And the Monty Goes To...

The San Diego State University Alumni Association recently announced the Awards for Outstanding Faculty Contributions to the university, more commonly known as the Montys. 

Each year, the group honors one outstanding faculty member from each of the university's colleges. The awardees will be recognized at the All-University Convocation in August 2012.

About this year's honorees

Stuart Aitken, professor of geography in the College of Arts and Letters, is an internationally recognized critical human geographer.  His research spans a range of subfields in geography and transcends the boundaries of the discipline.  His vision and drive resulted in the creation of the Center for Interdisciplinary Studies of Youth and Space at SDSU.  He has been invited to present the keynote address at the 3rd International Children’s Geographies Conference in Singapore in July. He has shared his research findings in important ways both with the San Diego Community and in international programs.  He is currently the Chair of the Department of Geography. His research about fathering was featured in NewsCenter.

Donald Sciglimpaglia, professor of marketing in the College of Business Administration has had an outstanding career as a faculty member at San Diego State University for over three decades.   He played a major role in developing the MBA Consulting Program, the Small Business Consulting Center, and the Students In Free Enterprise chapter at SDSU.  What sets him truly apart is his outstanding work in the department, in his role as the teacher/scholar model.  He has also remained active as a researcher and is a nationally recognized scholar in the marketing discipline.

Cynthia Park is a professor of teacher education in the College of Education. She is also the director of the Pre-College Institute that includes the GEAR UP program and Pathways Student Support Services.  Especially noteworthy is her role in enabling the college to respond to the preparation and academic needs of low-income 7th to 12th grade students. Her grants focus on enhancing literacy, math and science skills.  Through these efforts, she has brought SDSU over 10 million dollars of external grants that focus on pre-college students.

Asfaw Beyene is a professor of mechanical engineering in the College of Engineering.  He has served in the University Senate as a senator since 2010.  Over the years, Beyene has attracted funding from Natural Science Foundation, Department of Eenergy, U.S. Navy, California Energy Comission, and his proposed concept of a morphing turbine has been widely received internationally. Beyene’s efforts have led to an agreement between the Department of Mechanical Engineering of Stavanger University in Norway and SDSU.  He has initiated a similar agreement with the University of Ferrara in Italy. Professor Beyene is the recipient of many research and teaching awards. Learn more about Beyene's accomplishments.

Jessica Barlow, professor in the School of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences is a graduate advisor to the masters program in speech-language pathology and a member of the faculty of the SDSU/UCSD joint doctoral program in language and communication disorders.  Barlow is a nationally known researcher whose work directly benefits children and language disorders.  Her lab has been established for 15 years and aspects of her research have been supported by the National Institutes of Health.  She is a well respected researcher, teacher and mentor.

Brian Spitzberg, professor in the School of Communication in the College of Professional Studies and Fine Arts, is internationally known as a prolific scholar and outstanding teacher.  In addition to his remarkable record of teaching and numerous publications, he serves in the Senate as chair of the Faculty Honors and Awards Committee.  His expertise in technology includes developing a number of mechanisms to measure learning, including a computerized system called IMPACCT, currently being used at several other colleges and universities.  Spitzberg has received numerous internal and external grants for his research.

Vanessa Malcarne, professor of psychology in the College of Sciences is internationally recognized for her work on chronic diseases.  She played a key role in developing the joint doctoral program in clinical psychology at SDSU.  As an author on close to 100 peer-reviewed publications, she has used her research to create a number of psychometrically sound instruments that are frequently cited and used in literature.  In 2011, she was awarded the Outstanding Education and Training Award from the American Psychological Oncology Society.  She is currently serving as a Principal Investigator or Co-Principal Investigator on several large grant awards.