board of Regents. The designation is the highest level of recognition given to faculty by the university.
2007 Manfred Guttmacher Award
Carl Malmquist (Professor, Sociology) has received the prestigious Manfred Guttmacher Award for his new book "Homicide: A Psychiatric Perspective" (2006). Malmquist, who is also a physician and psychiatrist, offers a look at the why's and how's of American homicide from a psychological perspective.
2007 American Academy of Arts and Sciences Electees
Patricia Hampl (Regents Professor, English), Geoffrey Hellman (Professor, Philosophy), and John Sullivan (Regents Professor, Political Science) were elected recently to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. A broad-based membership, comprised of scholars and practitioners from mathematics, physics, biological sciences, social sciences, humanities and the arts, public affairs and business, gives the academy a unique capacity to conduct a wide range of interdisciplinary studies and public policy research.
2007 John Tate Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Advising
Mary Moga is one of four recipients of the Tate Award for Undergraduate Advising. The Tate Award was established in 1986 to recognize and honor top advisers U-wide.
2007 Guggenheim Fellowship Winners
CLA’s 2007 Guggenheim fellows are Daphne Berdahl (professor, anthropology), Hisham Bizri (assistant professor, cultural studies and comparative literature), and David Treuer (associate professor, English). The three received fellowships because of their distinguished achievement in the past and exceptional promise for future accomplishment. In the past 10 years, CLA faculty have won only three other Guggenheims.
2006-2007 Morse-Alumni Undergraduate Teaching Award
Joel Samaha (Professor, Sociology) was awarded the Horace T. Morse Undergraduate Teaching Award.
Distinguished McKnight University Professorship
Christopher Uggen (sociology) was one of four mid-career faculty members named this year as Distinguished McKnight University Professors who will each receive a $100,000 stipend over five years. Uggen ranks among the world's most influential scholars on issues related to the civic and socioeconomic reintegration of criminals and is an authority on felon disenfranchisement.
2005-2006 Award for Outstanding Contributions to Graduate and Professional Education
Richard Leppert (professor, cultural studies and comparative literature) and Jean O'Brien (associate professor, history) were among the seven recipients of the 2005-06 Graduate and Professional Award. Visit the University of Minnesota Alumni Association website to read individual profiles of Leppert and O'Brien.
2005-2006 Morse-Alumni Undergraduate Teaching Award
Frederick Asher (professor, art history) and Barbara Welke (associate professor, history) were among the eight recipients of the Morse-Alumni Undergraduate Teaching Award. Visit the University of Minnesota Alumni Association website to read individual profiles of Asher and Welke.
2006 Council on Asian Pacific Minnesotans Leadership Award
Josephine Lee, associate professor of English and director of the Asian American Studies Program, was awarded a 2006 Council on Asian Pacific Minnesotans Leadership Award. Only a handful of Asian Pacific community members receive this award each year.
Psychology Professor to Earn Honorary Doctorate
Psychology department chair Gordon Legge will receive an honorary doctorate from the Université de Montréal.
2006 Outstanding Community Service Award
David Feinberg (associate professor, art) and Jacquelyn Zita (associate professor, women's studies) received the 2006 Outstanding Community Service Award. Feinberg is director/producer of the ongoing “Voice To Vision” video documentary project, and is directing a similar video project for the Council On Public Engagement called ACTION (Artist/Community Teams Interpret Oral Narratives). Zita has been instrumental in guiding and supporting the work of the Women's Environment Institute (WEI), a unique nonprofit organization. The award recognizes members of the university community who have devoted their time and talents to making substantial and enduring contributions to the community.
2006 Distinguished Women Scholars Award
American studies professor Elaine Tyler May is the winner of the 2006 Distinguished Women Scholars Award for arts, humanities, and social sciences.
2006 John Tate Awards for Excellence in Undergraduate Advising
Robert Silberman (associate professor, art history) was one of this year's four winners of the Tate Award. Silberman served as director of film studies from 1985 to 2001. In that role, and with close ties to the film community, he advised all the film studies students on the Twin Cities campus.
National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Stipends
Professor Timothy Brennan (professor, cultural studies and comparative literature) and Shaden Tageldin (assistant professor, cultural studies and comparative literature), have been awarded summer stipends from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). Brennan's project is "Borrowed Light: The Colonial Imagination in Modern European Thought, 1900-1968" and Tageldin's is "Disarming Words: European Empires, Native Intellectuals, and the Seductions of Translation in Egypt, 1798-1952." Summer stipend grants allow individuals to pursue full-time research and writing in the humanities for two months. Both faculty members were nominated by the Graduate School, which will match the stipends.
Dance Faculty to Perform at Kennedy Center
Carl Flink (associate professor and director, dance), Mathew Janczewski (affiliate faculty, dance), and Joanie Smith (associate professor, dance) and her partner Danial Shapiro (affiliate faculty, dance) have been selected to present their original choreography at the prestigious American College Dance Festival Association's (ACDFA) National College Dance Festival Gala at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., May 16-18, 2006.
Minnesota Women's Press Changemaker
Ananya Chatterjea (associate professor, dance) was named a 2005 Changemaker by the Minnesota Women's Press. Her company, Ananya Dance Theatre, brings together women of color to foster communication about race, gender, and social justice. Visit the Minnesota Women's Press website for additional information about Chatterjea's work.
Star Tribune Artists of the Year 2005
Toni Pierce-Sands (affiliate faculty, dance) and her husband Uri Sands are the Star Tribune's 2005 Artists of the Year. The couple founded a multicultural dance company, TU Dance, last July. Pierce-Sands is also the recipient of a 2004 McKnight Artist Fellowship for Dancers, and Sands was selected for the Princess Grace Foundation's inaugural Choreographic Fellowship last year.
2006–08 McKnight Land-Grant Professors
Three CLA professors have received this award which includes a research grant in each of two years, summer support, and a research leave in their second year. The winners and their research areas are: Ronald R. Krebs (political science), The effects of war on democracy; Angus W. MacDonald, III (psychology), Building a comprehensive account of schizophrenia from genes to brains to symptoms; Steven M. Manson (geography), Nature, causes, and impacts of changing urban and rural landscapes.
Best Directors of Graduate Studies (DGS) Award
Edward Schiappa (professor, communication studies) is one of four faculty members to receive this award. This program recognizes and awards the University's most outstanding DGSs and DGS assistants. A faculty-student committee appointed by the dean of the Graduate School selects the recipients, each of whom receives a $1000 honorarium plus a special certificate.
Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship Award
Fernando Arenas (associate professor, Spanish and Portuguese studies) received the Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship Award for 2005-06. Professor Arenas will use his fellowship to advance work on his book project, After Independence: Globalization, "New-Colonialism," and the Cultures of Lusophone Africa, a critical study of the contemporary cultural production of Portuguese-speaking Africa and the responses to globalization and "neo-colonization," as well as struggles for greater democratization. He also received a McKnight Summer Fellowship award for the summer of 2005.
Celebrating University Women Awards Ceremony Honors Two CLA Faculty
At this event, two members of CLA's faculty will be honored. Mary Jo Maynes (professor, history), will receive the Mullen, Spector, Truax Women's Leadership Award for her outstanding contribution to women's leadership development. This award is intended not only for women who are leaders, but for women who have developed leadership within others. Madelon Sprengnether (professor, English) will receive the Distinguished Women Scholars Award for the Humanities, Social Sciences and Arts in recognition of her contributions and accomplishments as a distinguished woman scholar. A reception and ceremony are scheduled for Thursday, April 28 from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m., Memorial Hall, McNamara Alumni Center. RSVP: women@umn.edu, 612-625-9837. FFI: Office of University Women.
Graduate and Professional Education Award
Alex Lubet (professor, music) received the Graduate and Professional Education Award for 2004-05. This award recognizes contributions to postbaccalaureate, graduate, and professional education through excellence in instruction; involvement with students in research, scholarship, and professional development; development of instructional programs; and advising and mentoring of students.
John Tate Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Advising
Gary Thomas (associate professor, cultural studies and comparative literature) received the John Tate Award for 2004-05. This award recognizes high-quality academic advising for undergraduate students.
McKnight Artist Fellowship
Valerie Miner (professor, English) was awarded a McKnight Artist Fellowship to advance work on her current novel. Her recent collection of short stories, Abundant Light (Michigan State University Press, 2004), has been named a finalist in this year's competition for a Lambda Literary Award.
Distinguished McKnight University Professorship
Kathryn Sikkink (professor, political science) was awarded the Distinguished McKnight University Professorship for 2005 for her significant accomplishments at the University of Minnesota. Sikkink will hold the title "Distinguished McKnight University Professor" for as long as she remains at the University of Minnesota. This award honors and rewards the highest-achieving faculty at the University of Minnesota who have attained full professor status.
2004-2005 Morse-Alumni Award
Michael Dennis Browne (professor, English) and Gail Peterson (associate professor, psychology) each received the Horace T. Morse-University of Minnesota Alumni Association Award for Outstanding Contributions to Undergraduate Education. This award recognizes excellence in contributing directly and indirectly to student learning through teaching, research, and creative activities; advising; academic program development; and educational leadership.
Minnesota Monthly Magazine Honors Silha Professor
Jane Kirtley (Silha Professor of Media Ethics and Law, journalism and mass communication) was named one of "10 Minnesotans Who are Changing Our Lives" in the March 2005 issue of Minnesota Monthly magazine. Kirtley's profile in the piece, entitled "Changing the Way We Stay Free," calls Kirtley an "unflinching spokesperson for the First Amendment" and highlights her work to defend the right of the press in making information accessible to the public.