Mason Announces Nominees for SCHEV Outstanding Faculty Awards

Mason Announces Nominees for SCHEV Outstanding Faculty Awards
Outstanding Faculty Awards

Seven Mason faculty members have been nominated for the 2009 State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV) Outstanding Faculty Awards.  Four of these are from the College of Humanities and Social Sciences.

Awards are "based upon nominees’ contributions to their students, academic disciplines, institutions and communities," the SCHEV announcement states.

"Regardless of what happens with the awards process, it is a tremendous honor to be nominated," says Kimberly Eby, associate provost for faculty development, who coordinated the nomination process. "George Mason University is proud of these faculty members and the contributions they have made to our students and campus community, to Virginia, to their professional fields, and to the national and global conversations that have been informed by their commitment to higher education, scholarly pursuits and public service."

Nominees from the George Mason University College of Humanities and Social Sciences are:

Todd Kashdan

Todd Kashdan is Mason’s nominee for the early career Rising Star Award. He earned his PhD and joined Mason in 2004. He has already published 65 articles in peer-reviewed journals, 38 as first author, including many of the eminent outlets in clinical, abnormal, social and personality psychology. He has written more than 10 book chapters, given more than 100 presentations at national and international conferences, and has two books forthcoming in 2009. To date, Kashdan has earned 17 awards and honors, including the 2006 Early Career Award from the Association for the Advancement of Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies and the 2007 Mason Emerging Researcher, Scholar and Creator Award.

Deborah Boehm-Davis

Deborah Boehm-Davis is a nominee for the Outstanding Faculty Award. A human factors psychologist, she has spent her career in a field that combines psychology and technology to optimize safety and productivity. A Mason University Professor, Boehm-Davis has received career achievement awards for her teaching, research and scholarship and service. Boehm-Davis ranks among the world's leading researchers in "human-systems-integration," particularly as applied to transportation systems, and has contributed significantly to the advancement of this field and the transfer of critical knowledge from the laboratory to decision-makers in the industrial and public policy communities.

Donald Gallehr

Donald Gallehr is a nominee for the Outstanding Faculty Award. Gallehr has been at Mason for more than 40 years and is a university Teaching Excellence Award winner. He also won the 2008 David J. King Award for significant and longstanding educational contributions to the university. Gallehr has helped develop numerous programs at Mason, including the undergraduate English major, undergraduate and graduate programs in creative writing, the undergraduate program in nonfiction writing and editing, the graduate program in the teaching of writing and literature and the Northern Virginia Writing Project. He has served as the director of the Virginia Writing Project for nearly 40 years; he secured more than $7 million to establish National Writing Project sites across the southeastern U.S.; and, during his years as codirector of the National Writing Project, he expanded the project from a handful of sites to a site in every state in the country. He successfully sought federal support for the National Writing Project that continues today. Gallehr’s research interests in the use of meditation and intuition in the development of writing abilities and in assessment have influenced generations of writing teachers.

Raja Parasuraman

Raja Parasuraman is a scientist of international prominence whose areas of specialization include cognitive neuroscience, human factors and neuroergonomics. He is a Mason University Professor and a nominee for the Outstanding Faculty Award. He has authored 10 widely acclaimed books, written 81 book chapters and 117 articles in many of the most highly regarded journals, and received $6.5 million in external grant funding since joining Mason in 2004. In 2006, Parasuraman received the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Paul M. Fitts Education Award for his outstanding contributions to the education and training of human factors/ergonomics professionals. He has worked to ensure that his scientific discoveries are accessible to the general public, policy-makers and industry designers, and his research has been featured in many major media outlets. In 2008 he received a Distinguished Service award from the National Academy of Science in recognition of his services.