MIZZOU NEWS

Top Faculty and Alumni Honored

By Kathryn Jones

The University of Missouri-Columbia Alumni Association honored 19 outstanding faculty and alumni on Oct. 1, during its 37th annual Faculty-Alumni Awards Ceremony at the Reynolds Alumni Center. Awards presented included the Distinguished Faculty Award, the Distinguished Service Award and Faculty-Alumni Awards.

Elaine J. Lawless, of Columbia, received the Distinguished Faculty Award. This is the association’s highest honor awarded to an MU faculty member. The award was established in 1960 and recognizes a faculty member whose sustained efforts in teaching, research and service have added to the excellence of the University. The award places special emphasis on the faculty member’s relationship with students.

Lawless is recognized for her national and international reputation in the fields of folklore, ethnography, women’s literature and feminism. As an MU professor since 1983 and a Curators’ Distinguished Professor of religious studies and anthropology, Lawless has received nearly every major teaching honor at MU including a Faculty-Alumni Award in 1993. She has written five books, three monographs and more than 50 scholarly articles and essays. She has served on numerous campus committees and editorial boards for several scholarly publications. Since 2000, she has been editor of the Journal of American Folklore, the most prestigious journal in her field.

William S. Thompson, of Laguna Beach, Calif., received the Distinguished Service Award, the association’s highest honor awarded to an MU alumnus. The award was established in 1956 and recognizes outstanding service by an individual whose efforts and support have added to MU’s excellence.

Thompson is managing director and CEO of Pacific Investment Management Company, an international fixed income investment management company that manages $374 billion for global financial institutions and 43 of Fortune magazine’s top 100 companies. Thompson was named one of the 50 most influential business people in Orange County, Calif., and is an active volunteer in local charitable organizations. He served on the MU Comprehensive Campaign Organizing Committee in 2000 and is co-chair of the “For All We Call Mizzou” Comprehensive Campaign Steering Committee. He received a Faculty-Alumni Award in 1974 and is an endowed life member of the MU Alumni Association.

Faculty-Alumni Awards, first awarded in 1968 by the MU Alumni Association, recognize the achievement of faculty and alumni. Assistant, associate and full professors are considered for their work as teachers, researchers and their relationship with students. Alumni are considered for both their accomplishments in professional life and service to their community and alma mater.

2004 Faculty-Alumni Award Winners

Maurine Hoffman Beasley, professor of journalism, of Bethesda, Md. A pioneer in the study of women in journalism, Beasley worked at The Kansas City Star and The Washington Post before beginning her body of research that includes three books. She was the first person to serve as president of two national professional organizations of journalism educators. Currently, she is employed at the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland in College Park and is a life member of the MU Alumni Association.

William L. Benoit, professor of communication, of Columbia. A leading expert in the functional theory of political campaign discourse, Benoit is one of the 10 most-published scholars in communication studies. He has published eight books since 1992 and serves as editor of the Journal of Communication. He is a national media contact for commentary on political ads and debates. Professor and associate department chair of communication, he has been at the University for two decades.

Glenn D. Chambers, wildlife photographer, of Columbia. Affectionately dubbed “The Otter Man,” Chambers is renowned for his work filming river otters for National Geographic Television. He has received four Emmys for his films Glenn and His Geese and Back to the Wild. After retiring from the Missouri Department of Conservation in 1995, he became president and owner of Paddlefoot Productions, Inc. An award-winning artist, his work has been exhibited at The Smithsonian Institution.

Moo-Nam Chung, retired government official, of Suwon, Korea. As an internationally-known agriculturalist and administrator, Chung contributed to the rapid development of Korea’s modern system of agriculture by providing innovative leadership in research and outreach. He served as administrator for the Rural Development Administration, South Korea’s equivalent of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and had responsibility for about 2,300 basic and applied scientists, nine Regional Research Stations and 167 extension offices across the country.

Ann King Dickinson, financial services executive, of Kansas City, Mo. Dickinson has affected lives through her work in business, community and higher education. As chairwoman and owner of Dickinson Financial Corporation, she presides over three subsidiary banks with 155 branches throughout the nation. As founder and director of the Gary Dickinson Family Charitable Foundation, she oversees youth recreation, scholarship and educational facility projects such as the MU College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources’ Dickinson Student Achievement Center.

Tahira K. Hira, university administrator, Ames, Iowa. Hira was among the first to recognize the need for financial counseling for all consumers, regardless of stature, and to establish a clinic to address this need. In 1989, she started the Family Financial Counseling Clinic at Iowa State University where she serves as assistant to the president for external relations and executive administration. Because of her work with the Japan Consumer Finance Association, the first financial counseling clinics in Tokyo and Osaka were established.

Lenworth N. Johnson, professor of ophthalmology and neurology, of Columbia. As the only African-American professor of ophthalmology and neurology in the world, Johnson was the first person to successfully demonstrate recovery of vision after blindness from nonarteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy, the most common cause of sudden blindness for people over 50. A member of the MU faculty for 14 years, he is now vice chairman of MU’s Department of Ophthalmology and director of the Neuro-Opthalmology Service, Mason Eye Institute.

Timothy M. Kaine, lieutenant governor, of Richmond, Va. Dedicated to the advancement of equality for all people, Kaine began his career as a civil rights attorney fighting against housing discrimination. He won the largest fair housing verdict in American history and one of the largest verdicts in a civil rights case, which produced sweeping changes in the way homeowners insurance is issued so that minority neighborhoods are treated fairly. As lieutenant governor, he has promoted educational funding reforms and worked to establish a new public university.

Clarence Lee Mabin, business executive and engineer, of Independence, Mo. As a registered engineer in 19 states, Mabin is nationally known in the design field of highway tubular sign structures, traffic and lighting structures, and their support foundations. He is president of Custom Engineering, Inc., a mechanical and electrical engineering firm. He was the first African-American graduate of MU’s civil engineering program and has served on the Dean’s Engineering Advisory Council since 1998.

Richard G. Miller, photography business executive, of Columbia. After graduation, Miller joined a photography company and used mathematics and computer technology to propel the business into the largest professional imaging organization in the world. Since becoming president and CEO of Miller’s Professional Imaging in Columbia and Pittsburg, Kan., he has managed 500 employees and clients in all 50 states. Currently, he is chairman of the University’s Arts & Science Strategic Development Board and vice president of the Pittsburg State University Foundation.

Barbara Reys, distinguished professor of mathematics education, of Columbia. In her 20 years at MU, Reys has secured nearly $25 million in grant funding from agencies such as the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Education. She has brought two national math centers to the University. Currently, she is establishing and directing the Center for the Study of Mathematics Curriculum. A recipient of numerous awards, she is the author of 10 instructional resource books for elementary, middle and secondary mathematics teachers.

Robert Reys, curators’ professor of mathematics education, of Columbia. Together with his wife, Barbara, a fellow 2004 Faculty-Alumni Award recipient, Reyes has been an international influence in mathematics teaching. An MU faculty member since 1967, he has spent several decades pursuing research ideas related to calculators, mental computation, estimation and numbers sense. He co-organized the first National Conference on Doctoral Programs in Mathematics and has written more than 170 articles and 20 books for mathematics teachers.

Sherod Santos, curators’ professor of English, of Columbia. A nationally known poet and essayist, Santos has published five books of poetry. His poems appear regularly in The New Yorker, The Paris Review and The Nation. He was a research fellow with the Guggenheim Foundation in 1985 and received an Academy Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1999. An MU professor for 11 years, he is the founder and director of the Center for the Literary Arts and director of the Creative Writing Program.

Dennis L. Schmitt, veterinarian and professor of animal science, of Springfield, Mo. As the leading North American expert in elephant reproductive physiology and veterinary management, Schmitt developed the first elephant from artificial insemination in 1999. He administered the first successful treatment for herpes virus in an elephant and established the first bovine non-surgical embryo transfer business in the state. Currently, he is a professor of animal science at Southwest Missouri State University, veterinarian and owner of Reproductive Resources.

Benyamin Schwarz, professor of architectural studies, of Columbia. A scholar in the field of environmental gerontology, Schwarz has dedicated his work to improving the quality of life for the elderly in long-term care facilities. He has lived and worked in Israel, serving as the Chief Architect in the Kibbutz Planning Department. Currently, he is editor-in-chief of the Journal of Housing for the Elderly. An MU professor since 1993, he has received the highest teaching honors including the William T. Kemper Fellowship for Excellence in Teaching.

Young-Hee Suh, secretary-general, of Seoul, Korea. As a politician, activist and TV anchorwoman, Suh has made great strides in advancing the status of women in Korea. A former dean of academic affairs at Kyung-Hee University and vice president of Sun Moon University, she later was an adviser to the World Anti-Communist League. In 1973, she became the youngest congresswoman in Korean history. Currently, she is the secretary-general of the Korean Federation of Peace Ambassadors, which focuses on solutions to problems between North and South Korea.

Flore Zéphir, professor of romance languages and literatures and chair of the linguistics program, of Columbia. Internationally recognized for her work on bilingualism, language contact and issues related to Haitian immigrants, Zéphir, a Haitian native, researches ethnic identification among Haitian immigrants to identify how the group forms its cultural identities. She has written three books and is book review editor for the Journal of Haitian Studies. She has served the University since 1988 and received high honors such as the William T. Kemper Fellowship in 1995 for her work with students.

Photos for this story provided courtesy of MU Publications and Alumni Communication.

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Last Update: November 15, 2007