Lawrence
Today magazine, Fall 2006
John Brandenberger, the Alice G. Chapman Professor of Physics,
was honored at Commencement as the first recipient of the Excellence in Scholarship
and
Creative Activity Award, a new Lawrence honor presented for the first time
on June 11.
The award recognizes the importance of excellence in scholarly and creative
work for advancing the mission of Lawrence University, with preference given
to those who have demonstrated sustained programs of excellent work for a number
of years and whose work exemplifies the ideals of the teacher-scholar.
[Pictured: from left, Faith Barrett, John Brandenberger, and Karen Carr]
Brandenberger, a member of the Lawrence faculty since 1968, is a specialist
in laser spectroscopy and time-resolved flourescence spectroscopy and has
played a leading role in earning national recognition for Lawrence’s physics
department as one of the country’s best undergraduate programs. His
research on atomic structure has been supported by grants from the Research
Corporation,
the National Science Foundation, NASA, The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the
General Electric Foundation, and the Keck Foundation. In 1999, he became
the first physicist in Lawrence history to be elected a Fellow of the American
Physical Society.
In presenting the award, President Jill Beck cited the “imagination and
energy” Brandenberger brings to the classroom and the laboratory.
“For generations of Lawrence students, you have provided a model for
the conduct of scientific investigation in the context of a liberal education,” she
said. “Your success
as a scholar has shown in dramatic fashion that high-quality research can be
done at an undergraduate institution and can serve as an important part of
students’ education. Your creative, intelligent, and forceful advocacy
for scholarly work is truly remarkable.”
Karen Carr, professor of religious studies, was presented
the Award for Excellence in Teaching.
Carr, who joined the Lawrence faculty in 1987, is only the seventh person in
the 32-year history of the teaching honors to be recognized with both the Award
for Excellence in Teaching and the Young Teacher Award.
A scholar on the history of Christianity and 19th- and 20th-century religious
thought, Carr is the author of two books, The Banaliization of Nihilism and The
Sense of Anti-Rationalism: The Religious Thought of Zhuangzi and Kierkegaard,a
comparative study of religious epistemology
.
“Your success at teaching students the nature of early Christianity and
the complexities of such thinkers as Nietzsche and Kierkegaard makes it clear
that you have a
special ability to take the most difficult ideas and make them come alive, without
ever oversimplifying them,” Beck said in presenting Carr her award. “If
the mark of a good liberal education is being able to use knowledge to understand
what is vital for the human experience, you have clearly been successful with
your students.”
Faith Barrett, assistant professor of English, who joined
the Lawrence faculty in 2003, received the Young Teacher Award. A specialist
in 19th-century American literature, much of Barrett’s scholarly
research has centered around poetry of the the Civil War era. She served as
co-editor of Words for the Hour, a 2005 anthology of American Civil War poetry,
and has
two books in progress, “To Fight Aloud Is Very Brave”: American
Poets and the Civil War, which examines works of popular poets as well as unpublished
poems written by soldiers, and Letters to the World: Emily Dickinson and the
Lyric Address.
Beck credited Barrett for “creating a sense of excitement” about
poetry and literature in her classes.
“Students praise your ability to challenge them and to help them reach
new levels of accomplishment in both writing and critical analysis,” said
Beck. “It
is clear that a great deal of your success comes from an individualized learning
style that is based on a high level of rich interactions with students. Your
teaching has established a balance between attempting to cover a set of important
points and allowing students to take responsibility for their own learning.”