BLACKSBURG, Va., March 15, 2005 – Eight presentations remain in Virginia Tech's University Distinguished Professor (UDP)/Alumni Distinguished Professor (ADP) Lecture Series. The half-hour lectures, presented by Virginia Tech's ADPs and UDPs, are part of Tech's "Focus on Distinguished Faculty" initiative.
The lectures, scheduled from 12:30 to 1 p.m. on different days of the week in the auditorium of Donaldson Brown Hotel and Conference Center, are intended for all staff, faculty, students, and community members regardless of disciplinary area or educational/professional level. The time and format were designed to enable as many people as possible to fit the lectures into their schedules.
Sponsored by the Office of the Provost, the series will continue during fall 2005 semester.
Remaining presentations are as follows:
*March 16 - William Snizek, ADP of Sociology, "Survivors as Victims: Some Little Publicized Consequences of Corporate Downsizings"
*March 21 - Arthur Buikema, ADP of Biology, "Effects of Different Teaching Strategies on Student Outcomes"
*March 22 - Charles Bostian, ADP of Electrical and Computer Engineering, "Forty Years of Radio Research -- From Glowing Bottles to Machines That Think"
*March 23 - James I. Robertson Jr., ADP of History, "How the Civil War Still Lives"
*March 28 - J. Michael Duncan, UDP of Civil and Environmental Engineering, "The Role of Case Histories in Civil Engineering Education"
*March 31 - Fred Lee, UDP of Electrical and Computer Engineering, "Power Electronics, Energy, and Environment"
*April 5 - Harold E. Burkhart, UDP of Forestry, "Sustaining Forest Resources"
*April 25 - Jacqueline Bixler, ADP of Foreign Languages and Literatures, "Icons of 'Mexican-ness': From Cortes to Cancun"
The University Distinguished Professor rank is bestowed by the board of visitors on no more than 1 percent of members of the faculty whose scholarly attainments have attracted national and/or international recognition. Virginia Tech has 13 UDPs.
The Alumni Distinguished Professor rank is bestowed by the board of visitors with the generous support of the Virginia Tech Alumni Association to recognize faculty members who have made outstanding contributions to the instructional program of the university over time and have touched the lives of generations of Virginia Tech alumni. Eleven professors hold the title.