Newest award honors faculty contributions to teaching

The Norman Maclean Faculty Award is being given for the first time this year. Named for the late Norman Maclean (Ph.D.'40), an exemplary teacher who taught English at Chicago for 40 years, the award recognizes emeritus or very senior faculty who have made outstanding contributions to teaching and to the student experience of life on campus. The awards will be presented at the Alumni Assembly on Saturday, June 7 (see article above.)

The Maclean Award recipients are:

Wayne Booth

Booth (A.M.'47, Ph.D.'50), the George M. Pullman Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus in English Language & Literature and the College, is internationally renowned for his groundbreaking work in the fields of rhetoric and literary criticism. Dean of the College during the turbulent '60s and a mainstay of teaching in the Common Core, Booth has helped to define the moral and intellectual character of the University and its College. In 1971, he was awarded the Quantrell Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching. In 1991, the University established the Booth Prizes for Excellence in Teaching to honor graduate students' contributions to teaching in the College (see story on page 8).

Peter Dembowski

Dembowski, Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus in the Romance Languages & Literatures and the College, is one of the few U.S. scholars of French literature whose publications have received significant recognition in France, where in 1981 he was made Chevalier de l'Ordre de Palmes Academiques. Dembowski's interest in students is reflected in his engaging classroom style and his many hours outside of class spent advising students on intellectual, professional and personal concerns. Scholars he has trained form a "Dembowski school" within the field, a measure of his impact as teacher and mentor. During his three decades at the University, Dembowski served as Dean of Students in the Humanities Division and Chairman of Romance Languages & Literatures. He was also resident master of Snell-Hitchcock Hall, where he brought students and senior faculty members together in informal settings.

Patricia Kirby

Kirby, Associate Professor Emeritus in Physical Education & Athletics, is a pioneer in women's athletics. Her 22 years as a coach, teacher and mentor were instrumental in developing the women's sports program at Chicago. Kirby fostered respect for the tradition of the student athlete. A versatile athlete herself, she coached a range of sports that included badminton, volleyball, basketball and softball, directed an intramural sports program and began a coed recreational program. In 1977 and 1978, she led the softball team to the state championships. Through her firm belief that women should compete athletically, Kirby won support and respect for women's sports at a time when they were not accepted elsewhere. She also assisted women in adjusting to the pressures of University life, serving countless students as both friend and adviser.

Bernard Meltzer

Meltzer (A.B.'35, J.D.'37) is the Edward H. Levi Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus in the Law School. Before joining the faculty in 1946, Meltzer practiced law and served as special assistant to Jerome Frank, the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission; as special assistant to Dean Acheson, Assistant Secretary of State; and as acting chief of the Foreign Funds Control Division. During World War II, he served as a lieutenant in the Navy. After the war, he was a member of Justice Jackson's staff at the Nuremberg War Crime Trials. At Chicago, he has taught primarily Labor Law and Evidence. His pioneering writings in these areas helped shape scholarship and the development of the law. He set high standards of intellectual excellence and also has been committed to his students' welfare beyond the classroom. Generations of students have acclaimed this mixture of rigor and warmth.

Harry Roberts

Roberts (A.B.'43, M.B.A.'47, Ph.D.'55), the Sigmund E. Edelstone Professor Emeritus in the Graduate School of Business, has been at the center of the GSB's intellectual community for 38 years. Highly regarded for his knowledge in statistics, marketing, quality management and finance, as well as for his caring and engaged teaching style, Roberts has served as a catalyst, a counselor and a pastoral figure to both students and faculty. He has taught introductory statistics and the statistical methods sequence to students in all three of the GSB's programs, has advised 75 doctoral candidates and has assisted thousands of others through his pamphlet Dissertations with Fewer Tears. In 1993, Roberts inspired the formation of the GSB Quality Alumni Club, a worldwide professional organization, which has since instituted the Harry V. Roberts Award for Commitment to Quality Management.

Margaret Rosenheim

Rosenheim (J.D.'49) is the Helen Ross Professor Emeritus in the School of Social Service Administration, where she served as Dean from 1978 to 1983. Since joining the faculty in 1950, Rosenheim has distinguished herself through pioneering research on policy affecting children and youth, juvenile justice and the history of social welfare policy. Through the development of her own interdisciplinary teaching, she played an instrumental role in broadening the SSA curriculum. Rosenheim has consistently encouraged her students and colleagues to think broadly about the role of teaching and research in the larger University community. She has taught courses in the Law School and the College. As a woman who forged an uncommon career in law, scholarship and public policy long before feminism was a byword, Rosenheim has been a role model for generations of students.

Sidney Schulman

Schulman (S.B.'44, M.D.'46), the Ellen C. Manning Professor Emeritus in the Biological Sciences Division, is a legendary teacher and dedicated medical scientist. For 35 years, Schulman served as a model of concerned patient care for students and faculty in the medical school. In the mid 1970s, Schulman stepped away from work in the medical school to concentrate on teaching in the College. Developing a course that linked philosophy and medicine, Schulman was consistently praised as a teacher who could get students to think critically, ask the right questions and distinguish trivial phenomena from true scholarship. While teaching in the College, he also carried on pioneering research on the understanding of the thalamus in brain activities and intellectual functions.

John Simpson

Simpson is the Arthur H. Compton Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus in the Enrico Fermi Institute, Physics and the College. A leader in the fields of cosmic radiation and interplanetary space, Simpson received the NASA Medal for Exceptional Achievement in 1974, the Gargarin Medal for Space Exploration from the USSR Academy of Sciences in 1986 and two Guggenheim Fellowships. His scientific career is matched only by his dedication to students during 52 years at the University; he is credited with having been the teacher of, or mentor to, many of today's scientific leaders in U.S. space research. He helped shape the basis for the current honors B.A. in physics, which encourages undergraduate students to do research. In 1980 he received the Quantrell Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching. Each summer, he also sponsored students in a 10-week science program for minorities and women.