West campus news Releases Archive

Five professors from colleges at ASU’s West campus are candidates for one of the highest honors in the university: the 2005 Professor of the Year award sponsored by the ASU Parents Association.

The five nominees from ASU’s West campus are:

<     Gary Anders – School of Global Management and Leadership

<     Douglas Kelley – College of Human Services

<     Ida Malian – College of Teacher Education and Leadership

<     José Náñez – New College of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences

<     Ramsey Eric Ramsey – Barrett Honors College

The ASU Parents Association Professor of the Year is an annual, university-wide award that spotlights the contributions of Arizona State University professors. This endowed professorship is directed to those who best exemplify a passion for teaching and those who excel in both undergraduate teaching and in their area of research or creative activity.

The award was initiated in 1994. The five faculty nominated from ASU’s West campus represent the highest number ever selected for consideration from the colleges at this campus.

The honor, which carries a cash award of $10,000 and the lifelong designation of Parents Association Professor, promotes a culture that values and rewards members of the academic community who contribute substantially to scholarship and undergraduate education.

In addition to the cash award, the Parents Association provides $5,000 for one academic year to fund an undergraduate student assistant for the professor. The professor becomes a fellow in the ASU Distinguished Teaching Academy.

“This is really a people’s choice honor because the nominations come directly from students and fellow faculty members—the people benefiting the most from the presence of these outstanding professors,” said Andy Knowlton, president of the Parents Association. “A prestigious award like this helps attract and retain the kind of talented, committed professors who will help us take the university to the next level of achievement.”

Briefs on the professors, information obtained from nomination forms:

Gary Anders, director of the Institute for International Management and professor of economics, is a scholar with diverse interests in international economics, Japanese-U.S. business, American Indian and Alaska native tribal corporations, comparative economic systems and managerial economics. He has earned numerous honors over a 28-year teaching career, most recently as a Fulbright Professor at Al Akhawayn University, Morocco, where he worked on local economic development projects. Constantly seeking innovative ways to provide students with academic experiences that prepare them for the challenges of the business world, Anders initiated study-abroad trips to Mexico, China and Costa Rica as well as one-day trips to Mexican maquiladoras. In 2004 he began to organize the International Business Career Day conference series. A student cites “his energy to inspire confidence to accomplish great things on a global scale.”

Douglas Kelley, associate professor in the Department of Communication Studies, is nationally known for scholarly pursuits in the area of interpersonal communications with specific focus on communication in marriage and the nature of forgiveness—and locally known as well for his accessibility to students. Author or co-author of numerous juried publications, book chapters and presentations, his work is cited in the most prominent textbooks in the field. Kelley is very active in service learning, having developed a course, “Inner City Families,” for students interested in working with at-risk youth, advising the largest student club on campus and enthusiastically participating in TRiO, a federally funded student mentoring program. Students and colleagues cite him as “the very definition of the scholar/teacher.”

Ida Malian, department chair and professor in the Department of Special Education/Graduate Studies has more than 30 years of teaching and consulting experience in the field of special education. She had earned numerous academic awards for meritorius performance in teaching and research in the course of preparing more than 500 special education teachers who have entered the field during the past 13 years. During her years at ASU’s West campus she has been a member of nearly 100 different committees, task forces and projects. Students cite her “passion for quality education” and say she has raised the bar for her students to “reach unimaginable levels in their own knowledge, skills and development.”