Case

Cochran

Frank

Goldstein

Muckstadt

Hisae Nishii

Sachs

Schelhas-Miller

Walter

Several distinguished Cornell faculty members are being honored May 29 at a dinner and recognition ceremony in the Willard Straight Hall Memorial Room. Peter Meinig, chairman of the Cornell Board of Trustees, Provost Kent Fuchs and President David Skorton will make the following presentations:

Robert and Helen Appel Fellowships for Humanists and Social Scientists

Presidential Councillors Robert '53 and Helen '55 Appel established these fellowships in 1995 to help Cornell attract and retain outstanding faculty members in the humanities and the social sciences. This year's honorees for fellowships were Jason Frank, government, and Aaron Sachs, history.

Frank, the Gary S. Davis Assistant Professor in the History of Political Thought, was recognized for his scholarship and interdisciplinary initiatives, including a political theory seminar series that offers graduate students and faculty the opportunity to present work in progress.

Sachs studies 19th-century American history with a focus on environmental history. He was praised as an outstanding teacher who has organized two brown-bag series, sponsored the Historians Are Writers! graduate student working group, and was active on campus on sustainability and environmental issues.

Kendall S. Carpenter Memorial Advising Awards

Cornell trustee Stephen B. Ashley '62, MBA '64, established these awards in honor of the late Ken Carpenter, his adviser and professor of business management. This year's winners were: Sherman Cochran, history; Lisa Hisae Nishii, human resource studies and international and comparative labor; Christine Schelhas-Miller, human development; and Michael Walter, biological and environmental engineering.

Cochran, the Hu Shih Professor of Chinese History, helped to establish the China and Asia Pacific Studies Program and has also chaired the history department and directed the East Asia Program.

Nishii, who examines how the cultural context influences the effectiveness of human resources "best practices," is one of the very few ILR professors to have won two ILR School teaching awards and the only person to have won both as an assistant professor.

Schelhas-Miller is senior lecturer and assistant director of undergraduate studies in the Department of Human Development, where she specializes in adolescence and emerging adulthood.

Walter is an expert in hydrology and water quality, rural watersheds, and international development as well as the undergraduate program director in the Department of Biological and Environmental Engineering.

Robert A. and Donna B. Paul Award for Excellence in Advising

Robert Paul '59, Cornell trustee emeritus and presidential councillor, established the Paul Advising Endowment in Arts and Sciences with his wife, Donna. The endowment funds, among numerous advising programs, the Paul Award for Excellence in Advising. This year's recipients were: Holly Case, history; Debra Fried, English; and Michael Goldstein, psychology.

Case was praised as an extraordinary mentor and adviser and an exceptionally distinguished teacher. Fried serves as director of undergraduate studies and of the Honors Program, the first person in the English Department ever to hold both positions. Goldstein was praised as a supportive and empathetic mentor with genuine interest in his mentees.

Stephen H. Weiss Presidential Fellowship

To highlight and reward excellence in undergraduate teaching at Cornell, Stephen H. Weiss '57, a chairman emeritus of the board of trustees who died in 2008, established this award to recognize tenured faculty who have a sustained record of effective, distinguished and inspirational teaching of undergraduate students. This year's winner was John "Jack" Muckstadt, the Acheson-Laibe Professor of Business Management and Leadership Studies.

A professor in the School of Operations Research and Information Engineering, Muckstadt has had a career of outstanding undergraduate teaching. Students describe his courses and lectures on theory and similar topics as clear, comprehensive, challenging, enjoyable and well thought-out. His teaching has been recognized by 14 awards from his department, college and professional societies.