2018 CPMS Award Banquet
The 2018 College Award Banquet was held February 2, 2018 at the Hinckley Alumni and Visitors Center. The following people received awards:
Outstanding Staff/Administrative Employee Award – Kathryn Tucker has used her organizational skills to improve the Department of Geological Sciences in various ways over the last six years. She goes the extra mile by taking classes that relate to geology, enabling her to interact with the students better by understanding their work.
Young Scholar Award – Mark K. Transtrum has been busy since joining the faculty at BYU. He has published eighteen peer-reviewed publications, presented twenty-five talks, received generous funding, and taught both introductory and graduate classes. He has also served on various departmental ad-hoc committees and belongs to several professional societies.
Faculty Excellence in Teaching Award (3-10 years) – Ryan Ferrell continually strives to refine and improve his teaching, believing that the students deserve the best he can offer. He taught five new prep classes, one of them completely from his own design. He is involved in mentoring students, conducting research, and serving on committees. He also reviews for the journals PAMI and IJCV.
Faculty Excellence in Teaching Award (10+ years) – Dallin S. Durfee is a force for change and innovation in his teaching. He was among the first to use clickers, and also to convert PHSCS 123 to a flipped classroom. He developed software–Temperament Studio—to help students explore the physics of musical intonation. Dallin also runs Girls and Light, an outreach program to help girls learn about science. He has also been the capstone coordinator for over five years.
Distinguished Citizenship Award – Jeffrey D. Keith has great love for and commitment to BYU. He has sacrificed his personal agenda many times in order to serve on various committees or in administrative positions, including department chair, associate academic vice-president, and assistant to Gerrit Gong in the Office of Planning and Assessment. Throughout this service, Jeff has earned the reputations of carefully listening to issues and trying his best to resolve those issues.
Distinguished Service Award – Bart Kowallis brought to the dean’s office a wealth of knowledge and information about how the university works. He served on many university committees and brought his experience to his duties as a dean. He was an active participant in the Advisement Council. Bart was also the person they sent students to who were unhappy with decisions. He had a kind but firm way of reminding the students what the rules were. Bart was an advocate of the departments to the university. In addition, Bart created the HITS grants, and since 2009, we’ve awarded 28 HITS grants.
Distinguished Service Award – Tom Sederberg is known for the Sederberg formula. This came about because he wanted to find ways to measure and incentivize research in the departments. He created the CHIRP grant program, which has funded 40 projects to date. Tom was very kind, never upset, and was an advocate for people and our college. Tom continued to do world-renowned research while a dean and was an incredible mentor to the students in his research lab.
Distinguished Service Award – Scott Sommerfeldt envisioned what the college could become and helped the rest of us catch this vision. He started our college Office of Mentoring, which allowed more undergraduate students to receive funding for participating in research. Scott made difficult decisions by always trying to do the right thing in every situation. He set the example himself by always following university policies. His decisions and character earned the genuine respect of top BYU administrators. And no matter how stressful things got, Scott always kept his sense of humor.
Service Awards
President’s Appreciation Award:
- Jeannette Lawler, Physics & Astronomy – Jeannette promotes science to thousands of children and adults as she coordinates public-science-outreach activities. She is the Physical Science 100 course coordinator and Derrick Planetarium director. Jeannette deals with challenges efficiently and fairly and cares about helping each student have the best experience possible.
5 years:
Matthew Allen, Chemistry & Biochemistry – Matt Allen has served as the chemistry central stockroom manager since 2012. Beyond the stockroom, Matt serves as the safety officer for the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. Matt has recently taken on the responsibility of receiving all incoming chemical shipments for the entire university, ensuring that they are properly and safely inventoried, distributed, and tracked.
15 years:
Shane Jorgenson, CPMS Advisement – Shane has made the advisement center a great resource for our students. This year Shane coordinated the efforts to create a college newsletter for incoming freshman to help them transition to BYU and avoid pitfalls that often happen to new students. It is through Shane’s efforts that our advisement center runs so smoothly and effectively.
Jackie Robertson, Mathematics – Jackie Robertson has had an important impact on the education of many BYU students through her work as director of the Math Lab. She has done an effective job in hiring competent people, then training them and managing the lab. In addition to the lab, Jackie has helped organize and run the Utah State Math Contest for the past three years. She used her organizational skills to greet, register, direct, and host about 2,000 participating students.
20 years:
Greg Corlett, Computer Science
Greg Corlett is currently a CSR in the Computer Science department. Prior to that, he worked in the Chemistry & Biochemistry and Statistics departments. Before coming to BYU, Greg worked in a wide variety of positions and organizations, including Novell, the Nebo School District, First Security Bank’s IT organization and Teleflex Defense systems, where he tested systems for the Hellfire missile system and the TOW missile system on the US Army’s Bradley tank. Greg enjoys computers, working with his hands, and camping with family and friends. He enjoys working with faculty, staff, and students in the CS department and fellow CSR’s in the college and the university.
25 Years
Ruth Dauwalder, Statistics
For nearly two decades, Ruth Dauwalder has been a key figure in the growth and success of the Department of Statistics. With the demand for statistics service courses soaring and the number of statistics majors quadrupling in the last dozen years, Ruth has been a steadying force and invaluable source of wisdom during a period of growth. She manages the department’s finances and ever-expanding staffing needs with grace, positivity, and a famously thorough eye. Recently, she has acted as point for the department’s efforts in job and internship placement, assisting students with everything from the preparing of their resumes to connecting with recruiters.
Kurt Huntington, CPMS – Kurt Huntington has contributed significantly to BYU over his entire career. During the last six years at Kurt has worked at CPMS and has been able to project needs and resources far in advance, allowing us to manage those resources in an efficient manner and redirect resources in a number of cases to address college needs. Similarly, Kurt tracks exactly where we are with our budget throughout the year, including future commitments, startup packages, and so forth. Kurt also does a phenomenal job in foreseeing information that is helpful to the college leadership and then creating reports that provide that information. Kurt works closely with staff and faculty in each department to help them achieve their goals and know how to navigate university rules and responsibilities.
30 Years
Kathy Lee Garrett, Mathematics Education – Kathy Lee Garrett came to the Department of Mathematics Education nine years ago from the Chemistry and Biochemistry Department, and prior to that worked at the Registrar’s Office for a number of years. The significance of her contributions to the Department of Mathematics Education are best summarized in the words of the former chair, Steve Williams. He said, “I’m convinced we would never have made the progress we have as a department if we hadn’t been able to count on her to handle so much of the day-to-day details of our work, and to make sure we were following procedure and doing things right. To have someone with her efficiency and integrity who is also so pleasant to work with is amazing.”
Kristine Mortenson, Geological Sciences – One of the many assets Kris brings to the Department of Geological Sciences is that she has always been on top of budget expenses and knows exactly the amount of budgeted funds and expenses current in the department at any given moment. Kris has an almost preternatural ability to anticipate problems before they become serious. Such diligence is typical of how she has fulfilled all the many duties she has had over the years. Numerous faculty members and department chairs have come to depend on her skill in solving just about any kind of problem that arises and ensuring that deadlines and opportunities are not missed. Particularly impressive is her kindness in remembering faculty and staff who need special attention due to illness or loss of a loved one.
