May 8, 2001 Contact: Elizabeth Conlisk (614) 292-3040
Ohio State gives 19 awards to selected faculty
Service, teaching, research given distinct honor
COLUMBUS – A nominating colleague from Ohio State’s Fisher College of Business wrote, “it is sometimes said of great athletes that their teammates would buy tickets to see them play – Neeli is the kind of teacher we ‘sit in on’ for profit and pleasure.”
Neeli Bendapudi, assistant professor of marketing,
donned a look of surprise as an entourage of administrators and faculty members
at The Ohio State University walked into her dimly lit classroom to honor
her for excellence in teaching.
Bendapudi’s husband, Venkat, an assistant professor of management and human resources at the Fisher College of Business, and her daughter accompanied the group, led by President William E. Kirwan and Executive Vice President and Provost Edward Ray, to take part in the celebration. Bendapudi’s look of surprise was broken when she spotted her daughter and politely said to Kirwan, “If you will excuse me, I would like to give my daughter a hug.”
Bendapudi is among 10 Ohio State faculty members to receive the 2000-2001 Alumni Award for Distinguished Teaching, which honors faculty members who have done a superior job in teaching. The recipients were nominated by students and colleagues, and were chosen by a committee comprised of alumni, students and faculty. They each receive a cash award of $3,000 and a $1,200 increase in their base salaries. This year’s recipients join an elite group of more than 300 faculty members who have received this award since its inception in 1960.
The award recipients also are inducted into Academy of Teaching, which provides leadership on improving teaching at Ohio State.
This year’s Distinguished Awards recipients will be honored at a May 9 banquet. The awards are supported by the offices of Academic Affairs and Research, The Ohio State University Alumni Association and private donations to the university.
Kirwan, who handed Bendapudi an apple as a symbol of her achievements, spoke briefly of her accomplishments in front of an applauding marketing class of about 30 students.
According to a nominating student, “the way in which Professor Bendapudi conducted our class was a perfect blend of being lively and engaging while maintaining a professional, informational and friendly student/teacher relationship.”
Bendapudi has won numerous awards within the Fisher College of Business for her teaching, including the MBA program’s Outstanding Elective Professor Award from the class of 2000. Business Week magazine mentioned a course she developed and taught as one of the Fisher College’s most recommended courses. A faculty member at Ohio State since 1996, Professor Bendapudi holds a doctoral degree from the University of Kansas and previously taught at Texas A&M University.
Two other awards, the Distinguished Scholar Award and the Faculty Award for Distinguished University Service, also were given to an elite group of faculty during April.
Six faculty members received the Distinguished Scholar Award, which recognizes extraordinary scholarly accomplishments by senior professors who have compiled a substantial body of research, as well as the work of younger faculty members who have demonstrated great scholarly potential. Recipients are nominated by their departments and chosen by a committee of senior faculty, including several past recipients of the award. Distinguished scholars receive a $3,000 honorarium and a $20,000 research grant to be used during the next three years.
The Faculty Award for Distinguished University Service was given to three faculty members this year who have made extensive contributions to the development and implementation of university policies and programs through non-administrative roles. They are nominated by members of the university community and selected by a committee of faculty, administrators and previous recipients. They receive a $3,000 cash award and an increase of $1,200 to their base salaries.
Alumni Award for Distinguished Teaching
Associate Professor
Department of Mathematics
Professor Abdalkhani has taught at Ohio State’s Lima campus since 1988, teaching everything from remedial sections to statistics to calculus. He also serves as a resource person for local educators in the Lima area, offering workshops for teachers and principals. Professor Abdalkhani is active in curriculum design and the use of creative teaching methods. He successfully implemented cooperative learning at the campus by emphasizing reading and writing in elementary mathematics classes, incorporating textbook reading skills and journal writing to connect mathematics theory with everyday practice. He serves on the Teaching Effectiveness Committee and is president of Lima’s Faculty Assembly. His doctorate is from Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
Assistant Professor
Department of Anatomy and Medical Education
Professor Guy is an exemplary teacher, a wonderful role model, and is dedicated to her students. She goes beyond the normal call of professorial duty and is developing a World Wide Web-based course for nontraditional students who cannot attend class on campus. An innovative teacher, she also is also the author of Learning Human Anatomy: A Laboratory Text and Workbook and the developer of the multimedia tool Anatlab: The Anatomy Lab. A member of the Ohio State faculty since 1986, she earned her Ph.D. at Ohio State, previously worked as an anatomy instructor at the university, and also taught junior high and elementary school in Flint, Michigan.
Professor
Department of Chemistry
Professor Hart has left his mark on undergraduate chemistry. First, he overhauled the Honors Organic Laboratory to make it one of the most demanding -- yet most popular -- courses. He designed an innovative program of small-scale experiments so the department could afford to offer undergraduates sophisticated new laboratory equipment. Professor Hart earned his Ph.D. at the University of California, Berkeley, and worked at the California Institute of Technology before joining Ohio State’s faculty in 1978. Since then, he has graduated 21 master’s and 36 Ph.D. students, while shepherding numerous undergraduates -- and even high school students -- in his research group.
Professor
School of Physical Activity and Educational Services
A member of Ohio State’s faculty for 25 years, Professor Heron is renowned for his research in special education and is considered a major contributor to the program’s high national ranking. Colleagues say he serves as a role model to students in three ways: by showing how teaching and research are linked, providing them with applied examples, and offering a variety of instructional arrangements. In just four years in the late 1990s, he produced more than 20 publications in top-ranking journals. Professor Heron earned his Ed.D. from Temple University. His publication The Educational Consultant is adopted widely for classes in special education across the nation.
Professor
Department of Sociology
Students who have taken classes
with Professor Hodson say that he is interested in teaching, well-organized,
a clear communicator, and well-prepared. In the past
three years, he has taught a large introductory course in sociology that involves
supervising seven to eight teaching assistants, handling testing and grading,
and assisting students in learning. He has also taught the required graduate methods
course for M.A. and Ph.D. students, as well as graduate and undergraduate courses
in his area of expertise, the sociology of work. A faculty member at Ohio State since 1996,
Professor Hodson holds a doctoral degree from the University of Wisconsin.
Professor
Because he is an outstanding teacher, scholar, and adviser, students and faculty alike seek advice from Professor Irvin. In addition to developing several classes in the department, he has also designed a new model for teaching that incorporates student-centered and student-guided activities. He developed the Sow Productivity Index, a computer program widely recognized by the industry as a standard for genetic selection. In 2000, Professor Irvin received the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences Outstanding Student Adviser Award. A member of the Ohio State faculty since 1975, he earned his Ph.D. at Ohio State.
Professor
Professor Rahwan is a gifted communicator, a passionate teacher, and an able researcher. He has written no fewer than 13 study manuals to assist students in comprehending course material. He has also developed a popular elective course in toxicology to help students better understand the subject. To date, Professor Rahwan has received the college’s prestigious Miriam R. Balshone Memorial Award for Distinguished Teaching an unprecedented six times, as faculty are eligible to receive the award only once every three years. A member of the Ohio State faculty since 1972, he earned his Ph.D. from Purdue University and previously worked at both Dow Chemical and Hoechst Pharmaceutical companies.
Assistant Professor
School of Teaching and Learning
Recognized by colleagues with the 2000 School of Teaching and Learning Teaching Award, Professor Seidl is actively engaged in advising students and has taken a leadership role in a cohort of students pursuing their teacher preparation program in elementary education. She teaches courses primarily focused on issues of equity and diversity, the foundations of elementary education, and teacher education, and maintains a research program that provides new understandings to inform the preparation of teachers. She also has been active in programs offered by the College of Education’s Office of Diversity and Outreach. Professor Seidl received her Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. She joined the Ohio State faculty in 1996.
Department of Agricultural, Environmental, and Development Economics
Professor Sheldon teaches courses in industrial organization, international trade, and policy analysis. In addition to his regular teaching load and research work, he advises both undergraduate and graduate students and is deeply involved in outreach teaching to agribusiness leaders around the state. Professor Sheldon was one of the first faculty members in his department to place all of his course materials on the Web, and recently chaired a department committee that significantly revised the doctoral program. A member of Ohio State’s faculty since 1989, Professor Sheldon earned his doctorate from the University of Salford, UK. He also taught at the University of Exeter, UK.
Distinguished Scholar Award
Professor
Department of Linguistics
Professor Joseph is the world’s leading specialist in the linguistic structure and history of the Greek language. In addition, he has made significant contributions in the fields of Balkan linguistics and in general historical linguistics. His research in these three areas is published in more than 100 sole-authored articles, two monographs, and a widely used graduate textbook. As chair of the Department of Linguistics from 1987 to 1997, he is credited with developing the department into one of the top in the country. A faculty member since 1979, Professor Joseph received his doctoral degree from Harvard.
Professor
Department of English
Professor King is a “Renaissance
Man” whose research and writings have earned him an international reputation
in the field of English Renaissance literature, history, and culture.
He is the author or editor of seven
books and has published more than 100 essays and reviews. His scholarship
has been recognized with five long-term research fellowships from the National
Endowment for the Humanities and the National Humanities Center. A member of the Ohio State faculty since 1989,
Professor King earned his Ph.D. at the University of Chicago, and previously
taught at Bates College, Brown University, Oxford University, and
Abdullahi Bayero University in Nigeria.
Professor
Department of Mathematics
Professor Moscovici pioneered a
new form of geometry, known as noncommutative geometry an emerging field that synthesizes ideas from geometry, topology, mathematical
analysis and quantum physics. He received
his Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of Bucharest in 1971. In 1978, he was invited to the Institute for
Advanced Study in Princeton, where he spent two years as a visiting member before
joining the Ohio State faculty in 1980. In
1995, Professor Moscovici was appointed a fellow of the John Simon Guggenheim
Memorial Foundation, and in 1997, he was appointed as a scholar to the Clay
Mathematics Institute at Harvard University, where he spent the 1999-2000 academic
year.
Ralph W. Kurtz Professor
Department of Mechanical Engineering
Professor Rich’s work with gas and
plasma flows has led to advances in high-power lasers, high-speed flight, and rocketry, as well as industrial
chemical processes. He invented a carbon monoxide gas laser, which
remains the most efficient laser known that can produce powers exceeding 1 million
watts. In 1965, Professor
Rich earned his Ph.D. in aeronautical engineering at Princeton University, where
he was a Daniel and Florence Guggenheim Fellow in Jet Propulsion. Since joining
the Ohio State faculty in 1986, he has created new research programs in physical
gas dynamics and nonequilibrium thermodynamics. Nominators cited not only his scientific and
engineering accomplishments, but also his extensive knowledge of history and
literature.
Department of History
An extraordinarily productive and
distinguished scholar, Professor Rupp has made cutting-edge contributions to
women’s history, the history of social movements,
and the history of sexuality, as well as other fields. Her work combines
extensive archival research in multiple languages with theoretical and analytical
rigor. She has completed
five books and has made substantial contributions in the journals of both history
and women’s studies. She has written
on a broad range of topics, from Nazi ideology to contemporary lesbian feminist
communities. Professor Rupp
earned a doctoral degree from Bryn Mawr College in 1976 before joining the Ohio
State faculty in 1977.
Professor
Professor Thompson’s nomination
for this award labels him “the international pioneer in acquisition and interpretation
of tropical and subtropical ice core histories.” In
short, he is the world’s expert in deciphering clues to ancient climate trapped
inside ice from some of the Earth’s harshest environments. He has led 35 expeditions to remote ice caps
in Peru, Bolivia, China, Antarctica, Russia, Kenya and other regions. He has authored,
or co-authored, 109 papers published in refereed journals, including 10 in the
prestigious journal Science. In addition,
his predictions about the growing impact of global warming have been sought
by the U.S. Congress, the vice president, and colleagues around the world. Professor Thompson
earned his Ph.D. at Ohio State and joined the University as a research scientist
in 1986.
Faculty Award for Distinguished University Service
Professor
Department of Physics
Colleagues say Professor Perry has served on essentially all of the important committees in the Department of Physics. He helped select the dean of the College of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, currently chairs University Senate’s Rules Committee, and is a member of the OSURF Board of Trustees. He was vice chair of the Research Commission and, over the past 10 years, has served on 13 organizing committees for national and international conferences. Professor Perry is an active scholar, focusing on problems involving the strong interaction, and recently was named a fellow of the American Physical Society. He joined the Ohio State faculty in 1987, and earned his Ph.D. from the University of Maryland, College Park.
Professor and Director
Medical Technology
School of Allied Medical Professions
Professor Rudmann’s list of service
on university,
college, and school committees is long and impressive. She currently
serves on University Senate’s Athletic Council and is a past chair of Faculty
Council and the Senate Steering Committee. She was a member of the Presidential Search
Committee that selected President Kirwan and has served on numerous panels examining
issues ranging from health care to budget restructuring. Professor Rudmann maintains this high level
of service while carrying on an active research program, earning positive teaching
evaluations, and providing administrative leadership for the medical technology
program. An Ohio State
Ph.D. recipient, she joined the faculty in 1987.
Professor and Chair
Department of Molecular Virology, Immunology, and Medical Genetics
Important university activities over the past 10 years are likely to show evidence of Professor Whitacre’s involvement. She has served on numerous University Senate committees, and chaired the Senate Oversight Committee on Restructuring and the Presidential Commission on University Governance. Searches for top administrative positions over the years have reflected her input. Professor Whitacre also is a significant contributor to her academic department, having served as chair since 1994. Funded extensively by the National Institutes of Health and an international authority on autoimmune diseases, Professor Whitacre also has been recognized in her college several times for her teaching. She earned a Ph.D. from Ohio State, and joined the faculty in 1981.
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