Horace T. Morse-University of Minnesota Alumni Association Award for Outstanding Contributions to Undergraduate Education

Julia K. Dabbs
Art History, Division of Humanities
University of Minnesota Morris

Julia K. Dabbs has taught students from a great variety of majors how to actively and critically read visual images. Dabbs is an exceptional example of a teacher/scholar who connects easily with students because she is always attentive to the individual student’s abilities, interests, and aspirations. Specializing in Renaissance Art and the History of Early Modern women artists, Professor Dabbs published a collection of life stories of women artists from 1550 to 1800 most of which were not available in English.

Shaul Hanany
Physics & Astronomy
College of Science & Engineering

Shaul Hanany is making transformative changes in the undergraduate student experience in his department. He implemented a unique educational program renovation, and launched a new initiative that impacts students’ professional lives through more informed career choices. He is an innovator in the classroom and an education role-model among colleagues. He research-mentored tens of undergraduate students, works to increase underrepresented populations in the sciences, and imparts the fun of physics to tens of thousands of spectators every year through outreach leadership.

Barry Kudrowitz
Design, Housing, & Apparel
College of Design

Barry Kudrowitz is the director and founder of the Product Design program, developing over 20 new undergraduate courses and building a culture of creativity grounded in design, technology, and entrepreneurship. Students and industry recognize him for creating unique and highly immersive educational experiences involving real-world projects and partners. He leads and orchestrates an extensive, dedicated community of practice made up of alumni and industry professionals who are actively involved in the classroom.

Richard M. Lee
Psychology
College of Liberal Arts

Richard M. Lee is a Distinguished McKnight University Professor of Psychology at the University of Minnesota. He is deeply committed to educating, inspiring, and providing opportunities for undergraduate students from ethnic and racial minority backgrounds. A counseling psychologist with expertise in race, culture, and mental health, he seeks to broaden all students’ perspectives on how diversity is central to psychological science, while providing a space for under-represented students to be recognized, to grow, and to thrive.

Chris Leighton
Chemical Engineering & Materials Science
College of Science & Engineering

Over the course of a 19-year career at the University of Minnesota, Distinguished McKnight University Professor Chris Leighton has matched world-renowned research with extraordinary commitment to teaching and education-related service. His accomplishments encompass outstanding classroom instruction, extensive curriculum development, exceptional program development during an eight-year tenure as Director of Undergraduate Studies in Materials Science and Engineering, unwavering commitment to excellence in advising and mentoring, and an outstanding record of involvement of undergraduate students in research.

Malinda Alaine Lindquist
History
College of Liberal Arts

Malinda Alaine Lindquist is an associate professor of History, affiliated with Afro-American Studies. She is an outstanding and innovative teacher who takes active learning to the next level by helping students collaborate; as Director of Undergraduate Studies, she transformed the history major. She reaches out to historically black colleges and universities, and has actively contributed to the University of Minnesota through the Liberal Education redesign endeavor.

Thomas Michaels
Horticultural Science
College of Food, Agricultural & Natural Resource Sciences

Thomas Michaels pioneers integration of innovative pedagogies in large applied science courses through the use of emerging computer technologies, active learning strategies and approaches that address multiple learning styles. He brings a sense of excitement and curiosity to his classes. Tom led the development of a new major addressing contemporary food production issues and contributes to successful curriculum development by others. He effectively mentors many undergraduate students and provides guidance to aspiring teachers.

Justin Revenaugh
Earth & Environmental Sciences
College of Science & Engineering

Justin Revenaugh has exceptional skills in teaching large-enrollment courses that inspire science-averse students to be curious about the planet and how it works. He gives an extraordinary level of attention to each student in his courses and he has developed innovative ways to unleash student creativity in the context of learning scientific concepts. His upper-level geophysics courses are rigorous and accessible and his mentoring of non-traditional students has launched their careers as scientists.

Deena Wassenberg
Biology Teaching & Learning
College of Biological Sciences

Deena Wassenberg is a biology educator whose goal is to increase biology literacy and the diversity of individuals who participate in biology. Deena’s instruction aims to empower students to have informed conversations about biology with their colleagues and loved ones. To do this she incorporates student-centered learning in all her classes. She believes the real test of a biology education is the successful incorporation of biology knowledge into students’ lives outside the classroom.

Sauman Chu
Design, Housing & Apparel
College of Design

Professor Chu is the director of the graphic design program where she teaches courses at the undergraduate and graduate levels. Her research focuses on examining user experience of web and interactive design for diverse users. Over the past twenty years, her students completed more than 70 projects for over 50 different organizations through a service learning approach. Her goal is to focus on identifying and solving public needs through design and to foster community partnerships.

Eric Daigre
English
College of Liberal Arts

Professor Daigre has spent decades developing the most thorough and impressive system of community-based learning at the University of Minnesota. He has broken down the walls between the classroom and the world outside the university in ways that have had life-changing effects for student after student. In addition, he has worked tirelessly to improve undergraduate teaching both in his own classroom and throughout the English Department.

Catherine E. Wolfgram French
Civil, Environmental & Geo- Engineering
College of Science & Engineering

Professor French enthusiastically has taught civil engineering courses that have influenced countless undergraduate students and she has received several teaching awards. She has created a sense of community among the undergraduates through her caring and thoughtful approach. She has served as adviser and mentor and provided research opportunities. She strives to shape students to be outstanding engineers who serve society while showing compassion and understanding to students of all backgrounds and abilities.

Daniel F. Keefe
Computer Science & Engineering
College of Science & Engineering

Professor Daniel Keefe’s innovations in computing education invite students into provocative and authentic learning experiences that tackle real-world problems while simultaneously broadening participation and diversity in computer science. Whether designing writing and programming intensive required courses or visually stunning computer graphics and virtual reality projects, Dan’s integrative teaching, mentoring, and advocacy responds to genuine needs in society and challenges students to mindfully design and build new technologies that fundamentally make people better.

Michael Lower
History
College of Liberal Arts

Professor Lower is an exceptionally talented teacher. His scholarly brilliance in Mediterranean Studies echoes in the inclusivity and diversity that he emphasizes in every class he teaches. By developing courses that have transformed the traditional lecture into a site of collaborative learning and constructive engagement with difference, he has inspired a wave of curricular innovation within his department that is bringing the best that history has to offer to undergraduates from across the University.

Lisa A. Miller
Industrial & Systems Engineering
College of Science & Engineering

As inaugural Director of Undergraduate Studies in the department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, Professor Miller has been instrumental in fleshing out its curriculum and creating a successful senior design course with strong industrial collaboration and support. Dr. Miller is highly praised by students for including active learning principles into her teachings. Her caring approach to advising has contributed in meaningful ways to the creation of a dynamic and inclusive environment in this new department.

Cheryl A. Olman
Psychology 
College of Liberal Arts

Cheryl A. Olman is an Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Minnesota. Her primary goal as an undergraduate educator is to empower students. A vision scientist with expertise in functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), she seeks to provide opportunities for students to get hands-on experience with methodological tools that can have broad applicability. She is a strong advocate of community engagement and is passionate about supporting the next generation of diverse scientists.

Rebecca Dean Swenson
Agricultural Education, Communication & Marketing 
College of Food, Agricultural & Natural Resource Sciences

Professor Rebecca Swenson has a reputation for innovative curriculum design, strong dedication to students, and engaging teaching. She is a pivotal leader who conceptualized and developed a new major for students – Agricultural Education, Communication & Marketing – and an expanded role for communication within the College. Rebecca Swenson is passionate about linking theory, research, and practice, and she is an advocate for real-world experiential learning experiences. She is a leader and teacher who elevates others and inspires growth.

Geoffrey G. Bell
Management Studies, Labovitz School of Business and Economics
University of Minnesota Duluth

Dr. Bell is a passionate, caring, and dedicated faculty who is committed to helping students discover and nurture their passions. He consistently scores among the top teaching evaluations in the school, while maintaining rigorous academic standards. Alumni say he fostered their career success. He engages in high-level advising, assisting students through academic and personal difficulties. Influencing program development, he spearheaded LSBE's Sustainable Organization Minor; he chairs or co-chairs both LSBE's and UMD's Sustainable Education Committees.

Sheryl Breen

Political Science, Division of the Social Sciences
University of Minnesota Morris

Dr. Sheri Breen is a highly regarded, passionate and innovative instructor. Students laud her courses for their role-playing simulations and critical engagement of course writers and concepts. They praise her advising for emphasizing personal growth and career development. She has made major contributions to the political science and environmental studies curriculums, and is a campus leader in internationalizing UMM’s curriculum through guiding international programming, developing study abroad courses, and coordinating the study abroad programs.

Mitra Emad

Anthropology, Sociology and Criminology, College of Liberal Arts
University of Minnesota Duluth

Mitra C. Emad is a cultural anthropologist, interdisciplinary scholar, and passionate advocate for active, civically engaged learning. In recognition of her excellence as an instructional leader, she earned an Office of Information Technology research fellowship and two Faculty Fellow positions supporting midcareer instructional development and technology-enhanced learning. She was the 2016 winner of UMD’s Jean Blehart Distinguished Teaching Award. Her leadership led to the founding of UMD’s Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning.

David Fox
Earth Sciences
College of Science & Engineering

David Fox strives to challenge how students view the world around them so that they learn to see the Earth with the eyes of an Earth scientist. He teaches in large and small lectures, the lab, and the field, and has mentored numerous student research projects. As Director of Undergraduate Studies, he guided students to their degrees through a curriculum he helped revise and he promoted the essential role of writing in student learning.

Jonathan Gewirtz
Psychology
College of Liberal Arts

With an acute sense of the evolving needs and interests of undergraduate students in Psychology, Jonathan Gewirtz’s pedagogical philosophy dovetails with his research on empathy. His course on “Brain and Emotion” has a long waitlist, as does his summer program in Madrid that combines the study of Biological Psychology with a research laboratory internship. The numerous innovations he has introduced through his teaching and through his department’s curriculum are shaping the future of instruction in the field of Psychology.

David Matthes

Biology Teaching and Learning
College of Biological Sciences

Professor Matthes brings a passion for biology and teaching into each of his courses. His integration of active learning and team-based learning instructional strategies into his genetics and cell biology courses has helped his students to achieve unusually high learning gains and develop professional skills needed in their careers. Professor Matthes is a national leader in the development of project-based bioinformatic and personal genome analysis courses.

Keith A. Mayes

African American & African Studies
College of Liberal Arts

Keith A. Mayes has been an effective teacher at the University of Minnesota.  Known for his passion and level of energy in the classroom, Professor Mayes has received some of the highest student ratings in the College of Liberal Arts. He was also awarded the Arthur “Red” Motley Exemplary Teaching Award in 2010, only eight years into his career. Professor Mayes is a well sought-after instructional leader inside and outside the University of Minnesota.

Tracy Otten

Studio Art, Division of the Humanities
University of Minnesota Morris

Tracy Otten has taught Art and Printmaking for seventeen years at the University of Minnesota Morris. She is a vastly knowledgeable, caring, and inspiring teacher, mentor and role model; she is a highly organized and helpful adviser who keeps on helping, even many years after students have left UMM; she is a brilliant, socially engaged, and humble professional artist; and she is an inclusive and perceptive human being.

Hangtae Cho

Asian Languages & Literatures
College of Liberal Arts

The Department of Asian Languages and Literatures’ beloved teacher and colleague, Dr. Hangtae Cho, is a program-builder whose teaching appeals to students from all backgrounds. His motivational teaching encourages students to pursue cultural learning at the highest level inside and outside the classroom.

Michelle D. Driessen

Chemistry
College of Science & Engineering

As the director of General Chemistry, Michelle Driessen has implemented broad evidence-based innovation that has significantly improved the experience and impact of both laboratory and classroom instruction in a course sequence serving thousands of undergraduates every semester. As an exceptional classroom instructor, curriculum designer, and student advisor at the earliest points in the undergraduate experience, her compassionate and calculated approach to chemical education has broadened participation and retention in the sciences.

Robert L. Dunbar

Center for Learning Innovation
University of Minnesota Rochester

Robert Dunbar’s leadership is a teaching model for colleagues. He is known for his extensive contributions to the establishment of an interdisciplinary health sciences curricula; his dedication to each UMR student; his intensive work to construct and fortify the structure of the interdisciplinary Center for Learning Innovation; and the establishment of a research agenda that significantly contributes to the vision of the Rochester campus.

Becca Gercken

English and American Indian Studies, Division of the Humanities
University of Minnesota Morris

Inclusivity, respect, high standards, and encouragement of all students characterize the extensive contributions to undergraduate education made by Becca Gercken. Whether in the American Indian Studies major she cofounded or in a program for traditionally under-represented college students, whether helping students navigate the academic professional world or helping the campus improve its interactions with its students, she is an invaluable member of the UMM community.

Gayle Golden

School of Journalism & Mass Communications
College of Liberal Arts

Gayle Golden has consistently been an outstanding instructor and a force for undergraduate curriculum innovation at a time when journalism has changed significantly. Through her dynamic work in the classroom as well as her transformative role in guiding our undergraduates academically and professionally, Gayle has demonstrated a distinguished performance over nearly two decades to achieve the highest standard of undergraduate teaching.

Kurt F. Kipfmueller

Geography, Environment & Society
College of Liberal Arts

Kurt Kipfmueller is a dedicated teacher who has helped thousands of students to understand and appreciate the natural world. As an expert in physical geography, he teaches foundational courses in environmental science and introduces students first-hand to research projects in spectacular wilderness areas. The care and respect Kipfmueller shows to students provides them with a foundation for success early in their academic experience and makes him an outstanding example to his peers.

Tade O. Okediji

Applied Economics
College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences

Tade Okediji is fiercely committed to imparting to his students a passion for fundamental concepts of micro-economic theory. A “life-long mentor” and astute communicator across cultural divides, Tade’s interdisciplinary approach to development in less-developed countries transforms his classrooms into laboratories for critical thinking and innovative policy prescriptions. His dynamic teaching inspires students to challenge the status quo prescribed by traditional economic analyses, encouraging them to re-write the odds for their generation.

Daniel J. Philippon

English
College of Liberal Arts

Daniel J. Philippon has made numerous outstanding contributions to undergraduate education. His engaging, research-based teaching, whether in large lectures or small seminars, is widely praised by students, TAs and colleagues alike. His advising, particularly of summa thesis candidates, has enriched the lives of students across the University. And his work as Director of Undergraduate Studies in English has transformed the curriculum, producing innovative new courses and expanding opportunities for student achievement through scholarships, study abroad, and career readiness.

Michael Sommers

Theatre Arts & Dance
College of Liberal Arts

In his 34-year career to date, Professor Sommers has generated over fifty internationally recognized theatrical productions, probing the dark conflicts and the joys of being human. At the University, he has translated his unique vision into the curricular arts where he serves as mapmaker, provocateur, and mentor. He structures collaborative environments of serious and focused play that celebrate the act of making, inspiring students to work with their hands, imaginations, and intellects to realize their own creative process.

Douglas W. Ernie
Electrical and Computer Engineering
College of Science and Engineering

Douglas Ernie’s commitment to undergraduate education is evident in his teaching, advising, mentoring, curriculum enhancement, and involvement in his students’ learning experiences. A leader beyond the classroom, Ernie has redirected the college’s distance learning program to support all learners through educational technology. He is an advocate for equity and service-learning, having founded undergraduate research programs for diverse students and a learning abroad program in Kenya. See a full profile (pdf).

Mary Franklin-Brown

French and Italian
College of Liberal Arts

Mary Franklin-Brown combines an enviable scholarly record with acute administrative instincts. As a teacher in the field of medieval studies, she has shown a unique ability to impart her passion and erudition to students. As Director of Undergraduate Studies, she has refigured the department’s study abroad program in Montpellier, France; designed a new internship course that helps students develop careers; and proposed the creation of three new gateway courses to help recruit French majors. See a full profile (pdf).

Tabitha Grier-Reed

Postsecondary Teaching and Learning
College of Education and Human Development

Tabitha Grier-Reed’s courses combine intellectual rigor with engaging experiences that support students’ success and personal growth. As the founder, in 2005, of the African American Student Network, Grier-Reed created a safe and constructive space for black University students to connect with and find support from peers, faculty, staff, and graduate students as they make meaning of their experiences on campus. Her work inside and outside the classroom embodies common themes: a commitment to inclusive pedagogy, intellectual rigor, supportive peer advising, and research. See a full profile (pdf).

Russell J. D. Holmes

Chemical Engineering and Materials Science
College of Science and Engineering

Russell Holmes is a gifted educator who is routinely identified by graduating seniors as the best instructor in the materials science and engineering (MSE) curriculum. He teaches difficult required courses, helping students master challenging concepts. His impact as a teacher and mentor has helped the program grow; the number of students majoring in MSE has more than doubled in the last five years. Holmes is also very committed to involving undergraduates and even local high school students in his internationally recognized research program. See a full profile (pdf).

Brian D. McInnes

Education
University of Minnesota, Duluth

Before joining the University, Brian McInnes was the lead teacher at an Ojibwe language immersion school, with an ambition to help others become outstanding teachers for Native American students and schools. At UMD, McInnes has developed and taught core methods courses to a cohort of Native American elementary education students; these educators are now prepared to teach Ojibwe to upcoming generations of Anishinaabe children. McInnes also founded a groundbreaking program, the Enweyang Ojibwe Language Nest, as a comprehensive preschool on campus offering literacy, science, math, structured play, music and art - all taught through the Ojibwe language. See a full profile (pdf).

Heather J. Peters

Psychology, Division of Social Sciences 
University of Minnesota, Morris

Heather Peters uses a wide variety of pedagogical tools to expose her students to a scholarly exploration of psychological and cultural evaluations of human behavior. Students report that they leave her classes feeling they have acquired a new way of thinking about the world and their own personal place in it, as well as their duty to be informed citizens about cultural and social issues related to diversity. Peters redesigned UMM’s Human Services major, and created an innovative upper division research class. She is also a potent force in student academic life through her many collaborative projects with student support offices. See a full profile (pdf).

J. B. Shank

History 
College of Liberal Arts

J. B. Shank is an historian of European intellectual history, in particular the era known as the Scientific Revolution. He is known for his multidisciplinary approach to the study and teaching of the humanities and is a creative force for curricular innovation. He received National Endowment for the Humanities funding for his innovative course, “The Nature of the Cosmos,” a global comparative study of six cosmologies from cultures around the world. The course is featured on the National Endowment for Humanities website. See a full profile (pdf).

Michael J. Silverman

Music 
College of Liberal Arts

Michael Silverman is the director of music therapy program at the School of Music, where he teaches several core undergraduate and graduate music therapy classes. Specializing in acute psychiatric music therapy for adults, he also pursues research at the University’s Medical Center. Silverman has provided professional learning opportunities for students by personally overseeing the internships of all music therapy students and by forming partnerships with therapists, clinics, and other health care facilities. See a full profile (pdf).

2010 - Present

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2000 - 2009

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1990 - 1999

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1980 - 1989

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1965 -1979

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