Distinguished Faculty Recipients Recognized" 

SALISBURY, MD---Salisbury State University President Janet Dudley-Eshbach recently recognized four outstanding faculty members who were this year's recipients of the Distinguished Faculty Awards.

The recipients of the Distinguished Faculty Award for this year are Dr. T. Paul Pfeiffer, associate professor of communication arts and director of theatre; Dr. Joel T. Jenne, interim chair of the Education Department and associate professor of education; Dr. Frank M. Shipper, professor of management; and Dr. James Michael Welsh, professor of English.

The winners come from different schools and disciplines within the University community, but all four professors distinguished themselves in the areas of teaching, scholarship and service, says Dr. Kashi Khazeh, chair of the Distinguished Faculty Awards Panel.

"A lot of faculty members are doing an outstanding job, but these four distinguished themselves by their excellence in those three areas," Khazeh said.

The Distinguished Faculty Award has been given out every year since 1987, usually to two to four recipients. The Distinguished Faculty Awards Panel, made up of past honorees, reviews all the nominations and votes on new award recipients.

This year's quartet of winners received unanimous support from the panel.

Professor Paul Scovell, chair of the Communication Arts Department, nominated Pfeiffer for the award, citing his work over 20 years but especially the last three years, in which a series of statewide and international successes "have brought distinction to the reputation of the University and opportunities for students." Under Pfeiffer's leadership as director of theatre, SSU inaugurated a theatre subscription series, added an experimental studio component, included local writers, and developed a balanced performance program to both appeal to and challenge audiences. The success of the University's theatre program led theatre patron Bobbi Biron last spring to create an endowment, making SSU the only endowed theatre program in Maryland.

Pfeiffer received his bachelor's degree in communication arts from SSU in 1975, earned a Master of Arts in theatre from the University of Maryland College Park in 1985, and received a Ph.D. in theatre from the Union Institute of Cincinnati, OH, in 1992. He began teaching at SSU in 1980 as a theatre instructor, and has been director of theatre since 1989 and associate professor since 1997. The one-man show he created as part of his doctoral studies has been staged by one of the the most highly respected theatre companies in the English-speaking world, The Royal Shakespeare Company.

Dr. Beth E. Barnett, dean of the Seidel School of Education and Professional Studies, nominated Jenne for the Distinguished Faculty Award as a role model for students and colleagues who "is noted for his true love of his profession." He shows a sincere concern for the development of all students, even those not assigned to him, and is often sought out by graduate and undergraduate students for his knowledge of teaching and department, school and university policies and procedures. He continues to develop his professional knowledge through presenting at state, regional and national meetings, publishing peer-reviewed articles and reviewing articles in several national publications. He has served the Seidel School and SSU in many capacities, including committee work, participation in statewide projects to improve education in Maryland, as well as past coordinator of the Master of Arts in Teaching Program and assistant director of the Center for Economic Education in 1998.

Jenne received his bachelor's degree in history from the University of Massachusetts in 1974, his Master of Education in secondary education from the University of New Hampshire in 1983, and a doctorate in curriculum and instruction from the State University of New York at Albany in 1995. He has taught at SSU since 1995.

Dean of the Perdue School of Business, Dr. Richard F. Bebee, and chair of the Department of Management and Marketing, Dr. Wayne Decker, nominated Shipper for the award because, "through Dr. Shipper's efforts, the school has enjoyed significant technological changes which are required to offer the best education to our students." Shipper has been at the forefront of integrating technology into coursework, and as captain of the school's Faculty Instructional and Development Team has been intimately involved in technologically enhancing classrooms. His list of awards ranges from national recognition such as recipient of the "Academy of Management’s Outstanding Paper" and "The Walter Ulmer Applied Research Award," to local recognition as recipient of the Perdue School’s "Outstanding Research Award" and "Outstanding Teacher Award." Shipper developed and will teach a new Web-based management course which is part of the University System of Maryland Passport Program, a cooperative effort among USM schools.

Shipper received a bachelor's degree from West Virginia University in 1968, and his M.B.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Utah in 1973 and 1978, respectively. After teaching at the University of Utah and Arizona State University from 1972-1991, he came to the Perdue School in 1991 as a professor of management. He teaches the capstone courses at both the senior and M.B.A. levels, and consistently receives student evaluation marks above the school average. He has served on several University committees and is widely recognized for his research.

Dr. Connie Richards, chair of the Department of English, nominated Welsh for the honor, which he won some years ago but deserved again because of his continued, unstinting devotion in teaching, scholarship and service "with a level of success probably unequaled at this University." His students and peers know him as a walking movie library and a highly effective teacher. He organizes the University's International Film Series, handles all of the arrangements for the Romanian graduate student that comes to SSU each fall, chairs the department's Peer Evaluation Committee and has published four books in the past three years. He edits the four annual issues of Literature/Film Quarterly, which he established 25 years ago and which is distributed around the country and to 25 foreign nations.

Welsh received a bachelor's degree from Indiana University in 1963, and his master's and doctoral degrees in English from the University of Kansas in 1965 and 1996, respectively. After nearly 20 years as a university instructor in the Midwest, Welsh came to SSU in 1971. He has been a professor of English since 1997. He received a Distinguished Faculty Award in 1987, and was a lecturer on American studies in Romania in 1994 and 1998 on a Fulbright grant. He has presented and published widely and has international renown as a movie scholar.