Graduation not just for grads

Graduation is not only a time to recognize students’ achievements, but also a time to honor those who have helped propel them towards their degrees. Four members of Portland State’s faculty and staff will receive awards at the 2010 graduation ceremony.

Awards for Faculty Excellence will be given to professor Kenneth Peterson, as the George C. Hoffman Award winner, and professor Kenneth Ames, as the Branford Price Millar Award winner.

In addition, Mary Beth Collins, director of Student Health and Counseling, will receive the Mary H. Cumpston Award for Service to Students, while associate professor Rose Jackson will receive the Kenneth W. and Elise W. Butler Award for Library Faculty Service.

“The celebration of excellence and achievement at graduation is a wonderful way for the entire university to recognize the accomplishments of faculty, staff and students,” said Jackie Balzer, vice provost for student affairs.

Honors for accomplishments such as leadership, teaching and service reinforce and celebrate the university’s most important values, she said.

Winners receive a large plaque and $1,500 for personal use, research or to attend conferences. In addition, George C. Hoffman winners’ pictures are displayed in Hoffman Hall, according to J.R. Tarabocchia, coordinator of commencement and student affairs outreach.

Tarabocchia feels that the winners are those who have dedicated a significant portion of their lives to PSU to help the university become what it is today.

Each of the award winners has spent numerous years at PSU. Collins has worked at the university for 29 years, Ames for 26 years and Peterson for 24 years. Jackson has worked at PSU since 2003, according to the commencement program.

These awards are similar to lifetime achievement awards, Tarabocchia said.

“Very high-achieving people are nominated,” said Charles Burck of the Office of Academic Affairs.

Nominations for the awards recipients opened in the spring. A month after submission, full nominations packets are sent out that ask for letters of support and other relevant information, and committees are formed to select the winners, according to Burck.

Burck then makes sure that all of the packets are complete for review. Afterwards, the Office of the Dean of Students forms the review committee for the Cumpston award, while the library forms the Butler award committee, Burck said.

The Millar and Hoffman nominees are reviewed by past award winners.

Commenting on her goals at PSU, Jackson said she strives to provide excellent service to PSU students, staff and faculty. She credits her colleagues with doing the same.

“It’s an honor to have been nominated and certainly a joy to have been selected as the Butler award winner,” Jackson said.

Jackson thanks the Butler family for establishing the Kenneth W. and Elise W. Butler Award that reflects the importance of information management and the role of librarians in the academic setting.

“Both the Butlers were exceptional librarians,” she said.

The students of another award winner, Professor Ames, know him as diligent, wise, rigorous and utterly dependable, according to the commencement program.

Ames is the recipient of this year’s Branford Price Millar Award for Faculty Excellence, which recognizes faculty members who demonstrate excellence in scholarship, instruction and public and university service.

Collins, the Cumpston award winner, is retiring this June. She is an innovator, mentor and leader with deep understanding of the link between health and student success. She also manages a multimillion-dollar health care operation, according to the program.

Cumpston’s ability to identify the individual and university needs—and to match those needs with creative and effective solutions—was a gift, according to the program.

Peterson, the Hoffman award winner, is nationally regarded in the area of teacher supervision and evaluation and has affected the work of thousands of teachers.

The late George C. Hoffmann, a dean and professor of history at PSU, cherished contributions to the university in instruction, university service and scholarship done in the spirit of humanism, civility, and collegiality with dedication to students and loyalty to PSU, according to the program.
 
Faculty/staff awards presented at 2010 graduation
-Professor Kenneth Peterson will receive the George C. Hoffman Award for Faculty Excellence
-Professor Kenneth Ames will receive the Branford Price Millar Award for Faculty Excellence
-Mary Beth Collins, director of Student Health and Counseling, will receive the
Mary H. Cumpston Award for Service to Students
-Associate professor Rose Jackson will receive the Kenneth W. and Elise W. Butler Award for Library Faculty Service