Top teachers, students to be recognized

By Amy Geiszler-Jones and Julie Rausch

Walter Mays

Faculty who are doing outstanding work in teaching, research and creative activity will be recognized during WSU’s Honors Convocation Saturday, March 11, at 9 a.m. in the Hughes Metropolitan Complex.

Ten faculty members -- some of whom have been recognized with awards in the past -- will be honored for their achievements.

More than 575 students in various honor societies and holding a 3.75 or higher grade point average have been invited to be recognized, as well.

Walter Mays, Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor of Musicology-Composition, who usually is noted for bringing music to an audience’s ears, will be the convocation speaker. Mays is familiar with excellence: He has twice been nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, his compositions have been performed throughout the United States and Europe, and he has received various national and university-level awards.

Excellence in Creative Activity

Albert Goldbarth, Adele M. Davis Distinguished Professor of Humanities, department of English

Distinguished professor Al Goldbarth, this year’s Excellence in Creative Activity Award winner, has been called "the American poet of his generation for the ages."

Goldbarth is not only a nationally known poet, he "just may be the American poet of his generation for the ages," according to critic Judith Kitchen.

Indeed it is Goldbarth’s stature as a prolific and outstanding contemporary poet that draws aspiring poets from all over the country to expressly study with the critically acclaimed wordsmith in WSU’s MFA creative writing program.

"His reputation in the poetry world is that of a prodigious, inventive, powerfully original, accomplished and important writer," says WSU colleague Margaret Dawe Baughman.

In 25 years, Goldbarth has published 23 collections of poems, eight chapbooks, and three volumes of essays, and he has won numerous prizes including the 1992 National Book Critics Circle Award in Poetry for his collection of poems "Heaven and Earth."

His works also have appeared in periodicals such as The New Yorker, Harper’s and Poetry and a variety of well-respected literary journals, and have been regularly reprinted in such anthology series as "The Pushcart Prize" and "The Best American Poetry."

And as a self-proclaimed Luddite, he writes primarily on a manual typewriter.

Most of his books "are thematically organized with an overarching idea," Goldbarth says, such as looking at interpersonal relationships through the metaphor of standard science fiction cliches in "Marriage and Other Science Fiction," or at moments of the human condition, including the death of his parents, in terms of ancient Egyptian funerary practices in "Adventures of Ancient Egypt."

His latest work will compare various aspects of psychology and psychiatry, including false memory syndrome, to certain aspects of Mayan archaeology.

His inspiration, he says, can range from something he’s read in a book to an overheard snippet of conversation while standing in line at Dillons.

"Or I can just be inspired by the way two words collide together in terms of their sound and rhythm, without even an idea or subject attached to it at first."

Critics often use musical terms to describe his works, calling him "a dazzling virtuoso" or saying he "writes... with a slangy virtuosity and at tempos mostly allegro molto or faster." It only seems appropriate, then, that composer Charles Griffin is setting one of Goldbarth’s poems to chamber music for a multimedia show in the near future.

Excellence in Research

Alan Elcrat, professor, mathematics and statistics

Galileo once said, "[The universe] cannot be read until we have learnt the language and become familiar with the characters in which it is written. It is written in mathematical language... ."

For more than 30 years at WSU, Elcrat has been learning the language of the universe by studying the "interaction of mathematics with the understanding of natural phenomenon."

Colleague Tom DeLillo calls his research "particularly remarkable for its great breadth. He has published in many of the major areas of modern applied mathematics and analysis."

Elcrat is also noted for the number and range of his collaborators. With colleagues in the United States and abroad, Elcrat has researched problems old and new -- from problems originally investigated 200 years ago to the current problems of aircraft fatigue.

"My recent work concerns fluid flows past spheres with vortices," he says. "It’s very difficult to find exact solutions to the equations of motions. One that was found over 100 years ago is called Hills spherical vortex. In recent computations done jointly with Bengt Fornberg (of the University of Colorado) and Ken Miller (of WSU), we have found solutions that look nearly spherical. After finding this clue, we have found a new exact solution for the Euler equations, generalizing Hills spherical vortex." Euler was an 18th century mathematician.

"On another track, I’m currently working with a group of students at WSU on fluid problems involving capillarity. In particular, we found new results for the problem of a floating drop. The original work on this problem was done by the French scholar LaPlace 200 years ago, but the problem hadn’t been studied again until recently."

He’s also doing work with DeLillo and other WSU faculty and students from mathematics and engineering to calculate stress intensity factors to analyze damage tolerance in aircraft structures.

In the past he’s also done work on spoiler flows with Bill Wentz, distinguished professor emeritus and executive director emeritus of the National Institute for Aviation Research. That led to work done in collaboration with Nick Trefethen of Oxford University on a new formulation of so-called Helmholtz-Kirkhhoff flows.

Among his numerous publications is a 1998 book, "Theory and Application of Partial Differential Equations," co-authored with Piero Bassinini of the Universita di Roma, that is used in WSU classes.

Excellence in Teaching

Mohammad Dadashzadeh, associate professor of management information systems and W. Frank Barton Research Fellow, department of finance, real estate and decision sciences

The explosion of technology and dot-com companies has brought about rapid change in the business world. Dadashzadeh has the complicated job of trying to keep on top of that explosion in research and teaching, while training students who plan to enter one of the hottest new career fields, management information systems.

Dadashzadeh, who has been at WSU since 1989, was a driving force behind one of WSU’s newest and fastest-growing programs in MIS.

The program officially got under way in fall 1998, and enrollment catapulted from an initial 39 majors to more than 139 majors this spring.

Dadashzadeh says one of the program’s goals is to become the premier source of highly sought MIS graduates for Kansas, Nebraska and Oklahoma companies looking for new recruits.

While he teaches extensively at the undergraduate level, Dadashzadeh teaches a number of graduate courses on database and MIS issues.

He also shares his expertise with colleagues interested in the expanding role of technology in teaching delivery, and he helped secure, along with Sue Abdinnour-Helm, a grant to enhance technology in the classroom for the W. Frank Barton School of Business.

In 1997, he was conferred WSU’s Leadership in the Advancement of Teaching Award.

Frank Wyatt, assistant professor, kinesiology and sport studies

Teaching award winner Frank Wyatt, assistant professor in kinesiology and sport studies, not only teaches and researches in exercise science, he’s an avid bicyclist, as well.

Whether Wyatt was teaching at an elementary school as he used to do, or whether he teaches adults, he still looks for that "a-ha" or that spark in their eyes where it’s apparent a connection has been made. "It’s always exciting," he says.

Wyatt is passionate about the science of movement and its effects on the body, and he also champions physical fitness among his students.

Teaching isn’t just about classroom activity. Wyatt goes the extra lap to get students involved and to have fun.

He challenged students and faculty to be physically active for 44 minutes one afternoon last fall in honor of his 44th birthday. Each participant had to kick in a dollar or two, and all students got their names thrown into a hat for a chance to win the money. The money raised went toward a student membership to the American College of Sports Medicine.

Wyatt, at WSU since 1998, is the research director for WSU’s Center for Physical Activity and Aging, as well as the coordinator for the department’s human performance lab. Myriad opportunities to teach and learn occur during research projects, which all exercise science students are involved in from collecting and analyzing data to writing and presenting papers.

Young Faculty Scholar

Sue Abdinnour-Helm, assistant professor of decision sciences, department of finance, real estate and decision sciences

Abdinnour-Helm is fast making an impression on faculty and students. In less than two years at WSU, she has published four research articles in highly regarded journals, has won rave reviews from colleagues and has demonstrated a passion for teaching and being on the cutting-edge of bringing effective technology into the classroom.

Last year she was the co-recipient of the W. Frank Barton School of Business’ Researcher/Writer of the Year Award and was nominated for two university-level teaching awards. She earned the 1997 Professor of the Year award at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls.

Abdinnour-Helm has a number of research areas, most of which deal with helping businesses operate more efficiently. Two of her recently published articles, for instance, dealt with hub-and-spoke location models, such as those used in the airline industry, and she uses one of the fastestgrowing research fields in decision sciences, that of genetic algorithm, to "breed" solutions related to these models by borrowing on nature’s survival-of-the-fittest concept.

Abdinnour-Helm is also collaborating with other Barton School faculty on research related to enterprise resource planning. Colleague Cynthia Lengnick-Hall wrote, "Sue has demonstrated all the behaviors that make an outstanding research colleague. -- She is careful and precise in her methodology. -- Sue is an enthusiastic researcher. It is evident that to Sue, the pursuit of scholarship is a joy, not a chore."

But Abdinnour-Helm is not only interested in helping businesses operate efficiently. She’s doing the same within her college. Her colleagues have high praise for her active pursuit of bringing current research into the classroom and helping to secure grants to enhance technology in the classroom.

Students describe her courses as "well organized," "current" and "very useful." "The content is extremely relevant and will be of great use in my career," wrote one. Another said, "I was able to take many, many topics and apply them in the real world."

Academy for Effective Teaching Awards

Stephen Brady, associate professor, mathematics and statistics

For Brady, a teacher’s responsibilities are as simple as "prepare, care, be fair and be there."

Judging by his student’s comments and Brady’s record of finding ways to help students succeed in classes that many have anxieties about, he’s gone beyond those responsibilities.

When a math course became a graduation requirement for all WSU students, he developed and has since directed the department’s college algebra program.

To curb the high dropout and failure rate common in algebra courses at all universities, a number of placement and assessment criteria were developed, as well.

Not a single student is able to enroll in the college algebra class without first calling Brady at the office or at home, giving him the opportunity to discuss with several hundred students a semester their mathematical backgrounds, goals and study habits. If they have math anxiety, he tries to help them overcome that.

He says one way to measure success is by how willing students are to ask a teacher for help. If one applies that measurement to Brady, he’s certainly very successful.

It’s not unusual to find a number of students in his Jabara Hall office, while others wait in the hallway.

His willingness to help is perhaps the trait most mentioned when students complete their evaluations in his class.

"He really cares about his students and wants us to learn all that we can so that we can excel in life," one wrote. "He’s a teacher that makes class and our time worthwhile."

Ronald Christ, professor, School of Art and Design

Well-known artist Ron Christ, a teaching award winner, paints in his studio. He says, "Students continually challenge, enhance and excite my own artistic ideas and practices."

Teaching painting and drawing within professional degree programs like those offered at WSU nearly eliminates the difference between "teaching" painting and drawing and "practicing" painting and drawing, says Christ, who has been at WSU since 1976.

"Whether I am ‘teaching’ an introductory foundation course or a final thesis course, it’s all part of the same artistic vocabulary that I’m ‘practicing’ as an exhibiting artist," Christ says. "My students continually challenge, enhance and excite my own artistic ideas and practices, and through my own ongoing creative and professional activity, I try to provide stimulating, meaningful and individualized information. We learn from each other, and we teach each other.

"My dedication to teaching has been consistently based on a combination of gratitude for the best instruction I received from some excellent former teachers and a desire to create my own approach to effective teaching in the discipline of painting and drawing."

Students appreciate Christ’s expertise, enthusiasm and professionalism. "Ron is very patient with his students and tries several different approaches to help get across an idea to help students understand," one student said.

"He’s very knowledgeable in his field, helpful in critiques of our work and great at organizing information we need."

Another student said, "Ron is truly concerned and involved with students at every level. His genuine love for art is easily evidenced through his excitement for art and his students."

Diana Cochran, assistant professor, medical technology

Cochran says that as a student she was so impressed by WSU’s health profession’s faculty, that she’s tried to emulate the teaching styles of several former professors since joining the WSU faculty in 1987.

Her own creative style has emerged with her ability to make complex information and concepts easier to understand. She uses lots of visual aids and clinical case studies, and she stresses the importance of developing analytical skills rather than just memorizing facts.

To stimulate the students’ brains as well as their funny bones, Cochran plays "Hematology Jeopardy" and "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?" games in class.

During "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?" Cochran found that letting her students use "lifelines," that is, asking for help to answer questions from classmates, doesn’t always work. Due to competitive natures, fellow classmates didn’t always give their peers the correct answers, she says.

Her students describe Cochran as "smart and funny," "enthusiastic," "really caring," "open to the students" and "very approachable."

A former student, Joe Black, who will graduate from WSU’s physician assistant program this summer, also was impressed with her teaching, although Cochran didn’t know it at the time. He’s going to be her husband in June.

L. Raymond Fox, professor, biological sciences

Fox has long had a reputation for using what his students call an "animated" style of teaching.

"It seems to me that curiosity is stimulated by an enthusiastic presentation of material," says Fox, who has been at WSU since 1979.

For him, using what one student termed "excellent hand gestures and body language" really isn’t a gimmick to gain the attention of the hundreds of students who take his introductory classes. He teaches three sections of a general education introductory course, The Human Organism, and two introductory courses for biological science majors.

"I’m enthusiastic about it. I find this stuff very fascinating so I try to convey that," he says. "You can’t manufacture that."

Fox, who won the WSU Excellence in Teaching Award in 1996, provides the insights he’s gained into effective teaching in his department’s teaching assistant workshops.

He shares with them that not only must they be experts in their field and the "formal authority" as far as setting educational goals and standards in the classroom, but they must be "facilitators" by helping students to become creative and to overcome learning obstacles, "an ego ideal or role model" to convey excitement in learning, a "socializing agent" to help students prepare to apply the information gains in one course to issues beyond that course. And, "the final role of a teacher is as a person," or being able to take an interest in students as individuals.

Jerry Shaw, instructor of minority studies, School of Community Affairs

Teaching award winner Jerry Shaw incorporates much of his Native American experiences into his minority studies courses. Behind him in his office is various Indian art that was either made or given to him by students.

For Shaw, little separates his life from his teaching. When he talks about Native American history, culture and issues, Shaw, a member of the Osage tribe, speaks from his experiences or those he has gathered by listening to the stories of his Navajo and Crow friends.

"There is a lot of information available about Native American cultures, any of it can be repeated, but it is my purpose to provide insight through my experience for my students," he says.

By sharing his stories and those of his Native American brethren, he carries on the oral tradition of his people. He also earns accolades from his students. "Jerry always captured the attention of the class," wrote one student. "Everything he taught he made interesting."

"My folks said to me that God gave each of us a gift," says Shaw, "and I think my gift has been my ability to go into the classroom and help people understand. I think I knew since I was 8 or 9 years old that I wanted to be a teacher, and I never wavered from that." Before coming to WSU in 1972, he taught in three secondary schools in Kansas.

But Shaw goes beyond the classroom to share insight into Native American life. Since 1979, he has conducted the Osage Cultural Workshop, a three-credit-hour class during which students live for one week in Shaw’s birthplace of Greyhorse, Okla., on the Osage Indian Reservation. Students gain a unique insight into the sweat lodge, the dancing, the arts and crafts, the intergenerational relationships and more from "people who’ve lived the life." The National Indian Education Association has called the workshops one of the only programs, and certainly the first of its kind, to take non-Indians into a reservation setting.

Shaw also makes numerous presentations a year all over Kansas as part of the Kansas Humanities Council speaker’s bureau, again helping to bring an understanding of the Native American culture and life to many who’ve never had the chance to hear such stories firsthand.

While he’s helped many non-Indians to understand and appreciate his culture, he’s also served as a role model for scores of Native American children through a tutoring program he started in the Wichita public schools, offering twice weekly tutoring sessions, along with WSU students, for 23 years to Indian students.

Shaw’s efforts to foster understanding and his teaching effectiveness have been recognized previously with the 1991 WSU Excellence in Teaching Award and the 1985 Leo Reano Memorial Award from the National Education Association, given annually to a Native American for their contribution to Indian education.