Professors receive awards for excellence

By Jesse Brown

Friday, August 21, 2009

On Thursday, four unsuspecting professors received a W.T. Kemper Fellowship for Teaching Excellence, which recognizes outstanding teachers and advisors at the University of Kansas.

The group of University officials which handed out the awards was led by Chancellor Bernadette Gray­-Little.

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Thursday’s W. T. Kemper Fellowship recipients

Deborah Smith, associate professor of ecology and evolutionary biology

Andrea Greenhoot, associate professor of psychology

Ruth Ann Atchley, associate professor and interim chair of psychology

Heather Desaire, associate professor of chemistry

The group went to each classroom to surprise the professors and hand them a check for $5,000.

The fellowships are determined by a seven-member selection committee now in its 13th year.

The awards have been supported by a $650,000 gift from the William T. Kemper Foundation and $650,000 in matching funds from Kansas University Endowment Association. The awards are distributed annually.

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Photo by Amanda Kistner

Deborah Smith, associate professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University, as well as several other professors received an award on the first day of classes. A total of twenty professors were honored with $5,000 checks around campus.

The first professor to receive the Kemper fellowship Thursday was Deborah Smith, associate professor of ecology and evolutionary biology. When the Chancellor and the officials showed up to her classroom, Smith looked shocked.

“I was literally speechless for a while,” Smith said. “It was a big adrenaline rush, my heart was thumping.”

Smith said she would maybe use the check to pay her son’s tuition for next semester as a way to give it back to the University.

Smith first came to the University in 1991 to teach courses in organismal and evolutionary biology and the biology of insects, among others.

Thursdays winners include Andrea Greenhoot, associate professor of psychology; Ruth Ann Atchley, associate professor of psychology; and Heather Desaire, associate professor of chemistry.

“I think that the Kemper fellowships offer an incentive for professors to be on top of their game and when students recognize their teachers getting awarded, it makes the students value the teachers that are valued by the University,” said Mason Heilman, student body president. “I imagine the experience is a lot of fun.”

The William T. Kemper Foundation was established in 1989 and continues to support Midwest communities with a focused concentration in education, health and human services, civic improvements and the arts.

The award presentations will continue through Sept. 1 and will include faculty from the Kansas University Medical Center in Kansas City, Kan.

Twenty professors from both the University and the Kansas University Medical Center will be honored with a total $100,000.

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