Four professors honored with College's highest faculty awards.
Connecticut College professors Ann Devlin, Cherise Harris, Alex Hybel and William Rose have been honored with the institution's most prestigious faculty awards. The annual honors, presented at an April 4 award ceremony, recognize faculty excellence in research, teaching and leadership.
This is the first year the College has awarded the Helen Mulvey Faculty Award, endowed by an anonymous alumna to honor the late Helen Mulvey, who retired from the College in 1983 as the Brigida Pacchiani Ardenghi Professor Emeritus of History. The award will be presented annually to a faculty member who embodies Mulvey's legendary commitment to engaging students intellectually and teaching them to love learning.
Helen Mulvey Faculty Award
Cherise Harris, assistant professor of sociology, is the inaugural recipient of the Helen Mulvey Faculty Award, presented to an assistant professor who regularly offers classes that challenge students to work harder than they thought they could and to reach unanticipated levels of academic achievement.
Harris specializes in race, class, gender, marriage and the family and social psychology. A professor at the College since 2009, she teaches "Introduction to Sociology" along with classes on race, gender and the mass media; ethnic and race relations; sociology of inequality and middle-class minorities.
In support of Harris' nomination for the award, one student wrote that Harris "approaches the topic of social inequality with profound understanding, emotion, humor, and, most importantly, passion. Rather than preaching to her students on a pedestal, she engages us in a conversation that questions our personal realities, outlooks and social positions."
Nancy Batson Nisbet Rash Faculty Research Award
Alex Roberto Hybel, the Susan Eckert Lynch '62 Professor of Government, is the recipient of the 2012 Nancy Batson Nisbet Rash Faculty Research Award, presented annually to a faculty member selected on the basis of outstanding scholarly or artistic accomplishments.
Hybel, a native of Argentina, specializes in U.S. foreign policy, international relations theory and democracy in Latin America. He is the author of six books, including "The Power of Ideology," "Made by the U.S.A. - The International System," and "The Bush Administrations and Saddam Hussein: Deciding on Conflict," which he wrote with Connecticut College graduate Justin Kaufman '04.
A professor at Connecticut College since 1991, Hybel has received prestigious research and teaching grants from the National Science Foundation, the Fulbright Commission, the Pew Foundation and the Carnegie Foundation.
The Nancy Batson Nisbet Rash Faculty Research Award was established in 1995 in memory of Nancy Rash, the Lucy C. McDannel '22 Professor of Art History at Connecticut College from 1972 to 1995.
John S. King Faculty Award for Excellence in Teaching
William Rose, professor of government, is the recipient of the 2012 John S. King Faculty Award for Excellence in Teaching, established to recognize teacher-scholars with high standards of teaching excellence and concern for students.
Rose specializes in international politics, terrorism and insurgencies, and post-cold war and post-9/11 challenges for U.S. foreign policy. A professor at the College since 1983, Rose founded and directs the College's international relations major and teaches classes on international relations, terrorism and counter-terrorism, insurgency and counter-insurgency and U.S. foreign policy and U.N. peacekeeping.
In a letter nominating Rose for the award, professor Tristan Borer wrote that he "exemplifies the attitude which we have long claimed we expect of teachers at liberal arts schools - that teaching and scholarship are mutually reinforcing." Borer noted that Rose teaches his students to be better social-science writers and encourages his students to publish, having co-authored several journal articles with his undergraduates.
The John S. King Faculty Excellence in Teaching Award is named for a beloved professor of German whose warmth and humanity touched all who knew him.
Helen Brooks Regan Faculty Leadership Award
Ann S. Devlin, the May Buckley Sadowski '19 Professor of Psychology, is the recipient of the 2012 Helen Brooks Regan Faculty Leadership Award, presented annually to a tenured faculty member whose outstanding service in a leadership role exemplifies the college's commitment to shared governance, democratic process and campus community development.
Devlin, a professor at the College since 1973, is an expert in environmental psychology, spatial cognition and gender differences in way-finding. In addition to serving on many College committees, Devlin has served as the college marshal since 2002. The college marshal is responsible for planning and directing the faculty and student proceedings at college ceremonies and leads the processional during Commencement.
"We have never know her to turn down a request to serve on a committee of any sort - no matter how minor, major, challenging or controversial," Professor Joan Chrisler wrote of Devlin in a letter nominating her for the award. "But this award is not just for service, it is for leadership, and that is where Ann excels."
Helen Brooks Regan was a professor of education at Connecticut College from 1985 until her retirement in 2006.
April 12, 2012