Four faculty members in chemical engineering and materials science, geology, chemistry and animal science were recognized this week by colleagues at UC Davis for their outstanding teaching abilities.

Receiving Distinguished Teaching Awards from the Academic Senate were James Shackelford, a professor of chemical engineering and materials science; James McClain, a professor of geology; Susan Tucker, a professor of chemistry; and Chris Calvert, a professor of animal science. Awards were presented Tuesday in MU II during the Senate's year-end meeting. The Senate also recognized two professors, Adel Kader of pomology, and Karen Watson-Gegeo of education, with the Distin-guished Graduate Mentoring Award.

The Distinguished Teaching Awards, established in 1973, are given annually to as many as four faculty members. The honor carries a $500 award for each recipient and for his or her academic departments.

James Shackelford

Last year, Shackelford completed a 17-year period of service as associate dean of undergraduate studies in the College of Engineering. Under his guidance, the college grew to become among the top 20 engineering programs in the country, says Amiya Mukherjee, professor of materials science and engineering and one of Shackelford's nominators.

Shackelford "made an extraordinary impact on me by creating an environment conducive to learning, by motivating me to pursue my goals, explore new ideas, overcome challenges," wrote Lilian Davila, one of his doctoral candidates.

"The impact of his remarkable teaching style on the development of the materials science and engineering undergraduate curriculum at our campus is now legendary," wrote Mukherjee.

"Student comments make it completely clear that Professor Shackelford is a very organized, caring and articulate instructor in the classroom and lab," Mukherjee says.

A former student, Thomas Smagala, says, "His warm personality made the gigantic lecture hall feel much less austere and more cozy. Even in a class of about 100, I soon realized I could raise my hand and ask questions."

Other students say Shackelford fostered a critical thinking process as a means of gently steering his students toward the truth. "Again, he never directed me toward one particular destination, rather he showed me the options available and then guided me toward solutions that best suited my needs," wrote Matt Gasch, a doctoral candidate.

Shackelford also serves as the director of integrated studies this year, which oversees a residential honors program for outstanding freshmen.

James McClain

McClain's "devotion to and energy for teaching are legendary both within and beyond the department and he consistently receives glowing evaluations from his students," wrote the committee that nominated him.

McClain is a seismologist whose primary research interest is the ocean crust. To conduct this research, he places remote-controlled instruments on the sea floor and then analyzes the faint signals they pick up from distant earthquakes and explosions.

McClain teaches Geology 50, the first course taken by geology majors. "He focuses on how knowledge is acquired in geology, how it is connected to other fields, what its limitations are, and where the gaps are," noted the committee.

His nominators wrote, "Over and over again, his colleagues have watched as a rather unpromising student has been guided, encouraged, trained and sent out with a fine thesis and a portfolio of outstanding skills.

Jesse DeCarlo, a former graduate student of McClain, says, "Perhaps Jim's greatest strength as a lecturer lies in his ability to use the art of storytelling to convey information to students. This approach stimulates the students' interest and it also shows them that science is a process founded on observation and analytical thinking rather than a static body of knowledge."

McClain has served as the chair of the geology's graduate program for the past seven years. He also teaches the geophysics section of an intensive, six-week summer field geology class. "Jim is excellent at encouraging the students to think and figure out the geological story behind the landscape they are looking at," says DeCarlo.

Susan Tucker

Tucker has taught at every level in the chemistry department. "Comments from students in these courses are consistently praiseworthy, often extraordinarily so," wrote her nominating committee.

Tucker's teaching philosophy centers on two basic goals, according to her nominators. First, she strives to teach students to think, to reason and to realize that from their current knowledge base they can deduce answers to questions. She also has been active in supervising independent research projects and she continually makes connections between course material and everyday experiences.

Former students, including several female undergraduates who studied under Tucker and entered graduate programs, call her "an inspirational role model, especially for young women aspiring to be scientists."

"One of the most important skills Professor Tucker taught me during my graduate studies was how to present research and scientific ideas to an audience that does not have a similar research background," says Sabine Schlyer, a former student and now a scientist for a bioscience company.

Neil Schore, chemistry professor, points out that Tucker has been honored for her teaching at the national level. In 1996, she received the Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar award, one of the most prestigious awards in chemistry. She is just the second faculty member from UC Davis to be selected for the honor.

"Professor Tucker is a gem of the chemistry department and a jewel in the crown of the Davis campus," wrote William Fink, professor emeritus of chemistry. "Her level of rigor in the material development is exceptional and with her careful pedagogy, her students obtain a grasp and depth of the content that prepares them to apply it in their future careers."

Tucker's research group is pursuing a molecular level understanding of how solvents affect solute reactivity.

Chris Calvert

Calvert's nominating committee notes that he carries one of the heaviest teaching loads around and yet still maintains a vital research program in protein and energy metabolism. His student evaluations read like "fan mail," the group says.

"In addition to his classroom teaching, Professor Calvert is an active undergraduate and graduate adviser," wrote Gary Anderson, chair of the animal sciences department. "He annually advises 35 to 40 undergraduates in the animal science major, which is above the mean for faculty in our department."

Anderson added, "While teaching biochemical facts and principles and helping students to hone their critical thinking skills, he captivates students in the art of good teaching."

Calvert has had a "substantial impact" on teaching within the department, Anderson noted, and frequently instills in his students the belief that "learning is contagious."

"I know good teaching when I see it, and Professor Calvert is an exceptionally good teacher," the chair said.

One of Calvert's former students, Phillip Miller, who is now an associate professor in the animal sciences department, traces his desire to become a teacher back to his former instructor. "Calvert constantly reminded me during my graduate program that the essence of productivity and the caliber of a research program are direct functions of our effectiveness as teachers."

Miller describes Calvert's classroom approach as "integrative," one that reflects his philosophy that nutrition is a quantitative and mechanistic discipline.