Dr. Kelvin Jasek-Rysdahl, a Professor of Economics and Co-Director of the Center for Public Policy Studies, is the winner of the Outstanding Professor honors. Dr. Joan Wink, a long-time Professor of Teacher Education, has been selected as the Outstanding Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity Professor. The Outstanding Community Service Professor Award recipient is Dr. Shane Phillips, an Associate Professor of Chemistry and Chair of the Chemistry Department.
Jasek-Rysdahl, a member of the CSU Stanislaus faculty since 1996, has published a number of research papers and played a major role in "Critical Links," the first major economic development study for Stanislaus County produced by the Center for Public Policy Studies in 1998. He served as the University's Interim Director of Institutional Research in 2004-05. Jasek-Rysdahl has been commended as a dedicated and effective teacher, an accomplished community-based researcher who is, in the words of one colleague, "a uniquely gifted communicator, a committed, participant citizen, and a prize of the CSU faculty at large."
Wink, who joined the University faculty in 1991, has a reputation as a creative and productive scholar whose work has enjoyed wide distribution and acclaim. Her five books and numerous articles and chapters, which include "Teaching Passionately" and "Critical Pedagogy: Notes from the Real World," have inspired many colleagues, friends, and students. One faculty member described her as "an extraordinary colleague, always eager to help and encourage others, always devoted to the field, and completely unafraid of hard work and new ideas." Wink spearheaded a successful quest for a $3.3 million grant in 2005 that partnered CSU Stanislaus with Modesto City Schools and UC Berkeley to recruit, develop, and retain teachers at "high-needs" schools.
Phillips, who joined the Chemistry Department faculty in 1996 and a 1988 graduate of CSU Stanislaus, was cited for his tireless work in local schools, in the Stanislaus County Science Olympiad, and in the campus Faculty Mentor Program that has encouraged hundreds of school-age and university students to seek and succeed in higher education. School children fondly call him their "College Buddy," and colleagues and local teachers have high praise for him, with one noting that he has "infused our school with his intelligence, creativity, and passion for science."