For more than forty years, Linfield has recognized its outstanding faculty members for their scholarly and creative achievement, international scholarship and impact on the university. This year, five faculty members received these distinguished awards: Lisa Weidman, Brian Gilbert, Tania Carrasquillo Hernández and Janet Gupton from the College of Arts and Sciences and Madeleine Romero from the School of Business.
“It is a pleasure to recognize outstanding faculty, particularly this year highly unusual year when just maintaining is noteworthy and to excel is truly a feat,” said Susan Agre-Kippenhan, provost and vice president of academic affairs at Linfield University.
For service above and beyond
Lisa Weidman, an associate professor and chair of the Department of Journalism and Media Studies, earned the Samuel H. Graf Faculty Achievement Award. Established in 1992, this award recognizes faculty members who have made an outstanding contribution to the life of the institution beyond their regular duties. Weidman joined Linfield as an assistant professor in 2009, earning the rank of associate professor with tenure in 2014. In addition to her teaching and scholarly work, she has served as a voice on many institutional committees. Those who nominated her described Weidman as unflappable, fair-minded, diplomatic, thoughtful, hardworking and insightful among others.
“Lisa Weidman’s service to her colleagues, the students and the institution has been outstanding,” Provost Susan Agre-Kippenhan said. “It is clearly worthy of this recognition.”
Committed to student growth and education
Brian Gilbert, a professor of chemistry, earned the Edith Green Distinguished Professor Award. Established in 1980, the award honors a faculty member who demonstrates excellence in teaching and is committed to their students’ success. Gilbert joined Linfield in 2001 as an assistant professor, earning the rank of associate professor in 2005 and professor in 2015. He has used research-based, active learning pedagogy in the classroom for years and is a national expert in Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning (POGIL). He is deeply student-focused. In addition to advising a range of students, he regularly conducts collaborative research with students. He also created the iFocus pre-orientation science program. Gilbert is equally as committed to his scholarly work, which centers on investigating the properties of silver and gold nanoparticles as drug delivery systems.
“Brian is a leader who is respected by his peers and continually pursues academic excellence to make Linfield a better place,” Agre-Kippenhan said.
A leading researcher in Latin American culture
Tania Carrasquillo Hernández, an associate professor of Spanish and Latin American studies, earned the Allen and Pat Kelley Faculty Scholar Award. Established in 2007, this award recognizes a tenure-track or tenured faculty member for their outstanding scholarly achievement in the preceding academic year. Since arriving at Linfield in 2014, Carrasquillo Hernández has built a solid reputation as a researcher and educator in the field of Latin American and Caribbean literature and cultures. In the last year, she co-edited a special issue of CENTRO: Journal of the Center for Puerto Rican Studies, which will be released in fall 2022, and wrote an article titled, “Miss Florence’s Trunk: Women Travelers and the (De)construction of Puerto Rican Sugar Empire,” for a pending publication.
“Tania is terrific scholar whose work focuses on a rich approach to Latin America culture broadly from the arts to gender-based violence,” Agre-Kippenhan said.
A collaborative vision during a unclear time
Janet Gupton, an associate professor of theatre arts, received the Julie Olds and Thomas Hellie Creative Achievement Award. Created in 2014, this award honors a faculty member whose outstanding creative activity has been recognized by peers. Gupton has been a staple of Linfield Theatre since arriving in 2000. She has received numerous awards from the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival for her productions that range from Greek texts to contemporary works. During the last year, Gupton’s creativity and vision helped the program reimagine its work to provide the arts to the community in new and collaborative ways.
‘The last twelve months under COVID restrictions has had a huge impact on the collaborative art of theatre than almost any other form of aesthetic expression,” Agre-Kippenhan said. “Janet is particularly deserving of this award this year because she has worked tirelessly to enact a ‘pandemic pivot.'”
Scholarship with international impact
Madeleine Romero, an associate professor of business, received the Marvin and Laurie Henberg International Scholarship Award. Established in 2013, this award recognizes a faculty member whose scholarly activity on an international topic or theme has passed peer review and has been, or is slated for, publication. Romero just finished collaborating with colleagues in Germany on a finance textbook, titled “Business Planning Step by Step,” slated for publication. Thanks to her contributions in translation and added case studies, this German-language publication is now able to reach a broader English-speaking audience. Romero has been at Linfield since 2010, teaching classes in financial management, financial theory and corporate finance.
“Madeleine made a huge contribution to the collaborative project,” Agre-Kippenhan said. “Thanks to Madeleine’s work, the impact of this text will be greatly expanded to benefit an international audience.”
More information on the faculty awards can be found at https://inside.linfield.edu/academic-affairs/faculty-awards.html.
