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The Professors of the Year

Four national Professors of the Year, selected from a pool of nearly 300 nominees, as well as 43 State Professors of the Year are honored by their colleagues.

A champion of community colleges, a leading scholar on Chinese studies, the world’s most cited astronomer, and a forensic anthropologist who takes students on crime scene investigations are this year’s national winners of the U.S. Professors of the Year Award.

Sponsored by The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and administered by the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE), these peer-judged awards recognize professors for their outstanding commitment to teaching and mentoring undergraduate students.

The four national winners are:

• Outstanding Community Colleges Professor: Mark Lewine, professor of anthropology, Cuyahoga Community College, Cleveland, Ohio. During the past 35 years, he has worked to dispel stereotypes associated with community colleges and has encouraged graduate students and community college students to work together on archaeological digs. Lewine also established the Center for Community Research, a community-linked research program that helps inner city students learn about their city’s past and acquire higher education skills.
• Outstanding Baccalaureate Colleges Professor: K.E. Brashier, associate professor of religion and humanities, Reed College, Portland, Oregon. Brashier is a scholar of the Chinese ancestral cult who has consistently received top marks in student evaluations.
• Outstanding Master’s Universities and Colleges Professor: Donna C. Boyd, professor of anthropology, Radford University. A leading forensic anthropologist, Boyd has received a rating of “outstanding” for teaching, research, and service for each of her 16 years at Radford University.
• Outstanding Doctoral and Research Universities Professor: Alex Filippenko, professor of astronomy, University of California, Berkeley. Filippenko has served as a mentor to numerous undergraduate and graduate students, many of whom have gone on to become leading researchers at top-tier institutions. He also has the distinction of being the world’s most highly cited astronomer (1995-2005) and has received numerous awards for his research.

“At a time when America’s universities and colleges are under attack for rising costs and eroding quality, it is reassuring and affirming to recognize these individuals who symbolize higher education’s best kept secret—its outstanding and committed teachers,” said Carnegie Foundation president Lee S. Shulman.