The 1995 Christian and Mary Lindback Awards for Distinguished Teaching will be presented to eight University professors at a celebration Thursday afternoon. The Lindback Foundation, an independent organization, honors eight tenured University professors with the awards every spring. The award recognizes exceptional teaching. Each winner receives a $1,000 prize. Two non-tenured professors are also chosen by the provost to receive a prize. The 10 awards are divided between five professors from the Veterinary, Medical, Dental or Nursing schools and five professors from other areas of the University. In the health care schools, Associate Nursing Professor Janet Deatrick, Assistant Medicine Professor Harold Feldman, Associate Psychiatry Professor Anthony Rostain and Assistant Veterinary Medicine Professor Robert Washabau will receive Lindback awards on Thursday. Nursing Research Coordinator Elizabeth Capezuti will receive a Provost's Award. This year's non-medicine related Lindback recipients are Mathematics Professor David Harbater, Geology Professor Ian Harker, Associate Political Science Professor Will Harris and Asian and Middle Eastern Studies Professor Jeffrey Tigay. George Thomas, a lecturer in Historical Preservation and Urban Studies, will receive a Provost's Award. Eight University teachers have won the Lindback each year since 1961. The Lindback Foundation, located in Philadelphia, also recognizes outstanding teachers from other area universities, according to Terry Conn, executive assistant to the Vice Provost for University Life, who coordinates the awards process. To be considered for an award, teachers must meet rigorous standards outlined in the Criteria Guidelines for the Lindback Awards. "The distinguished teacher is fair, free from prejudice and single-minded in the pursuit of truth," the Guidelines state. Lindback recipients are chosen by a committee of students and former winners. Usually, between 15 and 20 professors are nominated by students for the Lindback Award and either four or five for the Provost's Award, according to Conn. Award recipients said they were excited and honored to win the prestigious prizes. "When you've got great students and an interesting topic, good teaching is fun," Thomas said. Deatrick, the director of the Nursing School's master's degree program in pediatric nursing, said the award was a great honor. "I'm thrilled, and it's really a highest honor for me," she said. "I really value the teaching component of the academic role." The awards ceremony will be held in the Rare Books Room of Van Pelt Library from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. Thursday.
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