May 11, 2007

Kalamazoo College Presents Lucasse Award for Excellence in Teaching

KALAMAZOO, MI—The Lucasse Selection Committee has unanimously recommended that the 2006-2007 Florence J. Lucasse Fellowship Award for Excellence in Teaching be conferred upon Robert Stauffer, professor of sociology and anthropology at Kalamazoo College, in recognition of his outstanding teaching and work in pedagogy. The award will be presented after a lecture by Robert Stauffer, “The Effervescence of Intellectual Talk,” at 8 p.m. on Monday, May 21, in the Olmsted Room, Mandelle Hall, Kalamazoo College. A dessert reception at 7:30 p.m. will include a citation by John Wickstrom, professor of history. The award will be presented by President Eileen Wilson-Oyelaran. The event is free and open to the public.

“The Lucasse Selection Committee was impressed by Bob Stauffer’s commitment to teaching in the classroom and beyond,” said Tom Rice, chair of the committee and associate professor of art. “As one of his nomination letters stated, he has become ‘teacher to the teachers of our students.’ His career is distinguished by years of innovative thinking related to student learning.”

Stauffer has been teaching at Kalamazoo College since 1973, when he came to Kalamazoo from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he was assistant professor in sociology from 1967 to 1973. Prior to that, he was an instructor at the University of Illinois. Stauffer is a graduate of the University of Illinois, where he earned his bachelor’s in sociology. He earned his master’s and doctorate degrees in sociology from the University of Chicago. Stauffer has been chair of the department of anthropology and sociology at Kalamazoo College since 1986.

A Fellowship in Learning: At Home in the World, Kalamazoo College is a national liberal arts college and the creator and home of the Kalamazoo Plan. By emphasizing scholarship, civic engagement, and foreign study, Kalamazoo College cultivates a fellowship in learning among students, faculty, and a community of scholars throughout the world. Its students shape elements of the Kalamazoo Plan—rigorous academics, career internships, study abroad, service-learning, and a senior individualized project—into an educational experience that provides insight into the meaning of the kind of citizenship that is at home in the world.