17 Receive USM Regents' Faculty Awards
USM Regents Honor Faculty Excellence
Baltimore, Md. (April 10, 2009)-The University System of Maryland (USM) Board of Regents at its meeting today announced the 17 recipients of the 2009 USM Regents' Faculty Awards. The board met at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC).
The awards are the highest honor presented by the board to exemplary faculty members. Presented in five categories, the awards honor excellence in teaching; scholarship, research, or creative activities; public service; mentoring; and collaboration. Each award carries a $1,000 prize provided by the institutions and the University System of Maryland Foundation.
Following are the 2009 Regents' Faculty Award recipients listed by category.
TEACHING
Michael Bardzell, professor of mathematics at Salisbury University, one of only three mathematicians nationwide to recently receive the Mathematical Association of America's Deborah and Franklin Tepper Haimo Award for Distinguished College or University Teaching. His students have conducted research presented at national and regional professional gatherings before moving on to graduate school, industry, and teaching.
Clarinda Harriss, a renowned poet and professor of English at Towson University for nearly 30 years. Under her guidance and mentoring, TU's literary journal, Grub Street, is one of the outstanding student literary publications in the country, having received numerous awards.
Jason Loviglio, an associate professor of American Studies at UMBC, is known both for his ability to connect popular culture to academic concepts, and his desire to instill the values of intellectual rigor and creative thinking in students. In 2005, he was honored with the Herbert Bearman Award for First-Year Seminars.
Cody Sandifer, associate professor of physics, astronomy, and geosciences at Towson, where he has redesigned or prepared curricular materials for four physical science or science education courses. The effectiveness of the changes that Dr. Sandifer has made is demonstrated in the fact that TU won a 2008 Presidential Citation by the American Association of Physics Teachers "in recognition of exemplary efforts in teacher preparation."
RESEARCH, SCHOLARSHIP, CREATIVE ACTIVITY
H. Rodger Harvey, professor at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science and expert in studying the transformation and fate of carbon based compounds in the marine environment, an area of vital importance given the connection between atmospheric carbon dioxide and global warming.
Tobe Levin, a collegiate professor at the University of Maryland University College (UMUC), European Division. Fluent in French and German, she analyzes women's issues in creative writing and is one the few global experts pioneering attention to female mutilation as a literary theme.
George Taylor, chairman and professor of the Department of Special Education at Coppin State University for more than 30 years. He has directed more than 10 research grants, published more than 27 professional articles, and published 20 books.
MENTORING
Taryn Bayles, professor of the practice of chemical engineering in the Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering at UMBC. She is the department's undergraduate program director and the academic adviser for more than 50 students.
Arthur Eckstein, professor in the Department of History at University of Maryland, College Park, and director of the department's honors program. He has invigorated that program by actively recruiting students, with a strong commitment to increasing diversity. He serves as personal adviser to each student in the program.
Rana Khan, associate professor and director of biotechnology programs at UMUC. She has created and maintains an active online community of practice for her biotechnology graduate students, using technology to both teach online, as well as to mentor adult learners and stimulate student learning and success.
Alison McCartney of Towson University, co-designer of the Model United Nations Simulation, which she has run since its inception. She has mentored more than 100 TU students, who have, in turn, mentored more than 750 high-school students.
PUBLIC SERVICE
Stephen Bartlett, professor of surgery and medicine at the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB), and chair of the Department of Surgery. He has used his role as a transplant surgeon to reduce racial disparity in the field of renal transplantation. He has been recognized by Baltimore Magazine as one of the area's "Top Doctors" for 2008.
Mary Lashley, professor of nursing at Towson University, who gives her time and energy to help the homeless as a volunteer nurse. She has magnified her impact by involving students with the "Helping Up Mission" and has served on the organization's board of directors.
Allen Place, professor at the Center of Marine Biotechnology, University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute (UMBI). He was drawn to the study of toxic algal blooms a dozen years ago when an organism, thought to be Pfiesteria, killed more than 30,000 fish in the Chesapeake Bay and sickened more than three dozen people. He has been able to demonstrate that the causative organism in many local and international fish kills is in fact a dinoflagellate called Karlodinium veneficum.
Amit Shah, professor of management at Frostburg State University. Serving the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene AIDS Administration, he has led efforts to assess and build HIV/AIDS prevention capacity of community-based organizations, first for Western Maryland, then expanding to serve the entire state.
COLLABORATION
Gerald M. Rosen from UMB and Joseph P.Y. Kao from UMBI combined their expertise to develop a novel approach to medical bio-imaging. The technique they have developed, electron paramagnetic resonance imaging (EPRI), utilizes cell-specific molecular magnetic probes that can be delivered into living cells.
Contact: Anne Moultrie
Phone: 301.445.2722
Email: amoultrie@usmd.edu