Beck

Hairston

Orta-Ramirez

Ruttledge

Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education Laura Brown has announced that faculty members Sam Beck, Nelson Hairston, Alicia Orta-Ramirez and Thomas Ruttledge will receive 2013 Kendall S. Carpenter Memorial Advising Awards. They will be honored May 25 at a trustee-faculty dinner recognizing universitywide teaching and advising award winners and newly tenured faculty.

Beck, senior lecturer in the College of Human Ecology, has directed the college’s Urban Semester Program for more than 20 years. The year-round immersion program allows Cornell undergraduates to study and pursue professional internships and service projects in New York City. Through Urban Semester, Beck, a social and cultural anthropologist, teaches students ethnographic research methods to apply in their internship experiences at hospitals, nonprofit organizations, schools, private firms and government agencies and while serving the North Brooklyn community. Many students regard Urban Semester as a transformative experience in their Cornell education. Beck has previously been recognized by students through the Cornell Merrill Presidential Scholars Program. He is co-editor of a book, “Engaged Anthropology,” to be released this year.

Hairston, the Frank H.T. Rhodes Professor of Environmental Science in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, is a member of the Cornell Board of Trustees. He is a pioneer in “resurrection ecology,” the study of ecological and evolutionary processes by hatching crustacean eggs laid in decades past. Hairston arrived on campus in 1985 and is a dedicated adviser and mentor to undergraduates doing research. His lab is known for having a strong undergraduate presence because of his dedication to involving undergraduates in research and his ongoing encouragement and mentoring. One former student wrote that Hairston “treats his students as equals, and in doing so he enables them to grow both as researchers and individuals.”

Orta-Ramirez, senior lecturer and director of undergraduate studies in the Department of Food Science, joined Cornell in 2007. She strives to foster a welcoming and supportive atmosphere where undergraduates may maximize their college experience both professionally and personally, she said. “Teaching is a life-long progression and involves, among others, understanding students’ needs, stimulating their minds, building trust, challenging pre-conceived notions, and providing the adequate environment where the students can not only learn but apply the acquired knowledge.”

Ruttledge, senior lecturer in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, came to Cornell in 2007 after completing a Cornell postdoc in the Department of Plant Pathology and holding faculty positions at several small liberal arts colleges. Ruttledge serves as director of organic chemistry labs and as director of undergraduate advising. He advises nearly a dozen chemistry majors each year. He teaches the large introductory organic chemistry lab to hundreds of students each year. Ruttledge also serves as a fellow in Alice Cook House. A former student writes: “I always knew I could walk into his office for a dose of reality and some advice from the heart.”

The Carpenter Award recipients will receive $5,000 each. The awards, which underscore the importance of undergraduate advising, were established by Cornell trustee Stephen Ashley, CALS ’62, MBA ’64, to honor his adviser, the late Professor Kendall S. Carpenter, who taught business management from 1954 to 1967.