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COSAM Faculty to be Honored at University Awards Ceremony
Among those being honored are COSAM’s Robert Lishak, associate professor of biological sciences, and S. Davis Worley, professor and former interim chair of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. Lishak is one of two recipients of this year’s Gerald and Emily Leischuck Endowed Presidential Award for Excellence in Teaching; and Worley is the recipient of the Creative Research and Scholarship Award. The Gerald and Emily Leischuck Endowed Presidential Award for Excellence in Teaching is a prestigious honor which recognizes those faculty members who have demonstrated effective and innovative teaching methods and a continuing commitment to student success through advising and mentoring inside and outside the classroom; while the Creative Research and Scholarship Award honors faculty who have distinguished themselves through research, scholarly works, and/or creative contributions to their fields. Lishak has been a member of the Auburn faculty for 30 years. He is an honors graduate of Seton Hall University and earned his Ph.D. in zoology from Ohio State University. His area of specialization is the study of animal behavior, with his research focusing on the acoustic behaviors of animals. His studies have been published in peer-reviewed journals, and he has been honored with a number of awards for teaching, outreach and advising including the Burlington Northern Foundation Faculty Award for Teaching, the College of Sciences and Mathematics Dean’s Award for Outreach and the Auburn University Alumni Association Undergraduate Teaching Excellence Award. Lishak is very active in the college’s outreach activities and community programs including AU Explore, Y.E.S. and many others. Last spring, he participated in COSAM’s press tour, giving a lecture and teaching a lab including university president, Ed Richardson, visiting trustees and members of the press. The tour was held in conjunction with the building dedication and served as an introduction to the new Sciences Center Complex. “I admire Dr. Lishak for the way he transfers his passion for biology by engaging the students in his classes. He speaks to the students, not at the students, and this manifests itself in an incredibly successful learning experience. Recognition of Dr. Lishak with a Leischuck Award is acknowledging one of Auburn University's classroom stars,” remarked College of Sciences and Mathematics Dean Stewart Schneller. “Gerald and Emily Leischuck have supported education at Auburn University for many years. Their commitment to recognizing quality teaching and enhancing learning through the Presidential Awards for Excellence in Teaching is what the Auburn spirit is all about,” said Lishak. “I am associated with a department that has more than its fair share of excellent teachers and a long history of supporting quality teaching programs. I thank my colleagues for their support and encouragement and look forward to seeing their efforts similarly recognized by their future receipt of the Gerald and Emily Leischuck Endowed Presidental Award for Excellence in Teaching.” Worley earned his bachelor’s degree from Auburn University in 1964; then continued his graduate work at the University of Tennessee. He received his doctorate in Chemistry from the University of Texas in 1969. In his 32 years on the Auburn faculty, he has earned a number of awards, including the 2004 College of Sciences and Mathematics Dean’s Research Award and the Charles Stone Award for Outstanding Chemist in the Southeast from the Carolina-Piedmont Section of the American Chemical Society. He continues his research in a number of areas including synthesis and testing of antibacterial N-halamine monomers and polymers for water disinfection and antimicrobial coatings. His water purification technology was featured in the “TIME Global Health Summit” last fall, and is currently being commercialized in India. Worley’s research has been published in more than 200 manuscripts in international journals, presented at 136 national and international meetings, and has produced more than 30 issued patents on biocidal compounds for which work has been featured on national radio and television. “Having the privilege of sharing the chemical discipline with Dr. Worley I can appreciate the breadth of the significance of his research endeavors,” said Schneller. “His ability to translate successful basic research into useful products is both educational for his research team but also shows a versatile individual who truly understands the vertical design of exploration. Dr. Worley's dedicated research career truly represents what the Creative Research and Scholarship Award is intended to acknowledge.” “I wish to thank the Creative Research & Scholarship Award Selection Committee for making me the winner of the 2006 award,” Worley said. “This will certainly be the high-point of my 32-year career at Auburn University. Hopefully, the biocidal polymer beads invented here by my research group will soon bring much favorable publicity to our University in the world health community and in our state.” Also to be recognized are COSAM’s own Kenneth Halanych of Biological Sciences and Michael McKee of Chemistry and Biochemistry as two of the recently named Alumni Professors for 2006. The professorships are sponsored by the Auburn Alumni Association, and are presented on the basis of research, publishing and teaching. “As newly selected Alumni Professors, Drs. McKee and Halanych join a very select group of Auburn faculty,” Schneller said. “With their acclaim as highly regarded classroom instructors and internationally recognized researchers, it is not surprising that they both met the rigorous standards for the well deserved recognition the Auburn Alumni Association has bestowed on them.” Auburn University Office of Communications and Marketing contributed to this story. |
As part of the university’s sesquicentennial celebration, Auburn will honor four faculty members and recognize several others at the Faculty Awards for Excellence in Instruction, Research, and Outreach ceremony on September 7.