OFFICE OF THE PROVOST
FAU to Host Honors Convocation
BOCA RATON, FL (April 10, 2006) – Florida Atlantic University President Frank T. Brogan and Provost John Pritchett will host the University’s 37th annual Honors Convocation on Tuesday, April 11 at 5 p.m. at the University Theater, in the Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, on FAU’s Boca Raton campus, 777 Glades Road.
The annual ceremony recognizes the University’s most outstanding students and faculty. (A full list of honorees is below.)
Students to be honored include eight university scholars, representing each of FAU’s colleges; the Phi Kappa Phi scholars; the Stan and Renee Wimberly Scholar; and the Student Academic Athletes of the Year.
Faculty honors include the presentation of the FAU National Alumni Association’s Degree of Difference Award, University Researchers of the Year awards, teaching and advising awards, and the Distinguished Teacher of the Year Award, which is determined by FAU students. The recipient of this award, Dr. Robert Watson of the Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, will present the keynote address.
For more information on the Honors Convocation, call 561-297-0884.
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2006 Florida Atlantic University Honors Convocation Awardees
UNIVERSITY SCHOLARS
College of Architecture, Urban and Public Affairs Kate Van Wormer
Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters Amy Price
College of Business Maira Masood
College of Engineering and Computer Science Stephanie Brown
Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College Meg Selby
Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing Myrland Maingrette
Charles E. Schmidt College of Science Jordan Zeigler
PHI KAPPA PHI SCHOLARS
Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters Harrison Fluss
College of Business Alecia Wachtstetter
STUDENT ACADEMIC ATHLETES OF THE YEAR
2005-06 Makra Condill and Frederick Marshall
THE UNIVERSITY CLUB SCHOLAR
Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College Amanda Kennedy
THE STAN AND RENEE WIMBERLY SCHOLAR
Charles E. Schmidt College of Science Alex Opritsa
UNIVERSITY RESEARCHERS OF THE YEAR AWARDS
Gregg Fields Professor of the Year – Sponsored/Project Oriented, Chemistry and Biochemistry
Rozzano Locsin Professor of the Year – Creative/ Scholarly, Nursing
Iris Berent Associate Professor of the Year – Sponsored/Project Oriented, Psychology
Andrew Furman Associate Professor of the Year – Creative/Scholarly, Psychology
Salvatore Lepore Assistant Professor of the Year – Sponsored/Project Oriented, Chemistry and Biochemistry
Christopher Strain Assistant Professor of the Year – Creative/Scholarly, History/American Studies
UNIVERSITY TEACHING AND ADVISING AWARDS 2005-06
Undergraduate Teaching Awards
College of Architecture, Urban & Public Affairs Aron Temkin
Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters Patricia Kollander
College of Business Karen Chinander
College of Engineering & Computer Science Daniel Raviv
Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College Wairimu Njambi
Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College Eugene Smith
Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing Cynthia Blum
Charles E. Schmidt College of Science Natalie Belenky
Undergraduate Advising Awards
Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts & Letters Stacie Lee Rossow
Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College Paul Kirchman
Academic Support Services, Undergraduate Betty Colson
THE DISTINGUISHED TEACHER OF THE YEAR
Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters Robert Watson *
*bio attached
Dr. Robert Watson
Robert Watson is an associate professor of political science. He has written or edited 25 books and published over 100 scholarly articles and chapters on an array of subjects in American politics. Dr. Watson is also a frequent media commentator on political issues, who, since coming to FAU five years ago, has been interviewed many hundreds of times by local and national outlets including CNN, NBC, MSNBC, USA Today, and others, and he appeared on C-SPAN’s Book TV program.
Watson has served on the boards of several academic associations, presidential foundations, and scholarly journals, and was the founder and editor of the journal White House Studies. While at FAU he has convened six national conferences on the presidency and served as a visiting fellow, lecturing at several universities and historic presidential sites across the country. He twice directed a report presented to the White House and has consulted with such organizations as the Smithsonian Museum of American History, the Japanese consul general, and major publishing houses.
He has run such events as the Distinguished Lecture Series on the American Presidency for FAU’s Lifelong Learning Society. He would invite FAU and local high school students to meet the speakers, which included over 50 former presidential candidates, senior White House aides from every president from FDR to Reagan, the Tuskeegee Airmen and the 9/11 Commission Staff.
Watson convened the Truman legacy Symposium that is a retreat at the Truman Little White House in Key West. It is a two and half day program that brought out hundreds of guests to discuss topics such as national security, civil rights and the Middle East.
This past year, he organized a Hurricane Katrina Mission that brought six area school libraries in partnership to donate over 9,000 textbooks, 350 backpacks filled with school supplies and many other supplies. He then rented a large moving truck at his own expense and drove it to Louisiana and Mississippi to many devastated schools.
He is most proud of his teaching and community service, for which he has received several teaching excellence honors, the International Abraham Lincoln prize, and awards for his volunteerism and the many civics programs he offers to area schools and community groups. Robert Watson and his wife Claudia are both FAU alums and they have two young children, Alessandro and Isabella.
