• Kirk, Russell join Browning as Baylor professors of the year

    Dr. Roger Kirk and Dr. Richard RussellThe end of the spring semester brought with it two more Baylor professor of the year awards, and the honorees highlight some of the variety found in Baylor’s faculty. Dr. Roger Kirk, the 2012 Cornelia Marschall Smith Professor of the Year, was named one of Baylor’s Master Teachers in 1993; Dr. Richard Russell, the 2012 Baylor Centennial Professor, graduated with his BA in English literature the next year.

    The Cornelia Marschall Smith award each year recognizes a Baylor professor based on his or her teaching, research and service; as this year’s honoree, Kirk will receive $20,000 and present a public lecture this fall. The longtime psychology and statistics professor was named a Master Teacher — Baylor’s highest honor for faculty — in 1993.

    “During his 54 years of service on Baylor’s faculty, Roger Kirk has taught thousands of students and served extensively in professional societies and in the Baylor and local community,” said Dr. James Bennighof, vice provost for academic affairs. “Perhaps even more remarkably, he has at the same time produced an extraordinary body of research, including more than 200 articles, reviews, reports, encyclopedia entries, editions of books and paper presentations, several of which have been foundational in the area of research protocols, sound experimental design and statistical procedures in the social sciences.”

    The Baylor Centennial Professor award is based on different criteria; funded by the Centennial Class of 1945, each year’s honoree is chosen based on his or her proposal for a specific research endeavor. Russell will receive $5,000 to travel and study the works of poet Seamus Haney.

    “I teach Heaney’s poetry, prose and drama in almost every course I conduct at Baylor, and the material I acquire from my archival research will enhance my teaching of this Nobel Prize-winning poet on both the undergraduate and graduate levels at Baylor,” Russell said.

    Dr. Blair Browning, BA ’95, MA ’99, was previously announced as the 2012 Collins Outstanding Professor, as voted on by Baylor seniors.

    Sic ’em, Drs. Kirk and Russell!