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The Provost's Awards Lecture Series is intended to honor and showcase the recipients of the Provost's Awards and provide them an opportunity to present, share and discuss their work with the campus. Another goal of this series is to raise the level of academic and intellectual discourse among our colleagues, and to further enrich connections with others across the campus.
Thursday, September 13, 2018
Henry Madden Library, Room 2206 (2nd Floor)
All lectures are from 3:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
2017-2018 – Excellence in Teaching
Paul Price, Department of Psychology
“Are You as Good a Teacher as You Think?”
Research in social psychology shows that people generally think they are better than their peers on a wide variety of traits, skills, and behaviors. This "better-than-average effect" is especially strong among college professors assessing their own teaching. In this talk, Dr. Paul Price will discuss some reasons for these optimistically biased self-assessments, along with some antidotes for them. Dr. Price will also reflect on some potential benefits of teaching with greater humility.
Wednesday, September 26, 2018
Henry Madden Library, Room 2206 (2nd Floor)
2016-2017 – Excellence in Teaching
Benjamin Boone, Department of Music
“What We Can Learn About Psychology, Perception, Teaching, and Existence by Examining Music, Speech, and Ghanaian Fashion”
Having just served a year as a U.S. Fulbright Scholar to Ghana, Professor of Music Benjamin Boone will lead an exploration of musical structure and how it relates to other aspects of life -- and other disciplines -- in this interactive and participatory session.
Thursday, October 11, 2018
Henry Madden Library, Room 2206 (2nd Floor)
2017-2018 – Distinguished Achievement in Research, Scholarship or Creative Accomplishment
Qiao-Hong Chen, Department of Chemistry
“The Quest for Natural Product-Inspired Anti-Prostate Cancer Agents"
Our research aims to engineer more effective derivatives and analogues of natural products for the potential treatment of metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer. Four dietary natural products, together with one marine natural product, were selected as our lead compounds to develop potential anti-prostate cancer agents through appropriate chemical modifications. Dr. Qiao-Hong Chen will present the major findings from the medicinal chemistry and drug discovery efforts driven by the quest for effective anti-prostate cancer agents.
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Andrew Fiala, Department of Philosophy
"Peace: What is it Good For?"
Dr. Andrew Fiala will present ideas he discusses in his new book, Transformative Pacifism (Bloomsbury Press, 2018). Dr. Fiala's thesis is that peace is an important primary good that provides a focal point for ethical theory, while pacifism is best understood as a critical social theory. He will explain how pacifist critical theory can be applied in various contexts as a situated and self-conscious theory that aims at the incremental transformation of self, society, and world.
Thursday, October 25, 2018
Henry Madden Library, Room 2206 (2nd Floor)
2017-2018 – Innovation
Rajee Amarasinghe, Department of Mathematics
"Path of Least Resistance: Integrating Teaching, Research, and Service with the Help of Your Colleagues"
As faculty of a comprehensive university, Dr. Rajee Amarasinghe knows that we are expected to engage and excel in teaching, research, and service. To some, this may appear to be an intimidating task involving three completely different areas of activities. However, Dr. Amarasinghe has found ways in which we can integrate these activities while enjoying our work and fulfilling the expectations of the tenure process and beyond.
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2017-2018 – Faculty Service
Carolyn Cusick, Department of Philosophy
“Service as Opportunity: Tales of a Life Long Learner”
Opportunities abound on university campuses. Opportunities for classes, clubs, and committees. Opportunities for new learning, improvement, or awareness of possibilities. Opportunities for students, faculty, staff, and community members. But busy faculty often ignore and miss out on many of these opportunities. In this talk, Dr. Carolyn Cusick will share bits of her own journey in higher education from wide-eyed, curious undergrad to junior faculty committed to institutional and community service and argue that service can be seen as an opportunity rather than a burden.
Thursday, November 8, 2018
Henry Madden Library, Room 2206 (2nd Floor)
2017-2018 – Promising New Faculty
Qin Fan, Department of Economics
“Opportunities and Challenges for Local and Regional Economic Development:
the Synergy of Teaching, Research, and Service”
Human capital-represented by the share of college graduates-and the quality of life in a community were found to significantly contribute to economic growth. Dr. Qin Fan and her co-authors are also learning that human capital and quality of life are mutually reinforcing. Larger share of college graduates and better amenity and quality of life factors—air quality, open space views, pleasant climate, and coast, for example—give economic growth an additional boost. Dr. Fan will specifically discuss how her experience working with students and being involved in community service shape her research agenda and how she incorporates her research into the classroom and engages her students in community service supporting community economic development.
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2016-2017 – Promising New Faculty
Alison Mandaville, Department of English
“Comics in the Classroom: Valley Water Voices”
Comics are a great teaching tool. Dr. Alison Mandaville will discuss – and show – why comics strategies work so well across disciplines to engage students, support learning, and foster critical thinking. Dr. Mandaville will share a student research project assignment, "Valley Water Voices", for which students read about and researched the role of water in the Central Valley community and then presented their work in comics form. She will also discuss how this assignment could be adjusted to any discipline, from Engineering to English.
Thursday, November 29, 2018
Henry Madden Library, Room 2206 (2nd Floor)
2017-2018 – Promising New Faculty
Ignacio Hernandez, Department of Educational Leadership
“Community College Transfer Students at Fresno State”
For transfer students, coming to Fresno State requires numerous adjustments to the new environment and institutional culture, including larger classes, increased academic rigor, new friends, a larger campus and a new location. Dr. Ignacio Hernandez will share the findings from a research project using data from the Office of Institutional Effectiveness at Fresno State.
2016-2017 – Promising New Faculty
Susana Hernandez, Department of Educational Leadership
“Moving beyond enrolling to Serving: The role of Hispanic Serving Institutions in higher education”
Hispanic Serving Institutions play a critical role in the American higher education landscape. Dr. Susana Hernandez will share the role faculty and student affairs educators play in ensuring Latinx students are supported
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