Betsy Downey Receives Faculty Excellence Award
Gonzaga University honored three professors during its spring graduation exercises for outstanding contributions. Those cited were nominated from the entire GU academic community:
Betsy Downey, history professor, received GU’s President’s Award for Faculty Excellence. Her course in African-American history is praised for its intellectual challenge and stimulation. Downey is author of several publications, including, “She Does Not Write Like a Historian: Marie Sandoz and the Old and New Western History.”
Tom Jeanette, associate professor of philosophy, received the Great Teachers’ Program Award for Outstanding Teaching. In addition to core philosophy courses, Jeanette teaches in the organizational leadership program. He’s said to be “rigorous, dynamic, engaging, empowering, effective and enthusiastic” in his approach to teaching, by students and faculty alike.
The Rev. Robert Araujo, S.J., associate law professor, received the Great Teachers’ Program Award for Distinguished Scholarship. His research is known for its uncommon depth and breadth, while “his quantity of scholarly output is astonishing.”
Each honor carries a $2,000 award.
Two Spokane Falls Community College fine arts students received special achievement awards for professional-quality work by the college’s art faculty.
Adam Karu received the Ra-Tel Award. The Spokane Art Supply award was presented to Brad Delay.
Joe Schindler, son of James and Lynn Schindler, Otis Orchards, was named to the Dean’s List at Hillsdale (Mich.) College for the spring semester.
Ruth Boden, Spokane, was named to the Dean’s List at The Cleveland Institute of Music for spring semester by maintaining a grade-point average of 3.70 or higher.
Lisa Gonnella and Jon Merck received honors for their compositions entered into the Washington State Young Composers Project sponsored by the Washington State Music Teachers’ Association.
Lisa, a fifth-grade student at Mullen Road Elementary, received second place for her piano composition, “Rain Forest.”
Jon’s piece, “March of the Refugees,” received honorable mention. He is a fourth-grade student at Hutton Elementary School.
Both are piano students of Margee Webster.
Michael Secrest received a doctorate of optometry from Pacific University in Forest Grove, Ore.
Secrest, a 1990 graduate of Ferris High School, is the son of Delbert and Dwyllis Secrest.
Heidi Ritz-Stephens, Mrs. Spokane, was named Mrs. Washington United States in the pageant which featured married women from around the state. She also received the physical fitness and photogenic awards at the pageant.
She will now compete in the Mrs. United States Pageant in Las Vegas.
Ritz-Stephens, who has been married to Scott Stephens for eight years, is a certified registered nurse anesthetist.
Claire Davis, creative writing and literature instructor at Lewis-Clark State College in Lewiston, received the Pushcart Prize for “the best writing in American small presses and literary magazines.”
Davis also won an Associated Writing Programs Intro award for her poetry.
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MEMO: Compiled by Tina Carey. To tell us about your achievements and good deeds, write to Achievements, The Spokesman-Review, P.O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210, or 608 Northwest Blvd., Suite 200, Coeur d’Alene, ID 83814.