Convocation August 28th, 2006: Presentation of Faculty Awards
Remarks from Nancy Budwig, Associate Provost & Dean of Graduate Studies and Research
At this point we turn to the presentation of Faculty Fellowship Awards. Clark has a long history of recruiting teacher-scholars who creatively intertwine their passion for cutting-edge research and scholarship with their lives in the classroom. Clark has many talented faculty members who make it their business to awaken a sense of inquiry in their students in part through showing them the excitement to be found in asking good questions and working out creative ways to solve them. It gives me great pleasure to single out five exceptional faculty members and two graduate students for their achievements as teacher-scholars this past year.
First I would like to call Professor Patty Ewick to the stage to receive this year's University Senior Faculty Fellowship award. Patty Ewick has just begun a sabbatical year and we are pleased she could make it today to receive this award. In some ways, Professor Ewick needs no introduction to the Clark community because her contributions as a teacher and her engagement with university life have had such wide reach. I am less sure if people are familiar with the magnitude of her scholarly accomplishments which have been exceptional both in terms of quantity and quality so let me say a few words about these. Outside reviewers in Patty Ewick's area of expertise describe Patty Ewick as a prolific scholar and praise her for sophisticated and nuanced analyses. She is said to have an unusual combination of rigor and imagination. Further validation for the impressive impact of her work comes from the recognition she has received to date. Let me give just two illustrations. First, her 1998 co-authored book, The common place of law: Stories from everyday life, received special recognition in the Sociology of Law Best Book Competition and has been translated into French and Chinese. Second, her co-authored 2003 article on "Narrating social structure: Stories of resistance to legal authority" won the best article prize from the American Sociological Association by three of its divisions- the political sociology section, the cultural section, and the section on sociology of law. In addition this same article received the Law and Society Association's Honorable Mention article prize in 2005.
Patty Ewick is also known as an extraordinary teacher and exemplary citizen. How to assess good teaching has been a matter of recent debate at Clark, but no matter how you assess good teaching Patty Ewick comes out strong. Ewick's effectiveness ratings on teaching evaluations are consistently amongst the highest in the university. Students report that she is a demanding instructor who expects a lot of them. What students appreciate is that she provides good support to help them meet her high expectations. Not satisfied with the level of writing in Introductory Sociology courses Patty Ewick transformed the ways writing was integrated into the Sociology curriculum and developed an assessment model (long before this was trendy) to evaluate her ambitious plan. As her colleagues in Sociology noted when nominating Patty Ewick, her efforts and vision have impacted the culture of teaching in the Sociology Department in positive ways. Finally, let me close by saying that Patty Ewick's impact on the community goes beyond her work as a teacher-scholar. It is not simply that Patty Ewick has served as Department Chair or worked with many important university committees, but rather the level of engagement, rigor and imagination that colleagues and students note for her role as a teacher and scholar that she brings with that service that is noteworthy. Please join me in congratulating Patty Ewick for all her achievements over the last years and wish her well during this sabbatical year.
And now I would like to ask Gino DiIorio to come to the stage. The Oliver and Dorothy Hayden Junior Faculty Fellowship is awarded annually to an Assistant or Associate Professor who personifies the Clark ideal of excellence in teaching and scholarship. This year's recipient of the fellowship is Gino DiIorio, Associate Professor of Visual and Performing Arts and Director of Clark's Theater Program. Gino DiIorio received his BA in Theatre at Clark University back in the 1980s and is living proof that a Clark education can lead students to exciting careers. In the short amount of time since Gino began as a faculty member he has brought a bundle of energy to the position systematically developing Clark's Theater program. His courses, often co-taught, are immensely successful breaking down conventional boundaries between disciplines in ways noted by students to make learning more accessible. Gino has been described as a charismatic teacher, who commands tremendous respect and fondness from his students and has a way of inspiring them to draw out their best work. As a poster child for active learning DiIorio has structured his classroom as a place where experimentation and exploration are encouraged. The number of theater majors has more than doubled in his time as director and he has left his mark on campus life through his involvement as faculty advisor to student groups such as Clark's Players Society, Dance Society and Musical Theatre Union. He also has been a vocal member of the university Undergraduate Academic Board.
The energy Gino DiIorio gives to students also can be found in his professional work. As one of his colleague's notes when evaluating DiIorio's scholarship: "There are few people I know beyond Gino that have more drive and determination to be a working, professional playwright...". Just get Gino talking about one of his recent plays next time you see him and verify this first hand. Beyond enthusiasm and energy, scholars note his exceptional talent at making stories come to life. This past year has been a particularly productive and successful one for Gino DiIorio with three of his plays being optioned and contracted for production in NY, NJ, and Ireland. In addition he is the winner of the BBC International Playwrights Award for his play "The Hard Way" in a competition that attracted more than 400 applications worldwide and won him a trip to London to meet BBC officials and oversee the radio production of the play this past October.
I turn next to call to the stage the winners of the Hodgkins Junior Faculty Award. This year the award goes to three Clark faculty members: Esteban Cardemil, Betsy Huang, and Kristina Wilson. Mr Hodgkins was particularly interested in the recognition, encouragement and financial support of outstanding junior faculty members. Although each of these awardees has already received their prize this past summer, I nevertheless would like to ask them to step forward as I say a little bit about them.
Esteban Cardemil came to the Department of Psychology in 2002, having received his BA at Swarthmore College and Ph.D. from University of Pennsylvania, and completed three years of post-doctoral training at Brown University. Esteban Cardemil's research focuses on youth depression in minority ethnic groups. His research stands out from others because of his focus on low-income and minority children and his attempts to link cultural issues with empirically guided clinical practice. In 2004, Professor Cardemil received the Society for Prevention Research and Early Career Preventionist Network Early Career Award for his early and significant contributions to the advancement of science-based prevention programs and policies through empirical research. Throughout his time at Clark Cardemil's research has benefited from significant funding from competitive research grants from the National Institute of Mental Health among others. His passion for research has spilled over into his teaching and in a short amount of time he has built up a large and active research group on campus consisting of both undergraduate and graduate students. Students appreciate the cutting edge training they receive and the ability to work on real world problems while learning to think deeply about key debates in clinical psychology. Despite being a newcomer to Clark, Esteban Cardemil has already been involved with significant departmental and university committee work with a focus that spans across his interest in both undergraduate and graduate education. He has participated on the undergraduate admissions committee, research board, and was recently elected to graduate board. Please join me in congratulating Esteban on this award.
Let me ask Betsy Huang to please step forward. We already have heard from Dean Little about the significant achievements that led Betsy Huang to be selected by Clark students as this year's Outstanding Teacher. I would like to add a few words about Betsy Huang's scholarship. In addition to quickly developing the reputation of being an unusually demanding, enthusiastic, and charismatic teacher since her arrival in 2003, Betsy Huang is known as a passionate scholar. Betsy Haung has contributed to the literary landscape by becoming known for her concern with the social and political significance of literature and literary scholarship. Rich inter-disciplinary scholarship of the sort Huang has conducted is not easy, and she has become known as a pioneer who writes with grace and clarity about issues of citizenship and I, for one, look forward to watching this line of scholarship develop as the field of Ethnic American literature takes shape in the coming years. Although a relatively new member of the Clark community Betsy is well known to many students from her active participation in the Academic Orientation program,, campus community initiative, and as a faculty advisor to both the Asian Culture Society and SPOC (Science fiction people of Clark). Let's give Betsy a round of applause once again for this second award of the day.
Kristina Wilson is the third faculty member to have been awarded the Hodgkins Junior Faculty Award this year. Let me say a few words about why Kristina's colleagues thought she was an exceptional fit for this award. Kristina Wilson came to the Visual and Performing Arts Department as an assistant professor of Art History in Fall 2004 having completed her BA and Ph.D. and a post-doctoral fellowship at Yale University. In her first year at Clark her first book, Livable modernism, was published. Not only did this receive a wonderful spread in the NY Times, but this past spring Wilson was awarded the Montgomery Prize of the Decorative Arts Society for this book. The award is given annually for the "most outstanding first major publication by a scholar in the American decorative arts field." None of this has led Kristina to go into coast mode on the scholarship front. Her second book project "The modern eye: Looking at American modernism" was submitted for review this past April and from what I hear has been warmly received. Kristina's teaching career has been similarly impressive. She is described as an instructor who "translates complex concepts into articulate and memorable nuggets." Students appreciate her clarity, and her ability to engage students even in her large survey class. Praise is also given for her innovative use of technology in ways that are supportive of students' active learning. Kristina Wilson has already become involved with campus life having served this past year on a search committee in screen studies, alumni reunion week-end, and has shared her passion for modern art with the Worcester High Schools Humanities Scholars Collaborative. I have enjoyed Kristina's sharp insights on Research Board this past year. Please join me in congratulating Kristina Wilson.
Patty Ewick, Gino DiIorio, Esteban Cardemil, Betsy Huang, and Kristina Wilson - each in their own way- personify excellence in research and teaching. Clark is fortunate to have many talented faculty and I encourage all of you who are new to our community to make the time to get to know the faculty members who are so dedicated to your learning.
Finally, I would like to turn to present the Outstanding Teaching Assistant Awards. Would Jeremiah Jones and Ana Carmiol please come forward. The criterion for the award is straightforward, excellence as a teaching assistant. Jeremiah Jones, a graduate student in Chemistry, (our first award winner) was a teaching assistant for three introductory chemistry courses this past year. Faculty who nominated him noted his strong sense of responsibility, attention to detail and dedication to his students. His nominators pointed out the difficulty in TAing such courses because of the very diverse backgrounds of students who enroll in introductory science courses and praise Jeremiah for contributing to making a long and rigorous lab a rewarding experience for all students enrolled.
Ana Carmiol from the Department of Psychology is the second graduate student to be awarded the Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award. In submitting Ana's nomination, one of her instructors notes that Ana was the assistant in the "dreaded Psych 107- research methods" course that is a requirement for all Psychology students at Clark. Ana not only TAed this course once but took it on for a second semester despite the fact that it may not be the favorite class of Clark undergraduates. Professors who have worked with Ana as a TA noted the seriousness with which she took her TA assignment and the significant investment of time she gave to making the course a positive experience for the students. Ana designs additional assignments for her sections to help reinforce course material that were not only noted by students to be enjoyable, but also received praise for the educational benefit. Known as friendly and approachable, a hallmark of Ana's style is her ability to help students with their writing and study habits.
There are many talented and creative graduate students at Clark and it is a pleasure to recognize graduate student achievements as they enter the teaching profession. Good teaching itself is acquired through solid mentoring and to all those professors who have worked with Clark graduate students, and to all those professors who provide positive examples of what it means to be a teacher to Clark students, we thank you for awakening a sense of discovery in a new generation of teacher-scholars.