WAUKESHA –Two members of the faculty and two academic staff at the University of Wisconsin-Waukesha have been named Arthur M. Kaplan Fellows for 2002-03. The faculty and staff enhancement program recognizes outstanding contributions to education made by UW Colleges faculty and academic staff.
The award is given to individuals who make “significant and innovative improvement of instruction or of service to students.” The four nominees selected by the campus Steering Committee to be honored this year are: Margaret Hirschberg and Dan Stalder, Waukesha, Sara Moellendorf, Wauwatosa, and Jeff Noska, Dousman.
While she has been on the Waukesha campus only since 1999, Hirschberg has immersed herself in student engagement. She has participated in the Freshman Experience Initiative and is a founding volunteer launching a fall 2003 Freshman Interest Group. She was one of the original planners of the Faculty-Student Research Project, which started this year, and has been an advisor to several student groups, including Diversity Club and Collegiate Association of Women. In fall 2000, she was a leader of a Debate Watch group on campus. In the nomination letter, Hirschberg, who holds a Ph.D. in political science from Purdue University, IN, also was cited for her willingness to share her knowledge with colleagues on campus.
Moellendorf joined the staff of the Study Center as a writing specialist in fall 2000 and in 2001 took charge of the Online Writing Lab (OWL) program, which serves students on all 13 UW Colleges campuses. In two years, the number of papers students have submitted for writing assignments in a variety of disciplines has more than doubled. She also teaches study skills courses and sits on the campus technology committee. She volunteered to teach a business writing class when a faculty member was on leave. A graduate of St. Norbert College, DePere, WI, she completed a master’s degree in English at Marquette University, Milwaukee.
Recruited by Christopher Davis-Benavides to help direct a class in building an Anagama-type kiln at the Field Station in 1996, Noska went a step further in summer 2002, designing and conducting a class that built a smaller, bourry-box wood kiln. Each of these kilns is unique in the UW System. Located next to the larger one, the bourry box fires in a fraction of the time and requires a much smaller investment of resources, from wood for fuel to sleepless hours of tending. Students like the quicker, more frequent feedback on their work. A practicing sculptor with his own ceramics studio, Composite Clay Studio, Noska began teaching courses on campus in 1998 and joined the tenure-track faculty in 2001. Noska earned a bachelor’s degree from UW-Superior and MFA from the University of Notre Dame, IN.
Dan Stalder first taught math courses at UW-Waukesha in 1991 and then was hired as a math specialist in the Learning Lab (Study Center) the following year. It didn’t take long for the math department to covet his skills, and once again he was put to work as a lecturer in the classroom. Yet, he has distinguished himself in the field of psychology. His research focuses on social psychology and personality. Other faculty members have referred students interested in research to him, and he has included them in some of his projects, co-presenting a paper with a student last August.. He is co-advisor to the Psychology Club and is appreciated by students for his innovative active learning techniques. Stalder, who teaches both math and psychology courses, holds a bachelor’s degree in math and psychology from Northwestern University, where he also completed a certificate in education, a master’s degree in math from UW-Milwaukee, and both a master’s degree and Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Iowa.
With each Kaplan fellowship comes a $250 purse, matched by the Friends & Alumni Foundation of UW-Waukesha. The recipients can use the money to further enhance their creative approaches to education.
Former UW Centers (now Colleges) Chancellor Lee Grugel established the award in 1993 on the retirement of Kaplan, who had served the UW Colleges for eight years in the capacities of vice chancellor, provost, and acting chancellor. Kaplan was committed to improving the quality of instruction and service to students at UW Colleges campuses. The awards can be presented at each of the thirteen UW Colleges campuses. |
