The purpose of the Center for Women and Gender Distinguished Professor Award is to recognize the outstanding leadership of women professors in their scholarly or creative work or to recognize the leadership of men or women professors who conduct research on gender issues. Professors serve as role models for all faculties. The awardee must present a public lecture for specialists on his or her work and its implications for the future. This $500 award is granted once every three years.
To nominate an individual, please send the following to the Center for Women and Gender Director:
1. Nominee’s vita
2. A letter of recommendation from the nominator addressing the nominee’s qualifications in the following criteria:
a) A leader in their scholarly or creative discipline
b) Contributes to the advancement of women faculty and/or students
c) Provides leadership around women and/or gender issues
d) Provides mentorship and/or serves as a role model to women
Past Award Winners
2009 Distinguished Professor
Dr. Ronda Roberts Callister
Ronda Callister has been a faculty member in the Department of Management and Human Resources at USU since 1997 and earned full professor status in 2008. Since that time Ronda has received many well deserved accolades. For example, Ronda was the Vernon M. & Maree C. Buehler Endowed Professor from 2006-2008 within the College of Business. She was named the College of Business Researcher of the Year in 2007. Her research focus is on conflict, anger, and conflict management in organizations, dispute resolution in other cultures, and gender organizations and careers. Ronda is internationally known in her field and has presented and published widely. To quote from a nomination letter, “…in addition to publishing her own work in the top journals in her field, her work has been cited more than 200 times, and many of those citations are found in premier journals as well.”
While her academic achievements are most impressive, what may be even more so is Ronda’s work on behalf of women and families for USU and beyond. While putting her own research agenda on conflict management aside, in 2002 Ronda became the Principal Investigator on the National Science Foundation USU ADVANCE grant ($3 million dollars over 5 years). The ADVANCE Institutional Transformation grants seek to improve the recruitment, retention, and the advancement of women faculty in the science and engineering (STEM) fields at USU, where women are underrepresented. Ronda has been are large part of the success of the ADVANCE grant and all women, not just those in the STEM colleges, have benefited from its presence at USU. To summarize some of the ADVANCE accomplishments:
The number and percentage of women STEM faculty continues to increase (from 40 to 52 during ADVANCE).
Women make up a larger percentage of the STEM faculty in 2007 than in 2003.
The rate of recruitment of STEM women faculty has been increased to equal the PhD availability rate. Prior to ADVANCE the rate was less than half of availability.
The non-retirement attrition rate for women STEM faculty has been decreased to equal that of men. Prior to ADVANCE the non-retirement attrition rate was twice as high for women as for men.
The number of women full professors in STEM was increased from 5 to 12 over a five year period. This is a 140% increase. Prior to ADVANCE only five women were promoted to full professor from 1988 to 2004. During ADVANCE eight women have been promoted.
The rate of women promotions to full professor has been increased to equal the rate for men.
Beyond the ADVANCE grant, Ronda has continued to improve gender equity at USU. Her work on the Faculty Senate is an excellent example. As noted in a nomination letter, “Some of the initiatives she spearheaded through the Faculty Senate which are now in Faculty Code include the institution of Ombudspersons for T&P review campus-wide, mandating a promotion mentoring committee for all associate professors three years post-tenure, clarifying the language regarding tenure clock extensions, and clarifying the dual career assistance protocol. Each code change required a years’ worth of effort to work it through all the various committees and sub-committees of Faculty Senate and to coordinate with various members of central administration and HR.”
In addition, “Ronda is currently working with the relevant Faculty Senate committees and the Provost toward a Caregiver Leave policy which would institutionalize a semester of teaching release for women faculty who give birth or adopt a child.” While this policy is on hold due to the current economic situation at the university, Ronda is still working closely with women and men who are in need of such accommodation.
Ronda is a wonderful mentor to faculty and students alike. As one new faculty member noted, “What I’ve experienced with Ronda over this last year and a half is someone who not only knows what the obstacles are, but lays out the roadmap for you with respect to where they are and how to avoid them. You know, the neat thing about Ronda is that she doesn’t even quite realize how powerful her effect is on the rest of us.”
It is due to her work as a scholar in her field, her advancement of gender issues across campus, her mentorship of women both at USU and in her profession that we are honored to present the WGRI Distinguished Professor Award to Dr. Ronda Roberts Callister.
2006 Distinguished Professor
Dr. E. Helen Berry
Eddy Berry (more formally, E. Helen Berry), Professor of Sociology, has been at Utah State University since 1984. She came to USU from a NICHD Post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Michigan Population Studies Center after receiving her Ph.D. in sociology with a minor in geography at The Ohio State University. Dr. Berry's specialty areas are in demography and human ecology, with specific focus on rural population change. Her current research focuses on Hispanics, non-Hispanic blacks and non-Hispanic whites as they move into and out of metropolitan and non-metropolitan places. She is particularly interested in the ways that the characteristics of the rural and urban places interact with the characteristics of migrants.
Dr. Berry currently serves as the assistant department head in Sociology, Social Work and Anthropology and has chaired the USU Institutional Review Board for Human Participants in research, the Athletic Council, and co-directed WGRI. She is the 2003 Rural Sociological Society Recipient of the Award for Excellence in Instruction and 1998 USU Robin's Award Faculty Advisor of the Year. She teaches courses in demography, social statistics, and occasionally urban sociology or methods, at both the graduate and undergraduate levels.
One of her proudest accomplishments at USU occurred in 1984. As a brand new assistant professor, she joined with a group of women, some of whom were interested in gender studies, others of whom were women researchers interested in connecting with other women researchers. These women first gathered in Eddy’s living room and became the initial members of WGRI, founding the group in order to promote research about gender and to promote research and creative accomplishments by women.
The nomination letter describing Dr. Berry’s qualifications states:
Dr. Berry has established a solid research program with colleagues in her department and at other universities and has an outstanding publication record in refereed, scholarly journals as well as innumerable research presentations at professional meetings or other professional venues. Dr. Berry has been the recipient of many grants and awards, both external and internal. She has twice been a Top Prof for Mortar Board and twice the SSWA Advisor of the Year. Over the years, Dr. Berry’s research has been funded by a wide variety of agencies including the US Department of Agriculture, the Utah Agricultural Experiment Station, WGRI, and the College of HASS.
Dr. Berry’s longstanding service with the IRB at Utah State has developed into national prominence. She has represented the Social Sciences on national IRB panels on more than one occasion. In 2002 Dr. Berry wrote the USU Handbook for Protection for Human Subjects (with True Rubal) and it was later incorporated into the NIH Recommendations on Best Practices. Despite the fact that she is no longer a member of IRB at USU, Dr. Berry is still the go-to guy when Utah State needs effective representation at the national level.
2003 Distinguished Professor
Dr. Pamela J. Riley
Professor Pamela J. Riley, USU professor of Sociology, was selected as the 2002-2003 Women and Gender Research Institute’s Distinguished Professor. Lecture Title: “‘Putting the Last First;’ Gender and International Development”
Dr. Riley has made exceptional contributions to USU and to her profession in the areas of teaching, research, and service during her 25-plus-year career at Utah State University. Professor Riley has earned a national and international reputation as an expert in issues regarding women and international development. She consistently brings her research experiences in developing countries such as Thailand, Lesotho, and Malawi, to the classroom.
Dr. Riley has established a solid research program and has a consistent publication records in refereed, scholarly journals. Many of her articles are co-authored with her graduate students. Her research focuses on women in international development and, domestically, on gender, work, and family. Dr. Riley recently worked in Thailand as a consulting expert on the Asian Development Bank/Thailand Department of Skill Development project. She served as a Women in International Development consultant to bring gender sensitivity training to the agency personnel who engaged in technology transfer.
In addition, Dr. Riley has engaged in field work in Lesotho and Malawi bringing direct benefits to African people, particularly women. Her international work has enhanced the reputation of Utah State University. Her funded research work in gender, work, and family has resulted in numerous publications and outreach efforts that take the findings of scholarly work to families in the community. She has mentored a new generation of sociologists who work with her as research assistants. Her latest research efforts are directed toward targeting Latino families in Cache Valley to learn more about their experiences with work, family, and community.
Dr. Riley has a reputation as an engaging, rigorous, and fair teacher. Because of her extensive work overseas, her teaching is global in scope, effectively enlarging the intellectual horizons of USU students. Her graduate students have gone on to occupy important academic and government agency positions. Her work with undergraduate students is equally impressive. She is co-director of the Law & Society Area Studies Program sand helped establish the Asian Studies Program at USU.
Dr. Riley was cofounder of the Women & Gender Research Institute and served as its codirector. She served as Director of the Women’s Studies Program at USU, secured permanent funding for the program, and expanded its on-campus and national connections. She served as campus coordinator for the USAID’s Consortium for International Development / Women in Development. Dr. Riley is clearly a leader and she is sought after in leadership positions precisely because she does her work well and is able to motivate others because of her effective interpersonal skills. Pam Riley is a personable individual. She helps people feel included and works to build communities in projects she undertakes.
2000 Distinguished Professor
Dr. Ann M. Berghout Austin
Ann M. B. Austin, administrator at Utah State University in the College of Family Life, was awarded the Women and Gender Research Institute Distinguished Professor Award in 2000. The award is presented by the institution once every three years.
Austin said the honor is very precious to her because of the people giving the award. "There are some wonderful and outstanding women on the committee," she said. "It has been humbling and powerful for me to realize I was the one selected for the award," said Austin.
Austin is the associate dean of academic affairs in the College of Family Life. Austin serves as a mentor and role model for women not only at Utah State University but also at the community, state, national and international levels, according to nomination materials. Austin was instrumental in forming the Cache Chapter of the National Association for the Education of Young Children, an organization that has brought together students, faculty and community members with a shared interest in young children. For more than 15 years this organization has sponsored community activities, including the Week of the Young Child, a series of activities that enhance awareness and provide advocacy for young children and their families.
Austin helped establish several new programs in the Family and Human Development Department's child development laboratory. These programs provide students with comprehensive, practical experience with childhood issues.
Additionally Austin's research has applied focus on issues critical to women, including child care. She developed a child care study that established a program for young children at Lincoln Elementary in Hyrum, a service of benefiting families whose work schedules made it difficult to find care providers. This project evolved into the Boys and Girls Club of Cache Valley with programs in seven elementary schools. In 1992, she promoted the passage of legislation that created Utah's first state level office of child care.
Austin was an invited guest of ministries of education in India, Cuba, and Costa Rica and a member of the U.S. delegation to the celebration of the 75th anniversary of women's suffrage in Iceland. Through Austin's persistent efforts to obtain funding, she has developed an ongoing project to benefit the Guarani tribe in Paraguay as well as to contribute to the knowledge base regarding child development and early intervention. Austin said she wants to remind other women professors not to forget to turn around and encourage the younger women at the university and in their communities.
1996 Distinguished Professor
Dr. Anne M. Butler
Anne M. Butler is a social and cultural historian of the American West who specializes in the study of women, especially in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. She has and lectured on the subjects of western prostitutes and women criminals, but she is also for her research concerning Roman Catholic nuns in the West. Since her arrival at Utah University in 1989, Dr. Anne M. Butler has been an excellent role model to students and in the areas of research, teaching, and service. A key figure in her field, Anne Butler has the good sense to study topics that captivate a wide audience and the intelligence to address topics in interesting and unexpected ways.
1993 Distinguished Professor
Dr. Anne Anderson
Dr. Anne Anderson, professor of Biology was honored as WGRI's first Distinguished Professor in 1992-93. Dr. Anderson’s research involves the molecular basis of plant-microbe interactions. She is interested in the recognition events between plants and fungal or bacterial challenges, responses of organisms to oxidative stress, and survival of organisms in soil.