Funded by 1957 graduate W. Jerome Hatch, a retired executive for American National Can, the awards were established in 2004 to recognize outstanding work by MC faculty in the areas of teaching, scholarship and service. Through cash stipends, they honor faculty who have excelled in their academic disciplines and who have served as an inspiration to both their students and their colleagues.

The Distinguished Teaching Award winner announced last week was Ira Smolensky, professor of political science, who joined the faculty in 1984. Earlier this fall, biology professor Ken Cramer was named the recipient of the Distinguished Scholarship and Research Award, while physics professor Chris Fasano received the Distinguished Service Award. Cramer joined Monmouth’s faculty in 1993, five years prior to Fasano.

For the first time, nominations for the Distinguished Teaching Award were solicited exclusively from alumni. The award recognizes outstanding effectiveness in teaching by engaging students in learning and helping them connect their learning to lives of service dedicated to the public good. Recipients are uniquely able to engage students in their courses and build relationships with them that go beyond the classroom. They serve as models and mentors for students, helping them to achieve their highest potential as students and citizens.

"Much of what teachers do is unseen and unsung," said Monmouth College’s vice president for academic affairs, Jane Jakoubek. "But when alumni have a chance to talk about the teacher who made a difference in their lives, they have no trouble coming forward with their stories."

Wrote one alumni nominator, "(Smolensky) saw something in me that I was not, at the time, able to express, and he drew it out of me over the course of my Monmouth career. It is impossible to separate my intellectual, personal and emotional growth when discussing his impact on my life. His impact on my education at Monmouth will forever enhance the way in which I understand my experiences in this world."

The Hatch Award for Distinguished Service is awarded to "individuals and groups that do especially noteworthy work for the institution." In a nominating letter, Fasano was praised both for the quality of his service – described as "exceptional" and as "demonstrating the highest professionalism" – and his quantity of service. Fasano has provided support for students, faculty colleagues and the institution in ways large and small, including chairing faculty senate, the grievance committee and the physics department. He has often been the face of the faculty at public events, presenting to the Monmouth Associates, the college’s trustees, at other ACM colleges and to local school districts. Perhaps most visibly, he has organized the college’s faculty colloquium series, created a cutting-edge computing network and coordinated the college’s Introduction to Liberal Arts program.

Criteria for the Distinguished Scholarship and Research Award include: participating in faculty-student research projects leading to publication; pedagogical research to improve classroom teaching; creative activity that explains the research; and traditional research in peer-reviewed journals.

Cramer’s well-documented research on the brown recluse spider was the leading factor in his winning nomination. Sometimes dubbed "Spider Man," Cramer has conducted extensive research on the climate conditions that the poisonous spider can tolerate and mapped out the northernmost line in Illinois that corresponds with that tolerance. A student, Alex Maywright, also contributed to Cramer’s published research.