Dr. J. Michael Ortiz, provost and vice president of academic affairs at California State University, Fresno, has named English Professor Lillian Faderman this year’s recipient of the Excellence in Teaching Award.

Also honored with Provost’s Teaching Awards are:

· Dr. Ron Parker, Communicative Disorders and Deaf Studies, Education and Technology Award

· Dr. Richard D. Berrett, Child, Family and Consumer Sciences, Faculty Service Award

· Dr. Gerardo Munoz, Physics, Graduate Teaching and Mentoring Award

· Dr. K.C. Chen, Finance and Business Law, Distinguished Achievement in Research, Scholarship or Creative Activity

“The selection of the recipients was the most difficult since I have been here,” said Ortiz. “My review of the nominations clearly demonstrates the level of excellence that has been attained by the faculty at California State University, Fresno. I am honored to be able to recognize these individuals from among the many outstanding nominees.

“Each of these recipients would be valued members of the faculty at any institution in the country. I could not be more pleased that they have chosen Fresno State for their professional home,” said Ortiz.

Lillian Faderman joined the ranks of the Fresno State faculty in 1967, just after earning her doctorate in English. Since then, “she has left an indelible mark on countless students, and established herself as an outstanding scholar of international renown,” said Dr. Luis F. Costa, dean of the College of Arts and Humanities.

Faderman co-founded the Women’s Studies Program in 1971 and was named the university’s outstanding professor in 1982. She has written nine books, many of which broke new ground in the area of sexuality and gender, and is currently at work on her tenth book. Her books have been academic best sellers, reissued in paperback, reedited and translated into foreign languages as culturally diverse as Turkish and Japanese.

Faderman also served the university in the mid-70s as assistant vice president for academic affairs, and became the director of the Experimental College, a place where faculty and students could let their collective imaginations truly go in a free-flow of ideas.

Ron Parker has taken a leading role in integrating technology into various aspects of education since coming to Fresno State in 1982,. He was chairman of the Instructional Technology Committee in the College of Health and Human Services for nearly 12 years and worked to implement what became the first multimedia lab open to all university students. Since 1967, Parker has been active in his department’s compressed video distance learning program that is broadcast to sites in Bakersfield, Stockton and Turlock, and has modified his courses so that he could use multimedia in his distance learning classes.

Richard Berrett was cited for his extensive service on campus and in local nonprofit agencies, plus leadership which helped Fresno State to become a leader within service-learning, which integrates service into the curriculum. His influence is seen in the university’s 50 courses which incorporate service-learning and in the more than 30 new ones will be added next fall. Also, a version of his in-depth faculty service-learning seminar will become the model for an extensive faculty development effort throughout the CSU system. Berrett joined the Fresno State faculty in 1969.

Gerardo Munoz joined the Physics department graduate program teaching staff in 1991 and teaches 75% of the graduate core courses and has developed three new courses. His nominators for the Provost’s Award note that while student evaluations of Munoz are always “superb,” his courses are notoriously difficult because of their content and the high academic standards he maintains. Munoz’s efforts have directly contributed to student success: Physics graduates have gained acceptance into prestigious Ph.D.-granting institutions, including the University of California at Davis, Alabama, Cornell, CalTech, Texas, Purdue, Illinois, M.D. Anderson and Lawrence Berkeley.

K.C. Chen is the most productive researcher in the Craig School of Business, according to the school’s dean. Chen joined the department of finance and business law in 1988 and has been chairman since 1995. His research has led to 23 refereed journals, four book chapters, three instructional books, 21 refereed proceedings and 37 conference presentations. He also has received several research awards in the past decade, including the Excellence in Research Award at the 1997 Seventh Business and Economics Conference in Taiwan. This year, Phi Kappa Phi recognized Dr. Chen as the outstanding scholar at Fresno State.