Printer-friendly versionWASHINGTON, D.C., November 2004 — The Council for Advancement and Support of Education and The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching today named four professors as winners of the 2004 U.S. Professors of the Year Award. The professors, who will each receive $5,000 prizes, were selected for their outstanding teaching, commitment to undergraduate students, and influence on teaching. Forty-six state winners were selected as well.
The four national winners are:
* Outstanding Baccalaureate College Professor: Robert Bell, professor of English, Williams College, Williamstown, Massachusetts. Bell's approach is marked by his personal connections with students and exploration of literature through alert attention to details of language. He extends his influence across the Williams campus through the Project for Effective Teaching, a mentoring program for new faculty he founded in 1994 that brings teachers together for weekly discussions, symposia, and conferences.
* Outstanding Community College Professor: Howard Tinberg, professor of English, Bristol Community College, Fall River, Massachusetts. Tinberg places ethnographic research at the core of his composition and literature classes, involving students in researching the use of literacy in their families and communities. Tinberg was instrumental in creating the college's Writing Center and its Center for Teaching and Learning and also serves as editor of the national journal Teaching English in the Two-Year College.
* Outstanding Doctoral and Research University Professor: Carl Wieman, professor of physics, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado. Wieman is a Nobel-Prize winning scientist who shared the 2001 prize in physics for creating a new form of matter, and thereby establishing a new branch of atomic physics. Wieman is known for making physics accessible and for being extremely concerned with undergraduate education—despite a demanding schedule as an influential international scholar. He used his portion of the $943,000 Nobel winnings to create free, online physics simulations for teaching at the high school and college level.
* Outstanding Master's University and College Professor: Rhona Campbell Free, professor of economics, Eastern Connecticut State University, Willimantic, Connecticut. Free is known for drawing on ideas from multiple fields, including oral history from historians and virtual field trips from geologists, to teach the principles of economics, and for creating topical courses, such as "Economics of Professional Sports." Formerly the director of her university's Center for Educational Excellence, Free continues to share this interest in innovation and cross-disciplinary approaches with her colleagues.
The U.S. Professors of the Year program, created in 1981, is the only national initiative specifically designed to recognize excellence in undergraduate teaching and mentoring. This year's winners were selected from a pool of nearly 300 nominees. Campus provosts and academic vice presidents nominated them for the honor, and current and former students, colleagues, and peers from other institutions sent letters of support. Nomination materials included the professors' teaching logs and course descriptions, as well as personal statements describing their teaching and mentoring techniques, courses or curricula they created, or their impact on teaching on their campuses and beyond.
CASE assembled two preliminary judging panels earlier this year that evaluated the nominees in four areas: 1) impact on and involvement with undergraduate students; 2) scholarly approach to teaching and learning; 3) contributions to undergraduate education within the institution and community; and 4) support from colleagues and students. CASE then forwarded a list of finalists to the Carnegie Foundation, which performed the final round of judging and awards the $5,000 prize to each national winner.
John Lippincott, president of CASE, said the national and state winners embody what is best in undergraduate education.
"For our award-winning state and national Professors of the Year, teaching is not a job, it is a calling. They are as dedicated to their students as they are to their disciplines, and they are exceptional in their ability to engage students in the learning process," Lippincott said. "Their commitment and enthusiasm make it possible to forge strong connections with students that transcend the classroom or the lab. They do more than impart knowledge; they inspire and motivate students."
Said Lee S. Shulman, president of the Carnegie Foundation: "These U.S. Professors of the Year have distinguished themselves in their profession by their commitment to advancing knowledge and to motivating, inspiring and empowering their students. Through their contribution to excellence in teaching and extraordinary dedication to their students, they have dignified and elevated the profession of teaching and created a legacy of knowledge and practice that others can build upon. In honoring them, we not only recognize the individuals but also maintain the importance of teaching to our nation's future."
The Professors of the Year will be honored today at a luncheon at the Willard InterContinental Hotel in Washington, D.C. The professors and their students will speak at the luncheon; a current or former student will introduce each national winner.
TIAA-CREF, one of America's leading financial-services organizations and higher education's premier retirement system, is the primary sponsor for the awards ceremony. Other sponsors include theAmerican Association of Community Colleges and the National Association for Independent Colleges and Universities.
"TIAA-CREF is proud to be the principal sponsor of the awards ceremony for the Professors of the Year, honoring those who provide exemplary service in higher education, in our communities, and to the profession of teaching," said Nancy Tigner, vice president, client services. "TIAA-CREF recognizes that the contributions these individuals make to society often go unnoticed, and we are happy to be part of an event that recognizes their achievements."
Founded by Andrew Carnegie in 1905 and chartered in 1906 by an act of Congress, The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching is an independent policy and research center with a primary mission "to do and perform all things necessary to encourage, uphold, and dignify the profession of the teacher and the cause of higher education." The improvement of teaching and learning is central to all of the work of the Foundation. The Foundation is located in Stanford, Calif.
