AUSTIN, Texas—Larry R. Faulkner, president of The University of Texas at Austin, will give his annual State of the University Address at 2:30 p.m., Wednesday, Sept. 18, in the Jessen Auditorium of Homer P. Rainey Hall near Littlefield Fountain.
The speech is part of UTexas@119, a celebration of the university’s 119th birthday.
Faulkner’s State of the University address, his fifth since he became president in 1998, will provide an assessment of the university and a report on his goals for 2002-03. The University of Texas at Austin opened on Sept. 15, 1883.
The first event commemorating the university’s birthday will be a ceremony from 11:50 a.m. to noon, Monday (Sept. 16) on the Main Mall, coordinated by the Texas Exes Student Chapter. It will include celebratory music, brief remarks, an unfurling of a large Texas flag from the Main Building and the serving of birthday cake.
Several prestigious awards will be presented during the program Wednesday, including the Presidential Citation, the Civitatis Award, the President’s Associates Teaching Excellence Awards and the Chancellor’s Council Outstanding Teaching Award. New members of the Academy of Distinguished Teachers and recipients of the El Paso Energy Foundation Faculty Achievement Awards will be recognized.
A reception will be held following the program.
Free public parking for the event will be provided in the university parking facility directly east of Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium. Shuttle service will be provided to Rainey Hall and back to the parking facility after the reception.
The Presidential Citation recipients are William L. Fisher, Bryce Jordan and George Kozmetsky.
Fisher, holder of the Leonidas T. Barrow Centennial Chair in Mineral Resources in the Department of Geological Sciences at The University of Texas at Austin, has had a significant impact on the university and the state for the past 42 years. He was director of the Bureau of Economic Geology from 1970-94 and again in 1999, creating the facility with the largest core library in the United States and transforming the bureau into an internationally acclaimed research institution.
Jordan received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in music from The University of Texas at Austin and has distinguished himself in the administration of American higher education over the past four decades. He was president ad interim at The University of Texas at Austin in 1970-71 and is president emeritus of Penn State University, where he was president from 1983-90.
Kozmetsky is a professor in the Management and Computer Science departments at The University of Texas at Austin and holder of the Murray S. Johnson Chair in Economics and the IC2 E.D. Walker Centennial Fellowship. He is executive associate for economic affairs in The University of Texas System and also is chairman of the advisory board and senior research fellow at the IC2 Institute. From 1966-82, Kozmetsky was dean of The University of Texas at Austin’s College of Business Administration and the Graduate School of Business.
The Civitatis Award is presented to a faculty member who has shown exemplary campus citizenship throughout a career of service at the university. The recipient this year is James B. Ayres, the Shakespeare at Winedale Regents Professor and Distinguished Teaching Professor, Department of English. Ayres founded the Shakespeare at Winedale program in 1970. In recognition of his work at Winedale, Ayres was given the highest honor of the College of Liberal Arts, the Bene Pro Meritis Award.
The President’s Associates Teaching Excellence Awards for 2002-03 recognize excellence in undergraduate teaching. Recipients include Bruce J. Hunt, associate professor, Department of History; Guy P. Raffa, associate professor, Department of French and Italian; Michael W. Downer, professor, Department of Physics; Robert G. Moser, associate professor, Department of Government; Susan S. Heinzelman, associate professor, Department of English; and Timothy J. Moore, associate professor, Department of Classics.
The Chancellor’s Outstanding Teaching Award recipient this year is Rebecca Richards-Kortum, the Robert M. and Prudie Leibrock Endowed Professor in Bioengineering and Distinguished Teaching Professor.
The Academy of Distinguished Teachers award was established in 1995 to recognize and enhance teaching, particularly at the undergraduate level. Members are chosen on the basis of their outstanding teaching, their personal commitment to students and the learning process, and their ability to inspire and motivate in the classroom. New members of the academy are:
- Associate Professor Michael W. Adams, Department of English
- Professor Robert H. Bishop, Department of Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics
- Professor James D. Garrison, the Jane Weinert Blumberg Chair in English and the Archibald A. Hill Regents Professor in American and English Literature, Department of English
- Associate Professor David D. Heymann, Fellow of Martin S. Kermacy Centennial Professorship in Architecture, School of Architecture
- Professor David W. Robertson, the W. Page Keeton Chair in Tort Law, School of Law
- Professor S. Martin Shankland, Section of Molecular Cell and Developmental Biology
- Associate Professor Michael B. Stoff, Department of History
- Professor J. Craig Wheeler, the Samuel T. and Fern Yanagisawa Regents Professor in Astronomy, Department of Astronomy
- Professor Suzan L. Zeder, Theater for Youth Chair, Department of Theatre and Dance.
Recipients of the El Paso Energy Foundation Faculty Achievement Awards 2002-03, sponsored by the El Paso Energy Foundation, are Associate Professor Prabhvdeu Konana, Department of Management Science and Information Systems; Professor Keith C. Brown, Department of Finance; and Associate Professor Christine Schmidt, Department of Biomedical Engineering.
For more information contact: Robert D. Meckel, Office of Public Affairs, 512-475-7847.
