Ten honored with 2006 Gores, Dinkelspiel, Cuthbertson awards
Four students, two professors, two lecturers and two staff members will be recognized during Commencement Weekend with the 2006 Gores, Dinkelspiel and Cuthbertson awards.
Cuthbertson AwardIn being named this year's recipient of the Kenneth M. Cuthbertson Award for Exceptional Contributions to Stanford, Tim Warner, vice provost for budget and auxiliaries management, was cited for his more than 28 years of service to the university.
Warner was recognized for managing the university's budget process and overseeing its numerous auxiliary and service operations, including Athletics and Residential and Dining Enterprises. He also was cited for the contributions he has made as the university's chief budget officer, developing an annual budget plan book and helping to ensure the university's fiscal health year after year. The award also recognized Warner for his patient diplomacy and extraordinary ability to work with a broad range of personalities.
Gores AwardThe Walter J. Gores Award for Excellence in Teaching is the university's highest teaching honor. This year's recipients are John Travis Beavers, a doctoral candidate in linguistics; Michele Landis Dauber, associate professor of law and the Bernard D. Bergreen Faculty Scholar; Dan Edelstein, assistant professor of French; and Roberto R. Ricardo-González, an MD and PhD student (immunology) in the School of Medicine.
Beavers was cited for his dry wit, charismatic smile and contagious passion for teaching and learning, and for exemplary work as a dedicated and effective teaching consultant, serving as a teaching assistant for undergraduate and graduate courses in linguistics and for Sophomore College classes and as a department liaison to the Center for Teaching and Learning; for playing a key role in promoting and maintaining a culture of excellence among graduate students in linguistics; for his engaging lectures and his special talent for generating discussion that made his office hours as enriching as the lectures themselves; and for helping students understand they are members of a larger scholarly community and making them feel like valued participants.
Dauber was cited for her deep respect and understanding of legal theory, and for encouraging students to challenge her perspectives and to engage in respectful debate with each other; for inspiring students to reach beyond the classroom to improve the country and the world; for her tremendous talent as a teacher who has elevated tort law to the status of "favorite" among students and her deep commitment to mentoring and advising students within and outside the classroom; and for inspiring law students to reason, to develop into independent intellectuals and to believe in the value of law as a path to justice.
Edelstein was cited for inspiring a passion for learning in the classroom and serving as the consummate mentor for undergraduate and graduate students outside the classroom; for his creative and seamless connections between music and poetry and for unraveling the philosophical, literary and historical complexities of Baudelaire and Boccaccio in lectures students called "the academic highlight of my day"; for the inspired range of his teaching methods—reaching students through lectures, debates, handouts, e-mails, musical performances, mime and baking rewards (blondies and brownies); and for embodying the best of the term "a man of letters" through his personal warmth, good humor, intellectual rigor and encyclopedic knowledge.
Ricardo-González was cited for his exceptional teaching, his leadership as head teaching assistant and his dedication in preparing and mentoring others who are learning to teach; for his impressive ability to answer any question thrown at him and to make difficult and complex concepts clear and understandable; for his accessibility, enthusiasm and positive attitude that brings out the best in students and makes him an integral part of the immunology teaching team; and for exemplifying the concept of a "triple-threat" in medicine who combines cutting-edge research, accomplished teaching and a deep commitment to patient care.
Dinkelspiel AwardThe Lloyd W. Dinkelspiel Award, named after the president of the Board of Trustees who served from 1953 to 1958, recognizes distinctive contributions to undergraduate education or the quality of student life at Stanford. This year's recipients are Frances Blaisdell, a lecturer in music; Kiyomi Lillian Sakai Burchill, a senior in comparative studies in race and ethnicity and in political science; Dandré G. DeSandies, an associate director at Undergraduate Advising Programs; Weston Tyler Hester, a senior majoring in English; and Patrick Young, a lecturer in computer science.
Blaisdell was cited for her extraordinary teaching, mentorship and support to generations of students that emphasizes all the qualities Stanford values—intellectual curiosity, integrity, excellence, discipline and hard work; for her patience, wisdom and uncompromising insistence on the highest standards of musicianship and artistry from all of her students—majors and non-majors alike—in teaching them to overcome the seemingly insurmountable and realize their full potential; for teaching that music is not just playing notes on a page but the expression of the best that is within us; and for playing a pure tone that will resonate with Stanford students for years to come.
Burchill was cited for the creativity, mature insight and leadership she brings to the new field of study on mixed race identity—qualities that inform her scholarship and elevate it beyond the work of most undergraduates; for her role as co-founder of the Multiracial Identified Community at Stanford, her pedagogical dedication in her own student-initiated course and her presentations and facilitation of several workshops on mixed race activism at national conferences across the country; for her accomplishments as a published poet and spoken word artist; and for her remarkable public service record and extraordinary work at the Haas Center.
DeSandies was cited for his commitment to ensuring that Stanford undergraduates are treated fairly and given every opportunity to succeed; for reorganizing the freshman advising program and, through extensive training of advisers and advising associates, improving the quality of freshman advising; for his patient advice, wise guidance and tireless outreach to faculty, lecturers and teaching assistants in his role as the head of science and engineering advising, helping them become more adept advisers; for his efforts in establishing student safety nets, such as the academic "Early Warning System"; his service as director of the Stanford Summer Science and Math Institute and his work as the first academic adviser specifically for student-athletes; and for 20 years of service to Stanford that has been guided by extraordinary principle, intellect, perseverance and compassion.
Hester was cited for his initiative, drive and leadership in establishing English Honors in the Community, a program that gives Stanford students the opportunity to think critically and deeply about the importance of literature and to share their work, thus motivating and inspiring others at Stanford and in Bay Area high schools; for his role in co-founding Inquire, the Chappell-Lougee Scholars journal that cultivates research interests in undergraduates; for his ability to foster excitement and enthusiasm among and for the Stanford Cycling Team; for his dedicated and heartfelt service to the Habla el Día Program; and for his leadership in all aspects of Stanford—from sports to service to his participation in the intellectual life of the community.
Young was cited for the boundless energy, care and enthusiasm he brings to his work as a Resident Fellow—from organizing swing dancing and movie nights to providing unlimited Krispy Kreme donuts at study breaks to hosting Thanksgiving dinner in the WestFlo dormitories; for his unwavering support of undergraduates and his commitment to fostering intellectual discourse in the residences; for his dedication and the effectiveness of his teaching computer science in ways that meet the educational needs of students from diverse academic backgrounds; and for the investment of his time and energy to create a supportive environment for students so they grow into reflective and mature scholars and develop a lifelong relationship with Stanford.
