Young Teacher Award
Kenneth Bozeman, 1980
"Each year at Commencement, Lawrence honors a teacher with less than seven years' service who has shown those qualities that indicate promise for excellence in teaching, namely, strong potential for an impressive career, superb teaching with well-acclaimed scholarship or creative work, a deep concern for the development of one's skills as a teacher, and a commitment to the learning of one's students.
This year the award goes to a teacher who during the short time he has been with us has already made his voice heard at Lawrence. He has not done so, however, outdoors between October and April. In those months he marches about muffled from tip to toe. His body thinks it is still in Mississippi; only his nose has experienced Wisconsin winter.
Kenneth Bozeman was invited to join the Lawrence faculty in 1977 because we recognized his achievement and promise as a performer and believed that he would be an excellent teacher and valuable colleague. After three years in the conservatory he has distinguished himself as a gifted voice instructor whose students respond enthusiastically to his high standards and quickly learn to share in his love of music. Ken's music theory classes reflect the side of his mind which delights in exploring the thornier internal workings of music with students for whom he has a genuine and most appreciated concern. With his colleagues in the meeting rooms of the Music-Drama Center he has shouldered the broader concerns of the conservatory and university with high ideals, compassion, and wit. From the stages of Harper Hall and the Chapel his voice has delighted audience after audience, most recently as the Evangelist in Bach's St. Matthew Passion. There are several dimensions to Ken's voice, however, and they reflect the culture of a young man whose love for his art and concern for liberal learning inspire colleagues and students alike.
Ken, we are delighted to honor you as an outstanding young teacher of the Lawrence faculty."