September 4, 1997
Contact: Louise Snider, 619/594-5204
Top Liberal Studies Award Goes To SDSU Scientist
This year, the Association of Graduate Liberal Studies Programs will present its National Faculty Award, not to a historian, classicist, or humanities teacher, but to a scientist, Stephen B.W. Roeder, a professor of chemistry and physics at San Diego State University.
Roeder, a resident of La Mesa, Calif., was nominated and recognized for his continuing contributions to SDSU’s Master of Arts in Liberal Arts program. He has been an active participant in the program, as teacher, administrator, and fund raiser, since its inception in 1987.
Among his outstanding achievements has been the development of a course, "Paradigms of Consciousness," which drew upon his scientific expertise as both a physicist and a chemist and his own research on magnetic imaging of the brain. He team-taught the course, first with medical historian Howard Kushner and then with the late Michael Carella of the philosophy department. Roeder also contributed significantly to another MALA seminar, "The Brain in History."
Dr. Kushner, director of the MALA program, says Roeder always aroused student interest by his own display of "an infectious curiosity about every issue raised....he took every student question with great seriousness, never denigrating a query, but always leading a student to deeper understanding of often complex issues...."
The president of the AGLSP, Chuck Korte, praised Dr. Roeder for his dedicated and skilled teaching and said, "… your contribution represents the best we have to offer across the country."
Roeder’s teaching also rated praise in student evaluations, as in these excerpts: "Dr. Roeder’s enthusiasm is engaging," and "Dr. Roeder explains physics in a way that a non-scientist can comprehend..."
Roeder will receive the 1997 National Faculty Award of $1,000 and a plaque on Friday, October 31, in Philadelphia, at the national conference of the Association of Graduate Liberal Studies Programs.