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UE Names 2013 Berger Award Winners

Posted: Tuesday, August 20, 2013

David Dwyer, Mark Gruenwald, and Jean Beckman have been named the winners of the 2013 Sydney and Sadelle Berger Awards, presented each year to members of the University of Evansville faculty who demonstrate exceptional scholarly activity and service.

Dwyer, chair of the Department of Mathematics and a professor of mathematics, and Gruenwald, also a professor of mathematics, jointly received the award for scholarship. Beckman, a professor of chemistry, earned the award for service. UE President Tom Kazee presented both awards today at the University’s annual Fall Conference for faculty and administrators.

As a team, Dwyer and Gruenwald have made a profound impact on their academic discipline nationwide. They recently received a highly competitive $600,000 grant from the National Science Foundation that will allow them to broaden and continue their Resequencing Calculus project, which builds on work funded by a previous NSF grant in 2009. 

For this project, Dwyer and Gruenwald revised the standard three-semester calculus sequence to better meet the needs of students in a variety of STEM disciplines. They also wrote a 700-page textbook to support the first two semesters of this sequence, piloted the sequence at UE, and identified supporters of the redesigned sequence at other institutions.

Dwyer and Gruenwald, both of whom have won the Dean’s Teaching Award for UE’s College of Arts and Sciences, have also sold more than 30,000 copies of five commercially published mathematics textbooks.

Beckman, who won the award for service, came to the University of Evansville 35 years ago. Since then, she has become widely respected on campus for her fairness, her selfless dedication to the University, and her passion and commitment to teaching.

Beckman chaired the Department of Chemistry from 1989 to 2003. Although her first love is teaching, she has also served the University in numerous administrative roles over the years, including terms as dean and interim dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and interim vice president for academic affairs.

Beckman has served on countless University committees: search committees, numerous Faculty Senate committees, the General Education Revision Subcommittee, the Writing Subcommittee, the Honorary Degree Committee, and the UE United Way Campaign Committee, just to name a few. 

The Berger Awards are presented annually in memory of Sadelle and Sydney Berger. Sadelle was a UE graduate and lifelong member of the Academy of Arts and Sciences at UE, while Sydney was a well-known local attorney. Both dedicated their lives to public service. The Berger family established the endowment to give recognition to faculty at the University of Evansville.

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