Outstanding Award Recipients for 2004–2005 Named
Scholar on Contemporary Religion in America Is the Outstanding
Professor
Professor Sarah Pike, above, Department of Religious Studies,
has been selected as California State University, Chico’s
Outstanding Professor for 2004–2005.
Outstanding Professor is the highest honor awarded to faculty at
CSU, Chico. The Faculty Recognition and Support Committee recommends
the recipient from a pool of high-achieving faculty nominated by
colleagues.
Professor Pike received this award for her publications, which
include two books, her national reputation in the field of religion
in America, women and religion, and new religious movements, as
well as for her exemplary teaching and service to the University.
Pike received a PhD from Indiana University in 1998. She came
to CSU, Chico in 1996, while completing her dissertation. Since
then she has taught 14 different courses, in-cluding Religion and
America’s Ethnic Minorities; Religion and American Society;
Violence in American Reli-gious History; Religion, Nature, and Environmentalism
in America; and Gender, Family, and God.
Joel Zimbelman, chair of the Department of Religious Studies,
said of Pike’s teaching, “Students let us know of their
appreciation each semester by the enrollments that we see in her
courses. Eight challenging years of course development and hard
work have paid off handsomely, and our department majors and general
education students are the direct beneficiaries of Sarah’s
commitment.”
Pike’s most recent book, released in summer 2004, is New
Age and Neopagan Religions in America (Columbia University
Press). In 2001, she published Earthly Bodies, Magical Selves:
Contemporary Pagans and the Search for Community (University
of California Press). The books, according to Zimbelman, “have
established her as the leading scholar in these areas of contemporary
religion in America.”
Pike was elected in 2002 to chair the Religious Movements Group
of the American Academy of Religion. This is a national organization
of 10,000 scholars in religion, and it provides the most important
and respected venue for the ongoing study of religion in American
society.
“Sarah Pike is a splendid colleague—tireless in her
work, accessible to students and colleagues, demanding and passionate
about her work, and committed to making CSU, Chico a better place
academically, intellectually, and in its support for and nurturing
of students,” said Zimbelman. “She is truly an outstanding
professor.”
 ‘Versatility
and Commitment’ Describe Outstanding Service Award Recipient
Jim Postma, Department of Chemistry, has been selected for the
2004–2005 Outstanding Faculty Service Award. Postma is an
alum of CSU, Chico, graduating in 1974 with a BS in chemistry. He
received his PhD in chemistry from UC Davis in 1982 and returned
to CSU, Chico that same year.
Postma is praised by his colleagues for going above and beyond
the ordinary demands of his faculty job description to serve students,
the campus, and the community.
The College of Natural Sciences and the Department of Chemistry
have also benefited from Postma’s talent and leadership. Postma
served as chair of the chemistry department for two terms. Randy
Miller, a colleague in the department, said, “I appreciate
the leadership and spirit of cooperation he fostered. He provided
a vision for the department as we worked through some difficult
budgetary constraints.”
He has been representative to the California Science Project and
chair of the Chemistry Department Advisory Board.
Postma has served multiple terms on the Academic Senate, chairing
it for two terms. He has also served as secretary, been on the General
Policies Committee, the Educational Policies Committee, of which
he was secretary and chair, and the Faculty and Student Policies
Committee.
Postma had a leadership role in the President’s Task Force
on the Future of CSU, Chico in 1994. “Jim was always urging
and willing to help in the process, to transform ideas into concrete
proposals that could be assessed and stand or fall on their merit,”
said Kaiser, with whom he served on that task force.
 Outstanding
Advisor Blends Advising and Teaching
Peter Kittle, Department of English, has been selected as the 2004–2005
Outstanding Advisor.
Kittle received his BS in English education, his MA in English,
and his PhD in English, all from the Univer-sity of Oregon. He came
to Chico in 1998 and has taught Reading Litera-ture, Literature
of the Child, Advanced Composition, and Literature, Language and
Composition: A Synthesis. He is codirector of the Northern California
Writing Project.
Kittle advises more than 100 English education students and incoming
credential students. Four years ago, as the new English education
advisor, he established a Web site used by subject-matter competency
and precredential candidates.
In addition to advising future students on how to obtain competency
in English, Kittle helps evaluate their prior course work at other
schools in terms of how it meets the requirements of the CSU, Chico
Program in English Education.
Kittle works with other single-subject advisors on campus and
keeps abreast of developments in teacher education. He regularly
attends CSU English Council meetings. He served on the panel that
created the new state standards for approved subject-matter programs
in English and is in close contact with developments at the California
Commission on Teacher Credentialing.
Dale Steiner, advisor to future teachers in the Department of History,
works closely with Kittle. “I appreciate and respect the activist
approach Peter takes toward advising: he recognizes that much more
is needed than simply helping students sort out their schedules
and progress more or less smoothly toward graduation,” said
Steiner.
Kittle’s efforts for students, according to students who
wrote letters of support for him, include providing encouragement,
assuaging fears, meeting outside of prescribed times, and helping
with difficult decisions. He has inspired these students with his
own love of teaching.
Thia Wolf, Department of English, who once occupied the advising
position Kittle now holds, said, “Peter is an advisor who
goes well beyond the usual limits in his advising practices. His
support of both students and the colleagues who teach these students
is, in a word, superb.”
Kathleen McPartland
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Volume 35 / Number 5
