Sources: David Andrus, 785-532-6010, andrus@k-state.edu;
Robert Condia, 785-532-1106, condia@k-state.edu; William Kuhn, 785-532-4649,
wkuhn@k-state.edu; and Donald Smith, 785-532-2151, dksmith@k-state.edu
News release prepared by: Andy Badeker, 785-532-6415, abadeker@k-state.edu
Thursday, May 1, 2008
K-STATE HONORS FOUR FACULTY MEMBERS WITH COMMERCE BANK OUTSTANDING UNDERGRADUATE TEACHING AWARDS
MANHATTAN -- Four Kansas State University faculty members are receiving the 2008 Commerce Bank Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching Award.
This year's recipients are David M. Andrus, professor of marketing; Robert Condia, professor of architecture; William B. Kuhn, professor of electrical and computer engineering; and Donald Kimball Smith, assistant professor of English.
The awards, each of which includes a $2,500 honorarium, are sponsored by the William T. Kemper Foundation and Commerce Bancshares Foundation; they are coordinated through the Kansas State University Foundation.
"This is the 13th year Commerce Bank and the William T. Kemper Foundation have partnered with K-State to promote and support excellence in undergraduate teaching," said Tom Giller, community bank president of Commerce Bank, Manhattan. "We're pleased to join the university in honoring this year's recipients, who all make a positive impact through their dedication to teaching and mentoring students."
"This kind of support allows us to reward faculty members who fulfill K-State's commitment to its undergraduates," said Jon Wefald, K-State president. "The university promises students a superior education, and these faculty members have shown time and again that they are devoted to that vital mission."
Andrus teaches marketing management, marketing research and services marketing. "Active learning that employs direct experience is the best method for conveying knowledge and having students master the information in a course," he said. His marketing management course exemplifies that: In addition to assigned readings, exams and lectures, students write a marketing plan and critique another group's marketing plan. Andrus earned his bachelor's degree from Oklahoma State University, his master's from the University of Hawaii and his doctorate from the University of Iowa. He joined K-State in 1983. He was head of the marketing department from 1996 until he returned to teaching in 2007.
Condia creates in his studio courses an environment in which all parties work effectively together, both teaching and learning from one another. "As a practicing architect, I have to communicate the important relationships between students' academic pursuits and the profession they aspire to join," he said. Condia's insistence on quality in his students' work, coupled with the opportunity for his students to observe his commitment to quality in his own work, develops the discipline necessary to the education of an architect. Condia's bachelor degree in architecture is from California Polytechnic State University; he earned his master's degree in architecture and building design from Columbia University. He joined K-State in 1989. Condia received the McElwee Teaching Award in 1996.
Kuhn's classes range from an introductory course that he helped create to graduate-level elective courses in integrated-circuit design and radio/microwave engineering. "I try to apply basic principles learned from my own experiences as a student, an engineer and a person," Kuhn said. "Learning occurs mostly from two things -- being motivated and doing things. So I make lectures relevant by bringing in examples and demonstrations, and I deliver them with interest, and sometimes with humor. Whenever possible, students should work with real hardware; it prepares them for the real world and gives them the confidence they need." Kuhn joined K-State in 1996 after receiving his doctorate from Virginia Tech, where he also earned his bachelor's degree. His master's in electrical engineering is from Georgia Tech.
Smith teaches Shakespeare and medieval and Renaissance poetry to a wide range of students. "In every class I try to make sure that even if they didn't come in with an interest in Shakespeare or Spenser or Chaucer, at least they might leave with one," Smith said. "My first task is to break down the imaginative barriers that make this literature seem so unapproachable." One tactic is to have students act out certain passages, sometimes in costumes of their own choosing, "to remind us that people remain people even as the clothes, customs, and language change." Smith earned his Ph.D. from the University of Iowa; his master's degree in fine arts is from the Iowa Writers Workshop. He joined K-State in 2004.