CONWAY, ARK. - Dr. Tom Goodwin, professor of chemistry at Hendrix College, was honored as one of the nation's top professors by the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching today in Washington, D.C., at a luncheon at the National Press Club.
Goodwin was named Outstanding Baccalaureate College Professor of the Year, one of four college and university professors recognized as winners of the 2003 U.S. Professors of the Year Award for their dedication to undergraduate education and teaching and commitment to students. The four national winners each received a $5,000 cash award from the Carnegie Foundation. Carnegie also selected 43-state level winners. The U.S. Professors of the Year Awards, created in 1981, are the only national honors specifically designed to recognize excellence in undergraduate teaching and mentoring.
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Goodwin's teaching has been enriched by collaboration between Hendrix and Riddle's Elephant and Wildlife Sanctuary in Greenbrier, Ark., a nonprofit elephant sanctuary. His research students have studied the reproductive cycles of female elephants and chemical communication at the elephant sanctuary. The National Science Foundation's Collaborative Research at Undergraduate Institutions Program awarded a four-year grant for elephant research to Goodwin and colleagues at Georgia Southern University and the Oregon Health and Sciences University in 2002.
Another of Goodwin's interests is the practice and teaching of environmentally friendly "green" chemistry. Last fall, the chemistry department instituted a new green chemistry ethic in all its programs, placing Hendrix among a select group of colleges and universities across the nation that are translating green chemistry principles developed in industrial settings into undergraduate classes and laboratories.
Goodwin is a member of Phi Beta Kappa, former president of the Council on Undergraduate Research and past chair of a Gordon Research Conference. He earned a bachelor's degree in chemistry from Ouachita Baptist University and a doctorate in organic chemistry from the University of Arkansas.
The four national winning professors were selected from a pool of nearly 400 nominees. Campus provosts and academic vice presidents nominated them for the honor, and current and former students, colleagues and peers from other institutions sent letters of support. Nomination materials included the professors' teaching logs and course descriptions, as well as personal statements describing their teaching and mentoring techniques, courses or curricula they created or steps they took to extend the learning process beyond the classroom.
"I am delighted that Professor Goodwin has joined the ranks of this distinguished group of scholars from the country's most respected institutions of higher education," said Hendrix President Dr. J. Timothy Cloyd. "His teaching and research efforts exemplify the hallmarks of the Hendrix experience: high-quality teaching and hands-on learning opportunities for students facilitated by the close faculty-student interaction that is not exceptional, but expected, at this College."
"The four U.S. Professors of the Year and the state winners we are honoring today are excellent teachers because they care deeply about their disciplines, and because they have great respect for the learning process and students," said Vance T. Peterson, president of CASE. "They represent undergraduate teaching at its best."
"Quality teaching requires commitment and collaboration; it also requires creativity and innovation," said Lee S. Shulman, president of the Carnegie Foundation. "The professors we select as U.S. Professors of the Year are fine teachers; they have demonstrated enormous dedication to their profession, and they are an inspiration to their students and their colleagues."
The only other Arkansas college or university that has had a national winner since the awards began in 1981 is the University of Central Arkansas. Gayle M. Seymour, professor of art at UCA, was named Outstanding Master's Universities and Colleges Professor in 1998.
Other national winners were Paris Svoronos, City University of New York Queensborough Community College, Bayside, N.Y.; Patty Hale, Lynchburg College, Lynchburg, Va.; and Edward Ayers, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Va.
The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching was founded in 1905 by Andrew Carnegie "to do and perform all things necessary to encourage, uphold and dignify the profession of teaching." The foundation conducts research and policy studies on teaching and learning.
The Council for Advancement and Support of Education is the largest international association of education institutions, serving more than 3,200 universities, colleges, schools and related organizations in 46 countries. CASE is the leading resource for professional development, information and standards in the fields of education fund raising, communications and alumni relations.
Hendrix, founded in 1876, is a residential, undergraduate liberal arts college with an enrollment of about 1,100. Committed to excellence in higher education for 125 years, the College shelters a chapter of Phi Beta Kappa, the nation's oldest honor society with chapters at 270 of America's best colleges and universities. Hendrix has been affiliated with the United Methodist Church since 1884. For more information about Hendrix, visit www.hendrix.edu.
