Illinois State University will honor 14 faculty members for teaching
and research during the Founders Day Convocation at 1 p.m. on Thursday, Feb.
15, in the Braden Auditorium of Bone Student Center.
Paul Garris of the Biological Sciences department and Glenn Reeder of the Psychology department are the 2007 Outstanding University Researchers. The Outstanding University Research Award goes to faculty whose research has been acknowledged by their peers in the U.S. and internationally.
Maureen Angell of the Special Education department and Cheri Simonds of the School of Communication are the 2006-07 Outstanding University Teachers. Jodi Hallsten of the School of Communication is the Category 2 Outstanding University Teacher, a classification for non-tenured faculty. The Outstanding University Teacher Award is given to faculty whose teaching accomplishments are unusually significant and meritorious among their colleagues.
Research Initiative Award recipients include Rachel Bowden, Biological Sciences; Diane Dean, Educational Administration and Foundations; Kass Fleisher, English; Craig McLauchlan, Chemistry; Chad McEvoy, Kinesiology and Recreation; Eric Peterson, Geography-Geology; and Jeffrey Wagman, Psychology. The Research Initiative Award is given to faculty members who have initiated a promising research agenda early in their academic careers.
Teaching Initiative Award recipients include Rachel Bowden, Biological Sciences; David Marx, Physics; Bernard Tamas, Politics and Government; Renee Tobin, Psychology; and Lori Woeste, Health Sciences. The Teaching Initiative Award is given to faculty members who have shown considerable promise in teaching early in their careers.
Garris joined the Illinois State faculty in 1996, teaching in the fields of neurobiology and physiology, and serves on the faculty for the University of Illinois College of Medicine in Peoria. Prior to coming to Illinois State, Garris taught at a secondary school in Malava, Kenya. He received his Ph.D. from Indiana University School of Medicine and served as a postdoctoral research associate at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. Garris research interests include compensatory neuroadaptation in Parkinson s disease and stroke, neural substrates of sociosexual behavior, mechanisms of psychostimulant action, dopamine neurotransmission and biosensor development and application. His research is currently being funded by the Department of Defense and National Institutes of Health, and funding for his research in the last decade has totaled more than $4 million. Garris was named a Kuffler and Steinbach Fellow and was invited to talk at the American Society for Neurochemistry annual meeting and at the International Conference on In Vivo Methods.
Reeder came to the Psychology Department at Illinois State in 1977 to teach in social psychology, with a specific emphasis on attitudes and social cognition. He received his bachelor s degree and doctorate from the University of California at Santa Barbara. While on the faculty at Illinois State, Reeder also was appointed an Erskine Fellow at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand and a guest professor at the University of Leuven in Belgium. He has served as director of research for the Women s Wellness Initiative at Illinois State as well as co-coordinator of the Industrial/Organizational Social Graduate program. Reeder has served on the editorial boards of a number of academic journals, including the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology and Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. His research interests are in the areas of impression formation and the prevention of prejudice.
Angell joined the Department of Special Education at Illinois State in 1996 after teaching at the University of Georgia and acting as the executive director of a residential school for exceptional children in Pennsylvania. She currently serves as doctoral program coordinator for her department. Angell has authored and co-authored several journal articles and book chapters, including recent works Family Perceptions of Facilitators and Inhibitors of Effective School-Based Dysphagia Management and Systematic Instruction for Pragmatic Language Skills in Lunchroom Settings. Angell has served as a member of the Governing Board for IL-TASH and as a Marc Center of McLean County Board of Directors member, chair of the Program Services Committee and member of the Behavioral Supports Committee. Angell has recently received grant funding from Illinois State University for her research on Exploring Parental Perspective on Trust in Education Professionals and Using an Adapted Power Card Strategy to Facilitate Interactivity Transitions of Children with Developmental Delays.
Simonds joined the faculty at Illinois State in 1997 after teaching at the University of North Texas and the University of Central Oklahoma. Simonds received her Ph.D. from the University of Oklahoma and her master s degree from the University of North Texas. She has co-authored three books on intercultural communication, classroom communication and public speaking; chapters in communication theory and information literacy; and articles in Communication Education, The Basic Communication Course Annual and Communication Research Reports. Simonds has presented at regional and national conferences in communication. Simonds received the Central States Communication Association Outstanding Teacher award, and she was the 2005 Bronze Telly Award Winner for her work on leading instructional discussions.
Hallsten came to Illinois State in 1999 from the University of North Dakota-Grand Forks, where she received her master s degree in speech communication. Since joining Illinois State, Hallsten has taught courses such as Foundations of Inquiry, Gender and the Humanities, Communication Theory and Small Group Communication. She acts as an ongoing summer curriculum advisor at Exploration Summer Programs in Wellesley, Mass., where she helps college-level students devise curricula for a residential, six-week summer academic enrichment program. At Illinois State, Hallsten has worked with multiple groups of students to create and execute fundraising events for a variety of charities. Additionally, she has acted as a faculty mentor for first-year graduate teaching assistants and within the residence halls. As a 2006 FOCUS Fellow, Hallsten helped create the FOCUS online faculty training modules on civic and community engagement. She has several publications to her credit, including one in Communication Theories for Everyday Life, Theories of Interpersonal Communication.
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