A&S Faculty Honored

Arts and Science faculty were honored recently based on their achievements in the classroom and in their research.

Elaine Lawless, Curators’ Professor of English, was awarded the prestigious Governor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching. Because this is a statewide award, recipients of this award have typically been recognized previously by other major teaching awards.

Lawless has been at MU for more than 25 years, and she says the best part of that time has been teaching her outstanding students. Born, raised, and educated in the Midwest, Lawless says she connects well with other Midwestern-born students.

Lawless has dedicated a large part of her career to strengthening the English department’s Folklore Program.

“To see that program now attracting some of the best graduate students in the country has been its own reward,” says Lawless. “Having the honor of hooding these students as they graduate with doctorates and embark on their own careers gives me true pleasure and satisfaction.”

She says she shares this honor with the colleagues and students who wrote letters on her behalf. She will attend a lunch hosted by the governor in the spring.

Nelson Cowan, Curators’ Professor Psychological Sciences, has been awarded the President’s Sustained Excellence Award, which recognizes faculty for distinguished career-long, sustained excellence in scholarship, research, or creativity for a period of 15 or more years.

Cowan studies the working memory — the small amount of information that can be held in mind in order to carry out cognitive takes. He says that working memory is of interest philosophically for an understanding of conscious thoughts, but it is also of interest in practical terms, because individual differences and age differences in working memory are important for predicting how well people can carry out these cognitive takes.

“Neurological and psychological deficits and learning disabilities often involved impaired working memory, and my research may help to provide an avenue to assist individuals with these problems,” says Cowan. “Some of my collaborative research shows that many amnesic individuals with stroke or brain damage can remember new information if any subsequent interference is eliminated for a few minutes after the information is studied.”

Cowan says this award helps to confirm his feeling that a sustained commitment to something worthwhile yields benefits that grow increasingly as time goes on. He became interested in the human mind when he was in high school, and he decided at that time that his occupation had to include endeavors that would increase our scientific understanding of human consciousness.

“I am honored by the award, especially because I know that my excellent department includes several other professors who could have qualified for it,” says Cowan. “I hope that the feeling of accomplishment that this award gives me will translate into better mentoring of younger students and colleagues, so that they can meet their aspirations.”

Cowan is thankful to the department chairs, awards committee chair, dean, and university administrators who have helped make this award possible, and who help to make the University of Missouri extraordinary.

The Provost’s Outstanding Junior Faculty Teaching Award was given to Alexandra Socarides, assistant professor in the English department. This award recognizes junior faculty for superior teaching and advising on the MU campus. At MU since 2007, Socarides teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in 19th-century American poetry.

“In all of my classes, I ask students to spend time with sometimes difficult and strange poems, and I ask them to do a variety of different kinds of research projects that put them in touch with the context in which the poems were written,” says Socarides.

She has been writing a book about Emily Dickinson’s material and compositional practices. This work, she says, has been greatly influenced and strengthened by what she has learned from working with MU students.

“I was thrilled to receive this award,” says Socarides. “I like to think that reading poetry — however quiet and solitary a practice that might be — can help students approach their changing world with confidence and awe.”

This award confirms what she has always thought — that such an endeavor is worthy of sustained attention, she says.

Peter Casazza, professor of mathematics, and Tim Trull, professor of psychological sciences, were named Curators’ Professors. Only outstanding scholars with establish reputations will be considered for this appointment.

“The Curators’ Professors are a very distinguished group,” says Casazza. “I am honored to become a part of this group, and it is always gratifying to receive recognition for one’s accomplishments.”

The Chancellor’s Award for Outstanding Research and Creative Activity was awarded to Robert Baum, associate professor of religious studies. This award gives special recognition to MU faculty members who are still in the developmental phases of their careers, have made outstanding contributions in research and/or creative activity, and have great promise for achieving wider recognition.

Since joining the Department of Religious in 2005, Baum has taught courses in indigenous religions, Islam, and the history of religions. His research focuses on African religious and social history, especially the history of the Diola religion in Senegal, Gambia, and Guinea-Bissau, West Africa.

Assistant Professor of Psychological Sciences, Shawn Christ, was awarded the Provosts’ Outstanding Junior Faculty Research and Creative Activity Award recognizing junior faculty who are in the early phases of their careers for their superior research and creative activity on the MU campus.

Christ’s research is primarily aimed at increasing the understanding of the cognitive and neural processes underlying typical and atypical development, therefore, his work focuses on the development of cognitive abilities in children with neurodevelopmental disorders. In addition to conducting behavioral studies, Christ also utilizes neuroimaging techniques to better elucidate the neural substrates of cognition in individuals with and without early brain injury.

By Laura Lindsey, College of Arts and Science
November 28, 2011