Old Dominion forwards eight nominations for SCHEV Outstanding Faculty Awards

Janet Peery

Rare indeed are students who feel lucky to be in a class where a 30-page paper is assigned early in the course and due in two weeks. That is, unless the students are in a class taught by Janet Peery. "She opens doors in students' minds," said one student.

"She has a way of 'firing up' her students about writing and the writing process," said another. "She pushes us to explore in our writing questions that have no easy answers."

An associate professor of creative writing, Peery teaches classes and conducts fiction workshops in which the students range from undergraduates at the beginning of their reading and writing lives to the more accomplished M.F.A. candidates in the Creative Writing Program, from returning students in mid-career who always wanted to write and are testing the waters, to octogenarians with decades of experience and knowledge they hope to learn to shape into books and stories. Peery manages these classes with diplomacy and wit, a rigorous attention to craft and technique, and with humor and grace.

Peery writes detailed letters to student writers and works one-on-one during the revision process. Her standards are high, but her methods foster engagement with the highest forms of literary art and encourage students to strive for deeper understanding. She has been named "Most Inspiring Faculty Member" on several occasions by the top graduating student in the college, and has won the Favorite Faculty award from Sigma Tau Delta.

Although she came late to teaching and to the formal study of writing and literature, finishing her M.F.A. in 1992, in her 10-year career Peery has been honored with many of the country's most prestigious literary awards. These include two Pushcart Prizes, Washington and Lee University's Goodheart Prize, and inclusion in "Best American Short Stories." In 1992, while a student, she received an NEA Fiction Fellowship, and in 1993, for the publication of her first book, "Alligator Dance," she earned a Whiting Writers Award, given to "writers of exceptional promise at the beginning of their careers."

Also in 1993 she received the Rosenthal Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. This distinction, "for a work of literature which while not a commercial success is nonetheless a considerable literary achievement," was first presented to John Updike in 1957 and has honored such novelists as Bernard Malamud, Toni Morrison and Alice Walker.

In 1996, her first novel, "The River Beyond the World," was a finalist for the National Book Award, and was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize and the Dublin Literary Award. More recently, she received fellowships from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation and the Virginia Commission for the Arts. In 2000, Writer's Digest Magazine named her one of 25 Writers to Watch in the Next Decade. Her novel "The River Beyond the World" was optioned by Paramount Pictures for a Showtime Original Movie. Her books and stories appear on syllabi at numerous colleges and universities.

Thomas J. Socha

Tom Socha's teaching is guided by his belief that success in the classroom rests on a balance between offering meaningful challenges and providing adequate support. For 13 years at Old Dominion, he has skillfully and artfully taught and/or developed 11 different communication courses for more than 5,000 students. His students offer him their highest praise:

"Brilliant professor. … It is nice to have a teacher who is so genuine, honest and funny."

"Of all my years at Old Dominion University I will remember him and his teaching ethics the most. He was the best teacher I had in college."

"This class [advanced communication research methods] is the best launching pad for graduate work and my career in academia."

Socha's approaches to teaching and learning are truly innovative. Undergraduate students in his advanced communication research methods classes do original empirical research and submit their studies for presentation to professional communication conferences. Students in his children's communication course have submitted the results of their research about the TV show "Blue's Clues" to the show's creator and research director. Those taking his introduction to communication research methods course, offered via TELETECHNET, have participated in live teleconferences with renowned communication researchers from across the U.S.

The National Communication Association invited Socha to conduct a summer workshop at the "Engaging 21st Century Students: Best Practices in Teaching and Learning" conference in Washington, D.C. He assembled and led a group of Old Dominion communication faculty to conduct the workshop for distance educators from universities across the country on the best practices of teaching communication at a distance and to advise national policies and guidelines in distance education in communication.

Socha continues to provide cutting-edge courses responsive to students' interests and societal needs by teaching a new topics course that he created, "The Dark Side of Communication," which covers media violence, hate-speech, deception, cheating, privacy invasion, verbal abuse, incivility and society's preoccupation with scandals.

One of his most successful education initiatives was launched in 1990 when, along with a colleague, he pioneered the Communication Undergraduate Teaching Assistant Program, the centerpiece of which is the use of a large-lecture course as the laboratory for the best and brightest communication students to learn about communication education in higher education. These students prepare lessons, give lectures, develop quizzes, coach students in their writing and gain a view of higher education rarely afforded undergraduates. A five-year study published in 1998 demonstrated the program's many advantages, which include aiding students in admission to prominent graduate schools and winning graduate teaching assistantships.

Socha's published research has focused on improving communication in families, parent-child communication, the role of family communication in America's problems with race relations, and children's communication development. The associate professor is the founding editor of the Journal of Family Communication.

Surendra N. Tiwari

Designated as one of Old Dominion's first eminent professors in 1979, Suren Tiwari is currently an eminent scholar of mechanical engineering. An excellent teacher, researcher and administrator, he has a unique ability not only to convey a complex array of highly technical concepts to his students, but also to mold them into world-class teacher-researchers themselves.

He has conducted and supervised major research efforts in such areas as radiative energy transfer in gases, atmospheric radiation and heat balance of planetary atmospheres, high temperature gas kinetics and plasma physics, computational fluid dynamics, hypersonic flows, combustion processes and flow of chemically reacting and radiating gases, planetary entry heating, and thermal protection of entry vehicles.

As the university's first graduate program director for mechanical engineering and mechanics, he was instrumental in developing virtually every aspect of the program. He has directed and supervised the research of 33 master's and 41 Ph.D. students. He encourages his students to present papers at professional conferences, often putting their name as the first author.

Tiwari directed major efforts in establishing the Institute for Computational and Applied Mechanics, which focuses on research and graduate studies in various areas of computational methodology in engineering and sciences. He represents Old Dominion to the national University Space Research Association and is a co-director of the NASA/ASEE Summer Faculty Fellowship Program. In 1994 he established the Institute for Scientific and Educational Technology, which administers several higher education programs, including NASA-sponsored graduate study and postdoctoral programs.

Tiwari is considered a leader in the field of radiation modeling and analysis and computation of chemically reacting and radiating flows. He is member of 10 professional societies, reviewer of 12 professional journals, and reviewer of proposals submitted to DOD, NSF and NASA. His grant funding has exceeded $14 million over the past 25 years.

He received Old Dominion's Outstanding Faculty Research Award in 1990 and in 1996 was presented the Tonelson Award. In June 2001, he received the AIAA Thermophysics Award for "significant contribution in analysis of radiation heat transfer, combustion, thermal protection of entry vehicles and atmospheric radiation, and in education of thermal sciences."

Tiwari has contributed works to more than 400 technical publications. His personal research contributions in the areas of radiative energy transfer, hypersonic aerodynamics, nonequilibrium flows of chemically reacting and radiating gases, and entry heating have been extensive. His research on high-temperature reacting and radiating flows resulted in the design of a thermal protection system for the Galileo Entry Probe, and in analysis and computation of flowfields in scramjet engines. He received NASA's Group Achievement Award for developing the Aerothermal Protection System for the Galileo Probe.

Stephen W. Tonelson

To a great degree, Steve Tonelson's efforts in each of the areas of teaching, research and service are synergistic, all focused on service: to local schools and organizations, to school systems and agencies in Hampton Roads and throughout Virginia, and to agencies throughout the country. Specifically, his teaching, research and service address children with disabilities and those at risk of school failure, including the families of these children. For this population, his work has helped to inform local, state and national policy.

In addition to developing and teaching courses in a number of field-based programs throughout southeastern Virginia, Tonelson and his colleagues developed the Tonelson Teaching and Learning Center soon after his arrival at Old Dominion. This grant-funded project initiated one of the first professional development schools in Virginia. This collaboration between Old Dominion and Norfolk Public Schools prepared pre-service and in-service teachers to work more effectively with inner-city children, provided master's degrees and licensure in early childhood and special education to inner-city teachers, and allowed public school teachers to work as clinical faculty at Old Dominion.

Evidence of other collaborative research efforts includes two of his most recent and long-standing grants. First, with colleagues at Old Dominion and the College of William and Mary, he is a principal investigator in the Special Education Training and Technical Assistance Centers. Funded at almost $3 million over the past five years, these centers provide assistance to 34 school divisions in Superintendent Regions 2 and 3. Designed specifically to work with teachers of children with disabilities, this grant has enhanced the academic, behavioral and social development of special-needs children and their families through support services to teachers, schools and school divisions.

A second grant, the Commonwealth Special Education Endorsement Program: A Distance Learning Approach, begun in 1997, has been funded at over $3.5 million with the purpose of providing licensure and affordable course work in special education to individuals who face financial and geographic barriers. To date, the program has paid three-fourths of the tuition for nearly 1,000 students enrolling in up to four courses per year via TELETECHNET. It benefited 84 school divisions across Virginia, and more than 30 nonpublic special education schools and state-operated programs. More than 280 individuals have completed the licensure program and been granted teaching licenses by the Virginia Department of Education.

This grant, initiated by Tonelson and colleagues at Old Dominion, has developed from an initial group of 66 students into the largest special education, satellite broadcast, distance learning program in the world with more than 450 participants at 33 sites throughout Virginia.

Tonelson routinely receives outstanding evaluations for teaching. His lectures challenge students to think critically and provide them with practical information.

For most of the last decade Tonelson has served as president of the Epilepsy Association of Virginia.

Richard Whittecar

Rich Whittecar describes himself as a "passionate Mudder" - an environmental geologist driven to use the most effective teaching methods available and to instill in his students a greater sense of stewardship of the Earth.

Students, community members and colleagues from across the southeastern U.S. cite Whittecar as an enthusiastic teacher who creates innovative methods to make the Earth come "alive." Lava lamps, sandboxes, skateboards, bricks, shaving cream, corn starch, skits and original songs all show up in his classes. Some of his innovations are now included in a widely adopted laboratory manual and in "science store" experiment kits. He also uses electronic slide shows, videotapes, interactive Web sites and homework assignments submitted via e-mail. Many of these techniques evolved from his work as a pioneer in TELETECHNET.

Whittecar's passion for finding the most effective teaching techniques pushes him to use classrooms as crucibles for various educational approaches. Having mastered traditional "stand-up lectures" for his larger classes, but dissatisfied with his courses for majors, Whittecar completely redesigned several courses to be as "discovery-based" as possible, using lectures only after students started their learning with laboratory and field experiences. Other courses he transformed into semester-long "writing-intensive" exercises.

His innovations and successes in the classroom brought him recognition as one of the first University Professors at Old Dominion and his selection as TELETECHNET Teacher of the Year in 1998. They also led to his appointment as associate editor of the highly respected Journal of Geoscience Education.

His research expertise in "Mud" - a shorthand term for near-surface sediment, water and geological hazards - and his experiences working with government agencies and consulting groups across Virginia make him one of the state's experts on groundwater, shallow aquifers and wetlands. His research efforts have brought nearly $3.4 million to the university and resulted in more than 80 publications and 70 scientific presentations. A major decade-long goal of his research is to improve the design and construction of created wetlands, particularly those needed to restore ecological functions of wetlands destroyed by road building in Virginia. Notably, Whittecar involves a large number of students in these research efforts.

Whittecar regularly meets in the field with federal and state agency personnel, consultants and other professionals to compare the results of his research and their investigations. He was elected to a prestigious panel by members of the Quaternary Geology and Geomorphology Division of the Geological Society of America.

He recognized that hundreds of acres of land being decommissioned by the U.S. Navy in Suffolk held untold opportunities for teaching and research in coastal plain geology, marine biology and wetlands ecology. Based on the proposal he spearheaded, Old Dominion likely will acquire 150 acres of waterfront property and buildings on the Nansemond River. Whittecar also has been a leader in the development of multidisciplinary programs.

Charles E. Wilson Jr.

Few professors can inspire and excite students on both the undergraduate and graduate levels, yet Charles Wilson, associate professor of English, has achieved such feats from the moment he arrived at Old Dominion in 1991. Whether explicating a literary text, challenging an undergraduate student on his writing skills or encouraging a graduate student to pursue doctoral study, Wilson invests countless hours and bountiful energy in ensuring the best academic experience for all his constituents.

Because Wilson teaches students who aspire to become teachers themselves, he is concerned with, and adept at, presenting relevant information and conveying such information effectively. He positions himself as a model instructor whose skill and style students strive to emulate when they face classrooms of their own.

As his evaluations indicate, he is successful. Said one student, "Dr. Wilson has been an eminently prepared and capable instructor who has guided students on a wonderful learning experience." Another states, "His enthusiasm for the course was contagious, as in my free time I found myself reading additional pieces of literature. … Dr. Wilson's energy and knowledge … made me want to learn so much more!"

He also has the ability to make students feel comfortable regardless of their background. This is especially important since many of the discussions in his classes concern the oftentimes controversial, or emotionally charged, issues of race, class and/or gender. Because his students sense that he respects their points of view and welcomes their input, they work hard to master the material so that they can, in fact, offer informed commentary in classroom discussions.

Perhaps one of Wilson's most effective teaching skills is his ability to integrate scholarship with teaching in a nonthreatening manner. Instead of relying on pure theory to drive class discussions, he uses an interdisciplinary approach whereby students engage in asides on history, political science or sociology in order to grasp a clearer understanding of a literary work. By adapting other disciplines to literary study, Wilson confirms for his students the significance of literary analysis in better understanding their world.

In addition to his work in the classroom, Wilson has been active in campus service, including his current appointment as department chair. He was the graduate program director for English from 1997 to 2000.

Twice, in 1993 and 1998, Wilson received grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities to participate in summer institutes designed to provide college professors with opportunities to sharpen their teaching skills by advancing their research. Both institutes allowed him to expand the range of information included in his Southern literature and African American literature courses. In 2001, his book "Gloria Naylor: A Critical Companion" was published, written specifically for undergraduate students to enhance their analytical skills.

In 1998 Wilson was presented the Stern Award for Excellence in Teaching by the College of Arts and Letters, and in 2000 he received the Tonelson Award. Last fall he was awarded the University Professor designation.

Denny T. Wolfe

Many books have been written about teaching and leadership. Despite their differences, authors of such books tend to agree on at least this point: good teaching and good leadership combine precept and example. Denny Wolfe's entire career embodies and reflects both of these qualities.

Wolfe believes that students are not just targets of his teaching, but also part of it. That is to say, the experiences they bring to his classroom become part of his curriculum. The value that former students and colleagues place upon the quality of his teaching is enormous; the influence that his scholarship has had upon educational reform is impressive; and the impact of his service activities upon his university, community and professional societies is powerful.

For the past 22 years, this former high school English teacher has been a faculty member in the Darden College of Education, where he has taught a wide variety of undergraduate and graduate courses for aspiring and practicing teachers, nearly all of whom have evaluated his teaching as superior and inspiring.

Not only has he amply demonstrated his rare gifts as a teacher through the decades, he also has served in many leadership capacities at Old Dominion: graduate reading program director; department chair twice; associate dean twice; director of several projects (most notably the Tidewater Writing Project, for which he has procured $700,000 as a grant writer); coordinator of Professional Development Schools in partnership with Norfolk Public Schools (for which he procured a grant of $150,000); and curriculum developer (most notably through the field-based master's degree program with Chesapeake Public Schools). He has given talks, symposia and workshops all across Virginia, the U.S. and abroad on school reform in general and improving the teaching of English in particular.

Wolfe does not make fine distinctions among his faculty responsibilities as a teacher, publishing researcher and servant to his university and professional community. His teaching is informed by his research, and his service is both a product of and a resource for both his teaching and research. He has written or co-written four books that illustrate this symbiotic relationship. The first, "Writing for Learning Across the Curriculum," was one of the first of its kind, a ground-breaking work on writing as an instrument of teaching and learning in all disciplines. His latest book, "Deciding to Lead," a blueprint for school reform, inspired this comment in a review in The National Writing Project Quarterly (winter, 1998): "Some educators have been accused of naming what they can't fix, but Wolfe is fixing as he names. Teachers and others can learn much from this book."

Wolfe also has been a leader in developing textbooks. The largest publisher of secondary school textbooks in America, Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, approached him nearly a decade ago to become senior program consultant/author of an $80 million venture to develop composition and literature anthologies for the nation's schools. His collaborative work with writing and editorial teams resulted in the publication of two textbook series that have been adopted by state departments of education across the country.

Gilbert R. Yochum

Hampton Roads business leaders feel like they know Gil Yochum. They certainly know about his economic forecasting and economic impact research. But the only way truly to know him is to experience him in the classroom as he leads economic novices from wishing the Wall Street Journal had photos to wondering how they ever lived without it.

By title, Yochum is a professor of economics, project director of the university's Economic Forecasting Project and chair of the economics department. By reputation he is "Da Man" for any student trying to understand the economy. He is as adept at explaining the basics of microeconomics to an 18-year-old freshman as he is at forecasting trends with a 55-year-old Ph.D. student and corporate executive.

Throughout his career, students have consistently rated him one of their best instructors. His former dean said Yochum's "teaching, research and service record closely mirror the university and college strategic plans, and his national and regional reputation for economic forecasting and economic impact research is unsurpassed."

Despite the fact that his 200-student mass lecture section Principles of Macroeconomics course is considered one of the toughest at Old Dominion, and that students have the option of enrolling in smaller sections of the course, the class is always oversubscribed, and students consistently rate it as one of their best learning experiences.

The hallmark of Yochum's teaching style is his ability to bring his classes "alive" through the application of economic theory to unfolding economic events. A recent M.B.A student said, "I've had the good fortune of attending an Ivy League undergrad institution and a top 10 law school prior to entering ODU and I can say that this class is among the best - if not the best - course that I have taken at any level of my education."

Outside the classroom Yochum is particularly effective in helping his students enter the job market and graduate school.

Yochum's research has focused on the application of economic theory to a wide range of practical problems and issues encountered by business and government. The Old Dominion University Forecasting Project's National Economic Forecast is distributed across the U.S. by the Dow Jones News Service. A recent research project conducted with Professor Vinod Agarwal, which ranked price-adjusted per capita income across U.S. metropolitan areas, was reported in more than 150 newspaper and media outlets across the country. The project has been cited by legislators as a basis for determining state and federal aid to less well-off metropolitan areas in three states.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has supported Yochum's research to investigate the economic effect on surrounding communities of coastal beach replenishment and hurricane protection. He has also studied the effect on the ocean shipping industry of the introduction of container technology on the International Longshoreman's Association. The commonwealth of Virginia has sponsored his research on such issues as the effectiveness of privatization of publicly owned port facilities, the economic impact of the Port of Virginia, and the impact of public beaches on tourism and economic development.