University staff, faculty receive 1996 Board of Regents excellence awards
Twelve University of Iowa faculty and staff members have received awards
from the Board of Regents. |
| Suzanne Baker-O'Brian, autism services consultant, Child Specialty Health Clinics. A 15-year employee of The University of Iowa, Baker-O'Brian has been responsible for the design, planning, promotion, and conduct of a statewide program to improve regional services to children and youth with autism. In the days when few knew very much about autism, Baker-O'Brian crafted a network that trained teachers in educating students with autism. Her leadership in the Autism Society of Iowa, the NetWorkShop, and the Four-State Regional Autism Training Conference Committee have contributed to public awareness and training for educators, families, and administrators throughout Iowa, as well as regionally and nationally. |
 | Wendy E. Brown, secretary II, University Relations. Brown, more times than not, is the first contact that outside media make with the University. As one University official noted, she provides "outstanding 'customer service'" to people seeking information about The University of Iowa. Additionally, in her five years with the University, Brown has provided the staff support to several major administrative searches, including general counsel, vice president for finance and university Services, director of the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, and director of the Alumni Association. She also contributed to a study concerning the appearance of women as experts in news stories, a contribution that one scholar said will "have a significant positive impact on the visibility of women faculty throughout the University." |
 | Peter J. Hatch, scientific glassblower, Department of Chemistry. For 19 years, Hatch has provided professional glassblowing services to experimental scientists in the department. His design of chemistry glassware has been called exemplary and his work has been noted as having a substantial impact on teaching and research within the Department of Chemistry and the state of Iowa. In addition to his University services, he designed, repaired, and constructed glassware for the Iowa City and Bettendorf water departments, the Veterans Administration Hospital, Cargill, Pace Incorporated, and John Deere, among others. Hatch also conducts demonstrations of his art and science for schoolchildren, with many of them leaving his glass shop with small glass pigs that he makes in their presence. |
 | Jean Lantz, registrar, Office of Student Affairs and Curriculum, College of Medicine. Among her 17 years of experience at The University of Iowa, Lantz has been responsible for programming related to the Health Careers Opportunity Program for minority medical students, including successful acquisition of federal funds for the program. Additionally, she has provided debt-management counseling for graduating seniors. Lantz also initiated and secured funding for the White Coat Ceremony. Among the first schools in the nation to adopt this ceremony, it emphasizes humanism in medicine and was held for the first time in August 1995. She has been instrumental in promoting student interest in developing medical care in underdeveloped nations through the Barry Freeman Fellowship. |
 | Maile Sagen, Office of the Ombudsperson. Sagen has been with The University of Iowa for 20 years. During that time she was an appointee to the Iowa Humanities Board (IHB) and went on to become its associate director. Sagen was instrumental in organizing the first Women Against Racism conference, co-sponsored by the Women's Resource and Action Center (WRAC). Recently appointed as one of two ombudspersons, she spent the last seven years as associate ombudsperson and is known as a fierce advocate for those within the University system who lack significant institutional power. Her work on the Annual Report of the Ombudsperson has resulted in several important changes in University procedures. |
 | Mary M. Schott, administrative associate, Office of the Vice President for Research. With the university for 17 years, Schott began as a secretary III in the College of Dentistry, then as secretary III in the College of Medicine, a secretary IV in the Graduate College, and then on to her current position in 1988. In addition to assisting with the processing of 2,500 grant applications each year, Schott is a member of the Music Auxiliary at West High School, of Business and Professional Women, and a past member of the Big Brothers/Big Sisters. |
Board of Regents Award for Faculty Excellence Six faculty members have been named recipients of the 1996 Regents Award for Faculty Excellence. Given by the Iowa State Board of Regents, the awards honor faculty members for work representing a significant contribution to excellence in public education. This year's recipients are: |
 | Harold Adams, professor of neurology, College of Medicine. A teacher, clinician, and recognized researcher in the area of cerebrovascular disease, Adams is an active participant in the administration of the department's academic center, including chairing the executive committee. He is a fellow of both the American Academy of Neurology and the Stroke Council of the American Heart Association and is a member of the Humana Award Committee. Adams has been directly involved in the procurement of 29 research grants from outside sources and, specializing in stroke research, he has authored, co-authored, or edited more than 150 published professional articles. |
 | Virginia Dominguez, professor in the Department of Anthropology and director of the Center for International and Comparative Studies (CICS). An author of 26 published articles, Dominguez's latest co-edited book, From Beijing to Port Moresby: The Politics of Cultural Policies and National Identities, reflects her interest in one of the most crucial subjects in contemporary anthropology and sociology, that of conflicts based on ethnic self-identification and "other"-identification. She recently helped secure a Rockefeller Foundation grant and has been honored with a Mellon Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship, various nominations for best monograph series and several small grants and fellowships. A member of the Author's Guild, Dominguez has been a guest lecturer at a number of U.S. universities and in China and Israel. She has testified before Congress on several topics associated with ethnicity and identity, particularly regarding immigrants from the Caribbean. |
 | Lowell "Ed" Folsom, professor of English and American studies. Keenly interested in the works of Walt Whitman, Folsom's book on the American poet was featured in the Chronicle of Higher Education as part of a Walt Whitman centennial recognition, with the publication recognizing him as a leading scholar on Whitman. Establishing a Whitman conference and centennial project, he attracting $110,000 in grant support. Folsom also has co-edited four other Whitman collections and published 25 journal articles and essays, 16 notes and annotated bibliographies, and a number of book reviews. This year he holds a Fulbright Senior Professorship and teaches American literature at the University of Dortmund in Germany. Folsom has served on more than 50 doctoral dissertation committees, directed more than 60 doctoral examination areas in American literature for comprehensive examinations, and directed 15 dissertations, six of which have since been published as books. |
| James D. Marshall, professor, College of Education. Since his arrival within the college's English Education Program in 1985, Marshall is credited with lifting the struggling program from near-invisibility to national prominence. Today, the program is rated as one of the top three in the United States. He received the college's Outstanding Teacher Award in 1988 and, since that time, two of his students have received the Promising Researcher Award from the National Council of Teachers of English and the Outstanding Dissertation Award from the Council on Teacher Education, respectively. In a curriculum area that is fiercely competitive for outside funding, Marshall has secured grants from the U.S. Department of Education, the National Council of Teachers of English, the Modern Language Association and the National Endowment for the Humanities. Additionally, he has written three books and 36 professional articles and book chapters. |
 | Frank L. Schmidt, Ralph L. Sheets Professor of Human Resources, Department of Management and Organization, College of Business Administration. A researcher known for his thoroughness in applying theory to data, Schmidt regularly produces six to 12 publications a year, some of which were recognized this year by the American Psychological Association, which awarded him its Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award. As a teacher, Schmidt has supervised three dissertations that have won the S. Rains Wallace Best Dissertation Award from the Society of Industrial and Organizational Psychology, Division 14 of the American Psychological Association, a unique achievement in the 25 years since the category was founded. He has served regularly on the college Promotion and Tenure Committee, the Faculty Research Committee, and the University Faculty Senate. He has authored three textbooks, one of which is in its third edition. |
 | Toni Tripp-Reimer, professor in the College of Nursing and director of the Office for Nursing Research Development and Utilization. For nearly two decades, Tripp-Reimer has focused on research related to ethnic aging and, more recently, gerontological nursing interventions. She has headed or co-headed 14 externally funded projects from such agencies as the National Institutes of Health National Center for Nursing Research and National Institute of Nursing Research, the Andrus Foundation, and the Research Retirement Foundation. Presently, she is working with three tribal groups of Native Americans, the Oneida and Winnebago in Wisconsin and the Mesquakie in Iowa, to incorporate their understanding of diabetes, preferred modes of learning, and culturally relevant knowledge regarding diet and exercise into a community-based health education program. |
by University News Services |
