York honors two outstanding teachers
James
H. Burness, professor of chemistry, and Terry Allison, instructor in math,
are the recipients of the 1999 Penn State York Teaching Awards. The awards
recognize individuals for their contributions to students, their discipline
and the campus. Students, faculty and administrative staff nominated candidates
for the awards.
This is the second time Burness has been honored with the Penn State York Teaching Award. He earned the award for the first time in 1986. Burness joined the Penn State York faculty in 1976 as an associate professor and since that time has taught a variety of chemistry courses. He was promoted to associate professor in 1992 and to full professor in 1998.
Student nominators called Burness an "inspiration" and said he always has time to talk.
Earlier in his career, Burness spent the 198385 academic years in Munich, where he taught for the University of Maryland's Munich Campus and was a guest researcher at the Inorganic Chemistry Institute of the Technical University of Munich. Listed in American Men and Women of Science, he has published numerous articles in professional journals and has presented a number of papers at the national and international levels. In 1990, Burness was honored with the University-wide George W. Atherton Award for Excellence in Teaching.
Allison has been a part-time instructor at Penn State York for more than 10 years and is the first recipient of this teaching award to honor part-time instructors. The campus established this award to recognize the contributions and the important work part-time instructors perform at Penn State York.
Student comments said Allison has the ability to convey information in an understandable form and his class is "worthwhile and productive."
Allison's love of teaching stems from his day job as a teacher at Dallastown High School. He has been a math teacher at Dallastown for more than 30 years.
Great Valley names diversity award winners
The Penn State Great Valley School of Graduate Professional Studies recently presented its annual Diversity Recognition Award to faculty member Hindupur Ramakrishna and staff member Tracey Leas Dolan. The award, which consists of a $500 stipend, was established by Penn State Great Valley's Diversity Action Council to recognize those individuals who are exceptional in their efforts to promote diversity.
Ramakrishna, associate professor of management science and information systems, has been a member of the Great Valley faculty since 1994. He has served on numerous committees for diversity-related issues including serving as former co-chair of the Diversity Action Council at Great Valley. The award recognized his role in creating several new diversity events and programs. He also has presented his research on the topic of diversity issues in information systems firms at conferences nationally and abroad.
Dolan, training, education and development specialist at Penn State Great Valley, has been involved with the Diversity Action Council for three years. The award recognized her initiative in developing the campus' first formalized orientation/network program for new employees. In addition, she was instrumental in the nomination of Penn State Great Valley's diversity strategic plan and receipt of the 1997 Diversity Award presented by the Greater Valley Forge Human Resource Association.