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Excellence Award winners recognizedEach year at the University of Rhode Island's Convocation, the URI Foundation recognizes four outstanding members of the community for their excellence. This year's excellence award winners were presented with a citation and a check for $1,000 during convocation exercises on September 12. Recipients of the 2001 URI Foundation Excellence Award winners are: Staff Excellence Award. Whether assisting a homeowner with a sick plant, helping a volunteer look for masking tape, or giving the correct telephone number to the umpteenth person who has called the Cooperative Extension Center looking for the College of Continuing Education, Alice Bristol remains the calm in the storm of requests. As receptionist and office manager to faculty, staff, volunteers, and homeowners, she is the "center" of Cooperative Extension. During her three decades of service, Bristol has acquired a wide range of knowledge in horticulture, entomology, turf management, and plant pathology. This mother of five and grandmother of 11 doesn't work by the clock, but can be found toiling 12-hour days and weekends until the job gets done, whether it be preparing for GreenShare Field Day, training for master gardeners or preparing for conferences. Teaching Excellence Award. While most professors are experts in their fields, only a few have the ability to get across often-complex information so students can easily comprehend it. Psychology Professor Jerry L. Cohen is one of those rare educators who has the knack for presenting difficult material so that light bulbs go on and eyebrows become unknit. Take the fundamentals of statistics; Cohen keeps his lessons flowing, injecting interesting research examples to actively engage students in the learning experience. His classes aren't a breeze, but are a breath of fresh air. Cohen encourages classroom discussions allowing students to voice their own interpretations and opinions and often challenging them to expand their critical thinking. He is also a committed mentor, willing to sit with students to discuss the directions of their careers. Scholarly Excellence Award. Arthur J. Gold's scholarship is as solid as his last name. The results of his research and scholarly activities are programs that are creative, scientifically valid, interdisciplinary, involve numerous researchers and learning for students, and solve real world problems. An expert on non-point pollution and a leader in water protection initiatives, Gold is often asked to weigh in on environmental issues at the highest level of government. He was the principal author of an Environmental Protection Agency white paper that reviewed the strengths and weaknesses of current methods in understanding how pollutants move through watersheds. Since joining URI in 1983, the natural resource science professor has always been involved with experiential learning, long before the term became popular. The Coastal Fellows Program he helped to create continues to make a big splash across the campus and with agencies and organizations around the state. Administrative Excellence Award. Contrary to popular belief, Marjorie McMahon, known affectionately by all as Midge, does not pack a magic wand. Although it does seem that only an act of wizardry could account for the fact that when the Chafee Social Science Center was suddenly closed, McMahon found acceptable space for all courses scheduled to run in that building. If that's not enchanting enough, she also saw to it that none of the class times were changed. The Interim Registrar, McMahon has a history of creating calm out of chaos. After working for URI as assistant registrar years earlier, McMahon was rehired in 1997, to unravel multiple scheduling knots. Undaunted by demolitions, construction, closings, and even faculty members, McMahon applies common sense, intelligence and grace to everything she does. By Jan Wenzel |
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