University begins Week of Scholarship with faculty awards reception

April 23, 2013 9:00am

At the celebratory kickoff for the inaugural Week of Scholarship, members of the Cal State East Bay community gathered Monday to recognize the work of our faculty members in and out of the classroom.

President Leroy M. Morishita introduced this year’s George and Miriam Phillips Outstanding Professor, Derek Jackson Kimball of the physics department. “He is truly enthusiastic about his service to the University community,” Morishita said in his introduction.

Kimball’s entertaining presentation, “Illuminating the Mysteries of the Universe,” shared that enthusiasm with the audience as he discussed his relationships with his mentors, his work with CSUEB students, and his excitement in looking into big questions about dark matter, dark energy, and the laws of physics as we understand them.

The annual award honors a faculty member for teaching, research, and service to the University. George and Miriam Phillips were civic leaders in Hayward who helped bring the State College to their city. Their son James Phillips endowed the award in their memory and was in attendance to present Kimball with his award. They were joined before the ceremony by several former Outstanding Professors, including Jane Lopus, Joan Sieber, Susan Opp, Jeffery Seitz and Stephen Gutierrez.

Provost James Houpis, who presented the first Provosts’ Awards, said he has been looking for more University-wide avenues to recognize the great work of faculty across campus. The three new awards were created and selected with the help of the Faculty Affairs Committee of the Academic Senate.

Outstanding Mentor of Students — Jennifer Eagan, Philosophy, CLASS
Outstanding New Researcher — Jiming Wu, Management, CBE
Outstanding Contributor to Community Engagement — Lettie Ramirez, Teacher Education, CEAS

Associate Provost Linda Dobb closed the program with recognition for faculty authors and artists who have published or exhibited work in the previous two years.

Dee Andrews
Eileen Barrett
Debra Barrett-Graves
Christoph Baysdorfer
Katherine Bell
Tom Bickley
Jacob Blair
Li-Lin Chen
Dong-Won Choi
Jacqueline Doyle
Doris Duncan
Jennifer Eagan
Eric Engdahl
Colleen Fong
Bridget Ford
Maria Gallegos
Ray Garcia
Susan Gubernat
Steve Gutierrez
Mary Ann Irwin
Kevin Kaatz
Grant Kien
Chris Kitting
Christopher Knaus
Fred Leavitt
Danika LeDuc
Rolla Lewis
Nidhi Mahendra
Daniel Martin
Jeffrey Miller
Christopher Moreman
Stephen Morewitz
Grace Munakata
James Murray
Laura Nelson
Maria Nieto
Maria Ortuoste
Gretchen Reevy
Edna Reiter
Dore Ripley
Enrique Salmon
Terry Soo-Hoo
Aline Soules
Sarah Taylor
Iliana Underwood-Holbrook
Lynn Van Hofwegen
Diana Wakimoto
Jessica Weiss

The Week of Scholarship will continue Tuesday and Wednesday with student and faculty poster sessions and special events on Thursday and Friday highlighting new initiatives on campus. See the full schedule here.