May 28, 2003
Contact: David L. Soltz (509-963-1400/fax 509-963-2025/e-mail: soltzd@cwu.edu)
ELLENSBURG, Wash. - Central Washington University has
announced its 2003 Distinguished Professor award winners. They are:
David W. Carns, construction management, Distinguished Teaching
Professor; Dr. Alla Ditta Raza Choudary, mathematics, Distinguished
Research Professor; and, Dr. James G. Pappas, teacher education
programs, Distinguished Public Service Professor.
The CWU alumni association and board of trustees, which
approved the selections during its May meeting, co-sponsor the annual
awards program. The three distinguished professors will receive their
awards at the university Honors Convocation Friday, June 13. In
addition, each will receive a $1,500 monetary award.
“I care about and respect each and every student,” Carns says.
That dedication to his teaching is reflected in his student
evaluation scores, which ranged from 4.6 to 4.96 (on a 5.0 scale) for
overall teaching effectiveness during the past three years.
In addition, comments made by graduates repeatedly mentioned
his ability to make difficult concepts understandable; his willingness
to work with students during days, evenings and weekends; his friendly
and relaxed personality; and his extensive knowledge of the field.
Carns, 50, encourages students to develop their
problem-solving skills, creative thinking, and oral and written
communications through the wide range of courses he teaches, from
blueprint reading and construction graphics to wood and steel
construction.
In addition, Carns has spent several summers interning with
construction firms in Washington to bring real-world experiences to his
classroom.
“Dave is very conscientious about providing a program that is
‘instep’ with the construction industry,” Leanne Liddicoat, executive
director of the Associated General Contractors (AGC) of Washington
Education Foundation, says.
Frequently published, Carns’ articles have appeared in the
“Journal of Transportation Engineering” and “The Journal of Light
Construction,” among others.
Since 1989, he has received funding for 12 grants, totaling
more than $150,000, that have played an essential role in the growth of
the CWU construction management program.
Off campus, Carns has served on the City of Ellensburg and
Kittitas County building appeals boards and with the AGC of Washington
Education Foundation.
He received his bachelor of science degree in civil
engineering, in 1974, and his master of science degree, also in civil
engineering, in 1986, at Oregon State University.
Prior to beginning his teaching career, Carns worked in
project design and contract administration with Weyerhaeuser Co., was a
licensed general contractor, specializing in residential and small
commercial projects, and was a building and facilities designer and
contract administrator for the U.S. Forest Service.
Choudary’s award recognizes his contributions to mathematics
research during more than 16 years of teaching at Central. His
contributions are recognized as pivotal in his field and routinely
published in prestigious journals both nationally and internationally,
bringing additional acclaim to the CWU mathematics department.
“Dr. Choudary exemplifies the qualities that the College of
the Sciences (COTS) values in a scholar,” Dr. Meghan Miller, COTS dean,
says. “His work is rigorous, he contributes to the canon of knowledge
in his field, his work is favorably recognized by his professional
community in national and international settings and his life as a
scholar enriches his teaching at Central.”
As a testament to his teaching, many of his former students,
now involved in graduate-level research in mathematics, attribute their
interest and success to Choudary.
Among them is Justin Stambaugh, who received a bachelor of
science degree in physics and bachelor of arts degree in mathematics
from CWU in 2000.
“I believe Dr. Choudary was instrumental in my success at
Cambridge and in my research today,” Stambaugh says. “He has an almost
legendary reputation among students as an instructor that will make you
learn the material thoroughly. In my days at CWU, I encountered many
students who would not take a math course if Choudary was not teaching
it.”
Choudary, 52, joined the CWU faculty in 1988. Prior to
coming to Ellensburg, he taught at the University of Guadalajara,
Mexico; University of Bucharest, Romania; and, Government Islamia
College, in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan, which is where he received his
bachelor’s degree in 1970. A native of Pakistan, he received a
master’s degree at Punjab University, in 1972; and his Ph.D. from the
University of Bucharest, in 1980.
Choudary, who lives in Yakima, has also been involved with
the university’s graduate program and Douglas Honors College and, off
campus, has served as president of the Central Washington Association
for Equal Treatment.
Public service is a vital component of Central’s mission, and
the university’s image is, to some degree, judged by the level of
public service offered by its faculty. Pappas, 64, has a demonstrated
and recognized dedication to volunteerism that spans three decades,
and, for him, has become a way of life.
“Being a participant in community, state governmental
agencies and in national professional organizations is important
because they very often connect with a professor’s scholarship and
teaching activities,” Pappas says. “I have always been very active in
community organizations, and I do this because I try to be an active
representative of the university and a good role model.”
His wide-ranging efforts have included gubernatorial
appointments to the position of deputy director of the Washington
Combined Fund Drive; service on the CWU Foundation board of directors;
president of the Ellensburg chapter of Rotary International and the
Kittitas Valley Community Hospital Foundation board of directors; and
campaign chair for United Way, which honored him with a meritorious
service award in 1994.
“Over the years I have enjoyed the unique position of
observing his voluntary contributions to our local community of
Ellensburg and Kittitas County, to our larger state community of
Washington and to our national educational community,” Kittitas County
Superior Court Judge Mike Cooper says. “In each of Jim’s countless
endeavors he has served selflessly with zeal and enthusiasm.”
At CWU, Pappas has served as vice president of enrollment
management and marketing, interim university president, dean of
academic services and dean of admissions and records. For the past two
years, he has taught service learning and educational administration
courses and, since 1991, has served with the CWU Douglas Honors College
faculty.
Before coming to CWU in 1980, Pappas taught education,
psychology and history courses at Chicago State University, where he
also was director of admissions and career planning.
He earned a bachelor’s degree in history, in 1962, and a
master’s degree in Latin American history, in 1966, at Loyola
University in Chicago and a higher education doctorate from Nova
Southeastern University, Fort Lauderdale, Fla., in 1977.
CWU initiated the distinguished professor program in 1977 to
honor faculty members who excel in teaching, research/artistic
accomplishment and public service. Including the three latest awards
winners, 67 faculty members have now been honored by CWU.
