Virginia Military Institute Professor Duncan Richter, left,
and
Professor Suzanne Keen of Washington and Lee University.
(Photos courtesy of VMI and W&L)
State honors W&L, VMI professors
Two local professors will be honored Feb. 20 at Virginia's 22nd Outstanding Faculty Awards ceremony.
Dr. Suzanne Keen, a professor of English at Washington and Lee University, and Dr. Duncan Richter, a professor of philosophy at Virginia Military Institute, are two of 12 OFA winners for 2008.
The awards, given by the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia and sponsored by the Dominion Foundation, are the state's highest honors for Virginia's public and private college faculty. The awards recognize accomplishments in teaching, research and public service.
Keen is an example of what W&L President Ken Ruscio calls the "teacher-scholar model."
"He doesn't mean that on one day you're a teacher and one day you're a scholar," said Keen. "He means that every day you're both a teacher and a scholar. I think it's impossible to imagine my scholarship without my teaching, and it's impossible for me to imagine my teaching without my scholarship."
Richter's goal is to get his students to ask more questions and think for themselves. He said his desire to impart critical thinking is why VMI is such an interesting place for him to work.
"The students are not used to taking philosophy courses, and it's so different from other things that they're used to, partly because they're being taught different things but also because of the military environment," he said. "There's a lot of being told what to do: ‘Don't think, just do.' And then they come to my classes and I tell them, ‘You've got to think for yourselves now.'"
Keen is the 11th member of the W&L faculty to receive an Outstanding Faculty Award. Richter is the sixth member of the VMI faculty to be honored by the higher education council.
The two will join the 254 other Virginia faculty members who have received the honor since the General Assembly and governor created the program in 1986.
"Up to that point, there was no statewide recognition of college faculty," said Kathleen Kincheloe, assistant director for communications at the education council. "But we wanted, as did the legislators, to acknowledge those Virginia professors who were really stand-out faculty."
Keen and Richter were selected as finalists from 96 nominees who were evaluated by former winners and academic officers. A selection committee composed of members of the council and education, business and community leaders then selected this year's 12 honorees.
"This is an award that really looks at professors who engage students in and out of the classrooms," said Kincheloe.
Keen has worked at W&L since 1995, teaching the novel, narrative and post-colonial literature. She has written five books, including a textbook and a volume of poetry, and numerous scholarly articles on a range of contemporary and Victorian writers.
Keen's goal is to make her students aware of the outside world by creating pleasure readers of both novels and newspapers.
"The most rewarding experience is a feeling that I've been able to create in my classroom a place where people can talk about books and explore ideas that they might not otherwise encounter," said Keen. "They can then pursue those interests on their own once they're outside of school."
Like Keen, Richter has taught since 1995. He is VMI's only full-time philosophy professor and was the driving force behind VMI's adoption of the now-popular philosophy minor in 1997.
Each honoree will receive $5,000. Keen plans to save the money for a family vacation. Richter will put the money toward his children's college education.
But both professors think the honor itself is worth more than the cash award.
"The nomination itself was the main honor because that came from my peers," said Keen. "And then the surprise of actually winning is just an extra delight."
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