Five faculty members honored for distinguished teaching, research and service

Five faculty members will be honored for their distinguished teaching, research and service at the 29th annual Honor Scholars and Faculty Awards Dinner on March 22.

The Distinguished Teaching Award recipients are Vaman Naik, professor and chair of the physics department, in the tenured category; Jacob Napieralski, assistant professor of geology, in the non-tenured category; and Lise Urbaczewski, lecturer in management studies, in the lecturer category. Shelley Perlove, professor of art history, will receive the Distinguished Research Award. The recipient of the Distinguished Service Award is Mark DeCamp, associate professor of chemistry.

Naik was recognized for being a dedicated educator who spares no effort in helping students both in and out of the classroom, according to nominations. They also noted his enthusiasm and interest in making sure students not only learn class material but understand and can apply that knowledge, too.

"He has the ability to explain difficult concepts in an understandable way," said one nominator of Naik. "This is true whether he is teaching an introductory course or an advanced course in physics. His patience with students is extraordinary as is his good humor."

In addition, nominators mentioned Naik' contributions in the laboratory setting, saying he brings solid expertise to lab courses. "His students have learned many skills and laboratory techniques from him. After these courses, our physics students are extremely well prepared to work in a laboratory setting in the 'real world.'"

Napieralski was recognized for his professional judgment, wisdom and capacity to develop his students into functional members of the scientific community, according to nominators. He incorporates unique real-life examples in course subject matter, giving his students grander perspectives on subjects while accommodating students of varying learning styles.

Nominators noted that Napieralski has brought new life to the earth sciences program, extending the opportunities of students interested in the geosciences as a career. They were impressed with his drive to provide students with unique opportunities beyond the classroom, such as the geology field courses he led in Puerto Rico and Iceland.

"He used professional and academic contacts to get us access to places in these countries that are limited to employees and top researchers … I am extremely thankful he went above and beyond his duty of planning a normal field course," said one nominator.

According to nominations, Urbaczewski was recognized for continually demonstrating a high level of commitment to her students and information systems education.

Through her teaching, Urbaczewski has become a mentor for many information systems students by actively promoting the profession, which resulted in a significant increase of information technology management majors over the past academic year.
Nominators also noted that Urbaczewski is consistently ranked as the lecturer in management studies with the highest average score on student opinion forms.

"Urbaczewski places a strong emphasis on problem-solving and communication skills in her courses,' said a nominator. "Rather than focusing exclusively on technical content, she encourages students to develop their abilities to gather and analyze information needed to solve novel problems. She also encourages students to develop skills needed to present their ideas clearly through activities such as current event presentations."

Perlove was recognized for her combined expertise on Italian and Dutch art which, according to nominators, is very rare among modern scholars, who tend to be more narrowly specialized.

"It is hard to lead a full life and not cross paths with Shelley Perlove's research," said one nominator. "Her intellectual vitality makes her a presence at important intersections in the interpretation of art and history."

Among Perlove's many scholarly publications, nominators noted her many seminal studies of Rembrandt, the most famous Dutch painter of the seventeenth century, and her ground-breaking book, Rembrandt's Faith, which provides crucial insights into the artist's interpretations of religious subjects and his relationship to contemporary Jewish and Christian developments.

According to nominations, DeCamp has spent more than 20 years as an advisor and mentor for students interested in pursuing careers in the health-related professions--particularly medicine, dentistry and pharmacy--which demands a considerable investment of his thought and time, increasingly so as the number of students interested in health careers has sky-rocketed in the past six years from a few dozen to more than 200. DeCamp writes letters of recommendation for students' applications and meets one-on-one with them in addition to phone calls, web searches, e-mails and other routine forms of communication.

DeCamp also has served as coordinator for the Detroit section of the American Chemical Society's Science Olympiad, chair of its education committee for more than 20 years, treasurer and section chair, all of which earned him the section's distinguished service award.

"Mark's contributions to chemistry education and the development of the future generations of chemists and biochemists in this country have clearly had an important impact and have been suitably recognized by his professional colleagues through the awards and appointments he has received from the American Chemical Society," said one nominator.

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