Contact: Bill Wagnon
Receiving 1999 Mississippi State University Alumni Association Faculty Achievement Awards are (l-r) Michael M. Neumann, Christopher M. Duncan, Virginia Fee, Robert L. Phillips Jr., and Richard M. Kaminski.
Faculty members in English, mathematics, political science, psychology, and wildlife are receiving the 1999 Faculty Achievement Awards of the Mississippi State University Alumni Association.
At Thursday night [May 6] festivities, the annual honors program recognized "significant contributions to the welfare of humankind and the stature of Mississippi State University" in the categories of classroom teaching, research and service.
Recognized this year are Christopher M. Duncan, Virginia Fee, Richard M. Kaminski, Michael M. Neumann, and Robert L. Phillips Jr. Each received a plaque and a monetary award.
Since the program's inception in 1965, committees of faculty, students and alumni have selected more than 150 MSU faculty members for the honors. Specifically, this year:
--Duncan received the Upper Level (junior and senior) Teaching Award. An associate professor of political science, Duncan's highest teaching goal is, according to a colleague, to make students better citizens so that they "leave his class and his university committed to improving the communities they live in." Duncan, who holds degrees from the University of Michigan and Wayne State University, also is MSU's coordinator of distinguished external scholarships.
--Fee, the Graduate Level Teaching Award. A former student said the associate professor of psychology is the "epitome of an excellent professor, one who challenges you, motivates you, works with you, and leaves you with a sense of accomplishing something worthwhile." Fee also supervises graduate theses and has directed more than 20 since 1992. She holds degrees from Hamline and Louisiana State universities.
--Kaminski, the Research Award. The professor of wildlife is recognized by his peers as one of the world's leading waterfowl ecologists with a research record that "exemplifies innovation, sustained productivity and service to the public." Kaminski, who holds degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point and Michigan State University, was the 1994 Mississippi Wildlife Conservationist of the Year.
--Neumann, the Lower Level (freshman and sophomore) Teaching Award. The mathematics professor was cited for his dynamic and interactive lectures and innovations in the use of computers as a teaching tool. He was the University Honors Program's Outstanding Honors Faculty Member in 1992. Neumann holds degrees from the University of Saarbrucken in Germany.
--Phillips, the Service Award. The English professor and editor of "The Mississippi Quarterly: The Journal of Southern Culture" was recognized by his peers for his "stunning" work in moving the journal into the top-tier of journals on Southern literature and culture. Under his guidance, circulation now tops 900, with subscriptions in 49 states and 22 foreign countries. Phillips holds degrees from Davidson College and the University of North Carolina.
"This is one of the more satisfying events the alumni association sponsors each year because it honors all of our faculty members," said alumni association executive director John Correro, who participated in his 30st Faculty Awards Program.
"We have some of the nation's most outstanding faculty on our campus, and each and every one of them deserves to be recognized," he added.