For their tireless dedication to excellence in teaching, scholarship, research and service, OU honored faculty members who provide students a distinctive education. This year 24 faculty members were honored for their accomplishments during a special luncheon on Wednesday, April 16, which also marks Founders’ Day at Oakland University.

“Each Founders’ Day, we look forward to formally recognizing, encouraging and supporting faculty teaching and research excellence, scholarly productivity, creative achievements and community service,” said OU President Gary Russi. “Your contributions in and outside of the classroom enable Oakland University students to enter the workforce or graduate school highly prepared and ready to make a difference in the world around them.”

The Assessment Excellence Award was presented to the undergraduate engineering programs in the School of Engineering and Computer Science in recognition of the department’s model of the North Central Association’s culture of assessment goal by integrating assessment findings with program revisions.

The assessment of student learning outcomes is integrated into the fabric of Oakland University’s undergraduate engineering programs. This is evidenced by the extensive description of the assessment process found on the School of Engineering and Computer Sciences (SECS) home page. Assessment is the source of valuable information leading to significant improvements to the engineering curriculum, including the re-working of the core program to be more interdisciplinary, and the creation of a sophomore level design course. Grounded in the ABET expectations for student learning, the engineering assessment process clearly links program learning outcomes with specific courses and embeds the assessment at multiple points in the curriculum. This provides direct evidence of what students know and can do. In addition, the extensive use of the Web in the process enables the collection and analysis of sufficient data to ensure the quality of the results. The SECS faculty is to be commended for the development of a strong culture of evidence.

The department will receive $5,000 and is encouraged to use the money to fund enhancements to the assessment process and will be recognized on a plaque to be displayed in the Kresge Library lobby.

The OU Senate Teaching and Learning Committee and University Research Committee annually honor faculty whose teaching and research efforts merit singular praise. The three individuals who received such honors this year include:

• Mary F. Zeppelin, special instructor of education, recipient of the Excellence in Teaching Award;
• Susan E. Hawkins, associate professor of English, recipient of the Teaching Excellence Award;
• Ravindra Khatree, professor of mathematics and statistics, recipient of the Research Excellence Award;
• Matthew A. Sutton, assistant professor of history, recipient of the New Investigator Research Excellence Award

The list of 2008 honorees include:

College of Arts and Sciences

• Keith Berven, associate professor of biological sciences
• Pavlo Bosyy, assistant professor of theatre
• Daniel Clark, associate professor of history
• Brian Connery, professor of English
• Dick Goody, associate professor and director of the Oakland University Art Gallery
• Fred Love, assistant professor of theatre
• Andrei Slavin, professor of physics
• Tom Suda, special instructor of theatre
• Keith Williams, assistant professor of psychology
• Yang Xia, professor of physics

School of Business Administration

• Karl Majeske, assistant professor of quantitative methods
• Janell Townsend, assistant professor of management and marketing