Profiles of 2009 Faculty Award Winners
Profiles of 2009 Faculty Award Winners (PDF)
Presented April 23, 2009 at the Faculty Award Presentation
Outstanding Undergraduate Research Mentor Award
Joshua
Cooper (Mathematics)
Joshua Cooper is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mathematics
and Consulting Faculty Member in the USC Jewish Studies Program.
He has been with USC since August 2006. Dr. Cooper’s research
interests include Quasirandomness, Discrepancy, and Discrete Geometry.
From the voice of one student, it is “Dr. Cooper’s
enthusiasm, inspiration, and genuine interest in undergraduate
research that qualifies him as a top-notch candidate for the Faculty
Mentor of the Year Award.”
J. Alexander Ogden (Languages,
Literature, and Cultures)
Alexander Ogden is an Associate Professor of Russian and Comparative
Literature and is the Russian Program Director in the Department
of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures. He has been with USC
since 1998. The impact Dr. Ogden has had on his students is best
reflected in one student’s comment: “He pushed me
to a new level of academic success and at the same time allowed
me to make mistakes and to set the tone of my project. He provided
a perfect balance of guidance and supervision.”
[BACK TO TOP]
Ada B. Thomas Outstanding Faculty Advisor
John
M. Grady (Hospitality, Retail, and Sport Management)
John Grady is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sport
Entertainment Management who teaches graduate courses in Sport
Law and Risk and Security Management and undergraduate courses
in Business Law and Risk Management. His research interests focus
primarily on the legal aspects of the business of sport, which
includes the implementation of the Americans with Disabilities
Act by the sport and entertainment venue industries, as well as
intellectual property protection by professional and collegiate
sport properties. He is the principal investigator on funded research
investigating the risk perceptions of international venue managers
in accommodating patrons with disabilities.
[BACK TO TOP]
Russell Research Award for Humanities and Social Sciences
Nicholas
Vazsonyi (Languages, Literatures & Cultures)
Nicholas Vazsoyl is an Associate Professor in the Department of
Languages, Literatures and Cultures and has established an international
reputation in the field of German Studies, Comparative Literature,
and Music. He has written two books, edited two others, and has
published upward of twenty-six articles and book chapters. His
first book, Lukacs Reads Goethe: From Aestheticism to Stalinism
was widely and favorably reviewed in both the United States and
Europe, while his second, forthcoming from Cambridge, The Wagner
Enterprise: Making an Industry, is already being hailed as a fundamentally
new approach to Wagner, a role model, ”the most exciting
work in Wagner studies today.”
[BACK
TO TOP]
Russell Research Award for Science, Mathematics and Engineering
M. Hanif
Chaudhry (Civil & Environmental Engineering)
Hanif Chaudhry is Associate Dean for International Programs and
Continuing Education and Professor in the Department of Civil
& Environmental Engineering. His work on resonance of pipelines
is recognized as authoritative, and he is a leader in the expanding
field of computational hydraulics. The National Science Foundation
cited his work on modeling, simulation, and analysis of the Hurricane
Katrina levee breech of the 17th Street Canal in New Orleans as
transformative research that promotes new methods for emergency
teams worldwide to use in responding to large-scale flooding events.
[BACK TO TOP]
USC Educational Foundation Research Award for Health Sciences
J.
Mark Davis (Exercise Science)
Mark Davis is a professor in the Department of Exercise Science
in the Arnold School of Public Health and has served the University
for over 26 years. During this time, his research on the neurobiological
mechanisms of mental and physical fatigue, on nutritional countermeasures
for mental and physical fatigue, and the effects of nutrition
and exercise on immune function and disease resistance has gained
national and international recognition. His current research focuses
on the efficacy and safety of herbal extract/phytochemicals on
fatigue and immune suppression during mental and physical stress
and disease. His work has been especially useful to the Department
of Defense in advancing their research to improve combat troop
health, performance, and recovery from injury and fatigue.
[BACK TO TOP]
USC Educational Foundation Research Award for Humanities and Social
Sciences
Thomas
M Lekan (History)
Thomas Lekan is a pioneering scholar
in the fields of German and environmental history. His first book,
Imagining the Nation in Nature: Landscape Preservation and German
Identity, 1885-1945, published by Harvard University Press, linked
cultural and environmental studies to explore the meaning of German
identity in this fraught era. In addition to more than a dozen
published articles on related topics, Dr. Lekan’s current
project on German nature loving eco-tourism promises to be a major
contribution to the field that he has helped invent: global environmental
history. Dr. Lekan has one documentary project completed on the
lowcountry and another ongoing on the Lower Richland Country Heritage
Corridor.
[BACK TO TOP]
USC Educational Foundation Research Award for Science, Mathematics and Engineering
S.
Michael Angel (Chemistry and Biochemistry)
Michael Angel is a professor in the Department
of Chemistry and Biochemistry. He has a highly innovative research
program in spectroscopic instrumentation, which has had strong
impact in many areas of application related to remote and in-situ
measurement techniques using optical spectroscopy. He discovered
a new dual-pulse, laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy approach
that gave over an order of magnitude enhancement over previously
reported results. He extended this technique to underwater analysis
and deep ocean applications are considered the most interesting
and original applications of dual-pulse, laser-induced breakdown
spectroscopy. He pioneered remote Raman spectroscopy by diode
laser on solid samples, with which he made measurements on high
explosives at long distances, up to 50 meters, improving on the
earlier record of 20 meters.
[BACK TO TOP]
USC Educational Foundation Outstanding Service Award
James
Augustine (Pharmacology, Physiology & Neuroscience)
Jim Augustine is an Associate Professor
in the Department of Pharmacology, Physiology & Neuroscience
in the USC School of Medicine and has conducted truly outstanding
service for the University of South Carolina for over thirty three
years. He has served as an educator, course director, student
advocate, faculty advisor, and has chaired and participated on
numerous search committees. He was elected Chair by the Faculty
Senate for a one-year term and eventually served two additional
years. Since 2007, Jim has served as the University’s ombudsman
for the faculty on the Columbia and the regional campuses. His
CV lists over 65 committee assignments during his tenure at USC,
which are too numerous to mention. He is an active member and
ordained elder in his church, serving as teacher and chairing
multiple committees. Jim’s service to the University, as
well as the community, is indeed remarkable.
[BACK TO TOP]
Carolina Trustee Professorship in the Humanities, Law, Social
Sciences and Business Areas
Andrew
Billingsley (Department of Sociology and African American Studies)
Andrew Billingsley is professor of sociology
and African American studies and is senior-scholar-in residence
at the Carolina Institute for Families in Society. His interests
include the study of childhood and family life, particularly in
the African American Community and the study of community institutions
including the black church as a social institution. He is a recent
Fulbright scholar to Ghana, and an author of several books of
sociology including the seminal work Black Families in White America.
His other books include Climbing Jacob’s Ladder: The Enduring
Legacy of African American Families; Children of the Storm; and
the recently published Mighty Like a River: The Black Church and
Social Reform. His recently published book, Yearning to Breathe
Free, Robert Smalls of South Carolina and His Families, has put
him in demand for numerous speaking engagements including the
Congressional Black Caucus and the National Press Club.
[BACK TO TOP]
Carolina Trustee Professorship in the Health, Engineering, Medical and Science and Mathematics Areas)
T.S.
Sudarshan (Electrical Engineering)
T.S. Sudarshan is Department Chair and
Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering in the College
of Engineering and Information Technology. His research group
in the Silicon Carbide Research Lab emphasizes novel techniques
of growth of silicon carbide (SiC) bulk and epitaxial films and
device/defect correlations. In the Spring of 2006, Prof. Sudarshan
was awarded the Michael J. Mungo Distinguished Professor of the
Year award, USC's highest award for teaching excellence, and in
the winter of 2006, he was a finalist for the Governor's Distinguished
Professor Award by the Commission on Higher Education. He is a
Carolina Distinguished Professor and has held that appointment
since 1986.
[BACK TO TOP]
Michael J. Mungo Undergraduate Teaching Awards
Elise
Blackwell (English)
Elise Blackwell is Assistant Professor in the Department of English.
Her areas of interest include creative writing and contemporary
fiction. William Rivers, Chair of the Department of English Language
and Literature, states that Elise is an exceptionally talented
and devoted teacher. As a novelist she writes with a special grace
and poise that pulls readers, irresistibly and delightedly, into
her plots and characters. Clearly, in her teaching she is working
the same magic as she helps her students develop their own talents
and commitment to their art.
John Lavigne (Chemistry
& Biochemistry)
John Lavigne is an Associate Professor in the Department of Chemistry
and Biochemistry. His research interests include molecular recognition,
supramolecular chemistry, sensors, materials, and bio-organic
and physical organic chemistry. He teaches the largest class of
organic chemistry offered by the department, which typically includes
150-180 students and consistently has large numbers of undergraduates
working on research projects. Most of his undergraduate lab students
have stayed for multiple semesters and two have chosen to stay
for 3 years. To date, fifteen of his research publications have
undergraduates as co-authors.
David Simmons (Anthropology)
David Simmons is an Assistant Professor of Anthropology with a
joint appointment in the Arnold School of Public Health. His research
focuses on the relationship between human rights abuses and health
outcomes for Haitian agricultural workers, or braceros, in the
Dominican Republic. His department chair, Ann Kingsolver, states
that Dr. Simmons’ has demonstrated consistent commitment
to his teaching and mentoring activities and has found creative
ways to combine research, teaching, and service, as in his ongoing
direction of undergraduate service learning opportunities in batey
community of Haitian agricultural workers.
Stephen Thompson
(Education)
Stephen Thompson is an Associate Professor in the Department of
Instruction and Teacher Education. He is the Principal Investigator
on the Diverse Pathways in Teacher Preparation Project. The goal
of this project is to create technical to 4-year college teacher
certification pathways across the state. Dr. Thompson’s
colleagues and chair have consistently rated his teaching as superior.
He has been the recipient of the USC Office of Student Affairs
Recognition of Teaching Excellence in 2003, 2005, 2006 and 2007.
[BACK TO TOP]
Michael J. Mungo Graduate Teaching Award
Katherine
Chaddock (Educational Leadership and Policies)
Katherine Chaddock is on the faculty of the Higher Education and
Student Affairs Program in the College of Education. Her research,
writing, and teaching are in the areas of higher education history,
policy and curriculum; adult and continuing education; and organization
theory and practice. She is the author of four books, several
book chapters, and dozens of journal articles. Dr. Chaddock has
won national recognition for research and writing that was named
"Publication of the Year" by the National Association
of Continuing Higher Education. She has received the Lackey Award
for Inspirational Teaching and the student-nominated Faculty Member
of the Year Award in the College of Education. One reflection
of Professor Chaddock’s mentorship is noted in the fact
that one of her doctoral students won the Dissertation of the
Year Award from the International Council for the Advancement
and Support of Education.
[BACK TO TOP]
Michael J. Mungo Distinguished Professor of the Year Award
Susan
Anderson (Theatre and Dance)
The Michael J. Mungo Distinguished Professor of the Year Award
is considered the highest honor for teaching on USC’s Columbia
campus. The award is given annually to a truly exceptional educator
and I am very proud to announce this year’s winner, Professor
Susan Anderson.
Professor Susan Anderson, a member of the Columbia Dance scene
for over thirty years, is a professor in the Department of Theater
and Dance. She received her MFA from the University of California
Irvine under the legendary choreographer Eugene Loring. Her professional
dance career was with Ballet Celeste of San Francisco, Los Angeles
Dance Theatre, and Moving South. She has been instrumental in
building the dance program at USC. She was the Founding Director
of the USC Dance Company, the USC Dance Conservatory, and the
South Carolina Summer Dance Conservatory which hosts international
students and world renowned faculty and choreographers. In addition,
Professor Anderson was instrumental in implementing the BA major
in Dance, the BA degree track in Performance/Choreography, and
the BA degree in Dance Education, a K-12 Teacher Certification
Program
She is noted among her students and colleagues as one of the very
few individuals on campus who not only knows all of her own students
but also the names and faces of every student in her Department,
students she considers to all be part of her extended family.
Her teaching is recognized by both its breadth and variety of
approaches, and her ability to teach both in groups and individually
in the same class, thus insuring that each and every student gets
the attention they need to succeed. A demanding but caring instructor,
she is the epitome of the best that the University has to offer
its students.
[BACK TO TOP]
