FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, May 27, 2008
BETHANY HONORS PROFESSORS WITH TEACHING AWARDS
LINDSBORG, Kan.—Bethany College professors Kristin Van Tassel and Doug Smith recently were honored by the college for their excellence in teaching and service.
Van Tassel received the Mortvedt Award for Teaching Excellence and Campus Leadership for 2007-2008.
Smith received the Donna Meredith Humphreys Award for Teaching.
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| Kristin Van Tassel |
Van Tassel is associate professor of English at Bethany College. Her special topics courses – including classes in travel writing, the novel “Moby-Dick,” and nature writing and ecological literature – were noted as pioneering and innovative.
In letters of support for her nomination, Van Tassel’s colleagues and students wrote, “Her quiet manner invites students into conversation; her no-nonsense approach clearly communicates high standards and expectations.”Van Tassel’s supporters continued, “She works to make the [classroom] experience participatory, interactive and intellectually stimulating.”
Van Tassel’s essays have appeared in such publications as “Transitions Abroad” and “World Hum.” Her 2006 essay “The Places We Find Ourselves” was selected as an honorable mention in the Best American Travel Essays 2007. She also is a member of the Prairie Writers Circle at The Land Institute, Salina, Kan., through which she has published several guest editorials.
On campus, Van Tassel serves as faculty sponsor for both the Creative Writing Club and the Social Justice Advocates Club.
Van Tassel, who became a full-time professor at Bethany in 2005, has taught at Kansas Wesleyan University, Kansas State University at Salina and the University of Kansas, among other schools. She received her B.A. in writing and literature from George Fox University; her M.A. in English from California State University, Sacramento; and her Ph.D. in English from the University of Kansas. In her scholarly writing, she focuses on depictions of agrarianism in 19th- and 20th-century American literature. She has published and presented several articles on this topic.
The Mortvedt award is named for Robert Mortvedt, Bethany’s president from 1953 to 1958. Bethany Academic Vice President Eugene Bales presented Van Tassel the award May 22 during a staff and faculty dinner on campus. The winner of the award receives a $1,000 grant, and the winner’s department receives $500 for library or other materials that support the department.
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| Doug Smith |
Smith is assistant professor of criminal justice at Bethany College, and was an instructor of criminal justice at Bethany College from 1979 to 2005. He started the student Law and Order Club on campus, and serves as its faculty advisor.
Smith was nominated for the award by his students. In the classroom, “his excellence as a teacher has been noted not merely with his use of hands-on experiences, but with his efforts to get students out of their comfort zone,” said Bethany College Academic Vice President Eugene Bales. Smith also was described as having a genuine interest in his students, and students said he could be found conversing with them across campus, from the cafeteria to athletic events.
Smith previously has served as the district court administrator I for the 28th Judicial Court and director of the Salina County Truancy Review Board. He has taught at Wichita State University and Kansas Wesleyan University, and has been an instructor for the Kansas Highway Patrol on juvenile law and an instructor for the Salina Weekend Intervention Program.
Smith also has worked as director of court services at the 28th Judicial Court; chief juvenile probation officer at the Salina County Juvenile Court; a jailer, dispatcher and office deputy for the McPherson County Sheriff's Office; and city marshal of Marquette, Kan.
He holds a bachelor's degere from McPherson College and a master's in administration of justice from Wichita State University.
Smith accepted the award during the May 14 Bethany College Honors Banquet.
Don and Alice Humphreys of Great Bend, Kan., established the award in memory of their daughter, Meredy, who earned a bachelor’s in chemistry at Bethany in 1991. Meredy died in March 2002. The award includes a cash grant for the recipient.
Bethany College, established by Swedish Lutheran immigrants in 1881, is a college of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. The mission of Bethany College is to nurture and challenge individuals in their search for truth and meaning as they lead lives of faith, learning and service. Bethany College is on the Web at www.bethanylb.edu.
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