Two more faculty members were surprised in their classrooms last week when informed that they had been chosen as 2015 Kemper Fellows.
Trista A. Strauch, assistant teaching professor in CAFNR’s Fisheries and Wildlife Sciences School of Natural Resources, was surprised April 2. Rachel Harper, director of the MU Writing Center and coordinator of the honors humanities sequence in the Honors College, was notified April 3 in her classroom.
On April 1, the winners notified were Nicole Monnier, an associate teaching professor of Russian; Elisa Glick, an associate professor of English and women’s and gender studies; and Berkley Hudson, an associate professor in the School of Journalism.
Each fellowship includes a $10,000 stipend.
The William T. Kemper Fellowship for Teaching Excellence was established in 1991 with a $500,000 gift. This year marks the 25th year of the awards.
Chancellor R. Bowen Loftin and Jim Schatz, chair of Commerce Bank, which manages the fund, informed each of the winners of the honor.
• Rachel Harper has been an MU faculty member since 1995. “Dr. Harper is one of the few professors who have made difficult works enjoyable, converting at least one staunch biology student to an avid reader of the classics,” says Azeem Khan, senior biology major and former student of Harper’s. “She also shows incredible generosity with her time and effort in helping us become better writers, and, perhaps most importantly, she has inspired us to continue learning on our own, making the humanities part of our daily lives and even our future careers.”
• Trista A. Strauch has been an MU faculty member since 2006. “Dr. Strauch is not only a gifted teacher but also has the compassion to help students become self-learners and problem-solvers in any field they choose,” says Rodney Geisert, professor of reproductive biology at MU. “Students love her not because she is easy but because she pushes them to accept responsibility for their own educations and choices.”
Read the full biographies of the five Kemper Fellows here.