Chancellor鈥檚 Council Announces Outstanding Teaching, Research Awards
Two faculty members from Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center and two from Texas Tech University receive Chancellor鈥檚 Council Distinguished Teaching and Research Awards.
December 8, 2006 | Written by Sally Logue Post
The Distinguished Teaching Award goes to Susan Saab Fortney, professor in the Texas Tech School of Law. Lynn Bickley, M.D., professor of internal medicine, associate dean for curriculum in the School of Medicine and director for geriatrics education at the Garrison Institute on Aging, received the teaching award for the Health Sciences Center.
The Distinguished Research Award at the Health Sciences Center goes to Paula Grammas, professor of neuropsychiatry and executive director of the Garrison Institute on Aging. At Texas Tech, Shaorong Liu, associate professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry is the research award recipient.
鈥淭he heart and soul of this university is its great teachers and researchers,鈥� said Kent R. Hance, chancellor of the MINI传媒. 鈥淚t鈥檚 vital that we have professors who can inspire our students and researchers who can come up with solutions to problems that help not only our university but out society. I am proud that we are able to honor four of our best faculty members in this way.鈥�
This is the sixth year for the Chancellor鈥檚 Council to present the awards. The winners will receive a plaque and a $10,000 cash award. The raises funds to support student scholarship, faculty recruitment and support and other programs.
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Lynn Bickley |
Susan Saab Fortney |
Paula Grammas |
Shaorong Liu |
Susan Saab Fortney
Fortney, who is the George H. Mahon Professor of Law, is an expert in legal ethics and professional responsibility. This year, she organized and taught the nation鈥檚 first Health Care and Bioethics Mediation Clinic to help prepare law students to mediate health care-related disputes. She is also writing the first ever law school textbook on legal malpractice. A winner of numerous teaching awards, Fortney continuously earns high marks on student evaluations and from her peers. Fortney earned her bachelor鈥檚 degree from Trinity University, her juris doctor degree from Antioch School of Law and a doctor of the sciences of law degree from Columbia School of Law. She came to Texas Tech in 1992.
Lynn Bickley
Bickley came to the Health Sciences Center in 1999. She has recently secured grants for student and physician training in geriatrics and to develop a patient-centered cultural competence curriculum from the National Institutes of Health. She is author of the 鈥淏ates鈥� Guide to History-Taking and Physician Examination鈥� which used by 70 percent of United States medical students and published in 27 countries. She has overseen the first comprehensive curriculum redesign at the School of Medicine since its founding. She is an expert in teaching medical students how to perform physical examinations and take medical histories, and serves on a national committee setting standards for teaching clinical skills. She earned her bachelor鈥檚 degree from Smith College and her medical degree from the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry.
Paula Grammas
Grammas joined the Health Sciences Center in 2004 as the executive director of the Garrison Institute on Aging. Since 1990, Grammas has received funding totaling $12.3 million from numerous local and national sources. For her contributions to Alzheimer鈥檚 research Grammas was one of five investigators nationwide to receive a Zenith Award in 1998. She has also been the recipient of several honors, including the Alfred M. Shideler Professorship in Pathology, Presbyterian Health Foundation Chair in Neuroscience, Award for Outstanding Achievement in Alzheimer Research, and most recently the Mildred and Shirley L. Garrison Chair in Aging at the Health Sciences Center. She earned her bachelor鈥檚 degree from Barnard College and her doctorate in pathology from Wayne State University.
Shaorong Liu
Liu is an expert in nanotechnology and was recently named a 鈥淣ano 50鈥� by the journal 鈥淣anotech Briefs.鈥� The award recognized the nation鈥檚 top 50 technologies, products and innovations that have significantly impacted the field. In the four years that Liu has been at Texas Tech, he has been awarded more than $2.1 million in direct research funding. He is working to develop a hybrid chip device that could help physicians and researchers understand diseases better and aid in faster diagnosis of some diseases. Liu holds four patents and has published numerous articles. He earned his bachelor鈥檚 and master鈥檚 degrees in China and his doctorate from Texas Tech. He returned to Texas Tech in 2002 after postdoctoral experience at Northeastern University and the University of California. He also holds a master鈥檚 of business administration from Golden Gate University.