Fulbright College Announces 2017 Winners of King, Nolan and OMNI Awards

Photo Submitted

The J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Arkansas has selected the recipients of several of its most prestigious endowed faculty awards, including:

• Robert "Bob" Brady, professor and chair of the Department of Communication, who received the John E. King Award for Outstanding Service;
• Ron Warren, associate professor in the Department of Communication, who received the Nolan Award for Outstanding Contribution to Graduate Education;
• Adam Siepielski, assistant professor in the Department of Biological Sciences, who received the OMNI Center for Peace, Justice and Ecology Climate Science Award; and
• Frank Scheide, professor in the Department of Communication, who received the OMNI Center for Peace, Justice and Ecology Faculty Award.

The John E. King Award for Outstanding Service was proposed and endowed by Fulbright College faculty members to recognize colleagues who exhibit exemplary service to the campus and community. They named the award for King, a professor of social work, as a tribute to his "leadership and extraordinary ethic and record of good deeds."

Brady was a natural choice for the award, said Stephanie Ricker Schulte, associate chair and associate professor in the Department of Communication, who nominated him.

"For almost four decades, Bob has tirelessly served department and university communities, written policy, resolved conflicts, and served on most of the major college and university committees," she said in her nomination letter. "Bob's service also extends outside the confines of the university through his consulting and public service work. These experiences and his considerable tenure in administration have made him a respected advisor, resource, and reservoir of institutional memory on campus. For these and so many more reasons, Bob deserves this prestigious award."

Brady has been chair of the Communication Department for 16 years, and was associate chair for 14 years before that. This tenure makes him one of the most senior departmental administrators on campus; he has served under six deans, multiple provosts and five chancellors. As chair, Brady has also overseen multiple curriculum revisions of both the undergraduate and graduate programs.

The Nolan Award for Outstanding Contribution to Graduate Education was endowed by the William C. and Theodosia Murphy Nolan Foundation to support the career advancement of faculty members who provide the highest quality teaching research and service to the college.

Warren was an excellent fit for the award, said Schulte, who nominated him for it, because he is known for a teaching style that is interdisciplinary, transformative, individualized and applied. His courses encourage students to think broadly across disciplines and methodologies as well as to apply what they learn inside the classroom to the outside world.

"I have met few faculty as worthy of recognition as Ron Warren. He is an experienced, highly successful teacher," Schulte said in her nomination letter.

"He is invested in building an excellent and highly visible communication program and university. Students are eager to perform well under so talented and energetic an instructor and they appreciate his 'engaged learning' style, which brings theories learned inside the classroom out into the community," she said. "Ron's concern for and interest in his students is well attested by students' positive feedback and in their successes after graduation. His contributions have earned him an outstanding reputation on this campus as a skilled teacher and his creative pedagogy has reached out of the institution into the community, creating good will."

The OMNI Center for Peace, Justice and Ecology Climate Science Award was created to "promote the study and teaching of peace and nonviolence in accordance with the insights of Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., and Senator J. William Fulbright."

Siepielski was named the award recipient for his extensive contributions to promote successful climate science research in developing knowledge of the causes and impacts of global climate change, and in developing tangible solutions to mitigate global climate change and its deleterious effects on humanity and global ecosystems.

"Dr. Siepielski exhibits all the characteristics we would like to see in awardee," said Peter Ungar, distinguished professor in the Department of Anthropology and director of the Environmental Dynamics Program.

"He is an early career faculty member in Fulbright College, and his recently published work on climate change could not be in a higher-impact journal, it doesn't get any higher impact than Science," Ungar said about Siepielski's recent publication of "Precipitation drives global variation in natural selection," published in the journal Science in March.

Siepielski's research integrates studies on how interactions between species evolve and persist, what factors promote and constrain microevolutionary processes, how interactions structure multispecies communities, and which mechanisms promote the long-term maintenance of biological diversity. His work combines theoretical explorations of these themes with experimental and observational studies. Most of his lab work is conducted using damselflies, a group of predatory aquatic insects closely related to dragon flies.

Similarly, the OMNI Center for Peace, Justice and Ecology Faculty Award was also created to "promote the study and teaching of peace and nonviolence in accordance with the insights of Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., and Senator J. William Fulbright."

Scheide was an ideal candidate for this prestigious award, said Schulte, who nominated him.

"Through his research, teaching and service to the university campus, minority populations, and the Northwest Arkansas community at large, professor Scheide has promoted cultural sensitivity, inclusivity, acceptance, diversity of expression and representation," she said in her nomination letter.

While Scheide is perhaps best known as one of the world's foremost authorities on two film giants, Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin, Schulte said he deserves recognition for producing several documentaries on the Cherokees, many of which were funded by the Arkansas Endowment for the Humanities. One of these films is now housed in the Special Collections of the Smithsonian, and others have been donated to the Special Collections at Mullins Library.

"Professor Scheide brought his creative and research interest into the classroom to share with students, and in doing so, has enriched the educational experience for undergraduates and graduates, broadening the curriculum in our department and on campus," Schulte said. "He continues to be a tireless spokesperson for Native American issues in and around Arkansas, an advocate for peaceful conflict resolution, for conversation and collaboration, for diversity, representation, and understanding. He has spent his career diversifying the voices available in cultural and public spheres, promoting understanding among and between peoples."

About the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences: The J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences is the largest and most academically diverse unit on campus with 19 departments and 43 academic programs and research centers. The college provides the core curriculum for all University of Arkansas students and is named for J. William Fulbright, former university president and longtime U.S. senator.