New Chancellors Club Teaching Professors, from left, Amy Devitt, Department of English, Alice Lieberman, School of Social Welfare, and Helen Alexander, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, at the Nov. 2 Chancellors Club celebration.

 11/13/07

KU Chancellors Club names three teaching professors

LAWRENCE — Three University of Kansas faculty members have been named Chancellors Club Teaching Professors: Helen Alexander, professor of ecology and evolutionary biology; Amy Devitt, professor of English; and Alice Lieberman, professor of social welfare.

The Office of the Provost selects recipients based on outstanding teaching performance as acknowledged by students and colleagues. Chancellors Club Teaching Professors retain the title, which carries a $5,000 annual stipend, for as long as they teach at KU. The Chancellors Club, formed in 1977 by KU Endowment, is KU’s major-donor organization. The organization established the professorships in 1981.

These appointments bring the total number of Chancellors Club teaching professors to 12, the limit. Four professors teach at the KU Medical Center; the rest teach on the Lawrence campus.

Helen Alexander, researcher and professor of plant population biology, has taught at KU since 1988. She is nationally known for her research, which includes studies on Mead’s milkweed, a rare prairie plant.

“I’m very honored to receive this award,” Alexander said. “My overall goal in teaching is to show that science isn’t just a dry accumulation of facts, but is a dynamic way of learning about the world. And it’s important to help students develop the skills to be effective and independent learners throughout their lives.”

Val Smith, professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, was among those who nominated Alexander.

“She is an outstanding communicator,” Smith said. “She is exceptionally approachable and thoughtful, and she spares absolutely no effort to assure that her students receive the best possible learning experiences, inside and outside the classroom.”

Amy Devitt began teaching English at KU in 1985. She’s widely known for her groundbreaking work on how writers create genres. Devitt credited her students for her success as a professor and said she felt honored that some of them wrote letters recommending her for the award.

“Teaching doesn’t happen without the students — students who are open, thoughtful and smart,” Devitt said. “I’ve been lucky to have encountered many hundreds of such students over the years.”

Devitt appreciates the long-lasting effects of teaching.

“Teaching really lets you have a wide influence on the world, even across generations as the people you teach go on to teach or use their writing and thinking skills in other ways,” she said.

Dorice Williams Elliott, associate professor and chair of the English department, said Devitt’s teaching and research has made a huge difference for the thousands of students she has taught at KU.

“Teaching people to write well is an extremely difficult and somewhat mysterious task that scholars have tried to figure out for hundreds of years,” Elliott said.

Alice Lieberman came to KU in 1988 and has emphasized teaching, particularly undergraduate social work education, ever since. During the past decade, Lieberman has focused on developing new models of teaching in her field.

“I’m thrilled and honored to receive this award,” said Lieberman, who was quick to credit her students, some of whom face constant and serious life challenges. “Every semester I have students who just amaze me. Yet, there they sit in my classes, moving forward with difficulty, but with hope and optimism. Their successes make this the most rewarding job.”

Mary Ellen Kondrat, dean of the School of Social Welfare, described Lieberman as a role model for students as well as someone who leads in everything from national organizations to committees across KU.

“She consistently holds her students to the goal of becoming leaders who make a difference in the profession and in their communities,” Kondrat said.

The professorships are funded through KU Endowment, the independent, nonprofit organization serving as the official fundraising and fund-management organization for KU. Founded in 1891, KU Endowment is the first foundation of its kind at a U.S. public university.