The College of Engineering is fostering collaboration across the university with a new faculty award.
Beginning this year, the college is presenting an annual "Building Bridges" Excellence Award to a faculty member outside of the College of Engineering whose collaborative work has advanced the excellence, impact and reputation of both colleges and the university as a whole.
"We must strive even harder to share our expertise and build strong, substantive collaborations between faculty from across the campus, thereby advancing the excellence and impact of our respective programs, departments and colleges, and ultimately the entire university," said College of Engineering Dean William A. "Bud" Baeslack III. "This award gives us the opportunity to recognize and thank those faculty members who contribute to that effort."
The 2007 Building Bridges awardee is Alayne Parson, professor of mathematics, who was honored for her effective leadership as vice provost of the university's Academic Enrichment Program, which initiated key faculty and research linkages across the colleges and their departments. She also was lauded for her significant contributions to a five-year program that partnered the College of Engineering and the College of Mathematical and Physical Sciences with the GE Foundation and Aiken High School in Cincinnati to develop and implement innovative mathematics and Introduction to Engineering curricula to provide students with the skills necessary to successfully pursue university-level engineering and science degrees.
Parson received the award, which includes $1,000, at the College of Engineering's faculty awards banquet this spring.
The award itself, nickel-plated and artistically designed, resulted from a Knowlton School of Architecture design competition, which was won by architecture students Ronnie Parsons, who received his master's degree this spring, and Scott Kittle, a sophomore. They both received a Building Bridges Design Award and $75 for their efforts.
The students' entry describes their design, as it "generates from lines that twist in space, interweave and finally thicken to create a complex form. � The lines may be literally interpreted as 'lines of inquiry' joined in collaboration, while the �artifact evokes the complex atmosphere in which collaboration takes place."
The competition was juried by an interdisciplinary group, including Todd Slaughter, professor of arts; Ashley Schafer, section head of architecture at Knowlton; Deborah Y. Georg, section head of landscape architecture at Knowlton; and Baeslack. The award was constructed in the KSA FabLab, in consultation with Matt Bernhardt, systems developer and engineer at Knowlton; Slaughter advised the team regarding the award's nickel plating.
It is anticipated that each year a unique, collaborative award will be designed by students to recognize the personal initiative, time investment and exemplary work of the university's faculty in collaboration with the College of Engineering.
