University Relations 202 Eielson Fairbanks, Alaska 99775-7520
(907)474-7581 Fax (907)474-6492
fynews@uaf.edu
MEDIA ADVISORY
PROFESSOR OF THE YEAR TITLE GOES TO NOME TEACHER
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 23, 1997
Fairbanks, Alaska - The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, in conjunction with the national Council for the Advancement and Support of Education, has named University of Alaska Fairbanks associate professor of science and mathematics Maynard Perkins the 1997 Alaska Professor of the Year. He is one of only 48 university professors in the U.S. to receive the honor from a field of 554 nominees.
Perkins, acting director of the College of Rural Alaska's Northwest Campus since June, is considered a leader in distance learning and an innovator in curriculum development. Using audioconferencing, a voice-only contact mode of teaching done by telephone, Perkins reaches distant villages in dozens of tiny villages and regional hubs throughout Arctic, Coastal, and Interior Alaska. According to Perkins, more than 85 percent of the students from these villages are unprepared to succeed at college level work..
To help students succeed, Perkins led a program to improve student success by requiring faculty to incorporate remedial and adult developmental elements into all their courses. Perkins has been with UAF's Northwest Campus for twelve years, teaching everything from freshman biology classes to graduate education courses.
In addition to teaching students the tangent of an angle, he has also taught them how to fence with foils, survive arctic weather, photograph the world near the Arctic Circle and to be successful sub-arctic gardeners. Perkins' students have taken flight, literally, through his private pilot ground course. As acting director of the Northwest Campus, Perkins combines his teaching commitments with his administrative duties.
He describes his own philosophy of teaching by saying "students need to be confronted with a curriculum that makes them excel. I raise the high jump bar of learning and then attempt to provide an environment that causes students to try to clear that bar, and then help them do it."
The Council for the Advancement and Support of Education established the Professors of the Year program in 1981 and works in cooperation with the Carnegie Foundation, a policy center in Princeton, N.J., devoted to strengthening America's schools and colleges. CASE Professors of the Year are considered excellent illustrations of quality teaching.
This year, the Carnegie Foundation announced winners in 48 states and the District of Columbia and the Virgin Islands. CASE assembled two panels of judges to select state winners and national finalists.
CONTACT: UAF College of Rural
Alaska Executive Dean Ralph Gabrielli, (907) 474-7143, Northwest
Campus Acting Director Maynard Perkins, (907) 443-2201, Council
for Advancement and Support of Education Information Steve Weiss,
(202) 328-5980, or UAF Public Information Officer Debra Damron,
(907) 474-7122.
UAF news releases available electronically at:
http://www.uaf.edu/univrel/media/index.html
RMJ/DPD/10-23-97/98-21
Return to Media Releases FY98
Return to news releases main page