Oct. 26, 2009

The College of Arts and Sciences honored eight faculty and staff members on Oct. 13 at its Fall Convocation.

George Speed, an assistant professor of music, received the Wise Diggs Berry Award. Speed combines teaching with solo, chamber and orchestral performing. He is assistant professor of double bass and principal bass of the Oklahoma City Philharmonic. Since 1999, he has performed regularly with the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra. The annual award is given to a faculty member who has demonstrated excellence in the visual, performance or written arts. Created in memory of her grandmother and mother, the honor was established by Malinda Berry Fischer who is a 1960 OSU alumna.

Three professors received the Junior Faculty Award for Scholarly Excellence. The award is presented in three areas, which are: Arts and humanities: An Cheng, assistant professor in English; natural sciences: Scott Weinert, assistant professor in chemistry; and social and behavioral sciences: Jason Maloy, associate professor in political science.

Photo: From left are George Speed, Michael Larson, Thad Leffingwell, council chair Jeff White, Nick Materer who accepted the award for Scott Weinert, Dean  Peter M.A. Sherwood, JuDean Scott, Jason Maloy, An Cheng and Mike Lucas.

Four awards were presented to staff members. “The 180 staff of the college provide an invaluable service to both the college and the university,” said Peter M.A. Sherwood, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.

The college’s safety award was presented to Thad Leffingwell, a clinical psychologist and associate professor in psychology.

Staff award finalists were Michael Larson, department of geography, who is the coordinator of OSU Cartography Services, and Mike Lucas, department of physics, who oversees the physics and chemistry instrument shop. JuDean Scott, an administrative assistant in English, received the top staff honor.

The Fall Convocation is among the many ways that the College of Arts and Sciences rewards excellence. Each year the awards are coordinated by the chair of the OSU Arts and Sciences Faculty Council. This year’s chair was Jeff White, interim head of chemistry who leads the faculty council. To learn more about the College of Arts and Sciences at OSU visit cas.okstate.edu.