The four highest awards to University of Maine faculty were presented at the Academic Honors Convocation April 30.
This year's Distinguished Maine Professor is Keith Hutchison, professor of biochemistry and the 1999 UMaine Presidential Outstanding Teaching Award recipient. The annual award by the Alumni Association recognizes outstanding achievements in teaching, research and public service.
The Presidential Public Service Award was presented to Ann Schonberger, director of Women in the Curriculum and Women's Studies. The recipient of the Presidential Research and Creative Achievement Award was Kevin Boyle, Libra Professor of Environmental Economics. Receiving the Presidential Teaching Award was Professor of Education Constance Perry.
Keith Hutchison joined the Department of Biochemistry, Microbiology and Molecular Biology in 1984, coming to UMaine from a position as a researcher at Jackson Laboratory. Prior to his arrival, he held an adjunct faculty position in biochemistry at UMaine, starting a long history of inter-institutional and interdisciplinary activity. Hutchison's research focuses on molecular genetics and regulation of development in plants and animals. He also studies genome structure and genome flux in response to the environment.
Hutchison, also a cooperating professor of forest resources and of biological sciences, is one of the founders of the conifer molecular genetics field. However, his interests and activities extend beyond that. At UMaine, he was an early advocate for establishing the Zebrafish Facility, where zebrafish are used in genetic/genomics studies to solve problems related to aquaculture, as well as human health. Hutchison recently coordinated the submission a $7.5 million NIH COBRE grant proposal involving scientists from UMaine and Jackson Lab to create a Center of Excellence in Advanced Genome Technologies, focused on biological/biomedical research.
One of Hutchison's strengths is in bringing together scientists from multiple disciplines and institutions in an effort to make the research capacity of UMaine and the state larger than the sum of its parts. An example is in the major role he played in establishing, and now coordinating, the statewide Molecular Genetics Ph.D. Program involving UMaine, Jackson Lab, Maine Medical Research Institute and the University of Southern Maine. Such efforts not only affect research on campus and throughout Maine, but also increase educational opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students.
Where Hutchison excels is in the classroom. Students consistently rate him as one of the best teachers they have had at UMaine, and he has been recognized for outstanding teaching by his department, college and the University. Hutchison's overriding philosophy is to push students as hard as he can, setting the bar higher than they think they can reach, then showing them how to reach it. In class, his lecture style is as important as the content he presents, based on the philosophy that an educator's job is to inspire student interest and curiosity, as well as to fill their heads with information. Hutchison demands much from the students in his courses, and his effectiveness is reflected by the large amount of effort that all his students put into his classes.
Ann Schonberger has demonstrated distinguished public service achievement for more than two decades. Working collaboratively, and often behind the scenes, Schonberger has a long-standing commitment to connecting the academy to the community to bring about support for battered women, contributions to girls in math and science, and public service through the Women in the Curriculum/ Women's Studies Program.
Since 1978, Schonberger has been a major contributing member of the steering committee of Spruce Run, the battered women's project in Bangor. In her volunteer work, Schonberger applies her professional expertise as director of women's studies and professor of mathematics. She has been instrumental in Spruce Run's success in such areas as fund raising, committee administration and public education. She brings the “big picture” of women's issues to both the content and methodology of decision making at Spruce Run. Schonberger was one of the founders of the Feminist Oral History Project, begun in 1992, which is writing a book on Spruce Run (the third oldest battered women's project in the U.S.).
Schonberger's professional career as a mathematics educator began with a program of research on women and girls in math and science. A major public service component of this career has been her leadership in the annual, statewide Expanding Your Horizons Conference for junior high school girls. Although Schonberger's work on the project ended in 1996, the 16th EYH conference was held in March. The longevity of the program reflects a societal need and Schonberger's successful efforts to institutionalize the outreach effort.
As director of WIC/WST since 1991, Schonberger has worked within women's studies professional organizations at state, regional and national levels to advance the development of the field. In addition, she connects the academic work of the WIC/WST Program with the broader community through such activities as the weekly lunch series, Women's History Celebration and Maryann Hartman Awards.
Kevin Boyle, who joined the UMaine faculty in 1986, is Libra Professor of Environmental Economics, professor of resource economics and policy, and a cooperating professor of wildlife ecology. He also holds an adjunct professor position in the Department of Economics and the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies at Georgia State University.
Boyle is one of the world's leading environmental economists. His publications have led to significant changes in how research is conducted in his field. His research focuses on the valuation of natural resources and environmental amenities, including the development of many of the definitive conceptual and methodological tools to elicit such values. In addition, Boyle is considered an expert in conducting meta analyses of research results.
Applications of Boyle's research can be found in studies of wildlife – fishing, hunting, non-consumptive uses of wildlife, and the protection of endangered species; water quality – surface water and ground water; forest ecosystem protection; and land-use change. As an expert in these natural resource areas, Boyle is frequently tapped by federal and Maine agencies for policy advice. The Department of Resource Economics and Policy is now nationally and internationally recognized as a premier environmental economics research institution.
Boyle, a Presque Isle native, received his undergraduate degree in economics from UMaine in 1978.
Constance Perry received a bachelor's degree in biological sciences, then an M.Ed. and Ed.D. from UMaine. She joined the College of Education faculty in 1977. Perry teaches educational curriculum, instruction and foundation courses. Her research focuses on teacher caring and moral development. Most recently, her work has broadened to study sense of community and belonging within schools. She has validated a belonging scale for rural students and is now looking at the relationships of belonging, character education and conflict resolution skills to safe schools.
For Perry, teaching is a way of life. Her work with colleagues and students is infused with a spirit of commitment to lifelong learning, innovation and change. She genuinely cares about UMaine and public school communities, and has had a profound influence on the lives of many teachers. Perry has almost three decades of superb teaching evaluations, marking the use of new strategies for instruction virtually every semester she works with students. Her innovative teaching includes unusual assignments that help her know her students' strengths and needs as learners. She inspires a deep devotion in her students to be the best possible teachers of learners of all ages.
Perry's dedication to teaching was further demonstrated three years ago with the initiation of a Methods of College Teaching course to assist colleagues in university instruction. In 1998, she was named founding co-director of the campuswide teaching improvement initiative, the Center for Teaching Excellence. Perry also helped design the Home/School Connections Program, part of the Elementary MAT Program for preservice teachers.
In December, Perry was awarded a national award for her work with students – a Holmes Group Best Practice Award for building university and public school partnerships. Most recently, she received a Post-Tenure Merit Award from the University of Maine System.