Assistant Professor of Philosophy Marianne Janack and Associate Professor of Chinese De Bao Xu have been named co-recipients of the Richardson Award for Faculty Innovation.
Janack's grant will fund an intensive three-hour training session for teaching assistants and the development of a three-year rotation of unit quizzes for her Symbolic Logic class. Xu will create a stand-alone computer program for DVD-based class instructions and exercises, and develop a Sophomore Seminar jointly offered by the Computer Science and East Asian Languages and Literatures departments.
Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the Faculty David Paris said both proposals "are excellent examples of integrating technology into a course, emphasizing the sophomore seminar program and developing a tool to promote cross-cultural understanding."
The fund was established in honor of Channing and Comfort Richardson by their colleagues Sidney and Eleanor Wertimer, friends and former students of the Richardsons.
Channing Richardson was a member of the Hamilton faculty from 1952 until his retirement in 1983. Comfort Cary Richardson was coordinator of sports activities at Kirkland College from 1969 until the colleges combined in 1978, and in that year she served as Kirkland's dean of student affairs.
The Richardson Fund exists in order to make Hamilton a better, more competitive, and more focused institution as defined by the incumbent president, by supporting innovative faculty endeavors and curricular programs that strengthen the educational experience of students."
