2011 College Awards
The 2011 CLA Awards Ceremony was held April 21 in the Honors Hall Lounge.
Staff Award
Administrative Professional Excellence Award
Michael Gaffney
Acting Director, Division of Governmental Studies & Services
Mr. Gaffney is being recognized for his contributions to the Division of Governmental Studies and Services, the Department of Political Science, WSU Extension, and the University at large. According to his colleagues, he demonstrates strong leadership and network-building skills, along with a deep commitment to public service and WSU's outreach mission, strong engagement with and support of graduate students, and a profound appreciation for the importance of the work done by DGSS.
Professional & Institutional Service Awards
Excellence in Institutional Service
Erich Lear
Professor, School of Music
Dr. Lear served as director of the School of Music between 1989 and 2001, overseeing a $12 million renovation and addition to Kimbrough Hall and shepherding the school through two NASM accreditations (he is currently writing his third self-study for next year's accreditation visit). At the college level, he has provided leadership as director of general studies, interim dean, and dean. He has served on numerous university-wide committees and chaired the Realignment of CLA Implementation Team, and his efforts in development have brought many important grants and donations to the college.
Excellence in Professional Service (Public Agency or Discipline)
Amy Mazur
Professor, Department of Political Science
Dr. Mazur cofounded the Research Network on Gender Politics and the State, which coordinated a long-term, 17-nation study of women's policy machineries in post-industrial democracies, and she recently launched the Global Gender Expertise Project. She has served as coeditor of Political Research Quarterly, on the executive committee of the Western Political Science Association, and on the editorial advisory board of Palgrave/McMillan's Gender and Politics Series. Since 1992 she has led the French Politics Group of the American Political Science Association with Andrew Appleton.
International Award
Outstanding Achievement in International Teaching, Research/Creative Activities, and/or Service
David Pietz
Associate Professor, Department of History, and Director, Asia Program
Dr. Pietz's research focuses on the intersections of environmental policy, modern Chinese history, and globalization. He has won major grants from both the NSF and the NEH, and he's been a research fellow of the National Asia Research Program and a fellow of the National Committee on United States–China Relations. At WSU he created two certificates in East Asian studies and one in global leadership, and he has served as director of both the Asia Program and Global Studies, on the steering committee for the CLA Institute for Global Innovation Studies, and on the Global Washington Higher Education Committee. He is currently president of Asian Studies on the Pacific Coast and serves on the board of editors of the International Journal of Water History.
Scholarship Awards (Research & Creative Activities)
Early Achievement in Scholarship
Travis Ridout
Associate Professor, Department of Political Science
Dr. Ridout is being recognized for his research on campaigns and the use of media and political advertising. Since coming to WSU in 2003, he has coauthored two books and written more than 30 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters. He is coeditor of Political Research Quarterly and was recently elected to the executive committee of the Political Communications Division of the American Political Science Association, a division with over 500 members. Last year, he received a total of $125,000 from the Knight and Sunlight Foundations to further his research.
Matthew Sutton
Associate Professor, Department of History
Dr. Sutton is being recognized for his research into the rise of evangelical political influence in the 20th century. His first book won Harvard University Press's Thomas J. Wilson Memorial Prize for best first book in any discipline and became the basis for the PBS documentary "Sister Aimee." He has two books scheduled for publication in 2012, including American Evangelicals and the Politics of Apocalypse, in support of which he received an NEH fellowship. This impressive record led to Dr. Sutton receiving tenure and promotion after only two years at WSU.
Mid-Career Achievement in Scholarship
Tahira Probst
Professor, Department of Psychology, WSU Vancouver
Dr. Probst is being recognized for her work in the field of occupational health psychology, with a focus on job insecurity, stress, and safety in the workplace. Both the high quality of her research and her productivity, which includes 35 peer-reviewed articles and 21 book chapters, have made her the leading scholar nationally in the area of job insecurity, according to her colleagues. She has won several awards, including the Society for Human Resource Management Research Award, and serves as an associate editor of the journal Stress & Health.
Outstanding Career Achievement in Scholarship
Eugene Rosa
Professor, Department of Sociology
Dr. Rosa is a preeminent scholar in the areas of energy technology, risk perception and assessment, and human environmental relations. He has served on six committees of the National Academy of Science and chaired the Social, Economic, and Political Science Section of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. At WSU, he has been the Edward R. Meyer Distinguished Professor of Natural Resource and Environmental Policy since 1996 and gave the Distinguished Faculty Address in 2007. Dr. Rosa is also an artist of distinction who has made many contributions to the fine arts locally and nationally.
Dean's Award
Dean's Outstanding Contribution Award
William Andrefsky
Professor, Department of Anthropology
Dr. Andrefsky has served as director of the Center for Northwest Anthropology and the Museum of Anthropology and as chair of the Department of Anthropology, as well as one year as an associate dean. He has generated $4.8 million in extramural grant funding, and he has written or edited four books and more than 30 book-length reports. He has chaired 34 graduate students to completion of their degrees and served on 54 other graduate student committees, coauthoring 61 professional papers with 36 WSU students or former students. He recently won the Society for American Archaeology's Excellence in Archaeological Analysis Award, and his archaeological field school was chosen by the SAA as the model field method class in the nation.
Teaching Awards
Excellence in Teaching by a Clinical Faculty Member or Instructor
Sabine Davis
Clinical Associate Professor, Department of Foreign Languages & Cultures
Ms. Davis teaches courses on French language and culture, as well as an introduction to foreign languages, earning stellar ratings from her students. She has developed five new classes since 2002, including "Cultures and Wines in Bordeaux," which has become a required class for all students in hospitality business management and which she took on the road as a study abroad class in 2005. She continually updates her courses with the newest technology and best practices in the field. Both her colleagues and students praise her generosity with her time, including the informal hour of French conversation she hosts weekly at the CUB.
William F. Mullen Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching
Rachel Halverson
Associate Professor, Department of Foreign Languages & Cultures
Dr. Halverson's teaching includes both German language and culture and film studies, and she receives stellar and enthusiastic reviews from her students. She has won numerous teaching awards, including the Honors Faculty Award in 2002 and the Continuing Service Award from the Washington Association of Foreign Language Teachers in 2009. Outside of the classroom, she actively assists students in getting funding to study in Germany, and she and Dr. Lori Wiest secured funding for and traveled with seven music students on a 12-day visit to Germany in 2003.
Lori Wiest
Associate Professor, School of Music
While serving half-time as an associate dean in the Graduate School, Dr. Wiest also teaches two to four courses per semester, with superlative student ratings. She is choral conductor of the WSU Concert Choir and Madrigal/Chamber Singers, choral/vocal area coordinator, and creator, organizer, and facilitator of the WSU Choral Festival. She inspires such excellence in her students that they were invited to perform at New York's renowned Lincoln Center in 2009. She has taken her students to perform internationally four times, with trips to Germany, Italy, Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Russia, and this year they travel again to Austria.
Distinguished Professorships
Lewis E. & Stella G. Buchanan Scholar in English & Writing
Pavithra Narayanan
Assistant Professor, Department of English, WSU Vancouver
Lewis E. & Stella G. Buchanan Distinguished Professor in English & Writing
Michael Hanly
Professor, Department of English
Promotions
Promoted to Clinical Associate Professor
Christine Oakley, Sociology
Promoted to Associate Professor
Dana Baker, Political Science, WSU Vancouver
Kimberly Christen, Comparative Ethnic Studies
Armando Estrada, Psychology, WSU Vancouver
Douglas Gast, Fine Arts, WSU Tri-Cities
Edward Hagen, Anthropology, WSU Vancouver
Marianne Kinkel, Fine Arts
Pavithra Narayanan, English, WSU Vancouver
Nancy Potter, Speech & Hearing Sciences, WSU Spokane
Jeffrey Savage, Music
Darryl Wood, Political Science, WSU Vancouver
Promoted to Professor
Joseph Keim Campbell, Philosophy
Peter Chilson, English
Francisco Manzo-Robledo, Foreign Languages & Cultures
Clayton Mosher, Sociology, WSU Vancouver
Thomas Rotolo, Sociology
Recognition of Service as Chair
Gerald Berthiaume, Music
Gail Chermak, Speech & Hearing Sciences
Laurilyn Harris, Theatre & Dance
John Hinson, Psychology
Milestones
25 Years of Service to WSU
Paul Phillip, Dean's Office
Patricia Thorsten-Mickelson, Wilson-Short Division
30 Years of Service to WSU
Lynn Gordon, English
35 Years of Service to WSU
Laurie Heustis, Northwest Division
2010–2011 Retirees
Michael P. Allen, Sociology
Thomas Brigham, Psychology
Terry Converse, Theatre & Dance
Laurilyn Harris, Theatre & Dance
Birgitta Ingemanson, Foreign Languages & Cultures
Nicholas Lovrich, Political Science
Richard Williams, History