Archived News |

May 1, 2000

蜜桔直播 recognizes faculty honors winners

Seven members of the University of Louisiana at Monroe faculty were honored Friday night as Outstanding Professors by the Faculty Honors Program during a dinner at the Monroe Civic Center.

The awards, part of Faculty Honors Week held each year on the 蜜桔直播 campus and sponsored by the 蜜桔直播 Alumni Association, recognizes faculty members for achievement in teaching, research and service. A winner from each of the University's seven colleges was recognized and a distinguished alumnus from that academic discipline made the presentation.

Professor of Business Communications Dr. Donna Walton-Luse, who earned her Ph.D. from the University of North Texas, was the winner in the College of Business Administration.

To enhance students' ability to apply techniques as opposed to students only "listening to theory," Luse has begun using Readiness Assessment Tests (RAT's) which assess students' reading of required materials so that class time allows the students to "learn by doing." To enhance students' verbal and written communications skill and increase their problem-solving and analytical skills, Luse has incorporated the use of case analyses in her managerial communication class.

From the experience she obtained in co-authoring the textbook, Business Communication: A Technology-Based Approach, Luse has made numerous innovative changes within her communication classes such as having students make much greater use of technological communication tools as the Internet, e-mail, grammar checkers and presentation packages. Luse has served as Director-at-Large for the Association for Business Communication, the Board of Directors for the Academy of Managerial Communications and President of the Association for Business Communication-Southwestern United States.

Each honoree will be awarded a $1,500 cash award by the 蜜桔直播 Alumni Association along with the Outstanding Professor designation.

Dr. George Roberts and Dr. Linda Sabin were winners in 蜜桔直播's two newly established colleges. Roberts, Professor and Head of the Department of Clinical Laboratory Science, represented the College of Allied Health and Rehabilitation Professions and Sabin, Associate Professor of Nursing, was the winner for the College of Nursing. Those two colleges were established last fall after the Louisiana Board of Regents granted approval for the restructuring of the College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences into three separate colleges.

Professor of Business Communications Dr. Donna Luse was the winner in the College of Business Administration and Dr. Bob Cage, Professor of Education Leadership, represented the College of Education and Human Development. Dr. Lea Olsan, Professor of English, was recognized in the College of Liberal Arts, Associate Professor of Pharmacology Dr. David Roane by the College of Pharmacy and Dr. Darrell Kruger, Assistant Professor of Geography, was the winner in the College of Pure and Applied Sciences.

Roberts has previously been honored three times as the Teacher of the Year for the College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences. His classroom innovations include having all lectures for classroom and laboratory sessions made into powerpoint presentations. He also uses the case study approach to involve students in active participation and discussion in the classroom and laboratory.

A co-author of 12 publications with students, Roberts has served as a member of the American Society of Clinical Laboratory Science Professional Acknowledgment of Continuing Education committee, the National Certification Agency Immunology/Immunohematology Exam Council and chair of Medical Technology Educators of Louisiana.

The Chair of Curriculum Committee of the College of Nursing for the past 3 1/2 years, Sabin led the faculty through a major curriculum revision. She developed, with the assistance of a University grant, a six-module program for the College of Nursing, designed to support new curriculum and to cover the essentials of the history of nursing. Sabin also created a 94-page resource for students, based on a survey of all the hospitals and health care agencies in the region, listing the clinical competencies expected of a registered nurse.

 Sabin participated in the writing of new course objectives and basic content for three Nursing courses and has helped create or revise six other courses. She has made national presentations to the American Association for the History of Nursing and the National Organization of Associate Degree Nurses, among others.

Cage is known for his M&M theory for higher education -- modeling and mentoring. Teaching a variety of undergraduate and graduate level courses, his students are required to conduct projects, use the computer to analyze data, write research proposals or literature reviews and present information that relates their research to current educational trends and practice.

Since the beginning of the LEC doctoral program, Cage has prepared or co-prepared with faculty from Louisiana Tech and Grambling State University the courses Introduction to Doctoral Research Design, Evaluation

Theory and Practice and Internship Seminar. He was also the first faculty member at 蜜桔直播 to initiate Friday night-Saturday morning classes for the doctoral program that allows students to fit classes into their busy schedules. With the help of a colleague, Cage has received grants over the last three years from the Microsoft Corporation which have supplied the College of Education with over $30,000 annually for new and innovative software for student and faculty use and Cage has been instrumental in the College of Education receiving over $400,000 of new grant money for research and program implementation since 1987.

The first winner of the University's Presidential Summer Sabbatical, Olsan has made her mark at 蜜桔直播 teaching Chaucer, Survey of Medieval Literature, Classical Mythology and graduate seminars in Old English and Bibliography, among others. She has twice been named the College of Liberal Arts Researcher of the Year and has published numerous articles and research pieces.

Olsan, who says Language has been the "philosophical, aesthetic, and ritual functions" that have been her preoccupation most of her life, served on the University's Honors Council for eight years and is currently Coordinator of Graduate Studies for the College of Liberal Arts on the Graduate Council and Chair of the Subcommittee on the Mission/Purpose for 蜜桔直播's Academic Program Review Council and serves as a member of the Medical/Dental School Applicants Interview Committee.

Roane's teaching style concentrates on "the development of themes with the attempt to construct scenarios that demonstrate how the details of science contribute to a larger framework that contains the human experience." His classes taught have ranged from Introduction to Toxicology to Physiological Pharmacology and several Honors Seminars.

A recipient of over $56,000 in funding for intramural and extramural projects, Roane has served as President of the Southeast Pharmacology Society and Member of the University Honors Council and University academic Appeals board. He has 16 refereed publications and 28 non-refereed papers either published or presented. Roane was the Teacher of the Year in the School of Pharmacy in 1996.

A native of South Africa, Kruger traces his decision to become an educator to a cultural geography teacher who challenged him on his views on culture, race and colonialism. Kruger says he considers "teaching, research, and the community aspect of my service to be inextricably intertwined allowing me to become a better teacher, scholar and citizen."

Kruger has taught over 50 lecture courses in the last five-plus years including Louisiana Geography, Cultural Geography and a Nationalism and Conflict Honors Seminar. At 蜜桔直播 he has developed the courses Sub-Saharan Africa, Louisiana Geography, the Nationalism and Conflict Honors Seminar, Urban Geography, Development of Geographic Thought and the Cultural Diversity, Development and Nation Building Honors Seminar. He has worked extensively with the Louisiana Geographic Education Alliance (LaGEA), co-directing their Alliance Geography Summer Institute for teachers the past two summers.

Also honored at the ceremonies was Dr. Michael Crider, Professor of Medicinal Chemistry and Director of Basic Pharmaceutical Sciences. Crider received the Res Scholaris Lifetime Achievement Commendation. Res Scholaris is a magazine published by the University which showcases the excellent research being conducted by 蜜桔直播 faculty members. Crider will be featured in the Reflections section of the upcoming issue of the magazine.

PLEASE NOTE: Some links and e-mail addresses in these archived news stories may no longer work, and some content may include events which are no longer relevent, or reference individuals and/or organizations no longer associated with 蜜桔直播.