President announces 2013 Williams Fund recipients

University of Oregon President Michael Gottfredson has announced the formal recommendations of Williams Council for Undergraduate Education.  

The president accepted the recommendations that five innovative projects be funded and that two outstanding faculty members – Bonnie Mann, an associate professor of philosophy, and Michael Stern, an associate professor of Scandinavian – be designated as Williams Fellows for 2013-14.

The five projects – which will receive grants from the UO's Tom and Carol Williams Fund for Undergraduate Education – were proposed by Mark Carey of the Clark Honors College and Kathy Lynn of environmental studies; Dan Tichenor of political science; Heather Moore and Jessica Fanning of the Communication Disorders and Sciences Program; Carl Stiefbold of the biology department; and Rana Mikati and Hanan Ahmad of the religious studies department.

“It is a pleasure to see the creativity and commitment to undergraduate excellence that is present in each of these five funded projects," Gottfredson said. "And reading the nominations and supporting materials for our two newest Williams Fellows reinforces even further my already strong belief in the excellence of our faculty.

"I am very pleased with these projects and I congratulate the recipients and the two new Williams Fellows.”

The project submitted by Carey and Lynn will engage undergraduates in the consideration of climate change and its relationship to indigenous peoples and traditional concepts of nature. Tichenor's project is for a new "Morse Undergraduate Fellows Program." Moore and Fanning will use multimedia case examples to enhance undergraduate education in their "Learning from Master Clinicians" project. Stiefbold will use a biology honors program to engage undergraduate research in the human genome project. And Mikati and Ahmad will work on an Arabic E-book supplement for the University of Oregon.

The Williams Council is a presidential advisory council that includes some of the university's best teaching faculty. Its fellows program recognizes faculty who have made outstanding contributions to undergraduate learning at the UO. Its undergraduate education fund was established to provide financial support for innovative ideas that contribute to the quality of the educational experience for undergraduate students at the University of Oregon.

Williams fellows each receive an award of $5,000 to support their teaching. Their departments at the UO each receive an additional $5,000, which is intended to affect the teaching and learning experiences of undergraduate students.

Undergraduate education fund projects are meant to enhance the student learning experience through use of innovation and creativity in coursework. The proposals may be for new or existing classes that need financial support to be expanded or revamped.

Tom and Carol Williams, formerly of Eugene, established and endowed the fund that bears their names in 1995. The Williams Fund has awarded more than 75 grants to faculty in various disciplines since 1996.

Each of the Williamses have served on the UO Foundation's board of trustees, and both are avid UO supporters.

More information about Williams grants and fellowships is available on the Williams Fund website.

- from the UO Office of Strategic Communications