Faculty Recognized by University System Board of Regents

	Regents' Faculty Award recipients Russell Dickerson and Robert Hudson, pictured with, from left to right, Clifford M. Kendall, chairman, USM Board of Regents, President C. D. Mote, Jr., and USM Chancellor William E. Kirwan.

College Park, Md. -- Five members of the University of Maryland faculty have been selected to receive 2008 Board of Regents' Faculty Awards by the University System of Maryland. A total of 17 USM faculty members were recognized in four categories: teaching, research/scholarship/creative activity, public service and mentoring.

Susan Moeller, associate professor of media and international affairs, was recognized for teaching. Her dedication to teaching and scholarship led to the creation of the Salzburg Academy on Media and Global Change, a seminar bringing together students and faculty from 11 universities on five continents to discuss and develop new ways of viewing and analyzing world-scale problems. She was also honored for her creativity in using digital, multi-format media in her courses and effective mentorship of both students and other faculty.

Ira Berlin, Distinguished University Professor, department of history, received an award for research/scholarship/creative activity. An internationally recognized scholar on Southern and Afro-American life in America in the nineteenth century, Berlin has been recognized with many awards and prizes for his scholarship on race, slavery and migration. He is the founder and chief editor of the Freedmen and Southern Society Project, served as president of the Organization of American Historians and has been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

John Pease, associate professor of sociology, received an award for mentoring. Pease successfully led the student lobbying effort to reduce the cost of textbooks, and currently advises multiple student groups on issues of student life, civic engagement and academics. He is praised by his peers for his tireless mentoring of both undergraduate and graduate students, as well as his ability to energize students to think creatively about how they can make a difference.

For collaboration in public service, Russell Dickerson and Robert Hudson, both professors, department of atmospheric and oceanic science, were honored with an award. Dickerson and Hudson have worked for more than 10 years developing and maintaining air quality research, and monitoring and forecasting studies for the State of Maryland. The two professors, along with their students, developed the Regional Atmospheric Measurements, Modeling and Prediction Program, which is utilized by the Maryland Department of the Environment and the Maryland Department of Natural Resources and has led to marked improvement in air quality in Maryland.

"On behalf of every one at Maryland, I would like to congratulate our five faculty members who have been recognized with a USM Board of Regents' Faculty Award," said Nariman Farvardin, senior vice president for academic affairs and provost. "These five individuals are representative of the truly talented and distinguished faculty we have here at Maryland and I am pleased that their outstanding work has been recognized."

Established in 1995, the faculty awards are the highest honors presented to USM faculty by the Board of Regents. Candidates for the awards are reviewed and selected by the Council of University System Faculty and approved by the board. Each award recipient receives $1,000 and a plaque of recognition for the honor. Recipients in the area of collaboration split the $1,000 award.

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