PEERY WINS STATE'S OUTSTANDING TEACHING AWARD

Janet Peery, associate professor of English at Old Dominion University, was awarded a 2002 Outstanding Faculty Award from the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia. She is among only 11 faculty members statewide who were selected for the prestigious awards, the commonwealth's highest honor for faculty at Virginia's public and private colleges and universities.

The awards recognize demonstrated excellence in teaching, research and public service. Thirteen Old Dominion faculty have won SCHEV awards to date, including Dwight W. Allen, eminent professor of urban education, and Sushil K. Chaturvedi, professor and chair of mechanical engineering, last year's recipients and the second "double winners" at Old Dominion.

A native of Kansas, Peery has taught creative writing at Old Dominion since 1993. Her first book, a compilation of short stories titled "Alligator Dance," won her the Whiting Foundation Writers Award and the American Academy of Arts and Letters Rosenthal Foundation Award. Her first novel, "The River Beyond the World," was one of five finalists for the 1996 National Book Award. She received a prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship in 1998. She has a master of fine arts degree from Wichita State University.

Peery was honored March 1 at a special ceremony at the State Capitol. She received a check for $5,000 and an engraved plaque from SCHEV, which administers the program. Seventy-five faculty members from 32 institutions statewide were nominated for the 2001 awards.