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Outstanding Teacher of the Year Awards Given to Faculty

By Laurel Kolkind
UWRF Public Affairs

JAN. 11, 2008--The University of Wisconsin College of Arts and Sciences recently awarded three faculty members the Outstanding Teacher of the Year Award for 2007. Faculty members Brad Caskey, Morgan Clifford and Karen Klyczek will be honored with these awards.

Social Sciences : Brad Caskey, of River Falls, is a professor in the psychology department and has been teaching at UW-River Falls since 1990. He is currently the associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and served as the psychology department chair for five years beginning in 2001. Caskey has previous teaching experience at the University of Puget Sound in Washington, as well as at St. Olaf College in Minnesota. Caskey received his first Outstanding Teacher of the Year award in 1996.

Arts and Humanities: Morgan Clifford, of St. Paul, is a professor in the art department where she has taught since 1990. Clifford has previous teaching experience at Macalester College in St. Paul and also at the Kansas City Art Institute. She has had numerous exhibitions the country, including the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Whipple Cultural Center in Las Vegas and an exhibition entitled "Convergence" at the National Textile Exhibition in Vancouver. Clifford has also received a Career Opportunity Grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board for textile research in Sumatra, Bali and Java and a Fellowship Grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Sciences and Mathematics: Karen Klyczek, of Hudson, is a professor in the biology department and also the current department chair since 1999. This is the second time Klyczek has been honored with an Outstanding Teacher of the Year award. " This award is very meaningful, because it was decided by former students," says Klyczek. "It is often hard to tell if you are making an impact as a teacher, so it is rewarding to receive this type of feedback. It is also humbling, because there are so many excellent teachers in our college." Klyczek, as co-principal investigator, recently received a National Science Foundation Course and Curriculum Development grant, beginning in 2008.

The Outstanding Teacher of the Year award was created by the CAS Dean's Student Advisory Committee in 1985. Awards are granted based on student nominations and later selected by the members of the committee.

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Last updated: Monday, 14-Jan-2008 14:58:15 CST