Honored Colleagues

Every year California State University, Chico honors faculty and administrators for their excellence and achievements in teaching, scholarship, creativity, and research activities and in their contributions to the university community. Below are the recent winners in the College of Natural Sciences.

Academic Year 2008-2009

Carol Huston, Nursing
University's Outstanding Professor Award

Professor Huston, who received her Doctorate in Public Administration (DPA) from University of Southern California, came to Chico in 1978.  She worked as a staff nurse and as the cardiac rehabilitation coordinator at Enloe Medical Center before she began her teaching career at CSU, Chico in 1982.  Carol epitomizes an outstanding professor: exemplary teaching, scholarship, and service.
 
Carol Huston is a dedicated teacher.  She serves as a role model and mentor to her students, giving them the skills to succeed in the nursing profession. She is very knowledgeable and engaging, and she remains a mentor well beyond the classroom.  Carol was recognized in 2001 for her teaching and was the recipient of the Outstanding Teacher Award.  In addition to her work at the University, she taught in the Master of Science in Nursing/Family Nurse practitioner program at Western University of Health Science in Pomona from 1998-2006.

Professor Huston is a distinguished and prolific scholar.  She has co-authored 13 textbooks, two of which will be out in new editions in the next two years.  She has written more than 60 journal articles, 17 reviews and has been a presenter and/or a keynote speaker at 150 plus conferences.  For the last two years Carol has had the honor of serving as the president of Sigma Theta Tau International, the honor society for the nursing profession.
 
Professor Huston has received numerous awards, and she was selected by the Dwight D. Eisenhower Foundation to lead an interdisciplinary delegation to China in 2006 and to Vietnam and Cambodia this month. She has served on numerous campus committees and is active off-campus as well.

Dave Ball, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
University's Outstanding Research Mentor Award

Professor Ball has made a career of helping students achieve all they can as chemists and as scientists.  In 1999, David was the principal investigator on a successful grant that allowed the department to purchase a Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectrometer.  This acquisition has allowed David and his students to carry out research at CSU, Chico.  It also led to the Chemistry Summer Research Institute (CSRI), a research program that has provided stipends to over 35 undergraduates conducting research.
 
As a former student stated, “It was in the laboratory that science truly came alive…. Professor Ball always enjoys pushing his students just a little farther than what is required.  In doing so, he introduces them to additional opportunities for independent research.” Professor Ball has created and maintained a network of former students that spans the country and continues to provide networking opportunities for his students.
 
In 2004, Professor Ball helped organized a yearly poster session to highlight research achievements of faculty.  Those posters sessions included research of both undergraduates and graduates working with mentoring faculty.  With nearly 20 student poster presentations, David exhibits that mentoring spirit that makes him a natural as the first recipient of this award.

Academic Year 2007-2008

Gordon Wolfe
University's Outstanding Professor Award

Professor Gordon Wolfe, Department of Biological Sciences, has been selected by the Faculty Recognition and Support Committee for the 2007-2008 Outstanding Professor Award at California State University, Chico. Wolfe earned a BA in physics at Harvard University and received a PhD in biogeochemistry from University of Washington. He joined the CSU, Chico faculty in 2000.

Read the full news release here.

Academic Year 2005-2006

Dr. Larry Hanne
University's Outstanding Advisor

Larry Hanne has been an adviser and student advocate for his entire career at CSUC. He has advised students in general biology, microbiology, and those interested in clinical laboratory science. He has established a liaison with local professionals that has resulted in opportunities for students to explore various laboratory careers with Enloe Hospital, Butte County Health Department, CSUC Student Health Center, California State Forensic Lab, etc.

Upon hearing that Larry was this year's Outstanding Advisor, College Dean Jim Houpis asked Larry's colleagues to congratulate him, stating that it was "a well-deserved and long overdue honor." Read more.

Dr. Robert Thomas
University's Outstanding Teacher

A 40-year veteran of teaching at California State University, Chico, Robert E. Thomas, Department of Biological Sciences, has been chosen as the Outstanding Teacher of 2005-2006 by the Faculty Recognition and Support Committee.

"Bob has had an outstanding career with us," Dean Jim Houpis said in an e-mail to the College. "His continued excellence over the years will serve as a role model for our younger faculty. I hope our younger faculty will adopt Bob's tenacity in maintaining teaching excellence."

Thomas, who came to CSU, Chico in 1966 after receiving a Ph.D. from Kent State University, received two Outstanding Professor Awards, one in 1983 and another in 1984, and three different Professional Achievement Honors in 1981, 1986 and 1994.

Thomas entered the Faculty Early Retirement Program in 2001. Before that, he taught vertebrate physiology, cell physiology, general biology for non-majors, as well as graduate courses. He served as a pre-med advisor and faculty advisor for the Pre-Med Association for 13 out of the last 18 years. Read more.

Jennifer Rotnem
University's Outstanding Project Director

Jennifer Rotnem is passionate about her work as the Director of environmental programs for the College of Natural Sciences, and it shows.

Named the University's Outstanding Project Director for 2005, Jennifer takes command of many projects and collaborates with both state and federal agencies to obtain environmental grants and contracts for the College.

"This is a well-deserved honor," said College Dean James Houpis, "as Jennifer continues to obtain and manage a significant number of environmental grants and contracts for the College."

Jennifer is also assisting the College with the development of the Center for Ecology and Environmental Sciences for facilitating collaboration among faculty and competitive research in ecology and environmental science. The Center's mission and its success is supported by Jennifer's work for the Bidwell Environmental Institute to promote and support campus-wide environmental initiatives.

Students, typically students majoring in biology and environmental sciences, are involved in all of her projects. The Bioassessment Lab employs 10-15 students. Restoration projects employ about five student interns and two student employees. Salmon and Steelhead projects employ three to five student biologists.

" I feel passionate about actively contributing to Chico State's vision of being a leader of education for sustainable development and a model educational institution, guided by sustainable campus practices, training environmentally literate and engaged citizens, educating environmental professionals, and participating in sustainable development in the Northstate," she wrote in an e-mail.

Jennifer explains that in 2005 the United Nations declared this the "Decade of Education for Sustainable Development" and described that "education enables us to understand ourselves and others and our links with the wider natural and social environments, and this understanding serves as a durable basis for building respect for present and future generations, for differences and diversity, for the environment, and for the resources of the planet we inhabit."

She is directing riparian (along the riverbank) and grassland restoration in partnership with the Department of Fish and Game at Butler Slough Ecological Reserve, and Oak woodland and grassland restoration at the U.S. Bureau of Land Management's Sacramento River Bend Area of Critical Environmental Concern. She is co-directing projects for Chico 's Aquatic Bioassessment Lab and on-going surveys of Chinook Salmon and Steelhead in Butte and Big Chico Creeks with the Department of Fish and Game.

She has directed a variety of projects including K-12 watershed education, and fish, wildlife, and invertebrate studies throughout the Northstate.

As mentioned, many of her projects include collaboration with one or more of these agencies: The Nature Conservancy, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, River Partners, Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Water Resources, Sacramento River Conservation Area Forum, U.S. Geological Service, California Energy Commission, CA Department of Pesticide Regulation, UC Davis, Bishop Paiute Tribe, California State Parks, U.S. Forest Service, State Water Resources Control Board, and Agricultural Research Initiative. 

Dr. William Murphy
University's Professional Achievement Honors

William M. Murphy, Geological and Environmental Sciences, conducts international research with leading scientists in geochemistry. He teaches across the curriculum in his department and works with undergraduate and graduate students.

Murphy has published or submitted for publication numerous articles and abstracts, many of the abstracts involving students or other faculty as co-authors.

Murphy's speaking engagements include session chair and invited speaker at the Symposium on the Scientific Basis for Nuclear Waste Management in 2004 and keynote speaker at the V.M. Goldschmidt Conference in 2005. He has also been visiting professor at Ecole Normale Supérieure in Paris and was instrumental in creating an exchange of graduate students from ENS to visit and work with students and faculty at CSU, Chico.

In recognition of his expertise in the field of nuclear waste disposal, Murphy serves as an administrative judge for the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Read more.

Dr. Xueli Zou
University's Professional Achievement Honors

Xueli Zou, Physics, has utilized her experiences as a two-time National Science Foundation research scholar to develop pedagogy for the introductory physics courses at CSU, Chico. Engineering and science majors taught with this pedagogy have shown consistent, measurable improvement in conceptual understanding of physics when compared to traditional teaching methods.

Zou has been invited to speak at numerous academic meetings throughout the country and is the co-author of two textbooks. She is also the author of several peer-reviewed publications in physics education research. Currently, she is working on a textbook and ancillary materials for teaching introductory electricity and magnetism. Simultaneously, she is developing assessment tools to measure high-level thinking skills in the Bloom taxonomy.

Jim Pushnik, a Fulbright Senior Specialist, will teach a graduate course at the Institute of Sustainable Development in Russia. He will help develop some sustainable development indices that might assist in policy decisions.