Dr. L-Jay Fine, associate professor of Recreation Administration and Leisure Studies, has been awarded the top teaching award at California State University, Fresno.

Dr. Jeri Echeverria, provost and vice president of Academic Affairs, named Fine as recipient of the 2005 Excellence in Teaching Award.

The provost has also honored the following educators:

• Dr. Matthew J. Sharps of the Department of Psychology for the Distinguished Achievement in Research, Scholarship or Creative Activities Award

• Dr. Steven J. White of the Department of Physics for the Faculty Service Award

• Dr. Marilyn S. Wilson of the Department of Psychology for the Graduate Teaching and Mentoring Award

• Dr. Harald Otto Schweizer of the Department of Criminology for the Technology in Education Award

“These five outstanding professors are being acknowledged for their exceptional contributions to our students and to our academic community,” said Echeverria. “It is an honor, as well as a statement about what we value, to acknowledge them for excellence in teaching, graduate teaching and mentoring, research, service and instructional technology.

“I would also like to congratulate the outstanding individuals who were nominated this year, as there were many exceptional and deserving faculty nominated for consideration,” Echeverria said.

The awards include a stipend of $5,500 for the Excellence in Teaching recipient and $3,000 each to the other four awardees.

Dr. L-Jay Fine (Excellence in Teaching Award) came to Fresno State 15 years ago after teaching at Long Beach State and Southern Illinois University. He said he caught the teaching bug as a 17-year-old ecology director at a Boy Scout Camp in New Hampshire, when he was

teaching scouts and their leaders about the natural world.

As a professor today in Fresno State’s Recreation Administration and Leisure Studies Program, Fine continues to share the spirit of adventure. His motto is “learning-by-doing.” He believes that the

best teaching provides hands-on experiences that are pertinent to a student’s life. Today’s students demand and need more from their learning experiences, he believes. He is committed to life-long learning through a partnership between students and teachers.

Fine acknowledges that experiential learning is inherently risky, but he believes all learning is risky. He purposely designs his curriculum to move his students outside their comfort zones, so that with practice they become more comfortable with new tasks. From this he hopes students will understand that learning can be uncomfortable but the benefits outweigh costs.

Fine has served on many university committees. ‘In the area of service, Dr. Fine is an unselfish role model,” said Jody Hironaka-Juteau, associate professor and interim chair of the Recreation Administration and Leisure Studies Program.

In recognition of Fine’s accomplishment, Echeverria also will purchase a brick in his name for the Teacher’s Honor Wall in front of the Kremen School of Education and Human Development at Fresno State.

Dr. Matthew J. Sharps (Distinguished Achievement in Research, Scholarship or Creative Activities Award) joined the Psychology Department in 1990. “He is one of the most outstanding researchers on campus,” according to Karen T. Carey, chair of the Department of Psychology.

His research focuses on cognitive psychology and includes the areas of information processing, aging, substance abuse, attention deficit disorder and memory. Specifically Sharps is interested in how words and pictures are used in attention, memory and reasoning.

One of his projects dealt with “sex differences” in cognition. His research showed that stereotyped instructions resulted in sex differences, but that these differences disappeared when no such stereotyped emphasis was in evidence. This led Sharps to conclude that much of the difference in cognitive function between sexes derives from sociocultural rather than biological factors.

Sharps is especially pleased that a number of his students have gone on to become outstanding psychologists practicing in private and public settings, as well as to become respected educators and professional research psychologists.

Sharps has received a grant from the National Institute of Aging and is a diplomat of the American College of Forensic Examiners. He also serves as the chair of the University Research Committee and the Human Subjects Committee for the Department of Psychology.

Dr. Steven J. White (Faculty Service Award) joined Fresno State in 1994. He is an associate

professor in the Physics Department and has been director of the Downing Planetarium since 1997.

White began reaching out to the community even before the planetarium was built. One way he did this was to get children interested in science by giving presentations at local schools using a portable planetarium. He also participated in workshops for teachers.

The Downing Planetarium is one of White’s crowning achievements; he has been indefatigable in his efforts for its funding, design, construction and operation. In addition, in February, the new Downing Planetarium Museum was dedicated.

According to Dr. Gerardo Munoz, chair of the Department of Physics, without White’s determined efforts the planetarium may not have been completed, and the community would have missed out on a wonderful asset.

“The planetarium will enrich the science educational environment of Fresno for a long time to come,” Munoz said.

White has produced more than 15 planetarium programs that have been viewed by thousands of children and adults. More than 150,000 visitors have attended planetarium shows to date. He also was responsible for building a campus observatory extensively used for astronomy research.

He has also increased the university’s interaction with local K-12 school teachers and improved the K-12 science curriculum.

Dr. Marilyn S. Wilson (Graduate Teaching and Mentoring Award), a professor in the Psychology Department, has been a faculty member of Fresno State since 1992. She has a background in teaching preschool, kindergarten, gifted classes, sixth grade and junior high, but considers teaching graduate students to be her most rewarding experience as an educator.

Wilson’s specialty is in school psychology. She believes that her experiences working in schools as a teacher and as a school psychologist have given her first-hand knowledge of how to overcome barriers in her field.

But the most important part of teaching for Wilson is giving her students a solid background so they can go on to enjoy professional success. Not only has she helped her students reach their graduate studies goals, Wilson has helped them in their careers.

“We have a 100 percent employment rate for our school psychology students upon graduation due in part to Dr. Wilson’s extremely hard work and dedication,” said Karen T. Carey, professor and chair of the Psychology Department.

Wilson has a tremendous commitment to her students and has chaired 33 theses committees and has been a member of 45 theses committees. She has served as graduate chair in the Department of Psychology since 1996 and is currently chair of the University Graduate Committee.

Besides her work for the university, Wilson has been the primary evaluator of the Healthy Start Program for the Fresno Unified School District and the primary evaluator for the Fresno County Interagency Council’s Neighborhood Resource Centers pilot project.

Dr. Harald Otto Schweizer (Technology in Education Award) is an associate professor in the Department of Criminology and has been part of Fresno State’s faculty since 1999. He has extensive law enforcement experience in the United States, including work as a police chief. In Germany, his native country, he was a criminal investigator of major crimes and terrorist activities. He also served in an undercover capacity investigating international narcotics trafficking and international organized crime.

“What sets him apart from the rest of his peers is his expertise and devotion to the use of technology in classroom instruction, professional presentations and research,” said Luz Gonzalez, dean of the College of Social Sciences.

Schweizer has made strides in using online resources for classroom instruction and professional use. He has developed a criminology/criminal justice Web site,

httr):1/7imi-ner.csutresno.edul , that is listed on the Internet as one of the top 10 Criminal

Justice Mega-Sites. The site index can be viewed in English, Spanish, German and Japanese, and is used by several faculty and students in the Department of Criminology.

Besides containing more than 20,000 links to worldwide information sources, the Web site has lecture outlines, data relating to subject matter, organizational charts, statistical and descriptive information and even strategically placed bits of humor.

Schweizer is also a police consultant and has been an expert witness in federal court in the area of police administration and police misconduct.

(Copy by University Communications staff member April Schulthies)

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