Three Of A Kind
8/30/07
A trio of veteran faculty members are the recipients of the 2007 Maryville University Faculty Awards Announced at the annual Convocation, the award winners are Geralyn Frandsen, Ed.D., associate professor of nursing; Alice Jensen, associate professor of nursing; and Germaine Murray, Ph.D., associate professor of English. “Though there were a number of nominees, we are pleased to have an exceptionally qualified group of faculty selected for the first year of this award,” said Mary Ellen Finch, Ph.D., Maryville’s associate vice president for academic affairs.
Geralyn Frandsen
Frandsen, who joined the Maryville faculty in 1991, was honored for her ongoing efforts in integrating teaching and service through her work with the Office of Enrollment, especially, the Student Testing Advising Registration Transition (START) program by serving as a START advisor. Frandsen also has supported the Academic Success Center by conducting research on the effectiveness of its Peer Tutoring program and providing peer tutor training. On the teaching side, Frandsen, in her role as an action research associate, studied the benefits of team teaching. She will present her findings in November during a juried conference at Miami University in Ohio.
Frandsen, who earned her bachelor’s degree in nursing from Maryville, serves the University as a whole through her work as a faculty representative to the Maryville University Board of Trustees, and as a member of the University’s promotion and tenure committee. She also is faculty counselor for the Maryville chapter of Sigma Theta Tau, the international nursing honor society. Frandsen said she’s “thrilled and honored” to receive the award. “It is especially important to me since it was given by my peers,” she remarked. “Ever since I came here as a student, Maryville has molded me to be the best I could be. The Maryville community is truly my extended family.”
Alice Jensen
The longest serving of the three award recipients, having joined the Maryville faculty in 1988, Jensen was cited for excelling in scholarly activity. She has reviewed and analyzed her teaching methods, particularly her integration of art, music, literature and film into a course in the nursing curriculum, and how that integration affected her students’ learning. Jensen has presented at national conferences on this topic and her manuscript on the study has been accepted for publication in an academic journal.
Making her students aware of other cultures also is important to Jensen, who helped to lead a trip to London for nursing students. Recently, Jensen attended the Asian Studies Development Program. Following her participation in that program, she infused an appreciation and awareness of Asian culture into the undergraduate and graduate nursing curriculum. This award is the second this year for Jensen. In February, she received the University’s 2007 Anna Moudy Award for Excellence in Education. Of her latest honor, Jensen said, “It was quite thrilling to listen as the description of a faculty award winner was read and to recognize who it was before the name was announced. Imagine what it was like to realize the description was me! I actually had chills. It is a great honor to be recognized by my peers. I am so proud to be a faculty member at Maryville.”
Germaine Murray
Murray was honored for being at the forefront of efforts to integrate service, scholarship and teaching as well as enriching Maryville’s academic stature. Shortly after joining the University faculty in 1993, Murray became the coordinator of the Mrs. J. Reynolds Medart Lecture Series, which is dedicated to investigating a number of crucial and foundational ideas in American democracy and the liberal arts and sciences. The series brings speakers of national and international acclaim to the Maryville campus.
Believing that learning does not just happen inside the classroom, Murray has led numerous European study tours to Italy, Greece, Spain and many other countries. She serves as advisor to the campus literary magazine, Magnolia. Murray also has been feted for her own written work. In June, she received a national, first-place award from the Catholic Press Association in the category “Best editorial on a local issue” for an editorial she wrote prior to the November 2006 election. The editorial, which appeared in the November 3, 2006, issue of the St. Louis Review, the official newspaper of the Archdiocese of St. Louis,.advocated the defeat of Amendment 2, dubbed “the Stem Cell Initiative,” to the Missouri State Constitution.
Providing a cultural overview always has been a component of Murray’s teaching. “Part of my obligation is to help the student hone and develop judgment, a sense of fairness toward those they disagree with, and an authentic openness to the past and the men and women who populate the pages and landscape of our cultural legacy and other cultural situations,” she said.
Maryville University, founded in 1872, is a private, coeducational institution offering approximately 50 undergraduate, seven master’s and two doctoral degree programs to 3,300 students. Ranked by U.S. News and World Report as one of America’s Best Colleges in the Midwest, Maryville University prepares its students for successful and meaningful careers by offering programs that integrate liberal arts with professional studies.
Among Maryville’s most recent graduates, 94 percent are employed or attending graduate school. Approximately 15,000 alumni work and live in the St. Louis region.
In the photo: Recipients of the 2007 Maryville University Faculty Awards are, left to right, Germaine Murray, Ph.D.; Geralyn Frandsen, Ed.D.; and Alice Jensen.