Brown University News Bureau

The Brown University News Bureau

1996-1997 index

Distributed May 19, 1997
Contact: Tracie Sweeney

Commencement 1997

Citations honor faculty, teaching assistants, Graduate School alumni

Hazeltine Citations and Senior Medical Citation honor faculty contributions to the Class of 1997; Presidential Awards for Excellence in Teaching honor those who have excelled as teaching assistants; Graduate School Alumni Awards honor achievements of those who have received advanced degrees from Brown.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Commencement at Brown University is more than presenting diplomas. The tradition also includes the announcement of honors and awards to outstanding teachers, students and alumni.

Barrett Hazeltine Citations

Since 1973, Brown University's graduating class has selected members of the faculty to receive Barrett Hazeltine Citations, expressions of respect and appreciation for people with whom the classes have worked most closely. This year, the Class of 1997 has selected Carolyn Dean and Barbara Tannenbaum.

Dean, associate professor of history, arrived at Brown in 1991. She was named R.I. Professor of the Year last fall by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. "She inspires, energizes and speaks to students," said colleague Mary Gluck, associate professor of history, when Dean was named Professor of the Year. "She is a very concerned person who spends a lot of time with her students."

Tannenbaum, senior lecturer in the Department of Theatre, Speech and Dance, received the award from last year's graduating class as well. She has taught communication at Brown since 1970 and is involved in a wide array of activities and advising for the University and community.

The Barrett Hazeltine Citations, originally called Senior Citations, were renamed in 1985 in honor of the engineering professor who had received the award 13 times.

The School of Medicine Senior Citation

The Senior Citation is the most prestigious award presented during the medical school graduation. Each year, the graduating class of the medical school selects a faculty member of the Division of Biology and Medicine to receive the award for the outstanding service rendered to the class.

This year's recipient is Dr. Allan Erickson, associate professor of medicine at the Veterans Administration Medical Center and director of the School of Medicine's Residency Program in Internal Medicine. The award will be presented by two members of the School of Medicine's Class of 1997, Adam Tobias and Cristina Mitchell. The citation reads, in part: "As a lecturer, you were that rare combination of compelling and entertaining .... On the wards, you were compassionate and friendly, and dared us to constantly improve our skills."

Presidential Awards for Excellence in Teaching

Some 500 graduate students each year serve as teaching assistants to the faculty. Ten recipients were selected this year by a committee of faculty that considered letters of recommendations, teaching evaluations and personal statements. The 10 will receive an honorarium and a citation to be presented during Graduate School exercises at 10 a.m. Monday, May 26, on Lincoln Field.

This year, President Vartan Gregorian has named the awards for spouses of Corporation members as a way to honor their dedication and commitment to the University's academic mission.

The awards and recipients are:

Graduate School Alumni Awards

These awards were established in 1978 to recognize the achievements of outstanding alumni of the Graduate School. A faculty committee appointed by the dean of the Graduate School reviews nominations from Brown faculty and administrators. This year's winners - Stanley Berger and Wilma Robb Ebbitt - will receive an engraved silver medallion and a citation during the Graduate School's Commencement Exercises.

Berger, who received his Ph.D. in applied mathematics from Brown in 1959, is a professor of mechanical engineering at the University of California-Berkeley, where he received a Distinguished Teaching Award. His research interests include theoretical fluid mechanics and bioengineering. Ebbitt received her Ph.D. in English from Brown in 1943. She was an English professor at Pennsylvania State University, and is now retired.

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