Lehigh faculty honored for research, teaching and service

Lehigh University awards for excellence in teaching, research and service were recently announced at the Annual Faculty Dinner on May 7th.
The award winners were: Peter G. Beidler, professor of English, who received the Eleanor and Joseph F. Libsch Research Award; James A. Dearden, professor of economics, who received the Carl R. and Ingeborg Beidleman Research Award; George J. DuPaul, professor of education and human services, who received the Eleanor and Joseph F. Libsch Research Award; Scott Gordon, associate professor of English, who received the Christian R. and Mary F. Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching; Mayuresh V. Kothare, professor of assistant professor of chemical engineering, who received the Alfred Noble Robinson Award; Judith N. Lasker, professor of sociology and anthropology, who received the Hillman Faculty Award; Linda Lowe-Krentz, associate professor of biological sciences, who received the Hillman Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Advising; Monica Najar, assistant professor of history, who received the Lehigh Junior Award for Distinguished Teaching; Harvey G. Stenger, professor of chemical engineering, who received the Stabler Award for Excellence in Teaching; and George P. White, associate professor of education and human services, who received the Hillman Award for Excellence in Graduate Advising.
Peter G, Beidler, professor of English, was named Lucy G. Moses Distinguished Professor of English in 1978. He teaches medieval British literature and American literature, particularly Native American literature. Among his recent books are Native Americans in the Saturday Evening Post with Marion F. Egge; A Reader’s Guide to the Novels of Louise Erdrich with Gay Barton; and an inspirational gift book titled, Why I Teach. In 1983, Beidler was named National Professor of the Year by CASE (Counsel for Advancement and Support of Education) in cooperation with the Carnegie Foundation on College Teaching. He also regularly publishes articles and reviews on Chaucer, Native American fiction, pedagogy, and other subjects. Beidler earned his B.A. in English from Earlham College and his M.A. and Ph.D., both in English with a concentration in medieval literature, from Lehigh University.
James A. Dearden, professor of economics, is a specialist in game theory. He investigates economic incentives and contracts, cost sharing of collective actions, negotiation, and advertising. His most recent research interests include the strategic delegation of decision-making authority as well as the economic analysis of state pension plans. Dearden has published papers on these topics in journals including American Economic Review, RAND Journal of Economics, International Economic Review, Journal of Public Economics, International Journal of Research in Marketing, and Economic Theory. In addition, Dearden writes the weekly Wall Street Journal Microeconomics Educators Review and is on the advisory board of the Wall Street Journal. Dearden teaches microeconomics, Ph.D. microeconomics, game theory, quantitative marketing analysis, and competitor analysis. A graduate of The Pennsylvania State University with a Ph.D. in Economics, Dearden began his academic career in 1987 at The American University and has been a Visiting Fellow at the Center for Economic Research, Tilburg University, The Netherlands.
George J. DuPaul, professor of education and human services, received the 1999 Award for Outstanding Contributions to School Psychology, Pennsylvania Psychological Association. Prior to his appointment at Lehigh, DuPaul was a faculty member at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center. He has extensive experience providing clinical services to children with Attention-Deficit-Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and their families as well as consulting with a variety of school districts regarding the management of children with ADHD. DuPaul has been an author and co-author of over 100 journal articles and book chapter related to ADHD. He has published two books and two videos on the assessment and treatment of ADHD. He also serves on the editorial boards of several journals and is section editor on research design and methodology for School Psychology Quarterly. Last year, he received a $2.6 million grant from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) to study early intervention for young children at risk for ADHD along with a $1.8 million grant, also from NIMH, to undertake a study designed to improve the academic performance of elementary-grade students with ADHD. DuPaul earned a B.A. Psychology from Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT, 1979, where he graduated cum Laude and a M.S. Psychology from University of Rhode Island, Kingston, RI, 1983. He received his Ph.D. in School Psychology from the University of Rhode Island in 1985.
Scott Gordon has taught at Lehigh since 1995 and was promoted to associate professor of English in 2001. He teaches Restoration and Eighteenth-Century literature, critical and literary theory, and postmodern fiction. He has published articles on Shakespeare and Dryden, on Addison and Steele's Spectator papers, on William Cartwright's Royal Slave, on Richardson's Clarissa, and on Charlotte Lennox's Female Quixote. His 2002 book, titled The Power of the Passive Self in English Literature, 1640-1770, investigates how seventeenth- and eighteenth-century discourses resisted the powerful claim that all behavior is, at bottom, self-interested. He earned his Ph.D. from Harvard University where he was awarded the John Harvard Teaching Awards in 1992, 1993 and 1994.
Mayuresh V. Kothare, the P.C. Rossin Assistant Professor of chemical engineering. Kothare has established a strong track record in interdisciplinary research in information technology and in advanced materials and microsystems since joining the faculty in 1998. In 1999, his research proposal received the highest rating of 350 proposals submitted to NSF in its national initiative called Engineering Microsystems: XYZ on a Chip, with XYZ referring to biology, genomics, chemistry, optics, mechanics, sensors, actuators and other non-electronic phenomena. He and his colleagues have since developed a chip-based micro-power plant that produces hydrogen for a micro-fuel cell. In 2001, Kothare received a five-year CAREER Award from the National Science Foundation, the most prestigious award given by NSF to new professors. Under the project, Kothare is studying the dynamics and control of integrated microchemical systems, which carry out chemical reactions and separations in precisely fabricated, three-dimensional microreactor configurations ranging in size from a few microns to a few hundred microns.
In 2000, Kothare received the Ted Peterson Award from the Computing and Systems Technology Division of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers for his research work published in the area of robust model predictive control. In 2002, Kothare received the faculty early career development award (CAREER) from the National Science Foundation. The CAREER award will provide Kothare with a research grant of $375,000 over a period of 5 years to study the dynamical properties of microchemical systems. Kothare serves as Associate Editor on the Conference editorial Board of the IEEE Control Systems Society. In recognition of his research contributions and potential, Kothare was appointed the P.C. Rossin assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering at Lehigh for the period 2001-2003.
Kothare holds a B.S. from the India Institute of Technology and a M.S. and Ph.D. from the California Institute of Technology.
Judith N. Lasker, NEH distinguished professor of sociology and anthropology, joined the Lehigh University faculty as an assistant professor of social relations in 1981 and has served in a number of positions, including associate dean, College of Arts and Sciences, 1987-89 and 1990-92; department chair, sociology and anthropology, 1993-96; and director of graduate studies in sociology, 1998-present. Lasker’s current research areas include the study of predictors of well-being among people living with liver disease, attitudes regarding use of new technologies for conception; the long-term impact of ectopic pregnancy, and the use of the Perinatal Grief Scale in studies of loss. She has authored or co-authored 31 journal articles and book chapters on her research and is the co-author of two books, the popular When Pregnancy Fails; Families Coping with Miscarriage, Ectopic Pregnancy, Stillbirth and Infant Death, and In Search of Parenthood; Coping with Infertility and High-Tech Conception. Lasker received her Ph.D. in Sociology from Harvard University in 1976.
Linda Lowe-Krentz, associate professor of biological sciences has been a member of the Lehigh faculty since 1986. She has received awards including fellowships from the Chicago Heart Association and The Leukemia Society of America and grant awards from W.W. Smith Charitable Trust of PA and the Pennsylvania Heart Association. Her research on heparin receptor characterization is currently supported by the National Institutes of Health. Among her journal articles in this field are several with undergraduate advisees as co-authors. Lowe-Krentz received her Ph.D. in 1980 from Northwestern University.
Monica Najar, assistant professor of history, received her Ph.D. and M.A. from the University of Wisconsin, Madison's history department, in the U.S. and U.S. Women's History programs. She earned her B.A. at the University of California, Berkeley. Her areas of research include late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, as well as the histories of gender, religion and the South. Her dissertation was titled Evangelizing the South: Gender, Race and Politics in the Early Evangelical South, 1765-1815. Najar earned the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America Fellowship in 1998-99. A native of Los Angeles, she was a visiting instructor in the department of history at St. Olaf College.
Harvey Stenger, professor of chemical engineering became a member of the Lehigh faculty in 1984. His research activities have been and continue to be centered on reacting heterogeneous systems. This has included work in natural products processing, semiconductor materials manufacturing, emission control processes, and synthetic fuels research. Sponsors of his research include pubic agencies such as NSF, DOE, Pennsylvania Energy Office, Ben Franklin Partnership, and the U.S. Air Force as well as corporate sponsors such as General Foods, AT&T, Baltimore Gas and Electric, Corning Glass, and Pennsylvania Power and Light. His publications, including over 60 reviewed journal articles have been spread between emission control, plasma processing, and synthetic fuel production. In 1988, Stenger was the recipient of the Alfred Noble Robinson Award for achievement by a junior faculty member in teaching and research; in 1989 and in 2001 he received the Engineering College’s Outstanding Teaching Award; and in 1990 he received the Alan S. Foust Award for service to the American Institute of Chemical Engineers. From 1993 to 1999 Stenger served as Dean of the College of Engineering and Applied Science at Lehigh. Stenger received his Sc.D. from MIT in 1983. During his graduate studies, he examined coal liquefaction processes and received the ARCO outstanding student award, the Sohio Fellowship in Synthetic Fuels, and was the first recipient of the General Electric Prefaculty Fellowship.
George P. White, associate professor of education and human services, received his Ed.D. in 1989 from Peabody College of Vanderbilt University in General Administrative Leadership. White is the coordinator of the Educational Leadership program at Lehigh, which specializes in the training and development of school principals and superintendents at the regional, national, and international levels. While at Lehigh White has been responsible for the development of a specialized program to train individuals for leadership roles in urban school districts. He recently secured a major grant from the US Department of Education to design a program and prepare principals as leaders Inclusive Learning Environments. He also has been instrumental in establishing the International School Leadership Program, a program designed to prepare individuals for leadership in international school settings. White serves on the Executive Board of the Center for Agile Partners in Education (CAPE). The purpose of CAPE is to explore through research and field-based seminars the application of agility principals to educational systems and to provide technical assistance to school, college and university leaders as they design and implement plans in line with this philosophy. In addition to his work with CAPE he also directs the Lehigh University Middle Level Partnership a venture designed to assist schools in improving the education of pre-adolescent students. He is a nationally recognized consultant, having worked with school districts in addressing the issues associated with organizational development and change and on topics relating to middle level education. He has published numerous articles on these topics and has recently authored a book that deals with the issue of implementing community service into the school curriculum. White is the recipient of the Linback Award for Distinguished Teaching and holds the Class of 61 Professorship for distinguished teaching, scholarship and service.
Kristen Gardiner
khg2@lehigh.edu