Four Syracuse University faculty members will be named this year's Judith Greenberg
Seinfeld Distinguished Fellow, University Scholar/Teacher of the Year and Laura J. and L.
Douglas Meredith Professors for Teaching Excellence at a Faculty Honors Reception this
afternoon. Seven faculty members will also be recognized as 2009 recipients of Teaching
Recognition Awards, sponsored by SU's Meredith Professors. The reception begins at 3:30
p.m. at the Goldstein Alumni and Faculty Center. Chancellor and President Nancy Cantor
and Vice Chancellor and Provost Eric F. Spina will recognize the award recipients.
The 2009 Judith Greenberg Seinfeld Distinguished Fellow is Kendall Phillips, professor of
communication and rhetorical studies in the College of Visual and Performing Arts (VPA).
The fellowship was endowed by Seinfeld '56, an SU trustee and alumna of the School of
Education, and is bestowed upon a faculty member who has shown a passion for excellence
and exceptional creativity in any academic or artistic field or endeavor.
The 2009 University Scholar/Teacher of the Year is Barbara Kwasnik, professor in the
School of Information Studies (iSchool). The Scholar/Teacher of the Year Award is sponsored
by the Division of Higher Education and Ministry of the United Methodist Church.
The 2009 Laura J. and L. Douglas Meredith Professors for Teaching Excellence are Donald
Siegel, professor of earth sciences in The College of Arts and Sciences, and James T.
Spencer, professor of chemistry in The College of Arts and Sciences. The Meredith
Professorships, created in 1995 with a substantial bequest from the Meredith estate, seek to
recognize and reward outstanding teaching, and foster research and dialogue on teaching
excellence. Two Meredith Professors are named each year to engage in investigations of
teaching and learning. They are enrolled for life in the Meredith Symposium as a sign of
honor and to provide an ongoing forum for the discussion of teaching excellence. Each
recipient of the honor is designated a Meredith Professor for a period of three years. For each
of the three years, they are provided a supplementary salary award, a fund to support their
research, and additional money to be used in developing their academic unit.
The 2008-09 Teaching Recognition Award recipients are Sharon Dotger, assistant professor
of science education in the School of Education and The College of Arts and Sciences;
Patrick Penfield, assistant professor of supply chain management in the Martin J.
Whitman School of Management; Robin Riley, assistant professor of gender and women's
studies in The College of Arts and Sciences; Michael Schwartz, assistant professor of law in
the College of Law; Melody Sweet, biology instructor in The College of Arts and Sciences;
Junko Takeda, assistant professor of history in the Maxwell School and The College of Arts
and Sciences; and Sung-Un Yang, assistant professor of public relations in the S.I.
Newhouse School of Public Communications.
The Teaching Recognition Awards program was established in 2001 through an expansion
of the Meredith Professorship Program. The Meredith Professors themselves proposed that
the Teaching Recognition Award program recognize excellence in teaching by non-tenured
faculty and adjunct and part-time instructors. Recipients are selected for teaching
innovation, effectiveness in communicating with students and the lasting value of courses. To
be eligible, candidates must have completed two years of service to the University and not
yet received tenure.
Kendall Phillips -- Judith Greenberg Seinfeld Distinguished Fellow
Phillips joined VPA's Department of Communications and Rhetorical Studies in 1999 and
has since been recognized with awards that highlight the quality of his teaching. In 2008, he
was awarded the University Scholar/Teacher of the Year Award. He previously served as
coordinator of the department's graduate program and initiated a sustained effort to
strengthen the master's program through greater recruiting and curriculum development.
Today, he serves as department chair, elected in 2007 to a three-year term. Since becoming
chair, his passion for taking the department to ever increasing levels of excellence has only
accelerated.
"Professor Phillips' passion and creativity are apparent in every activity in which he
engages, and the list of engagements is impressive," says Arthur Jensen, senior associate
dean of VPA, who nominated Phillips for the fellowship. "Since his arrival at the University,
Kendall has been a transforming presence."
Phillips is a leading scholar of the rhetoric of public memory, public discourse, popular
culture and American film. He explores the concepts through rhetorical artifacts, including
comic books, film, political speeches and scientific controversies, and through teaching such
courses as "The Rhetoric of Film" and "The Rhetoric of Popular Culture." His passion for
film is not restricted to academic circles; he hosts "Classic Movie Night" every Saturday
evening on local PBS affiliate WCNY-TV. The show features films from Hollywood's long
history and is accompanied by Phillips' commentary.
Phillips is actively engaged in the Mellon Central New York Humanities Corridor, which
promotes collaborative scholarly exchange in the humanities among faculty and students
from SU, Cornell University and the University of Rochester. He also helps students become
active in the local community, most notably by leading SU students in a community-based
public memory project with residents of the former 15th Ward in Syracuse. The project,
begun in 2007, aims to engage students and the University in an effort to make more visible
the history of the African American community prior to its segmentation and dispersion
several decades ago.
Barbara Kwasnik -- University Scholar/Teacher of the Year
Kwasnik, an expert in classification research, came to SU in 1987. She teaches in the areas of
organization of information, theory of classification and information science. Her current
research interests are in developing methodologies for studying information-related behavior
and in the cognitive processes of browsing and the structure of classificatory systems,
particularly the nature of unspecified term relationships. In addition to teaching, she has
served as director of the iSchool's Ph.D. program from 1994-98 and 1999-2001. She also has
served as director of the master's in library science (M.L.S.) program from 1990-93.
"Barbara's teaching record is as positive as it could possibly be," says iSchool Dean
Elizabeth Liddy, who nominated Kwasnik for the award. "It does not matter whether the
population consists of undergraduates, master's students or doctoral students; it does not
matter at all whether the class size is large or small; the student evaluation scores are in the
very top tier, and the free-form comments are overwhelmingly grateful and enthusiastic."
Kwasnik has served on numerous committees for both the iSchool and the University. Her
professional memberships include the American Society for Information Science and
Technology, the American Society of Indexers and the International Society for Knowledge
Organization. Kwasnik's honors and awards include being a Fulbright Visiting Scholar in
1996 at the Royal School of Librarianship in Copenhagen; being named Jeffrey Katzer
Professor of the Year at the iSchool in 2000; and being named ASIST Outstanding
Information Science Teacher of the Year in 2002.
Donald Siegel -- Meredith Professor
Siegel is one of the nation's most well-known, respected and admired hydrologists, whose
stature and accomplishments have been recognized with numerous national awards and
honors. He is a remarkably creative teacher who has influenced a generation of young
scientists-and non-scientists-as well as his contemporaries.
As a scientist, Siegel attacks some of the most timely and difficult problems in his discipline.
His research focuses on the physical and chemical aspects of water resources close to home,
in the western United States, and recently in China. He is a lifetime associate member of the
National Research Council (an arm of the National Academy of Sciences), a member of the
National Research Council's Water Science and Technology Board, a fellow of the Geological
Society of America (GSA), author of more than 150 scientific articles, and editor or co-editor
of some of the most respected journals in the field, and has served on numerous committees
of the National Research Council.
As a teacher, he sees beyond the science to the legal, ethical and political issues surrounding
the supply of fresh water on our planet and challenges his students to do likewise. Over the
course of 26 years, Siegel has taught thousands of undergraduate students and mentored
more than 50 graduate students. Nearly all of his graduate students work as hydrology
professionals in Central New York, across the nation and internationally.
Siegel has created groundbreaking multidisciplinary courses at the interfaces of science,
policy, law and the arts. His classes are marked by scientific rigor, pragmatism, accessibility
and good humor. For him, a mark of success is student mastery of the "top ten"
fundamental concepts he wants them to remember 10 years after taking the course.
"Many of the students I have taught will be the future movers and shakers of America:
media moguls, lawyers, business people or just citizens having access to significant
inheritance from their parents-my fellow baby boomers," says Siegel. "Some will likely
have more influence on how science proceeds in America than most professional scientists,
including me. If I cannot get these students to understand the scientific enterprise, then I will
have failed my job."
To that end, Siegel challenges students in his introductory courses to create projects that
relate earth science to their majors. His upper-level "Contaminant Hydrogeology" course
includes a semester-long project that culminates in an all-day civil environmental trial at
SU's College of Law, presided over by a practicing judge and litigated by law students. The
science students serve as the expert witnesses. This exercise involving law students and
science students is the only one of its kind in the country.
Siegel has networked with faculty from across campus and at the SUNY College of
Environmental Science and Forestry (SUNY-ESF) to create an outstanding,
multidisciplinary program in water resources, and he helped develop a course on climate
change in which undergraduate students work with law and graduate students to write
climate change protocols and negotiate carbon emission standards.
For his Meredith Project, Siegel plans to develop and expand his new honors course called
"World Water." The course would explore water in all its forms and permutations of use on
a global scale. Topics include the science of water-its origin, fundamental physics and
chemistry, and its movement globally and locally in the hydrologic cycle; the use and
availability of water by humans and ecosystems; and past, present and future water policy,
ethics and disputes.
He also plans to explore coupling the course to a credit-bearing 10-day trip to China in
which students would investigate water use in the Yangtze River system. The course would
include a river trip to the Three Gorge Dam, a boat trip on the heavily contaminated Taihu
Lake near Nanjing, and a tour of Shanghai's waterfront and water supply system. The
course would be a collaborative effort with Siegel's colleagues at either Nanjing or Hohai
universities.
"I often hear the term 'teaching loads' related to the number of courses professors have to
teach-rather like a Sisyphusian task of rolling rocks up a hill," Siegel says. "There is no
'teaching load' for me. Teaching remains as much of a joy (most of the time) as my research.
Teaching, research and service are all equal parts of my academic three-legged stool, and I
like it that way."
James T. Spencer -- Meredith Professor
If there were a modern manifestation of a Renaissance man on the SU campus, it would be
personified by Spencer. In addition to his international reputation as a boron and materials
chemist, Spencer has pursued an eclectic range of activities during his tenure in the sciences,
arts and humanities, which have engaged the campus community as well as communities of
scientists, artists, educators and students from Central New York and across the nation.
Spencer is founder and first director of The College of Arts and Sciences' interdisciplinary
Forensic Science Program; recent director of the Soling Program; founder and chair of the
University's MayFest Celebration (renamed this spring as SU Showcase); and a core faculty
member in the Renee Crown University Honors Program. He was also founder and first
director of SU's Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program in chemistry,
funded by the National Science Foundation.
Spencer is co-founder and director of the SU Brass Ensemble, composed of SU and SUNY
Upstate Medical University faculty, staff and students who are accomplished brass and
percussion musicians, as well as musicians from the Central New York community. In
addition, he coordinates student nominations for scholarships from the prestigious
Goldwater Foundation and the Astronaut Foundation Scholarship Program.
As the primary faculty liaison for SU's Project Advance (SUPA) chemistry and forensic
science programs, Spencer organizes professional development seminars for participating
high school teachers and directs the SUPA chemistry and forensic science summer
workshops for teachers who are new to the program. Over the years, he has presented
lectures on chemistry and forensic science to more than 10,000 SUPA high school students
across the Northeast.
Spencer is deeply committed to science education at both the science major and non-
scientists levels. He believes that: "We are all born natural scientists. Newborns learn about
the world around them through an intuitive form of the scientific method: observe, seek
patterns, experiment and observe again," he says. "However, during the process of formal
education, the excitement of discovery and the relevance of science can easily become lost
and needs to be rekindled."
Spencer's goal as a teacher is to "help all learners understand scientific thinking and to
appreciate, through the study of science, the mysteries of the world around them and the
opportunities science provides." He believes that "by framing questions properly with an eye
to student interests, such as forensic science, we can channel those interests into unique
opportunities to teach fundamental scientific principles."
For his Meredith Project, Spencer plans to continue to use forensic science as a vehicle for
enhancing overall science literacy at both the secondary school and college levels. He calls it
"science by stealth." "Forensic science is inherently a reverse-format learning experience," he
says. "A mystery needs to be solved, and solving that mystery leads directly to opportunities
to apply scientific concepts, careful observation and critical thinking to arrive at a reasonable
solution."
Spencer plans to develop new classroom materials that will arm students with scientific
concepts to guide them through the learning process; develop a new textbook, casebook,
creative mock-trial crime scene modules and laboratory materials that emphasize important
concepts and deductive learning experiences; and make the materials available to high
school and middle school teachers and provide training opportunities for those who use
them.
"The project will enhance instruction in our very large introductory science courses on
campus by providing refocused materials, assessment tools and interactivity," Spencer says.
"It will also have an important impact beyond campus by providing sorely needed materials
to colleagues at other universities and to secondary school teachers."
Sharon Dotger -- Teaching Recognition Award
Dotger teaches "Elementary Science Methods and Curriculum," "Methods of Teaching
Science to Young Children," "Quests and Questions in Physical Phenomena" and "First
Year Forum." Her areas of interest include the development of pre-service science teachers
and the effective use of constructivist teaching strategies in science classrooms.
"Sharon has electrified the teaching of science to elementary education majors with her
passion, enthusiasm and innovative pedagogical approach," says John W. Tillotson,
associate professor and chair of the Department of Science Teaching, who nominated Dotger
for the award. Dotger is the recipient of additional honors, notably the Joan N. Burstyn
Endowed Fund for Research in Education Award for Collaborative Research and SU's
Faculty Excellence Award in Graduate Education, both received in 2008. In addition to
giving invited workshops and presentations, she serves on committees for the Association for
Science Teacher Educators, the National Association of Research in Science Teaching and
SU's Task Force on Sustainability, among others.
Patrick Penfield -- Teaching Recognition Award
Penfield's passion for teaching is evidenced by the stellar evaluations he has received from
the 1,400-plus students taught during his time at Whitman. He is consistently rated as one of
the school's top professors and was voted Faculty Member of the Year in 2007 by Beta
Gamma Sigma. Penfield has developed new classes, including "Fundamentals of Sourcing"
and "Project Management and the Green Supply Chain," and has more than 15 years'
experience in supply chain management. He mentors students working off-campus and uses
his industry experience and background to help identify job opportunities and internships
for students and new graduates.
"We are very fortunate to have a person of Patrick's character and demeanor working here
at SU. He's a great asset and has a tremendous influence on our students," says Scott
Webster, Steven Becker Professor of Supply Chain Management, who nominated him for
the award. Penfield is currently helping to develop a new sustainable business curriculum
with SUNY-ESF and working with students on a project to help the Baldwinsville School
District reduce transportation costs.
Robin Riley -- Teaching Recognition Award
Riley's research on gender, militarism, and war and popular culture examines the ways
gender, race, class and sexuality work to uphold the state and perpetuate oppressive and
destructive processes, including militarism, war and imperialism. She is co-editor, with SU
faculty members Chandra Talpade Mohanty and Minnie Bruce Pratt, of "Feminism and
War: Confronting U.S. Imperialism" (Zed Press, 2008). Riley is currently working on a book
project about how U.S. college students think and talk about the war in Iraq. At SU, she
teaches a variety of courses in women's and gender studies and in the LGBT Studies
Program. Mohanty, who nominated Riley, describes her as an amazing teacher who
"accepts students exactly how and where they are in their learning, and then proceeds
skillfully to build a challenging intellectual curriculum that pushes them out of their comfort
zones and into new exciting intellectual territory."
Michael Schwartz -- Teaching Recognition Award
In addition to his faculty position in the College of Law, Schwartz directs the Disability
Rights Clinic in the Center on Human Policy, Law, and Disability Studies. Through the
Disability Rights Clinic, he supervises students in disability litigation and teaches disability
law. "Michael is an excellent lecturer and teacher," says Steven Taylor, Centennial Professor
of Disability Studies in the School of Education, who nominated Schwartz for the award.
"He is charismatic without sacrificing substance for style." Once an actor with the National
Theater of the Deaf, Schwartz holds five degrees and has served as trial attorney in the Civil
Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington and assistant attorney
general in the Civil Rights Bureau of the New York State Department of Law. He is a
member of the New York, New Jersey and Connecticut bar associations.
Melody Sweet -- Teaching Recognition Award
Sweet has been teaching at SU for 14 years, and her courses include "Anatomy and
Physiology" for undergraduates, as well as a number of upper-level courses for biology
majors, including "Cell Physiology" and an advanced laboratory course in physiology. She
conducts laboratory exercises for SU's Frontiers of Science summer program and judges
student projects at the Greater Syracuse Scholastic Science Fair and the Tri-Region Science
and Engineering Fair. She also volunteers at the Milton J. Rubenstein Museum of Science
and Technology Science Fair.
"Mel is a very integral part of our teaching enterprise," says Larry L. Wolf, professor and
associate chair of the Department of Biology, who nominated Sweet. "In spite of the
demands she has for the students, her attention to [them] and her knowledge of the
materials leads to terms in the written portion of her evaluations as 'awesome' and 'great' to
describe her as a teacher. One student couldn't resist saying that 'Sweet is sweet.'"
Junko Takeda -- Teaching Recognition Award
Takeda, who joined the SU community in 2006, specializes in early modern France;
intellectual and political history; history of medicine; and race and gender in early modern
Europe. She teaches a wide range of French history and thematic, interdisciplinary courses.
"My goal as a teacher is to demonstrate to students that history is an ongoing dialogue,"
Takeda says. "My students learn that they are making history in the present by dialoging
with ideas from the past." Takeda has served as director of the department's Future
Professoriate Program and has been a faculty advisor for Phi Alpha Theta, the
undergraduate history honors society. "Until I met Takeda, I would have been very
circumspect about suggesting that a faculty member would become an accomplished
teacher worthy of the award in just three years," says nominator John Scott Strickland,
associate professor of history. "In nearly 30 years as a graduate student and professor, I have
never known a more accomplished, more gifted, indeed a more brilliant teacher."
Sung-Un Yang -- Teaching Recognition Award
Yang, who joined the SU community in 2005, is also a faculty member within the
University's Public Diplomacy dual master's degree program within the Newhouse and
Maxwell schools. A frequently published researcher, Yang teaches courses in public relations
principles and concepts, public relations research, and public diplomacy and
communications. Yang developed and teaches the gateway course for the Public Diplomacy
program. "As I anticipated, Professor Yang created the best-received course in the
curriculum," says Dennis Kinsey, associate professor of public relations and director of the
Public Diplomacy program. "Students love the course, work harder in it than any other, and
use it to establish the foundation to enhance their public diplomacy education and get the
most from the program."
